Former Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon says Sir Alex Ferguson was inspiration for one ‘special’ move at Stamford Bridge, ‘best money we spent’…

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Peter Kenyon, who has worked at both Chelsea and Manchester United as CEO, has been speaking about his time at the Blues and the club’s success.

Kenyon was at Chelsea from 2003–2009, helping to transform them into a powerhouse of English football.

During his time as CEO, the club won two Premier League titles, as well as a few domestic cups. It is the kind of success that Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali will be hoping to achieve.

Right now, though, they are far from doing that. Things have not been going well on the pitch, with Chelsea fans recently holding a protest against the club’s ownership.

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Sir Alex Ferguson inspired Chelsea to hire Jose Mourinho

Before joining Chelsea, Kenyon worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

There, Kenyon learnt a lesson from the Scotsman that would inspire him and Chelsea to hire Jose Mourinho as manager.

Speaking on Business of Sport, he said: “We had good players who had never won anything, didn’t know what it was like to win. The one thing I learned from Ferguson was a great quote: ‘Until you’ve won, you don’t know what it’s like to win and once you’ve won, you never want to lose’. That’s what triggered getting Mourinho.

“In some ways, Mourinho was the best money we spent. The best money because he laid the cultural foundations. We won the league in the first year, we did the double. He was the first of that next generation of coaches. His suaveness, his coolness, his irreverence, being the Special One.”

A lot has changed since then. As opposed to challenging for the Premier League title, Chelsea are only fighting for Champions League qualification now.

They are fifth presently, which may be enough to get them back in to Europe’s elite competition next season.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
3	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	27	14	6	7	44	33	11	48
4	Man CityManchester City	27	14	5	8	53	37	16	47
5	ChelseaChelsea	27	13	7	7	52	36	16	46
6	NewcastleNewcastle	27	13	5	9	46	38	8	44
7	B’mouthBournemouth	27	12	7	8	45	32	13	43

If Chelsea want to get back to where they were in Kenyon’s day, though, then a lot needs to change, including their recruitment. Former Blues defender Scott Minto recently spoke about Chelsea’s owners, claiming that they have not spent their money well in transfer windows.

Jose Mourinho’s record at Chelsea

It is definitely not far-fetched to suggest that Mourinho was the best bit of business that Chelsea did when Kenyon was their CEO.

Without the arrival of the Special One, the Blues may never have become the winning machine that they are today, or at least were before Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over.

In his first stint at the club, Chelsea won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup. He oversaw 185 games, winning 124, drawing 28 and losing just 23.

Mourinho was able to lure Michael Ballack and so many other top players to Stamford Bridge during his time there. Kenyon and Co did a great job bringing him in.