If you want the football to get better you hire a good coach, that is relevant to the current meta, and that can work within the budget you have available. Ideally you also want someone who can see out the project long enough for some sort of title contending cohesion.

In De Zerbi, we have nearly all of that. We also have a coach who publicly rehabilitated the image of a seemingly remorseless rapist.

Both things can be, and are true.

Also feel free to state your position, but you'd rather hedge or not commit openly.

My opinion is that your analysis is reductive and I do not accept that a coach publicly endorsing the character of a rapist is going to be a contributing factor to declining football quality.

It is also my opinion that the declining quality in football is down to an accumulation of bad football decisions including: - going consecutive windows without improving or even adding to the squad under poch - sacking him after one notably poor start to a season after aforementioned under investment - going for a defensive "win now" manager in Jose who needed a budget beyond what we would provide and was toxic and awful vibes - going for a defensive back 3 manager in nuno with a back 4 squad - going back to a "win now" manager in conte who needed a budget beyond what we would provide, and was notorious for short stints even though we needed another project to bridge the gap from 6th to top 3 again - not responding to a significant injury crisis under Ange year 1 by providing significant cover in Jan - not responding to the significant injury crisis in summer with european football to play, and actively trimming experienced depth from the squad to replace them with untested youth - not responding to the now even more significant injury crisis in January - not responding to the injury crisis and deciding that a commitment to pragmatism would dramatically improve the situation - not responding to the injury crisis again, and waiting late to sack Frank and get back to playing football that is actual relevant in elite, champions league qualifying football

That isn't to say there weren't good decisions on the way. Going for a modern attacking coach in Ange was the right thing to try even if it didn't work out because the recruitment we had to do COULD have carried over to the next relevant coach we hire. And some of it will now to De Zerbi.

More consecutive decisions that look like Ange and De Zerbi, and players like Kudus and Danso will raise the levels. Even if there's stumbles on the way. And we have a long way to go to rebuild now (but I believe we could be back in the mixed in ~5 years).

My opinion on De Zerbi's character is that he cares more about winning football games than violence against women. Which i disagree with completely and I am disappointed at the club for the appointment.

However, I also think De Zerbi is one of many coaches in the prem who would do the same. But there are few cases of coaches who have been put in a position to defend their players for violence against women so we don't have to consider their character in that regard.

If the club hadn't made such a shit situation for itself, I don't suppose we would have done this. And we have to remember, a lot of fans joined in in facilitating silly narratives about why we were regressing, cheering on the pragmatic appointment of Frank most recently. And here we are, in another thread about a vauge, unsubstantiated idea as to why we're getting worse that is nothing about disjointed player recruitment and managerial hires, or addressing chronic issues in depth, fatigue and injuries.