Break Even Target and Abramovich 

Kenyon predicts that Chelsea Football Club will break-even by 2011 but if the need for more funds were required by Roman Abramovich, the tap would be turned on again.  What was also clear is that the break-even target was set by Kenyon himself - not Abramovich: 

'We set ourselves a target of breaking even in 2010 and I think it will be [achieved in] 2010 to 2011,' said Kenyon. 

'We are very clear about achieving targets of nil-funding from the owner by the end of this season and that is a huge step forward.' 

'However, if the need arises, extending is not a problem.  It is not a question of Roman not putting money in, of course he will if necessary. Nil-funding has been a target for the business and that is what we are aiming for. 

'The long-term plan here was always that we needed to be non-loss making and self-funding. All that the current global financial situation means is that you look at ways of accelerating that because that is right for Chelsea. 

'This is not a diktat by Roman. He is absolutely committed and passionate about the club, but he is also a very good businessman which is why he had enough money to put 600 million into the club in the first place. 

Drogba

Drogba will not be leaving (in January at least) although again, no denial nor confirmation of the supposed meeting with Inter last week:

"Didier is under contract with us for the next 18 months,"

"He will be going nowhere unless we agree. I am concerned about the reports only because it is unsettling. It is as much down to us as anybody else. I don't know whether he did or didn't meet with anyone. It is not relevant. Didier has been injured, then banned and he's back after the Bolton game.”

“He is a big player. He is important for us and we want him back because he is one of those players who can make a difference. But Didier will be going nowhere in January."

"I don't think we will be doing any business in the January transfer window because the type of players we are looking for are not available," Kenyon said.  

"Another reason is that we have still got some long-term injuries coming back and in January or February, Chelsea will have more player availability."

"We put our squad together in the summer and we are concentrating on the squad we have and making sure our players get back from injury,"

"On that basis, we think we have got a good enough squad to improve on last season."

'We have not finalised whether we will do anything or not, but it is all about what we want to do and whether those players are available?"

Again, Kenyon re-iterating that we are do not plan to do anything major re transfers in January.  No denial of course and he is quite right when he says that the type of players we will need will not be available - but he doth protest too much in my book!  If Scolari identifies someone we will bid in my opinion.

Summer Transfers 

“I think well be pretty busy in the summer, but that’s the right time to be busy.” he said. 

So there could be a bit of a turnaround?

Scolari

"I don't think anyone would deny we've had some disappointing results and [Arsenal] is a bit raw," he said.

"But it's not yet Christmas and we're top of the league. You get weeks like that and we're not used to it too often, thank goodness, so it's not something we want to get used to. He [Scolari] has made a huge impact on the way and style that we play."

Cobham and the Scouting Network 

The reduction and re-structuring of our scouting network had nothing to do with the current economic climate  but the fact that we needed to be more effective and also bear in mind FIFA rule changes: 

'We have invested very heavily in our training facilities at Cobham and the Academy and on top of that, for the last three years we have been building an international scouting network and that is the right thing to do. 

'Irrespective of the financial environment, we were carrying out a normal review and given some of the rule changes in Europe, we decided we need to focus differently over the next three years, concentrating more on the areas we believe players will come from. 

'That means fewer countries and as a consequence of that, we didn't need so many scouts. That clearly has positive financial implications because we don't need so many people."

"With some of the rule changes in Europe, on Under-18 transfers, or '6+5' [FIFA quotas on home-grown players] or transfer rules on Under-16s being tightened up we said we needed to focus differently in the next three years."

Academy 

One of the biggest challenges that Chelsea Football Club have taken on in recent years is that of attempting to construct a production line that is capable of churning out our own comparatively cheap talent.   

Our youth team reached the cup final for the first time in decades last season and recently beat Man Utd at Old Trafford just last week.  The reserves have already beaten Arsenal away with a side that consisted of 7 of the players that had beaten Sheff Utd and Wigan in the league cup. 

Still a way to go – but so far, so good: 

'The Academy is and continues to be at the heart of our future development of Chelsea players,' continued Kenyon. 

'We saw Stoch last night, and [Michael] Mancienne is out at Wolves as part of his development and our youth team played against Manchester United last week, and there were nine British boys in that group. 

'This is about taking young boys and progressing them into the first team, in any club, that is a major achievement, at Chelsea you have to be that much bigger and that much better, so it is a long-term project.' 

Stadium 

No change here.  To date the preference is to stay at the Bridge and expand rather than move.  But who knows what will happen.  I’ll be pleased when we know one way or the other. 

'At this moment in time, we are here and that is not going to change for at least the next two years. We are here for the next five years even if we decided something today and you have to build a business model around that.' 

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