Kenyon om Chelsea
Chelseas omstridde vd Peter Kenyon har vid ett ett par tillfällen de senaste dagarna förklarat läget i klubben och delat med sig av funderingar kring klubbfotbollen i allmänhet.
Nedan följer hans kommentarer i oöversatta svar.
Om Chelseas framgångskoncept
“We're building a foundation. I can recall the first conversation I had with Roman Abramovich, before I joined the club, and asked: "Do you want to buy success or build success?" His answer would determine whether or not I would be at Chelsea and he gave me the right answer, which was to build. We will continue to build success over the next 10 years.”
Om Chelseas mål och medel:
'It's pretty simple, everyone understands it at the club and it drives our agenda. Our mission is to be profitable within five years and we are two years into that process. We have spent a lot of money, yes - everything is an investment, though, and it's not the amount of money but whether you spend that money wisely. 'If you look at the £300million or so we have spent, most of that has gone back into football over the past three years. We haven't spent £800m to acquire it [the club] and that money has gone out of the game. A lot of the money we spent on players has gone back into the game, to West Ham, to Lyon - back into circulation.”
Om ryktena på övergångsmarkanden:
“It's a nightmare, but you have to accept it. You'll see in January and next summer, we will be linked with every player and that could be led by player or agent or club.”
Om värvningar och truppen:
"All the players we have bought want to come to Chelsea for the right reasons. We spend more and more time on understanding the character of the player. In the culture we have created, there isn't room for someone who wants to come and pick up a wage. He has to function as a crucial part within the 24-man squad. The picture of us winning the Premier League trophy sums it up - the emotion, the passion around that day was electric.Our recruitment policy is the opposite to that of Real Madrid. We're looking for young, hungry players. We're not about picking a name for a marketing operation, we are about building a team. All football people are keen on Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho and Robinho because they represent in many ways the best of world football, but we're building a team and the team ethic is important. We were very proud when the team that produced the most England players was Chelsea. The core of our acquisition policy is that the core of our team is English. That's important. Squad size is important, too. We need it to be 24 to compete in all competitions. Having 30 or 32 is a waste, so we are very thoughtful about the constitution of our 24. The average age of our squad is 24 - very, very young.”
Om “skandalerna”:
“Some things occurred last season that we're not happy with but we're smart and we can try and make sure it won't happen again. We live in a goldfish bowl and there's no more sensationalism than in the UK press. In every sport, they have the ability to make it like World War Three every week because it sells papers and that's part of the problem. The power of the media is helping to make the game bigger and better, but also making some of the problems we get. You have to move on and we have.”
Om José Mourinho:
“Jose Mourinho is the best manager in modern times. He's kind, he's thoughtful and he's committed. The players love him - they genuinely play for him and there are no divisions. The question of there being no star is ultimately what makes us a successful club.
Om påståendena om Chelseas överlägsenhet:
“I find it humorous to hear that we are dominating after winning one league trophy in 50 years. What we did was upset the normal order of things and bring another dimension to football in England - by breaking up the cartel that has been in existence for the last 12 years.”
Om motståndet från G14 och elitgruppens rättsliga krav om ersättning för spelare på landslagsuppdrag:
“We are members of UEFA's European Club Forum and so is everyone else. Yes, we have the stature to be there - as members of G14 - but, for whatever reason, we are not. It is one of those things. But this is a global club issue and it is right that it is discussed in a wider forum. This has been going on a long time and contrary to what you might think there has been a lot of progress made. But the only way forward is to keep talking, to keep asking the difficult questions and having the difficult conversations."
Om fotboll och tv:
"We should all be looking after how to make the product better. We have got to keep the balance between the number of games on television and ensuring our stadiums are full. But don’t underestimate the importance of television revenue which funded stadia development and, more importantly, funded our ability to attract worldwide players into the game. We never want to reach the doomsday scenario whereby stadiums are empty and we are getting all our revenue from television But we have a great tendency to talk things down - the Premier League is a tremendous product."
