MONEY TALKS

Maybe we should read nothing into Peter Kenyon's departure from Manchester United to Chelsea other than the obvious: that most chief executives offered a broadly similar job on twice the money would take it.

Clearly money is a factor, but it is hard to resist the thought that Kenyon's departure also says a lot about the state of Man Utd as a public company. Under Kenyon, it strove to become respectable in the City, even though 95% of fund managers think the football industry is a bad financial joke. Respectability has not followed.

The shareholder register is still dominated by wealthy individuals and the takeover speculation has not stopped. Suspicious minds will sense further change. In truth, there is very little point in Man Utd being a public company. It has no need to access the capital markets and sooner or later one or more of those wealthy individuals - three Irish multi-millionaires, the Big Brother creator and a couple of Americans at the last count - will surely want some fun. With that little lot in the background, maybe Kenyon's move has not just financial, but strategic, logic: at least with Abramovich you know who you will be working for this time next year.