The Bournemouth manager has proven he can earn results in the Premier League while playing an attractive brand of football. He has also done it while improving young players and increasing their value, something that is clearly part of the current Chelsea project. But Iraola is reported to be considering a move back to his home club, Athletic Bilbao, for family reasons as much as football ones.

Chief Sports Writer Lawrence Ostlere has the run-down on some of the major names in contention to replace Liam Rosenior.

Felipe Luis was sacked by Flamengo last month, despite winning several trophies during his 100-game stint in charge of the Brazilian club. The former Chelsea defender would be a gamble, however, given his lack of experience coaching in European football.

Senior Football Correspondent Richard Jolly analyses where the true blame lies for Chelsea’s collapse under Liam Rosenior:

So now Liam Rosenior’s LinkedIn profile requires updating. The manager given the cruel moniker of ‘LinkedIn Liam’ may struggle to spin a three-and-a-half month spell at Chelsea into a learning experience that leaves him ready for his next challenge.

Rather, it must have been a horribly bruising experience. Rosenior did not even enter the last five years of his five-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge. Though not the shortest managerial tenure in his family, after his father Leroy’s 10 minutes in charge of Torquay in 2007, his 23-game reign gave him the shortest tenure of any supposedly permanent head coach in Chelsea history.

The risk is the permanent element is the harm done to Rosenior.

Alan Smith continues: “I’d be amazed if they went with a young up and coming manager, you have to have a presence, you have to have that aura to command. It’s hard to manage successful ones, I don’t think he quite had that. The optics, the look of Liam, he didn’t really look like a Chelsea manager. Clearly the players lost faith in him, and very quickly after just 23 games.”

Former England international Alan Smith said: “Not overly surprised, when Liam came out, criticised his players and team. That’s the last word in a manager’s tenure, there seems a disconnect between the players and the manager. I thought it was a job too soon. Top class players, World Cup winners, you really need to have something about you. It’s easy to lose them.

“Liam thinks about his tactics, really closely, maybe sometimes he overthinks, the line-up last night, what was the shape, he changed it at half-time. Early on he got some good results. They hit the slump and there’s no sign of them getting out of it, 23 games, it’s not many is it.

“Enzo came out, Cucurella said stuff, the fans were shouting for him to get out, it’s then very difficult. Everything seemed stacked against him.

“He’s the figure in front of the camera, he represents the ownership, he’s unfortunate, but he knew the deal when he came in. He knew the score. He would’ve realised it wasn’t going well. Hopefully he’ll bounce back and repair his confidence.”

A reflection on what might have been the final straw for Chelsea’s owners as the team fell to a hapless 3-0 defeat away at Brighton…

It was one of those games where you’d love to focus on Brighton’s performance but, at the end of yet another chastening evening, it was hard to take the eyes off the Chelsea captain. There was Enzo Fernandez, standing there mostly motionless in front of the away crowd, other than shrugging his shoulders. That he was wearing the armband only two weeks after being dropped from the first team added to the sense of farce, of a club shredded by so many bad decisions.

What was Fernandez actually doing here? What was he thinking? Maybe it was an apt image in its own bizarre way, because you can say this of the entire club right now. “A sad night for the club”, as one Chelsea insider said. Most visibly, there’s just the way they’re playing. What is Liam Rosenior trying to do?

Well, whatever it is, the players aren’t responding. This dismal run has now added up to the club’s worst run since 1912.

Former Chelsea player Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has weighed in on the situation.

He said on Sky Sports News: “I think the owners and people above, they’ll be disappointed, they never thought they’d have that much turnaround in this position. What the statement says is refreshing, they’ll reflect on that, and see how they can improve that.

“Every club doing well has that position stabilised, that’s what they need to go back to, what’s the identity of the club, in the structure, what that is, maybe they need to treat that structure. It needs to be sorted, it cannot keep going.”

While the Blues started off well under their new boss originally, it did not take long to unravel, culminating in the club’s worst run of form since 1912 – with five losses in a row without scoring.

Here’s the full list of the Blues’ league results under the Englishman:

Crystal Palace 1-3 Chelsea

The Englishman arrived at Stamford Bridge having worked with Chelsea’s owners at French side Strasbourg, an affiliate club under BlueCo’s model.

Only last week, co-owner Behdad Eghbali insisted Chelsea were “behind Liam” despite their rocky run of form and said he had “every attribute to be successful”.

That faith has eroded rapidly.