Don't drag the big four down with new rules, warns Chelsea chief executive Kenyon

chief executive Peter Kenyon has challenged the Barclays Premier League also-rans to raise their game, insisting the top four should not be forced to give other teams a helping hand via FIFA’s controversial ‘six plus five’ plans.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is keen to level the Premier League playing field by implementing a scheme by the start of the 2012 season which would limit teams to five foreign players.

Although Chelsea are in the enviable position of being able to cherry-pick top talent from around the world thanks to owner Roman Abramovich’s billions, Kenyon declared the onus is on those teams lagging behind his club, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool to catch up.

Asked whether he would like the tag of ‘big four’ to be a thing of the past with the emergence of other clubs, he responded: ‘No, because we’re one of the four. But seriously, if you look across Europe, other major leagues are dominated by one, two or three teams, so it’s too easy to say this is just a Premier League issue.’

Blatter’s plan to limit foreigners was given short shrift by Kenyon. He said: ‘It is something that as a club we have moved to distance ourselves from.

‘I don’t think there is any appetite for it across Europe. It will not solve the problem. We shouldn’t dumb down and use artificial ways to get an even platform.

‘Other teams in England should be knocking on our door; teams like Tottenham, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Everton. It’s not about us coming down to their level.’

Currently in Kuala Lumpur on the third leg of Chelsea’s Asia tour, Kenyon also expressed his desire for the Premier League’s much-maligned plan for a 39th game staged on foreign soil not to be dismissed out of hand, despite relatively modest attendances in their first two games in China.

‘It was really only a question of evaluating and asking how the league can reach its international supporter base,’ said Kenyon.

‘There’s a real appetite around the world for the Premier League. It was always only in an evaluation stage and that’s what everybody signed up to do, not to go ahead and do it.

‘But just because it’s a bit revolutionary, I don’t think we should say it’s necessarily a bad idea.’