Chelsea links first, and they’re all about Peter Kenyon. (I heard those groans.)
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The Daily Telegraph has a few of Peter Kenyon’s ups and downs during his time as CEO.
Personally, I will never forget this: “Following the 2008 Champions League Final, Manchester United sent Sir Bobby Charlton, 1968 European Cup winner and England’s record goal-scorer, to lead Manchester United’s players up to collect their medals – Peter Kenyon led Chelsea’s.”
Glenn Moore in the Independent says Kenyon understood business but not the soul of the game.
“Peter Kenyon might be said to epitomise Oscar Wilde’s epigram, “A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”. By his own lights he has been a very successful marketer raising the global brand awareness, and income, of Umbro, Manchester United and Chelsea. For these achievements he achieved the unique distinction of being the only chief executive to be simultaneously abused by fans of both clubs at a game, a United-Chelsea match at Old Trafford in 2004.”
Kenyon’s fate was sealed after the Luiz Felipe Scolari row, says the Daily Mail’s Charles Sale.
Kenyon was seen and heard too often, says the Press Association’s chief sports writer.
“The fact is chief executives at football clubs rarely should be heard and hardly ever seen. Kenyon never quite bought into that. It was his biggest mistake.”
Kenyon says he is proud of what the club has achieved during his tenure.
Ron Gourlay will be the new chief executive when Kenyon steps down at the end of October.
As far as I can make out, taking into account their pasts at Umbro and Manchester United, Gourlay is Kenyon with hair.
Sam Wallace in the Independent looks at the tasks Gourlay faces at the club.
“Ron Gourlay will have nothing like the power of his predecessor Peter Kenyon and will focus on the commercial side of the job while leaving all football business in the hands of sporting director Frank Arnesen.”
Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday reports that Guus Hiddink is on his way back to Chelsea and will replace Arnesen as sporting director next summer.
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Enough Kenyon. Here’s a selection of my bookmarks from the last few days.
Martin Samuel has interviewed Carlo Ancelotti for the Daily Mail.
“The farmer receives the money for his work after one year. You milk the cow, the milk goes to make the cheese, you age the cheese, sell the cheese and one year on you are paid. You need good planning for it to work.
“Football is the same, because we work now and next year we may receive our prize. Chelsea feel they have been unlucky in the Champions League. I tell them that this season we have a chance to put that right.”
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The Daily Mail has a selection of the most SHOCKING [capitalization theirs] goal celebrations, which includes Jose sprinting down the Old Trafford touchline in 2004 (in my opinion the best goal celebration EVER), while the Independent lists their most memorable goal celebrations. Marco Tardelli’s remains one of my favourites.
The Daily Mail’s ‘The List’ has revealed their 50 greatest rivalries in club football. Numbers 40-31, 30-21, 20-11, and 10-1.
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Premier League clubs have agreed new rules on the number of “home-grown” players in their squads.
“From next season, each club will, at the end of every transfer window, have to name at least eight “home-grown” players in a squad of 25. To qualify as home grown, a player will have had to be registered for at least three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16 and 21.”
Premier League clubs will also have to adhere to new financial rules after Uefa approved new spending plans. The new rules will be in place from the 2012/13 season and clubs could be thrown out of European competition if they do not abide by the regulations.
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Bad news for those of us without Sky who don’t get to many games – the Premier League says it is going to clamp down on websites that illegally broadcast matches, specifically MyP2P.eu.
The reporting is factually wrong – MyP2P.eu doesn’t show matches on its site, they list websites and post links where fans can watch the games. This won’t stand up in court as a defence though, as the Pirate Bay recently discovered to its cost, so expect links to Premier League matches to disappear from MyP2P.eu in the very near future.
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“[O]ne action is unique to a faked fall – the archer’s bow.
“This occurs in many dives but biomechanically it does not occur in a natural fall.
“Instead, instinctively the arms either go down in an attempt to cushion the fall or out to the side for balance.
“Although this behaviour is absurd, the fraudulent footballer does it to try to deceive the referee into believing that the tackle was illegal, and the histrionics are necessary to get the referee’s attention in the first place.”
He went down as if shot with an arrow.
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Two good posts from the Guardian’s sport blogs: ‘Football may regret lost values of Roy Race and the comic book heroes‘; and ‘The Question: Could the sweeper be on his way back?‘ (thanks to BlueBayou for the second link).
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“Infrared lasers detect the electronic light sensors in nearby cameras, known as charge-coupled devices. When the system detects such a device, it fires a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record a digital image.”
What next? Frickin’ sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their frickin’ heads?
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News just in: Ryan Giggs has just scored to make it 5-3.
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Best news of the week: Drogba is fine! It was just a bad case of twisted soc… sorry, cramp.
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Finally, my favourite link of the week: Rock criticism arranged as a football team.
“Striker: Possibly stylists rather than – or as much as – great thinkers: the “stars” of the team, might only write one or two things at a time but bring the readers in and send them away buzzing. Usually direct and very quotable/linkable even if they’re stating the bleedin’ obvious.”
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And with that, I bid you goodnight.
