Peter Kenyon (born 1954 in Stalybridge, Cheshire) is a British businessman who has served as the chief executive of English Premier League clubs Manchester United and Chelsea Football Club.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Manchester United 2.2 Chelsea 3 References

[edit] Early life

Kenyon was educated in Tameside at West Hill School.

[edit] Career

Kenyon was a director and chief executive of sportswear firm Umbro.^[1]

[edit] Manchester United

Kenyon took up the role of deputy chief executive at his boyhood team Manchester United in 1997, where he sat on the Board of Directors. He was promoted to chief executive in August 2000 following the departure of Martin Edwards. Kenyon was influential in persuading long-serving manager Alex Ferguson to remain at the club despite Ferguson's original intention to retire in 2002. One of the other notable aspects of Kenyon's time in charge was the fact that the club dismissed their rigid wage structure and spent large sums of money on players such as Juan Sebastian Veron and Rio Ferdinand. During his time in his role, the club actually became one of the most financially stable, while simultaneously expanding their global appeal.

He was targeted by Chelsea shortly after Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club.

[edit] Chelsea

Kenyon is the main spokesman for the non-footballing side of Chelsea as Roman Abramovich does not give interviews or attend press conferences and Chelsea's chairman Bruce Buck keeps a low profile. Kenyon's background is in marketing, and he was recruited by Chelsea to increase the club's commercial income.^{[citation needed]}

Since joining Chelsea, Kenyon has been involved in high-profile controversies including an attempt to persuade the manager of the England national team Sven-Göran Eriksson to become manager of Chelsea, and the supposed tapping-up of former Arsenal and current England left-back Ashley Cole.^[2]

On 16 September 2009, Chelsea announced that Kenyon would be leaving his chief executive role at Chelsea at the end of October.^[3]

[edit] References