Calum McFarlane, the under-21s head coach for Chelsea, was on his way to a light show in Windsor with his family when he received the news of his temporary promotion to caretaker manager. The role that will see him face off against Manchester City in the absence of Enzo Maresca, who left the club earlier this week. McFarlane and a select group from his coaching team have been tasked with readying the Blues for their upcoming clash at the Etihad Stadium.
While Liam Rosenior is tipped as the likely successor to Maresca as Chelsea‘s permanent head coach, McFarlane’s immediate focus is on Sunday’s trip to Manchester. Having joined Chelsea’s academy from Southampton last summer after a stint in Man City‘s youth setup, this will be his first taste of senior-level management.
The call came on New Year’s Day, while McFarlane was enjoying a day out with his family. One of the club’s sporting directors rang him up as they were heading to a light show in Windsor.
“I was actually on the way to a Windsor light show with my family,” McFarlane recalled.
“I got a call and just basically said, ‘when can you get in?’. I said, ‘I can be in in an hour’. So the missus wasn’t very happy about that.
“But I shot across and they basically explained what happened and said, ‘you’re going to be preparing to play Manchester City on Sunday. We fully support you and trust you and good luck’.”
Whilst the remainder of his family attended the festive display, McFarlane and a handful of staff members returned to their duties, albeit in a different role.
The Chelsea caretaker manager oversaw his maiden training session with the first-team squad on Friday morning, which ran over schedule and consequently pushed back his pre-match media briefing.
It marked the players’ first training session since being granted two days’ rest following their 2-2 stalemate with Bournemouth on Tuesday, which proved to be Maresca’s last game in charge.
To ensure players weren’t left uncertain about Chelsea’s immediate direction, McFarlane, his coaching team and the sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, convened a meeting on Friday morning.
“So we had a meeting this morning with the sporting directors and the players just to explain the situation and introduce the staff and how the next couple of days might look and feel,” he explained.
“Really informal, nothing major, just a quick update which most of them would have been aware of already.”
McFarlane characterised his footballing philosophy as comparable to Maresca’s and confirmed that even during his brief spell as caretaker boss, he won’t attempt to “reinvent the wheel”.
“I thought there’s been some really good work done previously,” he commented.
“So it will be about introducing some of your own ideas and some of your own concepts on how you think you can be successful in the game. Not trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.”