[CFCnet Main Site]

Dear Mr. Kenyon,
Excuse me if this letter is not really your field of competence within Chelsea football club, but to the ordinary fan it is difficult to make heads or tails of who is really in charge at Chelsea.
I am a Maltese supporter since 1966, since the day Chelsea went ...

http://www.CFCnet.co.uk/2008/02/28/an-open...o-peter-kenyon/

[Harvz]

This post made my day :)

[rangersfc_chelseafc]

Fantastic Ha!Ha! Loved the I dont suppose you stay in a 3star hotel bit Mr Kenyon very amusing.

[Orpington Blues]

Absolutely superb, well done mate. Don't think you will get a reply though!!

[carls]

HAhah vnice ...good read .. I think alot of Chels are feeling like this right now .

[exiledblue]

nice but I think Kenyon is just another puppet who rubber stamps rather than makes decisions.

In the end of the day it is Roman who decides and I actually dont have a problem with that as Chelsea is his to do with as he wishes. I just wish he would stop being swayed by others whose recommendations are not always in the best interests of the club but more likely the best interests of their pocket.

Roman knows what he wants and he has seen it elsewhere. He is already accused of buying success but if entertaining football played by superstars is what he wants then do it properly and go break the bank to bring in a few of the Rijkard, Pato, Kaka, Ronaldinho caliber to supplement some of our existing quality players but please Roman do it in your own name and dont be swayed by the money orientated hangers on. I am sure if it works you are guaranteed hero status in west london and if not then do it again until you are.

Chelsea will always have my support whoever is pulling on the shirt. It the club and not individuals I follow and the personnel may change but I like everyone else think that its easier to support a team and manager that know what they are doing.

[Blue Jock]

I feel a bit sorry for Kenyon (not words I have ever used before in the same sentence). He did appoint Mourinho. He identified him and recruited him. He backed him to the hilt, even when it would have been easier to abandon him to the wolves. Eventually, the going got too difficult, Abramovich wanted Jose out and Jose wanted to leave (with the money) more than he wanted to stay. So, Kenyon bowed to the inevitable. Since then, he has been quite quiet. No more silly statements about dominance before big matches, no more warm endorsements of the manager. In fact, his words about Grant have been along the lines of "the position had become untenable and we had no option" and not "Avram was the only man for us, given his long, successful career as manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under 12 Girls Team."

In short, Kenyon had nothing to do with this appointment and he is either collecting his pay cheque, waiting for his turn to be fired or he is biding his time to be able to say "Grant hasn't worked out, which is what I said would happen when you fired Jose. There are worse things in a football manager than being a volatile loudmouth, like being a quiet loser." So, you can have a go at him as titular head of the enterprise but I think the real responsibility lies elsewhere.

[The Special Dimwit]

Absolutely brilliant.

Only Chelsea.

You couldn't make it up.

[bitnr]

Blue Jock, on Feb 28 2008, 13:29, said:

In short, Kenyon had nothing to do with this appointment and he is either collecting his pay cheque, waiting for his turn to be fired or he is biding his time to be able to say "Grant hasn't worked out, which is what I said would happen when you fired Jose. There are worse things in a football manager than being a volatile loudmouth, like being a quiet loser." So, you can have a go at him as titular head of the enterprise but I think the real responsibility lies elsewhere.

He did only go for Jose after Sven didn't work out!....;)

No, to be fair to Kenyon I think he was always in the Jose camp, he saw just how good he was, how marketable he was and such and I always got the impression from Grant's first press conference that they (as in Kenyon and Buck) really didn't believe some of the rubbish they were coming out with.

[Richard Redmond]

CFCnet Main Site, on Feb 28 2008, 15:40, said:

Dear Mr. Kenyon,
Excuse me if this letter is not really your field of competence within Chelsea football club, but to the ordinary fan it is difficult to make heads or tails of who is really in charge at Chelsea.
I am a Maltese supporter since 1966, since the day Chelsea went ...

http://www.CFCnet.co.uk/2008/02/28/an-open...o-peter-kenyon/

Great post Richard, but two points : to be fair to Peter Kenyon, I suspect he was gutted to see Jose go and knew exactly what we were losing. Secondly, the plain fact of the matter is, neither he nor any other club employee could have swayed the final decision if they wanted to. Roman decided he did not need Jose and basically forced him out through ceasing to co-operate any longer with Jose's management regime. Kenyon was helpless in all this, why blame him?

[Dazz]

Boring.

Kenyon isn't that bad, there's not alot he can do when the owner is seemingly blind, he can only talk to him so much and tell him his views, Kenyon doesn't have the overall say and we know that.

It's Roman that any 'open letter' should be addressed to, instead of a little sentence at the bottom.

Kenyon isn't in a job to be liked, he knows that some decisions will piss people off but he isn't here to please the fans. He has most likely had a much bigger impact on off the field activities then we give him credit for.

It's odd that we hear about Kenyon being the puppet, when he actually speaks and seems to pull strings (Sponsorship deals, financial security, dialog with the fans), and not Bruce Buck, who does appear to be a joke who is just there as a figurehead because he has allegedly held a season ticket for 17 years.

Kenyon could have probably done more to keep Jose, but then Kenyon could have also been in danger of putting his own job on the line. Just like Kenyon couldn't really go against getting Grant at the time, funny how that CFCnet poll seemed split with people who liked Grant, and now we get everyone hating him.

[the_goat]

This post is brilliant, and sums up exactly how I feel right now.

I have been going to the Bridge since August 8th 1993, when Chelsea lost 2-1 at home to Blackburn, and have seen us be everything from sickeningly awful to blissfully sublime, but I have never felt as low as I do right now.

It's not because we lost a cup final. It's not even because we lost to Spurs. It's the manner in which we lost. Spurs went out on Sunday with all the enthusiasm of a team who were excited by playing in a Cup Final. They didn't play great football, but they looked like they were loving the occassion. Our lot made it look a chore. Even seasoned favourites like JT and Frank looked as though they would rather be somewhere, even anywhere else.

Drogba was a disgrace. If we had gone on to win the game with his opening goal, it would have felt such a hollow victory given the way he looked like he has been hit by some form of mortar, rather than by some clumsy challenge, then stepped up to (expertly) put the ball in the bottom corner. His movement was quite remarkable as he wheeled off to celebrate. Then as the game approached its dying minutes all he wanted to do was fight and ruck with people. Even Ballack and Ten Cate clearly were unimpressed by his actions.

I had spent the previous day converting all my old VHS Chelsea reviews into digital format, and taking numerous trips down memory lane. It was brilliant. Seeing the likes of Vialli, Zola, Gullit, Hughes, Wise, Poyet, Di Matteo even Stein, Spencer and Fleck brought back some brilliant memories. I realised that it also stoked the dying embers of excitement, enthusiasm and passion I had for the team during these times.

I was lucky that my Dad took me to most games between 1993 and 2001, when I had to reluctantly give up my season ticket to go to university. The passion and excitement during those times was amazing. the fans felt like they were part of the club. The twelfth man as the saying goes.

It dawned on me that it's not like that anymore. The consequence of being a huge club now is that the players are 'superstars'. They have nothing in common with you or I (unless you're really lucky, in which case good luck to you). The support at the games nowadays is very much the 'prawn sandwich brigade'. The harsh reality is that being a big club and watching the 'superstars' costs money, and the majority of those who watched Mal Donaghy and Tony Cascarino line up against Blackburn that afternoon, probably cannot afford the extortionate prices of today.

I think as fans the least we can expect is to be entertained for our money. With Gullit and Hoddle we weren't overly successful, but it was enjoyable. I walked away from the game on Sunday (from the pub, because there aren't many genuine fans who can get a ticket to Wembley these days, but that's another axe to grind on another day), feeling not sad at the score, but entirely let down by the side. And it's been like this for a while now. I just don't enjoy it. Nothing happens. It's not exciting, there is very little passion. It's too cautious. I felt lower on Sunday that when I was at Wembley in 1994. At least that day we made a bloody good fist of it.

I remember when you went to Chelsea and you didn't expect to win, lose or draw, but just to be entertained. In fact, that last time that happened for me was at the Leicester game this year. At 3-2 down, I didn't care much for us being humiliated out of the Cup, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then Sheva and Frank made it all good. It was like watching the old chelsea.

The difference is these days, we have so many more talented and skillful players, but none of them have the 'class', that 'special something', that Zola and co brought to the team.

For me, the season is done. I can't afford to waste anymore time and money on this drab and unrewarding team. Of course I will be keeping an eye on things, it's a way of life now, but I cannot expect anything. If we change, then it's a bonus. But whilst Grant and Co are in charge, I can't see it. He is hanging on in a big way. I've stood to one side whilst everyone was saying how well Grant had done, knowing full well that even with the depleted team he has had to work with, we should be eating up the teams outside the so called top five. We hadn't done it against the big guns, and still haven't. Jose beat Man Utd in his first game, Arsenal a few weeks later, and never lost a Cup Final.

I have it on good authority that we can expect to see Rijkaard at the Bridge next year. I hope my source is right, because at the least we will see some serious football. I dont think he will stand for the tantrums and primadonna attitudes of 'stars' like Drogba, and the constant under-achievement of players like SWP and Kalou.

For now, thats all speculation. For now, I'm going to try and dis-engage myself as best I can. Wake me up in May, if you like. It's only a bad dream.

The way I feel right now, the club is worse off for Roman's interest. Sure, he has brought more success to the club than Bates ever could, but something has died a little.

Don't get me wrong, I only feel like this because I love the club so much. When Roman decides he has wasted enough money and the club 'do a Leeds', I'll still be there. Hey, I'll prob be able to afford a season ticket again! But at least it will be an adventure, and exciting.

As for you Richard Micallef, I have to say massive respect. Affording to get to regular games difficult enough for me, and I live and work in London. With tickets at £50 a time each, and the days averaging out at about £200 a time, I prob only get to as many games as you on average. I can only imagine how expensive it must be for you! It's only fair though as fans, plastic or otherwise, we expect to be entertained.

The club seem to think that a win is all that matters. Well, they would, it makes them money at the end of the day. But any fan who left Stamford Bridge in 1999-00 after losing 3-2 to Arsenal having led for 75 mins, only to see a 15 min Kanu hat-trick rob us of victory, would take that over our recent 0-0 against Liverpool any day.

OK rant over. I was going to make a new topic out of this, but this post seemed appropriate.

And yes, I am expecting a backlash something along the lines of 'flakey and ungrateful', but like pretty much everything Chelsea at the moment, I don't care. If it's ok for £130,000 a week players to be like that, it's good enough for me!

When you have been a fan for as long as I have invested as much love and passion, I think you can be entitled to throw the toys out of the pram every once in a while.

[Vig]

I'll never forget Kenyon's face when they presented Avram Grant to the media. A hack asked about his contract and Kenyon looked like a rabbit in the headlights saying "there is no contract" (there wasn't one at the offset). Next Q - what coaching quaklifications has he got....

PRICELESS

[Justin]

Spot on, but I'd have addressed it to a Mr R Abramovich! I always got the feeling that Kenyon backed Jose. But it's Roman's Empire and what he says goes.
Agree with the bit about them being the most boring Chelsea team in living memory. We all know the current team is far more talented than the teams of the past, but those teams at least tried to attack with some vigour and some passion - even if they clearly lacked the ability of the current crop. That makes it all the more frustrating to see such talent barely threaten the opponents goal in 90 minutes. Long bouts of sterile possession football that end up with a pass back to Cech? Yawn!

[ken's electric fence]

If Grant does go can he take PK with him ... please.