Term-X

He's a marketing man & commentators worst nightmare, why doesn't he just go by a nickname like the Brazilians do..

No, the top clubs will not be 'producing' English talent anytime soon, it's got nothing to do with managerial instability. We'll continue poaching players from other clubs, if we want to compete. Whilst the smaller clubs will develop them and sell them off for a premium; and they can, because they're the only ones doing it. You're supporting an English club, so show some respect. You must have hated every second of being a Chelsea fan when we had Ash, Lamps, JT, J. Cole etc representing us. It's so important for the culture of english football for the TOP clubs to have representation.

Age aside, Shaw is one of the best LB's in the country (Gary Neville and co voted him above Baines & Azpi), we need to replace Ashley for the long-term, and we're low on home-grown players. When is the next 'proven' English talent going to come along for that exact position?. We're an english club, so of course it's important to have a solid core of them, for the culture. It's easy to say that now.

It's not a case of 'making your mind up'.. I said we should be willing to roll the dice, the club can get it wrong sometimes though.. scared away by the pressure a fee like that puts on a player.

'Although' he would have gone for a premium anyway, United being in the position they are in.. the only chance they had was to blow up the transfer fee, taking us out of the race.

We won't, none of the top English clubs 'produce' English talent, you are living in a fantasy land. THAT'S WHY they are going at such a premium.. because the small clubs know we're not producing them.

And?, £15m isn't a lot to a club of this size (although it puts pressure on the player), wages were the problem (Cahill/Matic/Azpi/oscar etc all under 100k).

If you're a small side and manage to develop an English talent, you can run an entire club on selling them off. The thing is, THIS is the only way top teams will take English talent to the 'next level', because of the huge fee.. they will persist with Shaw even on off-days. If Bertrand or whoever has a bad game, that's that.. it's all about the return on investment, but there has to be investment.

Buying random cheap players so I can then sell my two best 'Lionel Genius' & 'The King'. I'm done with this game, so may as well give away 2 great players for someone else to enjoy. Makes sense, no point them going to waste.

Chiellini should have disrupted play and left the field, let one of the other officials take a good look at that bite; The ref just ran away from him..

They'll need new t-shirts..

Lifes too short for German football, so I can't dissect Rodriguez for you (a player we've never been linked with). I'd much rather we signed the second best natural left back in the country, and maintain the english core. When the rumours first started the wages were aggrandised, my bets on 75k, fair play to United if so.

He'll be on 75k pw according to Jake Cohen Drop in the bucket indeed. Transfer fee was never the issue, it was always the wages that were 'supposed' to be the problem. Great deal for United, we're cowards, let's put this into perspective.. Jon Obi Mikel - 75,000 Luke Shaw - 75,000

It could be a massive risk discarding Courtois, only to then splash £20-25m in a few years on .. who exactly?, is it worth 'missing the boat' for an extra few seasons of Cech. Courtois said this in 2011.. "Chelsea’s goalkeeping coach told me he doesn’t know how much time Cech can play at the top level,' the 19-year-old told Spanish radio station Onda Cero. I know he has problems in his knees and on his back"

Non-fiction >>>> fiction

It's not an exact formula (nothing ever is) but the dots are still there, even from his time at Madrid, he showed up in Manchester sliding around on his knees in a suit. There is enough from his two spells here, at Inter and Porto to piece a theory together.

. The Special One - wore suits . The "Man of War" (circa 07) - shaves his head because we signed bad eggs in the summer, wore a tracksuit against Rosenberg and got sacked . Return of the Special One - wore suits & designer gear non-stop in italy . The Only One - wore suits . The Only One - stopped wearing suits towards the end of his bitter tenure in Madrid . The Happy One - wears a suit for his return to Chelsea and the following games . The Grumpy One - results aren't great, we're behind in the table, he throws on a generic club tracksuit, then shaves his head.

Here's the video, for those that wanna see it...

Interesting. Not surprised they fined him tbh, we should do the same. No big european club has their managers in jumpers/tracksuits for important games, especially when the manager is such a big personality and represents the club itself. In italy it's part of the culture to dress well, Mourinho was hungry for success after being sacked, he was always in suits and designer gear over there.

He threw on a club tracksuit for the two biggest games of the season, the most formal occasions for a manager, Champions league quarter & semi-finals. IF there was such a policy (i.e wear Hacket, adidas or Jaguar at this particular time) those games rule out such a theory. Ancelotti used to wear our official club 'suits' rather than the informal training jumpers, so Mourinho is rejecting suits outright, let there be no mistake here. Mourinho was sacked in a tracksuit, he wore a tracksuit in his last game for Chelsea. When things are not going well.. the suits disappear, and reappear for charity games, ironically. Mourinho shaves his head when he's not happy (Summer 2007 Ben haim, sidwell unveilings & the sheva situation), and again this season when things were looking grim. In hard times, the hair and the suits go.

Bir_CFC's post above pretty much hits the nail on the head. 'Regardless of what this all means in relation to Mourinho's mindset', he should care about his image because it's Chelsea's image. A youthful looking Mourinho in a fresh Armani suit, looking to take on the world is better for Chelsea's stock. A comfortable guy in his 50's who's just thrown on an official club tracksuit, isn't quite the look a club of this size should be represented by. If you read Steve Jobs' autobiography, you'd know 'for example' that he wore those turtle necks so they'd become iconic, nothing to do with being comfortable. He once refused to wear an oxygen mask because he thought it was ugly and didn't like the design.

Silicon Valley in general has never been suit & tie fixated, Steve Jobs used to walk around One infinate loop barefoot.

Love it when simple minded people 'chip in'.. I only ever look at the grand scheme of things, wrote a short essay on behavioural psychology in this thread a while back, don't see why I should repeat myself.

I guess Carlo Ancelotti needs to grow up then. I'm sure he'd be far more comfortable in a trucksuit and slippers at his age, but no.. he's a professional, keeps it classy..

Psychology 101