Rosenior's tenure ended less than 24 hours after he publicly criticised his players in the wake of Tuesday's defeat at Brighton - an episode that lay at the heart of what ultimately went wrong for the Englishman.

It was not for a lack of trying. Rosenior often defended his players, sometimes to his own detriment.

His comments about the team "respecting the ball" followed an attempt to justify a pre-match huddle - an idea from his leadership group, rather than Rosenior himself - in which the players encircled referee Paul Tierney before a 1-0 defeat by Newcastle at Stamford Bridge in March.

That episode may ultimately define his tenure.…