Kenyon highest paid executive in Premier League

According to English Chelsea's club accounts, Peter Kenyon is the highest paid chief executive in the Premier League. The club's latest accounts, which will not be publicly available for about a week, will show that Kenyon received a pay raise of more than GBP 100,000 last year.

That puts his salary for 2005-06 at nearly GBP 1.7 million, GBP 400,000 more than his closest competitor, David Gill, chief executive of English Manchester United.

Gill succeeded Kenyon at Manchester United in 2003 and earned almost GBP 1.3 million in salary and pension payments last year, up GBP 175,000 from the previous year.

Kenyon's time at Chelsea has been controversial but well rewarded. He received GBP 2.68 million in 2004-05, which included GBP 2.4 million for leaving Manchester United.

The salary is large for a club of Chelsea's size but Kenyon will argue that he earned his money as long as the club breaks even by 2009-10.

Kenyon changed the club's kit manufacturer, Umbro, to Adidas and also signed a contract with Samsung for a shirt sponsorship that is worth an additional GBP 6 million a year. He will use those factors as signs of progress towards achieving the club's goal of breaking even.

Kenyon also has to handle contract negotiations with players whose earnings are much larger than his.

"That's why the job's difficult," he said yesterday.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.