10 Worst Signings of the Season

Xavi6

http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=662203

English Debate: 10 Worst Transfers Of The Season

Following on from the top 10 Premier League transfers of the season, Sulmaan Ahmad runs through some of the more forgettable acquisitions...

The candidates for the 'best' list were innumerous, but it was equally troublesome picking just 10 when deciding on the worst transfers of the season, as clubs continue to pay extortionate fees, acquire useless or troublesome players, and occasionally just flat-out baffle us with levels of stupidity previously reserved for American Presidents.

As such, the assessment of this season's spending is suitably light-hearted and not to be taken too seriously, and as always, Goal.com welcomes the opinions of one and all on who should and shouldn't be in the list. Without further ado...

10) Claudio Pizarro, Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben-Haim (Bayern Munich, Reading and Bolton Wanderers to Chelsea)

It's never the best of ideas to include free signings in a list of this nature, but when three utterly abysmal ones are made in unison by the most cash-happy club in the world, questions must be asked.

It is understood that 'The Free Musketeers' were brought in to enhance squad depth, but to treat players in and around their prime so frivolously is laughable. Claudio Pizarro was a top striker in Bavaria with Bayern Munich, but as his performances dropped and the club failed to even make the top three of the Bundesliga, he was one of several casualties. While fellow South American Roque Santa-Cruz has faired so well at Blackburn Rovers after his summer move, Pizarro has followed in team-mate Shevchenko's footsteps: another highly rated forward playing in Europe who has come to Chelsea and only succeeding in embarrassing himself.

Steve Sidwell is average. Honestly, not a lot more need be said. With Roman Abramovich calling for flair football, the only way Sidwell will light up Chelsea performances is by virtue of his ginger hair, and he can't even take credit for that.

Tal Ben-Haim has been the least tragic of the trio. But even he was skinned by Fernando Torres early on in the season and looked off the pace against far less illustrious opposition as well. He failed to play with the same confidence he had at Bolton Wanderers. Before he knew it, fellow new signing Alex was settled, match-fit and had usurped him. On top of that, there was the small matter of arguably the player of the season Ricardo Carvalho along with club captain John Terry to contend with. Even when fellow Israeli Avram Grant took charge of the club, Tal's first team prospects did not change - if anything, they decreased - which has culminated in a hilarious outburst from the stopper aimed at his already under-fire boss, who almost laughed it off when questioned at a press conference, which says it all.

9) Robert Earnshaw (Norwich City to Derby County)

Derby have become so pathetic that after their latest league loss, boss Paul Jewell quite admirably accepted that his side were nowhere near the standard required to compete in this league. What magnificent mind, then, thought to spend a club-record fee of £3.5 million on a striker who had only ever proven anything in the lower leagues?

Even more hilarious is the fact that both Billy Davies - who signed the 27-year-old - and his replacement Paul Jewell have decided against playing the Zambian-born Welshman (yes, apparently Wales has a Zambian population of approximately two: Earnshaw and his mother). Adding to the embarrassment, the Rams went on to spend £3 million on Kenny Miller, the man who has more or less kept Earnie out of the team. The identity of the transfer guru that thought to spend what precious little money the midlands minnows had on a player they didn't need unfortunately remains a secret, but Earnshaw's failure does not.

The Rams have long been resigned to relegation and have been looking toward rebuilding a side fit to contest in the Premier League if and when they return. Accordingly, Earnie may be out this summer as Derby's ugly season draws to a close. Let's face it: if ugliness is the problem, Earnshaw is not the solution.

8) Younes Kaboul (Auxerre to Tottenham Hotspur)

While bitter city rivals were off spending £1 million less buying from the same club what turned out to be one of the signings of the season in Bacary Sagna, Tottenham got Kaboul.

He is young, he has scored goals, he's named after a terror-zone - what's not to love? He can't defend. £7 million for the Moroccan-born French national was beyond excessive, and Spurs will never be a big club if they spend so frivolously - as cruel fate would have it, you can only afford such blunders once you're already on top. With Michael Dawson already making up the full quota of young, physically imposing blithering idiots in the Spurs backline and Jonathan Woodgate joining club captain Ledley King in the damaged goods section, Kaboul is looking to be very much surplus to requirements at the Lane and could well be headed for the exit door as Juande Ramos plans his summer overhaul.

7) Rolando Bianchi (Reggina to Manchester City)

Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City revolution has been admirable. Yes, he has Thaksin Shinawatra's big black sack of quite-possibly-laundered money to back him up, but he has spent fairly well and has a good eye for talent. Bianchi, though, just did not work out.

An emerging Italian striker with a suitably physical presence about him that would have you believe he might be able to cut it against the hard-men otherwise known as Premier League defenders, Sven took a chance with Bianchi. Splashing out a sizeable £8.8 million to land the 25-year-old from Serie A relegation strugglers Reggina, with whom Bianchi had previously enjoyed two successful seasons, the City fans were expectant.

He hated England. He's not the first and certainly will not be the last Italian to come to this country and despise it from top to bottom. He has been spared the embarrassment of a higher place on the list purely because Sven made the smart move of offloading him at the first possible opportunity. He has gone back to Italy on loan to an under-performing Lazio side, with whom he has made a good start. Assuming Sven does well enough to recover a significant amount of the original transfer fee come this summer, it will be business not-so-badly done on part of the Swede.

6) Diomansy Kamara (West Bromwich Albion to Fulham)

Has Lawrie Sanchez cost Fulham their place in the Premier League? The coach did a fantastic job in charge of Northern Ireland and was head-hunted by Mohamed Al-Fayed to take over from Chris Coleman at Craven Cottage. Cookie was constantly forced to sell while in charge of the club, while Sanchez was allowed to reap the benefits of his work by spending over £25 million in one summer. Most of it was spent on trying to re-unite all of Northern Ireland at the Cottage; a disastrous experiment that went horribly wrong. Chris Baird in particular stood out as the white equivalent of Titus Bramble for his consistent ability to make the worst of each and every situation.

However, the biggest money was splashed out on Diomansy Kamara - a man little more proven than Earnshaw, who cost almost twice as much - and he has failed to live up to his price tag. He has not been 'bad' - the team has struggled in general - but besides his spectacular last-minute overhead-kick to equalise against Tottenham, he has struggled to exhibit anything close to £6.5 million's worth of quality. He belongs in the Championship, and due to Fulham's pathetic season, it looks like he will end up being back there very soon.

5) Craig Bellamy (Liverpool to West Ham United)

If your budget can't quite buy consistency, that's one thing, but why anyone would willingly sign Craig 'nine iron' Bellamy given his track-record off the pitch quite frankly beggards belief. He is reported to have earned Liverpool an unbelievable £7.5 million - yes, they made a profit - despite enduring a hit-and-miss time at the top and having always been erratic and inconsistent everywhere else.

This is a player capable of occasional moments of brilliance - even if he is Welsh - but for every one of those there are 10 or 15 wasted chances and, due to injuries and what can kindly be referred to as a lack of quality, Bellamy has failed to pay back even a quarter of his transfer fee during his stay so far at Upton Park.

He is the sole representative from the Hammers' summer signings, of which several were absolutely woeful. Whether this can be put down to the world's most convenient excuse of 'bad luck' or whether the east London outfit are quite simply negligent and have a medical that a chain-smoking sumo wrestler could pass with flying colours isn't quite clear. At the end of the day, Julien Faubert, Kieron Dyer, Scott Parker and others promised a lot - and accumatively, made West Ham one of the top summer spenders - but have ultimately only succeeded in staving off relegation and very little more. Embarrassing.

4) Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyonnais to Chelsea)

On paper, it made the world of sense. Chelsea offloaded the perma-crocked Arjen Robben to a fairly foolish Real Madrid chaired by the eccentric Ramon Calderon, who had developed a fondness for the part-time Flying Dutchman. They then brought in France international Malouda, who had starred at the 2006 World Cup and become an integral part of the Lyon side that dominated Ligue 1.

Though he is still a quality player in his own right, injuries, poor form and a rumoured distaste for the English appetite and general way of life have seen the 27-year-old widely labeled a flop and ultimately, a player who will most likely require replacing if and when Chelsea choose to undergo yet another overhaul.

3) David Nugent (Preston North End to Portsmouth)

Why Harry, why?! Frivolous doesn't even begin to describe it. No doubt the 22-year-old was extremely prolific with lowly Bury and the Championship's Preston but ultimately, commanding a fee of £6 million when all he was ever seemingly going to do was warm the bench is an astounding decision. Fellow over-priced Pompey recruit John Utaka cost a million more, but at least has made enough appearances to keep him off this list, even if he hasn't exactly shown £7 million quality on the pitch.

The Huyton-born striker's career highlight is being handed his first and only England cap by the staggeringly clueless Steve McClaren, and in that solitary England appearance as a substitute against the mighty Andorra, he achieved the incredible feat of stealing a goal from his new team-mate Jermain Defoe. Bravo.

The agricultural inadequancy of Nugent is best illustrated by the fact that just weeks after signing for the side this summer, Harry Redknapp was willing to offload him to lowly Derby, though the striker's own want to prove himself kept him at Fratton Park in the end.

Well, that worked out magnificently for all concerned, didn't it?

2) Darren Bent (Charlton Athletic to Tottenham Hotspur)

It must be said, it's not all his fault - but ultimately, he should have known better. Perhaps he anticipated that Dimitar Berbatov would be on his way out at White Hart Lane, but ultimately, he has spent most of his time on the bench, this after commanding a transfer fee in excess of £16 million. It's laughable - that goes without saying - though to his credit, he was the highest English scorer in the Premier League last season. Ultimately, it has been a waste of a year for the 24-year-old, and if he has any sense, he will follow Jermain Defoe out of White Hart Lane elsewhere, so he can play regularly and reap the same rewards as Defoe is now.

Having said that, if Berbatov is indeed coaxed away this summer to a European heavyweight, could Bent take his place and go some way toward proving his worth in seasons to come? He has scored eight goals in 14 starts which, all things considered, is not a bad return. Bent's transfer stands as the most humiliating of the summer, but unlike many of the others, it could yet bear fruit in one form or another...

1) Joey Barton (Manchester City to Newcastle United)

What a waste of space. Manchester City will have laughed all the way to the bank when they cashed in £5.8 million for this glorified thug - in fact, I take that back - there's nothing glorious about him. He has made just 20 appearances this season; the only midfielders who have played less are the injury-riddled Damien Duff and a fading Emre. He has scored just one goal - a last-minute penalty against Fulham - and has been lucky to escape suspensions for some of petulant acts on the field. He has also of course been a complete embarrassment off it - as he is so often known to be - and has spent about as much time in custody as he has in training.

From assault, affray, anger management and terrible tackles to a big mouth he simply cannot even begin to back up on the pitch, Barton will be remembered for almost decapitating Sunderland's Dickson Etuhu and smashing in Ousmane Dabo's face until he started to look a little like Robert Earnshaw. As a player, his talent will ultimately be wasted, as was Newcastle's money. They should have known better.

Anything to add?

Requiem4adream

Russell Anderson - sunderland. 1million pounds? I wouldnt have paid a million lira/pesetas/insert other defunct currency comparison here* for him!! shambles.

Limerick Dude

Joey Barton number one?!

Wtf?

I admit he has been well dodgy off the field, but his last 5 performances in the black and white shirt have been great, he has one plenty of motm awards in the past few weeks too.

Looks like Keegan is working his magic on him imo!

P.S did a sunderland fan write this list ? Most of their signing have been terrible this season! Jeez!

estebancambias

Why did this idiot put three players as number 10?

redzerdrog

i cant believe not 1 of roy keanes signings made that list i was expecting at least 8 of them

mike65

Voronin!

Mike.

joe123

michael chopra would have to go in....they paid way over the odds.

Yeah voronin is terrible.

LuckyLloyd

redzerdrog wrote: »

i cant believe not 1 of roy keanes signings made that list i was expecting at least 8 of them

Name the 8 signings he has made that are terrible.

kryogen

Greg Halford
Russel Anderson
David Connolly
Anthony Stokes
Roy O Donovan
Andy Cole
Stanislav Varga?

cant think of a deserving player to be number 8 though, few candidates hovvering around the area though

Xavi6

kryogen wrote: »

Greg Halford
Russel Anderson
David Connolly
Anthony Stokes
Roy O Donovan
Andy Cole
Stanislav Varga?

cant think of a deserving player to be number 8 though, few candidates hovvering around the area though

Your man Prica or whatever his name is can be number 8. Goal on his debut, where is he now?

kryogen

he has scored a few though hasnt he?? might even put Richardson in, but he has his injury problems so it might not be fair, Chopra could get a mention too but iirc he has scored a couple of vital goals??

not too sure

Xavi6

Prica - 6 sub appearances, 1 goal. He's in there for me.

DmanDmythDledge

Paul McShane was brutal earlier in the season.

kryogen

Xavi6 wrote: »

Prica - 6 sub appearances, 1 goal. He's in there for me.

fair enough, sorry, thought he had more goals, thats my number 8 so!

btw, i still love Roy!

walshki

Voronin for me and he still gets to play every now and again. No Darrent Bent? - considering the £16m and all he might not be the worst player but he was an awful expensive mistake.

You could reverse this and look at best sales. I think Rafa would have a good record there - got good money for Cisse and Bellamy (as mentioned in the list). Wenger getting big money for Terry Henry seems great business at this stage.

anonymous_joe

I think we could all say, without much doubt that Roy's signed some donkeys.

In his defence, Sunderland's scouting network was apparently non-existant, and they clearly don't have anyone who plays football manager either.

Disgraceful lapse, that last one. :pac:

But yeah, Chopra, Stokes (and we had such hopes for him) and a number of others have been a bit muck, though Sunderland are beginning to improve.

Charlie

The fact that Barton is no.1 and there's not a Sunderlnad player in sight reeks of a Mackem's bias. I'll grant that Barton has ahd his off the field problems and wasn't setting things alight earlier (I really put that down to Fat Sam though, look at the difference in some players since he's left) but Barton has been excellent of late and for 5 odd million is nowhere near a bad signing.

However, I don't want to be accused of bias so I will put forward a few toon names that should be on that list; Alan Smith - woeful player, woeful signing, can't wait to see the back of him. David Roezenahl - The man that was touted to shore up the Newky defence only made it worse. Fcuked off to Lazio on loan and can't even get a game there. Now looking at the prospect of no team wanting to touch him.

TwoShedsJackson

Voronin is crap but Liverpool did get him for free so that's something I suppose

anonymous_joe

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Voronin is crap but Liverpool did get him for free so that's something I suppose

And dare one suggest it, he's a better free than the Chelsea lads mentioned.

Unearthly

walshki wrote: »

. No Darrent Bent? - considering the £16m and all he might not be the worst player but he was an awful expensive mistake.

Check number 2

Definitly shocked there are no Sunderland players there

LuckyLloyd

kryogen wrote: »

Greg Halford
Russel Anderson
David Connolly
Anthony Stokes
Roy O Donovan
Andy Cole
Stanislav Varga?

cant think of a deserving player to be number 8 though, few candidates hovvering around the area though

Well, the reason why the above players aren't on the list is because they weren't key signings. And even if they were bad value for money - they didn't break the bank.

Keane seems to be learning as he goes with the transfer market anyway. And Jones, Gordon and Reid should prove to be good long - term acquisitions.

kryogen

i hope your right llyod, and as i have said, i still love Keane! just pointing out that its pretty easy to highlight some shocking buys, if i remember correctly Stokes cost a few quid didnt he? and chopra was about 6 mil or so i thought?? cant be bothered researching right now but i can pull up the transfer fees later if necessary....

Jones was a great signing imo, and i must say in every post i make about him that i would love to see him play for united! i think he would improve himself so much and would improve our attacking options with his hold up skills and power

Gordon was pricey imo, but he has done a job, he makes some very good saves

Reid will turn good for them too i feel

LuckyLloyd

kryogen wrote: »

i hope your right llyod, and as i have said, i still love Keane! just pointing out that its pretty easy to highlight some shocking buys, if i remember correctly Stokes cost a few quid didnt he? and chopra was about 6 mil or so i thought?? cant be bothered researching right now but i can pull up the transfer fees later if necessary....

Jones was a great signing imo, and i must say in every post i make about him that i would love to see him play for united! i think he would improve himself so much and would improve our attacking options with his hold up skills and power

Gordon was pricey imo, but he has done a job, he makes some very good saves

Reid will turn good for them too i feel

Chopra was 6m and is his worst signing in many ways. However, he has scored crucial goals (and he wasn't in your list:pac:).

kryogen

i know, but as i had said, he was borderline....his crucial goals kept him out of it. i think he is learning by his mistakes (Keane) and i expect the transfer targets to be much better next season

DrumSteve

ah definitely voronin.

Hero Of College

DrumSteve wrote: »

ah definitely voronin.

Uhhhhhh.....Free transfer, I think he has 7 or 8 goals. The guy has become a pariah but when you cost nothing and you score goals {and have a look at his flick for Gerrards goal in the 8-0 win over Besiktas} then you can't be the worst signing. Maybe you were being sarcastic.

For me- pound for pound- worst signing- Craig Gordon. 9mill for any player coming out of Hearts is a joke. An excellent Keeper {which Gordon is not} is signed on the basis that he finishes off, or complements, a quality defence.

Where is the point in fishing for great expensive keepers when the back 4 is JUNK to begin with, and the keeper is likely to get exposed soooo often that he inevitably concedes goals.

Bear in mind there is a lot more to a good signing than the quality of the player in question- not that I think Craig Gordon is all that brilliant to begin with.

best Signing? Tevez.

An Citeog

charlie mchugh wrote: »

David Roezenahl - The man that was touted to shore up the Newky defence only made it worse. Fcuked off to Lazio on loan and can't even get a game there. Now looking at the prospect of no team wanting to touch him.

You say that like it's a step down from Newcastle!:D

Hero Of College

If I could just say that there is MORE to a bad signing than the quality of the player, or the ratio between the price of the player and his subsequent performance.

Michael Ballack, for example, was an absolute world beater, no arguments, cost nothing to Chelsea and has generally been a middling-poor signing, maybe even a bad signing, considering that Mourinho didn't even want him to begin with.

But if he were to be instrumental vs Liverpool and Barca/United in helping Chelsea to a first ever CL title, then that could make him an excellent signing. Its a fine line.

MrJoeSoap

Gareth Bale. Chap is an injury prone waster.

kinaldo

Alan ****ing Smith. The only thing he'll be remembered for is bookings and suspensions. He even managed to get himself sent off at Old Trafford AFTER the final whistle! Not a single goal to his name either.

Charlie

An Citeog wrote: »

You say that like it's a step down from Newcastle!:D

That's not what I was trying to get across, but tbh, aren't they? They are languishing 12th in a league that is not nearly as competitive as the Premiership (oops) and have been exposed as a club who not only cheated, but leveraged themselves to the hilt, for one year of glory and will be suffering for years to come because of it, if not decades.

Anyway, my original point was that usually when a player goes on loan its to get games, to go to a team who can actually use him.

Beanmachine

Claudio Pizzaro even though he was free he is pure muck.

aidan24326

To be fair to Roy he picked up some of those players very cheap so it's not like he has wasted big money. Andy Cole was a free, Stokes was cheap and Roy O'Donovan cost next to nothing. He has made some mistakes alright but I think he needs to start going for a higher calibre of player rather than messing around with the likes of O'Donovan who will never be more than an average squad player at best.

It's only really a bad signing where you're forking out alot of money for a player who turns out to be crap. That's why Darren Bent is on the list, he's a decent player but 16 Million is alot of money for a sub. Only Chelsea can afford that sort of luxury.

Our own Duffer has been a bit of waste of cash for Newcastle too it must be said. Constantly injured.

Jonny Arson

any Derby County signing
80% of Roy Keane's signings (honorable mentions to Paul McShane, Russell Anderson and Greg Halford)
50% of Fulham's signings (honorable mentions Seol Ki Hyeon and Lee Cook)
any Newcastle defensive signings (David Rozenhal... lol)
Benjani

was going to include Nery Castillo and Valeri Bojinov but they probably should go in the most unlucky signings of the season thread

invincibleirish

I think a contender for worst signing of the season has to be Aston Villas own Zat Knight.

the fact his most telling contribution this season to the Villa cause has been when he was in a Fulham shirt and scored an OG against Villa at the start of the season says a lot.

despite playing second fiddle to Laursen & Davies for a lot of the season, some of Villas worst results have been when Zat has started.

Villa went on a run of something like 21 games without keeping a clean sheet that was only halted against Bolton 2 weeks ago.

He gots caught out a lot and is clumsy.

He's previous claim to fame is he was one of those strange Sven caps during the latter days of his reign.

He also was caught up in some glorious red top headlines, which i'll share here for comedy purposes:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article266798.ece

SOCCER star Zat Knight was led away in handcuffs after armed drug cops raided his mum’s house early yesterday.

The England defender’s brother Carlos, 26, wearing only his underwear, was marched out at gunpoint by police backed up by dogs.

Substances believed to be Class A drugs crack cocaine and heroin were said to have been seized at the house in Erdington, Birmingham.

Only hours later, talented 6ft 6in Zat was paraded by Premiership club Aston Villa as their new £3.5million signing.

Oh the hilarity of it all!

/Character Assassination complete/

pickarooney

Claudio Caçapa - Lyon selling off their captain must have been an orange-sticker day for Big Sam. Unfortunately the 'may contain traces of talent' warning was a cruel lure.

All of Manchester City's strikers from Bojinov to Benjani.

Baros and Nugent gave the lie to Harrys goldfinger transfer rep.

Nicolas Anelka's signing was annoyingly predictable and utterly pointless, once again landing the talented big fish in a vast, overpopulated pond with only one fish-bicycle.

leninbenjamin

Zat knight for me too actually. what a horrible player, dunno what O Neill was thinking, he was always a liability for Fulham. he'd struggle in the Championship tbh.

kryogen

Ballacks form since he has actually started playing for Chelsea without Mourinho is very good actually, he still has it....

genericgoon

Robbie Savage deserves a mention.

Hero Of College

kryogen wrote: »

Ballacks form since he has actually started playing for Chelsea without Mourinho is very good actually, he still has it....

Dunphy says Ballacks legs have gone....but Dunphy likes to say that about everyone, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Morientes {before he went back to Valencia and had fun doing his best to KO Chelsea} Harry Kewell, Sami Hyppia...everybodies legs have gone if you ask Eamonn.:p Fcuk it...if you asked Eamonn if HIS legs had gone he'd prolly agree they had!!!

leninbenjamin

Hero Of College wrote: »

Dunphy says Ballacks legs have gone....but Dunphy likes to say that about everyone, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Morientes {before he went back to Valencia and had fun doing his best to KO Chelsea} Harry Kewell, Sami Hyppia...everybodies legs have gone if you ask Eamonn.:p Fcuk it...if you asked Eamonn if HIS legs had gone he'd prolly agree they had!!!

hmmm, you like to compare what everyone says to Dunphy. care to actually talk about football here?

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

hmmm, you like to compare what everyone says to Dunphy. care to actually talk about football here?

How would I know what anyone said to Dunphy

leninbenjamin

Hero Of College wrote: »

How would I know what anyone said to Dunphy

well why do you keep bringing him up when no one has mentioned him? there are numerous threads giving out about Dunphy here. i suggest you stick to posting in them in the future if you're incapable of discussing football without making reference to him.

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

well why do you keep bringing him up when no one has mentioned him? there are numerous threads giving out about Dunphy here. i suggest you stick to posting in them in the future if you're incapable of discussing football without making reference to him.

Listen...I say what I want. If you have a gripe contact a MOD. I will abide by whatever decision they reach.

leninbenjamin

Hero Of College wrote: »

Listen...I say what I want. If you have a gripe contact a MOD. I will abide by whatever decision they reach.

i don't have a gripe with what you say. i'm just asking you to explain why you are saying what you are saying, as frankly it appears to have absolutely no relevance given the context of the thread. apologies if i didn't make that clear.

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

i don't have a gripe with what you say. i'm just asking you to explain why you are saying what you are saying, as frankly it appears to have absolutely no relevance given the context of the thread. apologies if i didn't make that clear.

I am saying that a bigshot journo ex-footballer analyst says that Ballacks legs have gone, and hes not the player he used to be. Therefore, surely this is of some relevance to any discussion about the merits or demerits of an argument about whether Ballack was a bad signing or not.

leninbenjamin

Hero Of College wrote: »

I am saying that a bigshot journo ex-footballer analyst says that Ballacks legs have gone, and hes not the player he used to be. Therefore, surely this is of some relevance to any discussion about the merits or demerits of an argument about whether Ballack was a bad signing or not.

not particularly, unless you're going to either agree with or argue against the points the make. you did neither other than slag him off.

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

not particularly, unless you're going to either agree with or argue against the points the make. you did neither other than slag him off.

I am just telling people what a man of great experience on these matters said. it is up to them to do what they will with the opinion proferred by the great man himself.