Gee, telling editors who have worked on the article "this article has totally gone to crap in four years" is hardly the way to begin a discussion about the changes you want to make.  How about you stop with the superior attitude (which, looking at older versions of the article, I don't think is merited in any case), and start over again with a more collegial point of view.  I, for one, won't be considering your substantive suggestions until it's clear that you are interested in building a WP:CONSENSUS and not in bludgeoning other editors.