FC Barcelona are making their Spanish League wins look so easy that they are in danger of becoming football’s equivalent of the Harlem Globe Trotters.
For those of you unfamiliar with the HBT, they are the legendary basketball team that became just so skilful and so much better than any of their rivals that at one point they decided just to focus on exhibition matches- with a bit of theatrics thrown in- as there was no point in pretending there was any competition capable of beating them. They became very successful, attracting a huge global following, and making a lot of money.
There is a sense in which FC Barcelona are already playing exhibition matches. For all its history, the noble Basque club Real Sociedad proved a weak opponent, as did Real Madrid on its recent visit to the Nou Camp. But Real Madrid have been playing much better against other teams, and the kind of opposition Barca have been facing not just in La Liga but in the early rounds of the Champions League, have barely put them to the test. It is in the coming weeks, when the race for La Liga hots up, and enter the final stages of the Champions league, that Barca will need to prove definitely that it is the best football team since the Real Madrid of the Golden years in the 1950’s.
That Barca is playing extraordinary collective, one-touch, flowing football, the game at its most beautiful, poetry in motion etc etc.- is not in doubt. The question is how long will it go on winning, will it keep ahead of Real Madrid, and is Barca destined for Wembley next spring and another, historic European title?
These questions are important because victory or humiliatiion in the coming months will dictate the level of tolerance among Barca fans for the controversial strategy being pursued by Sandro Rosell, FC Barcelona’s recently elected new president.
Having accused Joan Laporta, his predecessor of financial mismanagement and dealing with dictators, Rosell has signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Qatar, an absolute monarchy which served as one of the main launching sites for the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003. While not as repressive or corrupt as Uzbekistan, Qatar’s current Emir and his cronies have not exactly an unblemished human rights record. Last June Amnesty criticised Qatar for its lack of freedom of expression, its discrimination against women, and its violence against domestic workers.
But then what has motivated the Qatar deal is money pure and simple. It is one of the biggest sponsorship deals in the history of sport involving a country that has been picked by that bastion of democracy FIFA to host a future World Cup.
The official word from the Rosell camp is that the deal is more than this, just as Barca is ‘more than a club’. It is important to remember, we are told, that UNICEF will remain prominent on the players’ shirts so that the club maintains a moral compass after all. It is also pointed out that deal will make it easier to pay off the debts left by Laporta, and to afford buying Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal, if not this season, next.
Rosell is trying to transform Barca into a less politicised but more financialy stable and lucrative brand while trying to retain those elements that set it apart from other football clubs, and make it one of the most popular, if not most popular sporting institutions world. Essential, among those elements, is Pep Guardiola and the Barca players. Let’s see of they can go on playing the way they do, and winning, however tough, and real, the opposition.
Great write up Jimmy, I think the Globetrotters analogy is spot on.
Sadly, some of my non Barca supporting friends take the view that there are only 2 teams in la liga, the rest are ‘pub’ teams. Very harsh in my opinion. You can only beat what is put in front of you and the style and grace with which we are doing that presently is a joy to behold.
My friends conveniently forget the 5-0 drubbing of Franco’s finest a couple of weeks ago, possibly the most complete football performance I have witnessed in my lifetime. They also overlook the night we massacred Arsenal at Camp Nou last season, the Champions League final when we destroyed Manchester United.
Since Pep took hold of the reins, the standard of football that has been played has been nothing short of footballing perfection. What I admire most isn’t actually the pass and move game for which we are so renowned, it is the desire and work ethic to win the ball back when we lose it. That to me is the hallmark of a great side. We can, and do, battle with the best of them. When it comes to ramping it up a notch, there is no team on the planet that can touch us.
I think, in order to consider ourself one of the truly great teams, like Madrid of the 50’s, Liverpool of the 70s/80’s and AC Milan of the late 80’s/90’s, then we probably need to win at least one more European Cup during this golden period. Who knows, we could be looking back in a few years at what many will claim to be the greatest footballing side ever.
I don’t want to dwell on the Qatar Foundation sponsorship. I’m not surprised by it, but am deeply disappointed. Many cules still wear their blaugrana without a sponsor, a source of pride and another reason we were ‘mes que un club’. We could just about stomach the Unicef deal, because of it’s uniqueness – it was something only Barca would think of. I think this latest deal will hit Rosell’s camp where it hurts however.
Forca Barca !
Jason Pettigrove, the boring statement that Real Madrid was Franco’s team is typical Cule urban myth propagated to feed their rampant victimization.
Franco in fact supported Atlético Madrid and he handed over the Spanish Cup twice as many times to Barcelona than Real Madrid during his term of office – I mean if you really were an All Powerful & Nasty Dictator, would you have your team win half as many cups as their rival?!
So rather than take a swipe at your rival here in Spain, let us take a closer look at another “All Powerful Ruler”, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the new sponsors of Barcelona Football Club through his wife’s Foundation.
He runs a country systematically rejects women and gay rights amongst many other things that would make any Cule with an ounce of social conciousness shrink from even visiting the country of their new saviour!
The Qatar Foundation, soon to be an integral part of the Cule kit, has established a research centre known as “Al-Qaradawi Centre for Research in Moderate Thought” run by a “cleric” Yusuf al Qatadawi. This “cleric” has been denied access to the USA & UK governments for his radical thoughts which include: recommending killing pregnant Israeli women, saying Hitler was a sent by Ala to exterminate the Jews, some women enjoy being beaten by the husbands, etc., etc.
Now I know money is important to Barcelona, given their crippling 430 million euro debt making them a technically bankrupt institution, but to take money from such a Regime?
So Cule’s, how let us hear how you really feel about being sponsored by the Qatar Regime…………and what you are going to do about it…………or are you just going to accept the cash and keep quiet………….???
Jimmy, your comparison with the Harem Globetrotters is ridiculous. If they became like the HG and went off to play across the globe it would be the most foolish thing they could ever do! Although I am sure their new sponsors, the Qatar Regime, would line up some very interesting games against local teams in the desert….
The only reason why Barcelona are where they are is because of Real Madrid!
Although they have won more Copas del Rey than Real Madrid (25-17), they are obsessed with winning more Ligas (19-31). And desperate to topple Real Madrid from being FIFA’s Club of the Century. But of course the ultimate is to win more European Cups than Real Madrid, and they are loosing this game 3-9.
It is called competition and it drives people / teams to go one better. That is also what has driven Barcelona to bankruptcy. They spend more on new players than any other club, always trying to buy the best while at the same time undermine their rivals.
Come on Jimmy, leave Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions, as they still have a long way to go before they ever catch up with Real Madrid!
“Franco?? Supporting Atletico Madrid?? LIES!!” words from my frente atletico supporter sitting next to me reading the previous comments posted. Going through a brief lesson on Franco and football with my friend, he guarantees me that it was actually Real Madrid that was closer to the general.
Implying that Barca’s new sponsors, the Qatar foundation is a total shame I would have to dis-agree on that. We have carried Unicef on our merchandise for five years. Something that shows Barca’s heart not only revolves around football but also the participation and responsibility for humanitarian aid. That’s a lot in my view.
What the current financial situation of the club is, I don’t know. But this is what I do know. Barca didn’t buy expensive players (in recent years) apart from that sour deal involving zlatan and eto’o, the rest have been scouted as potential hot prospects before being shaped through the ‘cantera’ into near untouchables. And as for the qatari foundation, well sure they have their negatives and many condemn their principles but franco was the same if not worse.
After the end of World War II, Franco maintained his control in Spain through the implementation of harsh measures such as the systematic suppression of dissident views through censorship, the imprisonment of ethical enemies in concentration camps throughout the country, the implementation of forced labor in prisons and the use of the death penalty and heavy prison sentences for his ideological foes.
Some of these undoubtedly DO take place in the Middle East but after the economic situation across the globe who wouldn’t take up such a lucrative offer. Barcas were also hesitant to pick it up but had no choice as per a close source, something all barca fans will realize in time. I’m dead certain Real or in fact any other club would do the same. I remember a wealthy Saudi asked Calderon if he could buy Real Madrid and Calderon did say it was possible but it was a long shot. Fortunately for Real’s image it didn’t go through.
In the past, Franco did in fact put large amounts of state reserves into Real Madrid to allow them to be better than any other side, particularly Barca who, as a Catalan club, did not want to be part of Franco’s regime and were in direct disapproval to everything he stood for.
State-controlled Spanish television continually showed highlights of Real’s matches and very little of Barça’s, thus generating the impression among the general population that Real were Spain’s team, whilst also allowing Real to take a far larger share of revenue.
Spanish cups don’t mean that much as the league and champions league, everyone knows that and for the general to hand more spanish cups to Real’s rivals was seen far better than handing them a bigger prize. I guess he did it to keep the left wing parties happy.
This is a guy that remained neutral in the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. Axis powers that killed Jews, manipulated Christianity and had their own political views/ideas. Yet there are members of the public that called him the ‘saviour of spain’.
Where I’m getting to is if Franco did what he did for the greater good of his country with regards of who he dealt with then Rossel is in the same perspective.
I believe there is no further debate on the Qatar deal because they are looking to expand into a sporting venture and what better way to do it at the moment than Barca. They already have the world cup in 2022 that was supported by Madrid legend Zidane (who was paid an undisclosed extraordinary amount of money in return). And I am being pretty sure about Real’s involvement in Qatar or any other Middle Eastern country sooner or later.
A thumbs up from my frente atleti friend….
Zico, Barcelona’s cantera is a front, another urban myth, it just provides good work horses. The glory and kudos is based on their overseas players. They spend more on players, who they steal with the purse, than any other club in the world!!! The purse also happens to wreck rivals; check how Seville are doing this season.
Do you remember: Cruyff, Maradona, Lineker, Hughes, Figo, Ronaldo, Koemann, Stoichkov, Schuster, Henry, Touré, etc, etc, etc. All from the Cantera??!!!
Barcelona’s remained on the top level over decades thanks to purchasing the “best” overseas players.
Lets just look at the LAST 3 years and yes, there are others other than Zlatan, just 11 others with A MINOR OUTLAY OF OVER 200 million euros…….
2010
David Villa Sánchez (€40m, Valencia)
Adriano Correia Claro (€9.5m initial, Sevilla)
Javier Alejandro Mascherano (€22m, Liverpool)
2009
Maxwell Scherrer Cabelino Andrade (€4.5m, Inter Milan)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (€46m, Inter)
Keirrison de Souza Carneiro (€14m, Palmeiras)
2008
Daniel Alves da Silva (€32 mil, Sevilla)
Seydou Keita (€14 mil, Sevilla)
Gerard Piqué Bernabéu (undisclosed, Manchester United)
José Martín Cáceres (€16.5 mil, Villareal)
Aliaksandr Hleb (€15m, Arsenal)
Zico, it’s a long story but again, we have another urban myth here, Franco was not a Real Madrid fan to begin with. Only after the team became the Dream Team of the 60’s under the presidency of Bernabeau did he start taking an interest, mostly for the propaganda value overseas. His sympathies originally lay with Atelti, a military team.
Lets look at some facts:
– In 1936 Real Madrid was in the 1st Divison, and Alteti in the 2nd , so being the Madrid team of the Republic, Franco preferred Atleti, as it was also closely linked to the military, hence its name “Aviacion”. Curiously it won promotion in 1936. Other Falangistas, such as Suevos, were ardent Atleti fans.
– Documentation showing that Franco forced the best players in the military to join Atleti, rather than Real Madrid
– The first league in Franco’s era was won by…Atleti
– It took 17 years under Franco, before Real Madrid won a league. Yes, let the Cule’s digest this one. 17 years before Real Madrid won a league title under Franco! Again, if he was the Evil Dictator whose Will is Obeyed adn a Real Madrid Fanatic, then why wait 17 years? By the way Barcelona had already won 5 leagues by then………
There is much more to disprove this myth. Just check the facts!
Zico, finally, I am not entering an arguement about which regime is better or worse, Franco or an Islamic State.
Its just that Franco is history, Qatar is not.
All I am saying is that Barcelona is linked financially and MORALLY to a very dubious regime that is heavily criticized by Amnesty International, where women are second class citezens, where sodomy is punished by death, etc, etc.
You and other Cule fans have a MORAL obligation to protest and except the IRONY that you have spent decades critizing Franco and you are suddenly bounded and tied by a financial contract to a One State Party with morally deplorable beliefs. Just chew on that!
fair play Mr.Carlos, fair play.
good stuff i must say.
i will get back to you on my views of the gulf and barca’s transfer stories but in the mean time just think how much real has spent on C.Ronaldo then we shall weigh up the opinions on who’s stealing who. 🙂
Hi Zico
Thanks for acknowledgement, much appreciated.
– Barcelona transfers: its all there, every year they buy and often the best and most expensive player in the market. Yes Madrid play the same game (Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo), its just a matter of looking at the last 20 or even 30 years and adding up the amount spent on transfers. I bet that Barcelona is ahead, but only just, and both are miles ahead of any other European Football Club.
– Gulf: again its all there to see, even the Foundations web page. There is no sponsor that is squeeky clean, but Qatar is taking it to a level that no other major football club has reached, supprted by a Totalitarian regime and, as I mentioned, the irony is there to see re Franco & the Catalans. I think it would be interesting to research what deal had been set up previously where Guardila appeared in the Qatar promotion material for the World Cup. What deal was already made? Where did the fees go to? Who pocketed the fee? By the way, look at Guardiola’s face, he is none too happy about being there!
– Franco: any objective & well researched history of Spanish Football, will blow away the myth of Real Madrid being Francos team! The facts speak for themselves. For example between 1939 & 1975, Real Madrid won 71 cups & Barcelona 64, just 7 less, and thats on average 2 cups per season. A serious football fan can see that during 36 years of Franco’s term, Barcelona were hardly the oppressed victim. They coincided with the Dream Team of Madrid (Di Sefano, Puskas, etc), who dominated European Football, and given that Barcelona did remarkably well! Much more to be analysed here, but a fascinating story.
OMG! Barcelona’s ‘cantera’ only work horses… the three finalists for this years golden ball come from the barcelona youth system… Xavi, Iniesta and Messi (don’t forget that even though he is Argentinian he has been in Barcelona’s youth system since he was 13). On top of that the figures you’ve posted are dwarfed by the names that have been signed and the money that has been spent by other teams in the same period… and not with the same results.
Franco an Atletico Madrid supporter… well, no need to comment on that.
Not admitting that Barcelona is currently the best team in Spain is being blind… and for those who love statistics… FIFA has just confirmed Barcelona as the best team of the first decade of the 21st century… not that we needed a confirmatio of it, but here you have!
– Apart from Xavi, Iniesta y Messi, who exactly are the others from the Barcelona canteras that are / have been world class players? The answer is there aren’t any! I believe this type of unfounded propaganda is called “spin” in the UK
– Exactly which clubs (apart from Manchester City 2010 & Chelsea 2004, and of course the eternal rivals Real Madrid) spend more than Barcelona? There aren’t any. Since the 1960’s, Real Madrid & Barcelona have always supplemented their work horses with stars…. The club has spent on average 80 million euros EVERY year this decade on new players….so much for the Cantera.
– Have you noticed what terrible purchaes they make? Maybe 1 each year triumphs but of the 11 I mentioned in the last 3 years, only 3 are still regulars. Its the Gattling Gun splatter effect, using the Caixas borrowed cash, that guarantees at least 1 player may reach the 1st team.
– Franco: if you read the documents from the end of the Civil War re military footballers, you can see he had sympathy towards Atleti, not Real Madrid.
– Decade!!! Real Madrid where voted FIFA club of the CENTURY (20th), thats 10 decades………
Finally Jaume, let me know your thoughts on the 165 million euros sponsorship deal with the Totalitarian regime of Qatar……. or does anything go as its “More than a Club?!
Carlos,
On top of the three already mentioned, the likes of Valdes, Busquets, Pedro, Pique and Puyol were part of the squad that won the world cup for Spain and at least 5 of them would be on the shopping list of any club in the world. Have you tried to price them? Is Barcelona a buying team? Of course we are. Has Barcelona made mistakes when buying players? Yes, and will make more in the future. However, the line followed by Barcelona in recent years relys on home-grown players to an extent that no other world-class football team does (Man U, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Milan, Inter) at the moment (the only exception would be Bayern Munich).
Well, yes, and that is all Real madrid can do at the moment…remember past times that were better Yes a century is 10 decades, but Real’s century is part of the past and Barcelona decade is the present (and by the look of it, the future).
Would be crazy to keep football separated from business nowadays. FC Barcelona has (regarding the current board) more than 400 million Euros debt, if we want to keep competing at top level we have to compromise. Even though I would have prefered not to have the Qatar Foundation as sponsor (or any sponsor), Unicef will still be on our shirt. Morover, Barcelona is ‘mes que un club’ for other reasons, not just because of the sponsorship. Moreover, if they are good enough to earn the confidence of FIFA to stage the 2022 world cup… they might be good enough to be part of the football world
Franco might have been a die-hard Atletico Madrid supported (i do not have read the documents you mention) but that he favored Real Madrid much more than Barcelona, is also out of question…
Hi Jaume,
My critisms of Barcelona are based on one concept: I react against fanaticism in any form, especially when mistakes and truths are ignored. However nothing is black or white! For example:
– Cantera: yes the present Cantera is unique, but before this wonderful squad, the cantera provided occasional good players. The thrust was always provided by foreign players as Barcelona, like Real Madrid, have always used cash to strengthen their squads, and I insist, this policy has been followed for decades, unlike any other European club.
– Comparisons: I think they are futile as styles change, etc. To compare the Real Madrid of Puskas/Di Stefano with the present Barcelona team is a waste of time! Both were/are marvelous teams that influenced the way football was/is played. They will never play each other, so whats the point!
– Business: there is business, and there is business. I am sorry, I agree with one of your mentors, Cruyff, the decison damages the image of the Club and if one is at all sensitive, one would oppose it. Having taken this decision to accept money form a Totalitarian Regime, the club no longer is “More than a club” – its just like any other busines that accepts cash and doesn’t ask questions.
– Franco: well if anyone is writing a book about Football in Spain, this would ne an interesting area to research! Just collect these post Civil War documents and see where the sympathies of that Totalitarian Regime were!
I await the Champions draw, and by the way, I was at Wembley when Koeman (not cantera!) won the European Cup for Barça and yes, I was cheering for Barça from the kick off!!!
Carlos,
I agree with you and while I am a Barcelona supporter, i try to be as neutral as possible and try to avoid my love for the club to blur my judgement.
-Cantera. You are absolutely right. A breed like the current one has is very difficult to get. Whereas in the past we managed to have good players together in the same squad (Guardiola, Ferrer and Sergi for instance) a group of players like the current one has not been seen before in Barcelona (and I’d dare saying in Spanish football) and it’ll be difficult to see again.
-Comparisons. Times change and is always difficult to compare temas from different times. Today’s Barca is playing the most attractive football I have seen, however that football wouldn’t have been possible without the Cryuff’s Holland of the 70s, Maradona’s Argentina of the 80s and Barcelona’s dream team of the 90 amongst others.
– Business. Cruyff said back in 2005 that ‘kid’s sponsorship had to pay for the debt’ (while Laporta was the head of the board). Now he seems to have different views (I wonder if the fact that Laporta’s nemesis is the one who’s made the decision has something to do with his change of views…)Again, Cruyff has done fantastic thigs for Barcelona, however i don’t think he is now helping. I believe that not only the lack of sponsorship was what made Barca ‘mes que un club’. The meaning that the club has for Barcelona and Catalunya. The Catalunya’s ambassadorial role that the clubs play. The role that played during the ‘repression’ years… yes I’d rather not wear sponsorship, but in order to be able to carry on competing at Europe’s best level we need the money… as you well pointed the youth teams won’t ever supply the world class players they currently do, and the we will have to splash even more cash than today… to make up for it.
Now that the draw has been hold, I am particularly excited by the Barcelona and Tottenham draws, however at this level all matches will be exciting.