Kostas

Wait we signed this guy? Is he a proper midfielder or a variant of an attacking midfielder/ wide forward/ second striker like the bunch we already have?

Not quite. Taking one of the foreigners' spot and earning wages which for 99% of his stay did not match his role in the squad are simplistic yet mention-worthy factors that are as good as the one you base your current argument on.

He's one of the very few footballers that should write a book on their careers. The fact that he managed to last 6 years at a top 5 / top 10 club is an incredible achievement and one of the wonders of modern football.

Can we get a Salomon Kalou departs thread in the MHS? I think we had similar topics in the past.

Isn't that how these things also worked in the past? I think instead of one huge pay off we kept paying Ancelotti his agreed wages until he got hired by PSG.

I'm sure someone will think of something better but there's beauty in the simplicity of the reaction

There should have never been a first

Aren't you a treat to have a conversation with? I will not have being called a bigot and anti-Semitic due to a post promoting skepticism. Reported and the first person to join my ignore list since mid2010. Don't give up your "crusade" as the supporters of Illuminati bs have to have someone to maintain their retarded debates. Your laughable rant on international "rankings" (particularly the Democracy one) and your recession dig at the shithole I live in only serve to underline what a waste of time discussing with you was.

So you would agree that if we assume that the coach is not pivotal in transfer decisions having managerial stability becomes less of an issue?

So you assume bigotry anywhere you feel like? Do point out in any of my 2 posts implied reference to nationality/religion or any other kind of anti-semetic sentiments. Your being presumptuous and frankly offensive will manage not only to lower the level of the discussion (which I see you don't mind) but also to get ignored in whatever genuine on-topic point you are trying to make. Playing the "anti-semite" card is much more sickening than anything I've read in this thread.

If the unsustainable argument is about the managerial pay-offs our accounts are encumbered with each year that can be dealt with smarter contracts and less impulse moves. You believe maintaining the backroom staff (apart from the manager) to be more important than maintaining the people that are in the Football Board? I don't think that's even arguable. While the argument about a long-term manager being beneficial to young players is true you have to keep in mind the hypocrisy of the whole young players issue at Chelsea. The last player who managed to genuinely break his way into the team had more negative posts in his thread this season than Torres and the one before him is considered by some to be the midfield equivalent of Kalou and even more think he should be treated as one. Besides while it is widely considered to be the case, the career-wise well-being of the players who are trying to be a real part of the team does not equal the well being of the club and thus should not represent an end in itself. RDM was initially appointed as a stop-gap. After the contract announcement that ceased to be true on an official level but as I said in the past it will take a tremendous step up in quality for my skepticism to be gone. On many levels Hazard's transfer was and will represent a more important sign for the club's future than RDM's contract. Edit: The starting over factor (which is your main/strongest point) was but shackles that the club (the owner?) has been forcing onto the "permanent" manager. Once those shackles were removed we saw tremendous improvement that brought us to previous levels of quality (see Hiddink's and RDM's few months).

If our managerial merry-go-round keeps damaging the club while it wins leagues and cups in contrast to Arsenal's philosophy then so be it. We had a man who enjoyed stability at a probably more important position than the managers and was brought to implement a specific philosophy. He had control over the 2 things that shape a clubs visible future: the Academy and the scouting network. I don't remember much of a revolt when we lost that stability yet we constantly go nuts over the risk of losing stop gap managers like Scolari, Ancelotti, AVB and Di Matteo.

You're asking whether I believe huge capital holders and investment groups have any control? Are we going to question that money can equal power? While their influence may be overstated ( in comparison to the 19th century when they probably were new Medicis) I do, in fact, believe that the interests of those funds and of similar groups shape events and trends on a higher scale and can be (if wisely) used as a reference point to how accumulated capital equals control over resources in importance in the modern world. Not sure why you get defensive about the Semitic side as I've made no mention of it in my post and would appreciate the level of the discussion staying above that.

This is a quite good talk on that idea

Uhm yeah and that was even looking past image-posts (which you didn't abuse during your first stay here).

Hardly a grudge. You're just the regular whose contributions I rate the least.

You're not doing that member any favours with such comparisons..

I switched to PC games at a fairly young age and never looked back.

Oh and LDN, my reasoning was simple

Yeah I thought that may have been an obstacle. Oh well... pointlessly discussing procedures to no end is what keeps Democracies running

It's not an actual argument but more of an idea for when/if the next elections for the mod team are held. For the record, while I'm 100% certain about my choice I doubt I'd bother to make it public for the sake of it.

How so? Wouldn't discussing the candidates rather than the voting progress be better? LDN leading by a landslide may have been largely expected but actually seeing it while the voting is ongoing may have discouraged some "alternative" votes from undecided members.

I somehow escaped that hype due to being absorbed by football fairly early and never owning a PS2

It's actually interesting how this confirms children are the most gullible customers. As you of all the things I remember myself doing (quite a few listed in this thread) I'm glad/proud of only the active experiences.