'Chelsea Football Club announces that Ron Gourlay, after 10 successful years at the club including five as Chief Executive, is leaving Chelsea in order to pursue new business opportunities.

 

The club, and in particular the owner and directors, wish to thank Ron for his many years of service to Chelsea and support his desire to seek new challenges. Ron’s efforts have helped the club to achieve its position as one of the leading football clubs in the world.

 

Pending additional appointments, Chairman Bruce Buck and Director Marina Granovskaia will assume additional executive responsibilities.

 

Ron said: ‘It has been a privilege to have played a role in the club’s considerable achievements both on and off the pitch over the last 10 years, but I feel the time is right to move on to other challenges. I would like to thank Mr Abramovich, the directors, the manager and players and all the staff for their support during my time at the club, and wish them much continued success in the future.’'

 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/10/club-statement.html

 

Thoughts?

Edited October 22, 201411 yr by RichardCFC

Where do I send my CV?

Edited October 22, 201411 yr by Veeria

Interesting... Marina Granovskaia seems to be becoming an ever more large influence at the club but I thought she was involved at Vitesse and the transition of their recent take over? 

 

I wonder if we'll be seeing Michael Emenalo moving to a new position in the near future? 

 

After a shakey start taking over from Kenyon, Gourlay did manage to secure some pretty big commercial deals for the club. 

 

As always, you do have to wonder what's been going on behind the scenes. 

It's often hard to tell what's happening behind the scenes, and I moan (usually without basis) about backroom politics and the dealings of the super-wealthy as much as anyone. That said, the last five years have seen us recover from a brush with on-pitch mediocrity, win the Champions League, re-employ the world's best manager and transform our business model into a sustainable one while still being able to buy some of the world's best players. It is undeniable that we have had dark moments and have treated certain brilliant individuals with completely unwarranted apathy or contempt, but from everything I can tell, he did a damn good job, and the club is in a far stronger position than it was when he joined.

 

Does anyone with more of a clue about the business world have any idea who we are planning to replace Gourlay with, and what the repercussions might be for the club?

Not sure if we truly know enough to understand how much of an impact will be felt once he goes. Its odd that he is going now, when things are the best they have been in a bit.

Hopefully whoever is in his shoes are an improvement.

Hasnt Kenyon just joined A.Madrid as a consultant or something. Maybe he is on his way over to Spain.

Deserves credit for helping turn us around after the Kenyon debacle. Timing makes sense as we're very much on the front foot and stable in both a footballing and commercial sense. Wish him all the best

I've never forgiven or forgotten the shameless c**t for what he had to say following the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo and the appointment of the Fat Spanish Gay Icon With The Dodgy Beard. For anyone who's either forgotten or never heard it before, this is what Gourlay had to say, published in the QPR Matchday Programme:
 

Replacing Di Matteo with Rafael Benitez has proved the right move, says Chelsea chief exec

 

“I would like to thank Roberto Di Matteo for all he did after taking over last March and we will never forget the huge contribution he made to this club’s history.

“However, the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary to keep the club moving in the right direction ahead of a vitally important part of the season.

“Rafael Benitez subsequently joined us as interim manager. He has significant experience at the highest level of football and has come in to immediately help deliver our objectives.

“We still have the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup to fight for and we face Swansea in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semi-finals here at the Bridge next week. Our aim is to remain as competitive as possible and challenge strongly on all four fronts.â€

Good riddance to the fat c**t.

I've never forgiven or forgotten the shameless c**t for what he had to say following the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo and the appointment of the Fat Spanish Gay Icon With The Dodgy Beard. For anyone who's either forgotten or never heard it before, this is what Gourlay had to say, published in the QPR Matchday Programme:

 

Good riddance to the fat c**t.

 

There's not a single incorrect, dodgy or controversial thing in that innocuous, bland piece.

 

Fact is he was part of bringing Jose back to the club and for that he deserves far better than your attacks.

There's not a single incorrect, dodgy or controversial thing in that innocuous, bland piece.

 

Fact is he was part of bringing Jose back to the club and for that he deserves far better than your attacks.

Seriously? The change which Gourlay stated was "necessary to keep the club moving in the right direction" consisted of (a) sacking Roberto Di Matteo a mere matter of months after he'd won the Champions League and the FA Cup, and replacing him with Benitez, an appointment that was guaranteed to be every bit as unpopular as it turned out to be.

Seriously? The change which Gourlay stated was "necessary to keep the club moving in the right direction" consisted of (a) sacking Roberto Di Matteo a mere matter of months after he'd won the Champions League and the FA Cup, and replacing him with Benitez, an appointment that was guaranteed to be every bit as unpopular as it turned out to be.

 

Big picture. Hiring Benitez was sh*t but led to the Europa League win, Champions League football and the return of Jose. Lord knows what would have happened if we had stuck with Di Matteo, but my personal view is that he's a very average manager who we shouldn't have hired permanently to be honest (maybe Gourlay deserves stick for that).

 

That is unless you don't think the club has been moving in the right direction lately.

Edited October 22, 201411 yr by Blue Daze

Its odd that he is going now, when things are the best they have been in a bit.

 

 

I suppose that makes it the best time to leave, he's not leaving the club in turmoil... We seem pretty clear about our objectives, transfer strategy etc. 

 

All the big sponsorship deals are in place, possibly even next seasons shirt sponsor (Turkish Airlines) if rumours are to be believed. 

 

Whoever comes in (if anyone) isn't going to have any particularly large or pressing tasks to attend to... and I suppose if he isn't replaced straight away or at all, it's another high wage off the wage bill for FFP. 

Edited October 22, 201411 yr by ForeverCarefree

That "very average manager" won us the Champions league and the FA cup to be fair!

I think long term there will be a replacement but short term you would think that most things are already in place.

For anyone who's either forgotten or never heard it before, this is what Gourlay had to say, published in the QPR Matchday Programme:

 

Heh, I bet that was well-received. I also noticed that he was looking forward to the League Cup semi against Swansea...

That said, do you think that the club has made progress over the past few years?

 

There is no denying that losing Robbie D hurt (and still hurts now), and I don't think many people here are going to defend the decision to hire Benitez, but I see us competing for trophies and signing world-class players like Hazard, Oscar, Fabregas and Costa while turning a profit, and I feel ungrateful not giving the board some credit for this. That doesn't take away from the injustice we dished out to di Matteo, and I can understand why you're unwilling to forgive that particular decision, but it could be worse - we could be Arsenal!

 

Obviously it's hard to identify exactly who did what when such things take place behind closed doors, but it seems unfair to criticise Gourlay for the things that went badly during his time at the club without also giving him credit for the things that went well.

Big picture. Hiring Benitez was sh*t but led to the Europa League win, Champions League football and the return of Jose. Lord knows what would have happened if we had stuck with Di Matteo, but my personal view is that he's a very average manager who we probably shouldn't have hired long term to be honest.

 

That is unless you don't think the club has been moving in the right direction lately.

That's not the point. Benitez was massively the wrong move by Gourlay and the rest of the board. Remember that season? I don't go as far as some, those Chelsea fans who refuse to acknowledte that we ever won the Europa League because of who was in charge at the time.

 

And now you're describing Robbie Di Matteo as a "very average manager". Who knows how that particular season and subsequent seasons may have gone had the board not panicked and replaced a bona fide Chelsea legend with a Liverpool reject who'd been unemployed for the previous two years.

 

It took me years to forgive Sexton for breaking up the early '70s squad, and I'm f**ked if I'm going to either forgive or forget Gourlay for saddling us with Benitez for a season.

That's not the point. Benitez was massively the wrong move by Gourlay and the rest of the board. Remember that season? I don't go as far as some, those Chelsea fans who refuse to acknowledte that we ever won the Europa League because of who was in charge at the time.

 

Those fans sound like pillocks to be honest. No-one likes Rafa but ultimately he wasn't the worst coach in the world. The worst thing about his time here apart from some of the really sh*tty results was that crap chant some supporters came up with. 

 

I personally think you have to judge a person by their entire tenure and not just one move.

 

 

And now you're describing Robbie Di Matteo as a "very average manager". 

 

What would you describe him as? Legend of a player, great bloke but tactically he's hardly one of the best around is he?

 

That "very average manager" won us the Champions league and the FA cup to be fair!

 

Just as I think it's unfair to judge Gourlay by one or two things from about five years of service, I think it's equally myopic to judge Di Matteo on a couple of cup competitions. But that's a topic for another day.

What would you describe him as? Legend of a player, great bloke but tactically he's hardly one of the best around is he?

 

Ahem... this is the man who broke Pep Guardiola - it took him a year to recover!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2584158/Guardiola-I-left-Barcelona-I-not-motivate-players-defeat-against-Chelsea-final-straw.html

Those fans sound like pillocks to be honest. No-one likes Rafa but ultimately he wasn't the worst coach in the world. The worst thing about his time here apart from some of the really sh*tty results was that crap chant some supporters came up with. 

 

I personally think you have to judge a person by their entire tenure and not just one move.

 

 

What would you describe him as? Legend of a player, great bloke but tactically he's hardly one of the best around is he?

 

 

Just as I think it's unfair to judge Gourlay by one or two things from about five years of service, I think it's equally myopic to judge Di Matteo on a couple of cup competitions. But that's a topic for another day.

At the risk of repeating myself, it depends how easy you find it to forgive and to forget. The appointment of Benitez still rankles, every bit as much as the sacking of Robbie Di Matteo, whose "couple of cup competitions" included the clubs first Champions League trophy, let's not forget.

 

How would I describe him? At the time he was an up and coming manager, still learning his trade. I would also describe his sacking by Gourlay et al as not only grossy unfair but as a major career setback. Of course it's impossible to know how things might have panned out had the board stuck with him, rather than comling to the incredibly knee-jerk conclusion that Benitez was in any way shape or form the right man for the job. Biut it would have been nice to be given the opportunity to find out

At the risk of repeating myself, it depends how easy you find it to forgive and to forget. The appointment of Benitez still rankles, every bit as much as the sacking of Robbie Di Matteo, whose "couple of cup competitions" included the clubs first Champions League trophy, let's not forget.

 

How would I describe him? At the time he was an up and coming manager, still learning his trade. I would also describe his sacking by Gourlay et al as not only grossy unfair but as a major career setback. Of course it's impossible to know how things might have panned out had the board stuck with him, rather than comling to the incredibly knee-jerk conclusion that Benitez was in any way shape or form the right man for the job. Biut it would have been nice to be given the opportunity to find out

 

I've moved past the Benitez debacle. I can put it into context of it being a bit of short-term pain in a much larger plan. What I'll never forget is some fans wanting us to lose games then to force his exit sooner or simply not supporting the players on the pitch.

 

Robbie will always be a legend but if you look at what he did objectively then I'm not entirely sure there's any evidence of him being anything more than an average manager. I think his best move was simply letting the 'old guard' take charge and let them play their game. There's a very good reason why he's at Schalke now.

 

Anyway back to the point of this thread, Gourlay leaves his position with the club in the best state it's been in for almost a decade.

I am not sure how I feel about it, the same with Kenyon..which is not much really... both were in charge of the club through our most successful periods so I supose they did a good job.

 

However are they just figure heads ? Surely Roman makes the big decisions ? and the likes of Samsung sponsor us for who we are not because of a chief exec.

 

They ran the day to day I assume. Which I cant comment on how well the club is run internally.  I thought Kenyon at least tried to do more for the fans (fans forum, freezing prices are tow that spring to mind)

I've moved past the Benitez debacle. I can put it into context of it being a bit of short-term pain in a much larger plan. What I'll never forget is some fans wanting us to lose games then to force his exit sooner or simply not supporting the players on the pitch.

 

Robbie will always be a legend but if you look at what he did objectively then I'm not entirely sure there's any evidence of him being anything more than an average manager. I think his best move was simply letting the 'old guard' take charge and let them play their game. There's a very good reason why he's at Schalke now.

 

Anyway back to the point of this thread, Gourlay leaves his position with the club in the best state it's been in for almost a decade.

That I do agree with. Wanting Benitiz out is/was one thing, wanting the team to lose was ridiculous in the extreme. What Robbie did, and what Robbie might have gone on to do is something we'll never know. What Benitez did, the achievement of losing to QPR to name but one of a string of embarrassing results, is written in the history books.

 

Still, the thankfully short-live Benitez era is in the past now. He and Di Matteo are both gone, and we have to look to the future. Back on topic, I have no more regrets at the departure of Ron Gourlay than I did at that of Peter Kenyon.

Gourlay the man who fired Carlo as he exited the post match presser at Goodison

good riddance imo

I'm with General on this one

I am not sure how I feel about it, the same with Kenyon..which is not much really... both were in charge of the club through our most successful periods so I supose they did a good job.

 

However are they just figure heads ? Surely Roman makes the big decisions ? and the likes of Samsung sponsor us for who we are not because of a chief exec.

 

They ran the day to day I assume. Which I cant comment on how well the club is run internally.  I thought Kenyon at least tried to do more for the fans (fans forum, freezing prices are tow that spring to mind)

 

Ticket prices have been frozen for the last few seasons under Gourlay as well.