Dressing Room Harmony

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Its sad that we are losing our once strong African/French contingent. It really is the beginning of a new era.

It's just sad that they are nearly all gone..

Time for the Spanish, Belgian and Brazillian contingent!

[Spike 12,049]

The problem with Belgium is you have the Flemish speaking North and the French south. I think de Bruyne is Flemish while Courtois sounds French. I'm not sure about Lukaku or the Hazard Bro's.

It's not the same as Torres asking Mata to come over. There's a very remote chance that due to language barriers they may not get along as well as expected. There are precedent's for this in other sports, especially cycling where the French speaking Belgian Phillipe Gilbert had a very rocky relationship with his team mate and Flemish Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck...

How dare you forget German speaking Belgium! YOU SHALL BE HUNG FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAINST THE SERENE AND MOST BEAUTIFUL KINGDOM OF BELGIUM!

Orange - Flemish/Dutch

Red - French

Green - German

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

I don't think the club takes the harmony factor into any major consideration when signing players. It's probably more like, "This guy is quick and tricky and clever. He won't cost us too much, either. Oh, and by the way, he should get along well with player X on our team." You know, they probably think about it, but it's probably nothing more than just a bonus. I would say that our recent apparent trend of signing Belgian, Spanish and Brazilian players is more down to the fact that these countries are currently producing some of the best talents in the world.

[Term-X 7,891]

This theory is impossible to disprove, nobody knows the inner workings of the club, unless Ron Gourlay has an account on Talk Chelsea. It’s an interpretation that it‘s taken into consideration as part of the overall process. The Thorgan Hazard transfer is the most obvious example though, even without confirmation we all know why that went through. At a club where the manager changes every year, it helps if you have a strong dressing room.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

it may be something they do with the younger player. takes alot to adjust to a new country,more so if young and not that far removed or previously living at home with parents,siblings etc..the language barrier and cultural changes etc... Chelsea have a good record of their previous non-english speaking players learning the language quickly. Tevez apparently still doesn`t speak english after something like 6 years in the country..although i should imagine get off the bench you ugly snaggle toothed cunt is something he`d understand.

but learning english fluently enough to have a good relationship with your team mates is gonna take time. as a secondary reason for signing players it`s not the worst idea. but only in the case of younger players.

Branislav didn`t need such luxuries because he is The Terminator! his stare alone says get out of my way or i`ll fook you up.

[Ollie 4,400]

Marin is ok, he's German but from a yugoslav (one of em) background, he gets on ok with Brano as has been mentioned. There's not many odd ones out, even now we're linked with Cavani. I'm assuming Uruguay speak Spanish.

Cech speaks loads of Languages so hes ok. I don't actually see anyone that is left out really. i also think Tevez woulda been out of City if it wasn't for his friendship with Aguero.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

i can`t remember the exact words he used but Zola once said something along the lines of "i would have learnt english quicker if it wasn`t for that crazy midget"(Dennis Wise)

[Ollie 4,400]

There was a story with Wise and Di Matteo. Neil Shipperly's brother asked Di Matteo for his autograph. Robbie asked Dennis what he meant (Robbie was new, no English etc), Dennis told him to write 'Fuck Off' and he duly did lol. Jokes. Love Dennis Wise.

[gary gordon 1,777]

Time for the Spanish, Belgian and Brazillian contingent!

I just hope they have the same work ethic. It's a known fact that brazilian players lose there form a lot earlier then they should. Let's just hope ours don't.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

I just hope they have the same work ethic. It's a known fact that brazilian players lose there form a lot earlier then they should. Let's just hope ours don't.

i think that is in part due to them often playing more games in the pro`s at a younger age than most other nations. e.g. say the average length of a professional footballers career is 12 years..English players often don`t get to play until they are 21 so are still going strong till the age of 33. where as brazilians often are playing professional football in senior sides at 17 so often are burnt out at 29.

that`s just my thoughts on why it is anyway. it`s a valid point that they often burn out at younger ages than players from other nations, in particular europeans.

[loonymcgreat 19]

the thing that worry me the most is that we won't have any english players in few years, Now the core of our team is around 3 english players which will all retire in few years (Lamps, Terry, Cole) and there are only Cahill and Bertrand to take their spots. Fans love home-grown players or at least players from the home country. People need to identify with players and speaking for myself, I can easier identify with player from my country than one random brazilian or belgium player.. I don't want us to became Arsenal or Internazionale. We need some english blood in our team not just foreign players..