Peter Kenyon
Peter Kenyon is a British businessman who has served as the chief executive of English Premier League football clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, where he has been involved in contentious transfer dealings.
Early life
Kenyon was educated in Tameside at West Hill School and King's School, Macclesfield.Career
Kenyon was a director and chief executive of sportswear firm Umbro.Manchester United
In 1997, Kenyon took up the role of deputy chief executive at the club he supported as a boy, Manchester United, 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 that the club dismissed their rigid wage structure and spent large sums of money on players such as Juan Sebastián Verón and Rio Ferdinand.Chelsea
In 2003, Kenyon moved to Chelsea, which was seen as controversial as he had previously proclaimed himself as a lifelong Manchester United supporter.At Chelsea, Kenyon was involved in high-profile incidents, including an attempt to persuade the manager of the England national team Sven-Göran Eriksson to become manager of Chelsea, and the tapping-up of former Arsenal and England left-back Ashley Cole.
On 16 September 2009, Chelsea announced that Kenyon would be leaving his chief executive role at Chelsea at the end of October.