KENYON UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

If the mood at the last United shareholders' meeting is an indicator of the supporters' feelings then Kenyon will not be missed among the 65,000 home fans who fill Old Trafford on match day. Shareholders United, the organisation that represents fans who have small investments in the club, were furious with him for paying out a special dividend to appease the City instead of reinvesting the money in the club.

Kenyon might be a lifelong United fan but he is also a businessman and there will be a nagging doubt among supporters that financially they are no longer the biggest show in town.

Roman Abramovich, with the help of football agent Pini Zahavi, believes he has got the right man to help build a Chelsea capable of conquering Europe. Kenyon, who earned more than £600,000 a year, has assessed where the real money lies and joined a club with huge resources, but his management will be under closer scrutiny than ever before. This summer, Kenyon should have been triumphant at having regained the Premiership title in time to take his club on a groundbreaking tour of the United States that would earn the club £5 million in fees and strengthen ties with sponsors such as Nike and Budweiser. However, there were doubts about how well United had fared in the £25 million deal to take David Beckham to Real Madrid and then, on the day of United's trip to America, disaster struck in negotiations to sign Ronaldinho.

The United chief executive had also been criticised the year before for his willingness to agree a British transfer record £30 million deal with Leeds for Rio Ferdinand just before the market collapsed. The sourness which tainted negotiations for players such as Rennes' Julien Escude and Sunderland's David Bellion suggested that other clubs found United's approach in transfers heavy-handed.

A former chief operating officer of sportswear company Umbro, Kenyon will take the credit for the £310 million, 13-year deal with Nike that began last year. However the club's subscription channel, MUTV, of which United own a third share, has not been a great success, with losses last year of around £700,000.