Football Mood

2022-11-19T15:33:00.000+01:00

World cup debate:How Public Arogance made Blatter a visionary prophet.

World cup 2018 will take place in Russia while Qatar will host World cup 2022. Dooms day. And the ranting engines started to roar like never before. FIFA is corrupted! (No shit!). Then the holier-Bigger-Better than though anthem blew its horns, as predicted. Democracy! Human Rights! Environment concerns! Corruption! Terrorism! And again Telorism! Just 'cause it sounds more convincing when you repeat it twice. All that proves the FIFA were right to make the decesions they made. Because regardless of the luxury discussions about "technicalities", this FIFAstic decesion served beyond football, revealing the ugliest face of the trident engagement between Arogance, egnorance and hypocricy. A fact that make people who were not that excited about FIFA's decision (count me in), stand up and bow for Blatter and co. If Football-and Sports- role is to bring people together regardless of their differencies, to make them know, then this FIFAstic move proved being a master strike.

Let me start with this tiny -sidenote- information: Qatar is more a "Liquefied Natural Gas" country than "Oil". HA? Yes...thats true. It is onething when a blogger or someone who comment on a blog mixup things, but it is another thing when some "proffessional" journalists on the payroll of well known journals start ranting without putting an effort to know the most attainable details about the subject they discuss. So for those who want to explain how Qatar bought and currupted everyone, Pullleeaazzzee refer to the LNG country, not the Oil country. At least this will give some credentials for your argument, and delude your readers that you have a clue what you are talking about. Deal? Deal.

Now before getting to what really matters, lets deal with the "technicalities". There were lot of noises about the technical flaws of the winning bids. Hosting a world cup has never been (and will never be) a technical decesion. Right? If Russia's bid was catostrophic from the technical perspective -leading to the claim that those who voted for Russia are FIFAnatically corrupted- then why did Mr. Geoff Thompson -England's FIFA ExCo representative-vote for Russia -the weakest bid technically- in the second round? Of course he is not corrupted -because he is English and English gents dont do that the same as English players do not dive. Obviously he had his own reasons. But why is it hard to believe that there are some people -who are not English- who might also have their own reasons to vote in the same dorection?

Is it true that BBC panorama program had an impact on FIFA ExCo voting? You bet. Is there anything wrong about that? Following English media reactions after the voting, one argument sum it all:

"Voting for Russia proved the claims about FIFA's corruption. FIFA had a chance to clear its name by voting for England, they waste it!"

I see...Well BBC plan went in the wrong direction then. Timing the program just before the voting was meant to create a pressure on the ExCo to "clear their names" by voting for England. There is no other explanation for the timing of the program. The thing is, the BBC played it so wrong. In Fact, if the Exco voted for England, that will prove everything said about their corruptuion. It will sound asif they made a panic voting, trying to Buy England's silience. The competition between England and Russia was so close, as the telegraph discribed the two bids before the voting http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/8172748/World-Cup-2018-England-Spain-Portugal-Holland-Belgium-Russia-who-will-win-the-race.html

England

Technical report in brief: Fifa risk ranking: 14 low risk categories, 2 medium risk and a low overall operational risk. Report reveals England has made the most detailed proposal, and praises both legacy plans and commercial strength of the bid.

Can they win? Yes, but they’ll have to come from behind to do it. Major challenge to make it in to the final round against Spain or Russia, but if they do it’s winnable.

Odds: (William Hill) 13-8

Russia

Technical report in brief: Russia has five areas of medium risk, with air transport judged a high risk because of the absence of a reliable rail network and concerns over the pressure this would put on air travel.

Can they win? Definite contenders and received wisdom has them vying with Spain in the final round, but Russia are chasing many of the same votes as England, and may not be the clear favourites.

Betting odds: 8-11

Then came the BBC attempt to add more wiegh to England's bid, but it was not well-calculated and causes an irreversable damage.

Then there is the suggestion that Putin called some voters -personally. In another interview England's representetives leave you astonished while telling how some FIFA members promised the prime minister, Beckham and the royal family to vote for England, then they didnt. And please..."They promised to vote for us"...Ask anyone who was involved in any kind of elections from classroom representetives to national leaderships they will all tell you how naive this complain sounds.

Did Russia (and Qatar) try to create insentives for Exco members to vote their way? Hm...One of the members is from Thailand. England arranged a friendly match to be played against Thailand to help world cup bid http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8001:exclusive-england-agree-to-thailand-friendly-to-help-world-cup-bid&catid=61:england&Itemid=74 Why will England need that if it is all about technicalities where England is supposed to have the best chance? Now they are rumors they are canceling it after the voting http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3259830/England-ready-to-axe-Thailand-friendly.html . Is THAT "fair bidding"? Isnt there any conflict of interest there? Thats corruption, no matter what dectionary you check. Didnt they -English campaign representetives- tried every way they can to bring Key members to their side? So lets stop this "we played it fair...poor we..." claims. The only difference between different bidders is that some had more insentives to offer than others. Fullstop.

Then you wonder, where were all the whinners -at least- in the past two decades? There were lot of incedents where people stepped in to point finure on FIFA's corruption while the current preachers wherer hiding in their holes. Now everyone want to become a national hero, and its as easy as screaming "Corrupted!!" While carrying a banner with FIFA's name on it marked by a wrong cross. Then FA chairman Roger Burden ride Alexander's horse announcing he will quit as a protest against FIFA corruption. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9256772.stm But before anyone HAIL Burden's English pride, I am sorry to tell you he was actually planning to quit anyway http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1282066/CHARLES-SALE-FA-pick-Roger-Burden-heavyweight-role-Lord-Triesmans-exit.html

But now he can exit passing under the bow of glore, rather than sneaking from the back door. Good radiance.

Saving football, this time for real. Part 1

2021-05-28T23:30:00.006+02:00

Athletic Bilbao, punishing a good club

Athletic Bilbao, a club that depends almost entirely on breeding its own squad through the academy and regional grassroots academies is one of only three clubs in Spain that had never relegated from the first division, doesn’t spend beyond its means, and possibly the club with the strongest connections to its community. A club that counts in its rise and fall on its sporting project, developing players, having sound management at the top. A model that demonstrates more football fair play by practice than anything the ties and sunglasses will decorate via their random Football Fair play regulations.
Now if we talk about distributing the football wealth on clubs based on earning it through their performances as proper football clubs, the way football clubs are supposed to be run, how much that brilliant football model Athletic follows is recognized in football wealth distribution?

Zero.

Athletic Bilbao can spend five years to build a proper cycle with a competitive team to get oppressed out of any European spot (where you can get more money) by a club or two making some random fully baked signings with the hope to recover the transfers investments via the European competitions additional revenues. And, Hey, Athletic, back to square one.

Why will clubs not prioritize turning squad building to suicidal surgical transfer auctions instead of organic consistent growth then?
Why is everyone surprised that all clubs (big, small, all) are acting like hyenas fighting for a piece of that cash to waste via over-inflated spending (all spending is inflated in nowadays world football)?
Why will clubs have patience with managers and young players they believe they may deliver on the long term if the future is totally dictated by short-termism?
How is it a surprise that all football clubs are riding that economic destructive rollercoaster created by that vicious circle where the amount of money you get can change by every year dramatically depending on your team getting one point more or less in a season, which depends on whether you had better luck (more often than not, spent more) in the previous summer transfer auction?

Football regulations decide where the money goes and how it is distributed and that sets the tone for the whole dynamics of the game. The current model at its core is destructive. It creates a game dominated by owners’ greed, agents’ antiques, and players’ uncontrollable demands.

When the concept is flawed and destructive, the discussions about who should get what and how much on its bases are debating which symphony the orchestra should play on the Titanic after striking the iceberg.

The idea that giving more money to “smaller” clubs just by default makes them more capable of competing for titles is a long-lasting laughable joke. In theory, it makes no sense. In practice, it proved to be counterproductive. It decreased the clubs’ dependence on developing players with the illusion that with more money they can compete in the market. That led to fewer developed players, supply declined while demand increased and so as the money. What a brilliant setup!

Here is what happened in reality (bare the exceptions that happened in football from the beginning of time): The bigger the club is the more money it will still have and the more attractive it is. In that sense, there are different classes of clubs and different classes of players. With the increase of money (the way it is now) clubs within the same class will just spend more on their equivalent class of players than they did before. And it goes all the way down. The disruptive factor for that statico is the owners. Some clubs got wealthy owners who invested in their clubs (regardless of how and why) and upgraded their clubs’ status. Other owners just took the money given to their clubs and relegated that status.
The current model of money distribution does nothing but harm to football no matter how the money is distributed on its basis.

There is a need to scratch the whole football economic model off and go back to the drawing board to find proper answers to:

1) Creating a model that provides more revenue channels (from the football accumulated wealth) than what league you play in and what your club achieved in one year.

2) Create a model where clubs actually earn the most of the money they get. But a model that provides fair chances for different clubs on different levels to create their business models that allow them to grow steadily towards whatever goals they aspire to.

3) Create a model that by its nature controls the market inflation and reshape the impact of the transfer market from being The factor in success to become a factor in it among many other factors including developing players.

4) Create a model that by its nature scare away owners with one objective in mind and that is to take most of the money out of the football cycle to their own pockets.

5) Create a model that protects clubs from the economic fragility caused by the many unpredicted future crises involving ownership behavior, global economic crisis, etc…

A new model to fulfill the set goals

Reward the industry, not just the merchants.


1) Competitions rewarding system
Now that the highest noise comes from the distribution of the UCL money, it is good to take that competition as a case study of a model that could trickle all the way down to the lowest division league in the least recognized football nation. Currently, the rewarding system is based on short-term results, driving the clubs crazy for transfers with immediate impact, inflating the market, wages, agent fees, and ultimately disrupting the football economy altogether.

That is the first to change by adding more diversity to the rewarding module combining short-term success with long-term work of developing players, the heart of the game.

Distribution channels

a)    Channel 1, Results-based rewarding: this is basically the model that exists right now. Clubs’ rewards are dependent on their performances throughout the season.
     Sum (A) from all the money allocated to distribute between clubs will be shared based on their performance in the UCL. There is no need to go into a lot of explanation there as it is a known format that could be tweaked and agreed on per clubs’ discussions.

b) Channel 2, football development-based rewarding: Sum (B) from the money allocated to distribute between clubs will be distributed based on each club’s success in developing football players. And this is how it works:

·       Split Sum (B) rewarding percentage on the different stages of the UCL (I will take the existing UCL structure here): Qualifying rounds, Play-off round, Group stages reward, Round 16, Quarter finals, Semi Finals, Final
·       Decide the minimum number of minutes club’s developed players (CDP) should collectively play in each round to be qualified to receive money from each stage the club reaches. CDP means the players developed through the club’s academies. In the group stage, we only calculate the CDP minutes played by each club in its first 5 games in the group stages (many clubs guarantee their qualification before the last game, so they may collect CDP minutes in an irrelevant game which misses the purpose and make the concept flawed).

Application sample:

After playing all the group stage games in the UCL, clubs get their rewards from Channel 1 based on their performances as it happens right now. As for rewarding the clubs from Channel 2, we create the CDP table listing the teams from the club with the highest CDP to the lowest :
In the rewards column the percentages are obviously random to explain the point.

Let’s assume a club like Ajax did not qualify from the group stages to the knockout, but it ended up being Team 1 in that table. Instead of being punished for their effort in developing players and giving all the money to Big transfers clubs that qualified, this channel rewards Ajax for their work that is the essence of football survival: developing players. As in the sample table, Teams 14, 15, and 16 failed to reach the CDPM (minimum of minutes played by academy players), so they get no rewards, and the sum of the money allocated to their slots in the table end up being redistributed on the other 13 teams in the table. Another example, if one of the two teams reaching the final fails to reach the CDPM, the other club gets the rewards of both slots. IF both teams fail to meet the CDPM the rewards allocated for that stage get redistributed on the teams of the previous round (semifinals) meeting the CDPM. If Team 4 and Team 5 ends up having the same CDP, the money sum of the two slots gets distributed equally between the two teams.

Thanks to restructuring the rewarding system this way, developing players become a way to achieve sustainable income for clubs. A club like Ajax will be able to hold to its players better, predict the revenues for few years in advance and plan accordingly, and balance up the rewards given to big clubs with big transfer pockets with the sustainable academy-based models that work harder under unpredictable risks as no one knows what youth will actually become a good player.

This will flatten the revenues rollercoaster from year to year which makes it possible to plan middle to long term. If you have 12 academy players this season, you can expect to have 10 of them for the next season and possibly add one or two and keep a relatively stable CDP position to secure consistent rewards, balancing that with being competitive to get the best slice possible from the channel 1 rewarding system.

A 10 years plan where the money distributed through channel 2 gradually increase while the money distributing through channel 1 decreasing can contribute in fixing a lot of football’s major problems:

-          If at some point the money distributed through Channel 2 exceeds the money distributed through channel one, building a team dependent on club academy players become an economic must. That will force owners - following the money - to invest in their clubs’ academies.
-          With Channel 2 pumping money in the veins of academies-based clubs, such clubs will be less dependent on selling players, making it even more difficult for rich clubs to just buy the best players around so the big club remains big, and the rest just feed it.
-          With more clubs putting more effort on their academies the pool of developed players gets bigger and bigger with more players for different levels. That increase in supply can slow down market inflation and add more quality to teams in different divisions of different leagues.

2) Players’ gratitude payments

During the revolution that followed the Super League circus, players voiced their rage and stood shoulder to shoulder to defend the spirit of the game and the right of smaller clubs to have a fair path to grow. Great. Now we should expect every player to put the money where your mouth is.
Play and pay.

Same as rewarding clubs based on short term success (the previous point) is not sustainable as it pumps random amounts of money that can change vastly from one season to another, rewarding a club that developed a player a percentage of any transfer the player makes in future is not sustainable either.
The same as we try to reward players developing clubs consistently through the competitions rewarding system such clubs should have a consistent income from players they developed. Let's take an example, C.Ronaldo. Had there been a regulation that a player should pay 10% of his total annual income (that exceeds 1 M a year) to his developing club, that would’ve still made C.Ronaldo a rich man but also brought Sporting a consistent payment for 20 years now.
What matters here is not how big that number is (and in this case, it is decent, to say the least) but the fact that Sporting could’ve been able to predict how much this talent will generate for the club in the 10 years following his departure to Manchester United.

The shared idea between rewarding clubs in competition for developing players and Player’s gratitude payment is securing consistent, relatively easy to predict income for clubs to help them to plan beyond the one-year-at-a-time period that governs modern football. This will only increase the value of having youth academies. The more the big clubs pay their imported players, the more the clubs lower on that food chain get consistently, the more they can invest in their academies and get more money to trigger that sustainable growth to reach the top.

3) Controlling the transfer market:

Heading straight to the point here, there is a need to put a leash on the transfer market dynamics that is turning football to a suicidal greedy bidding war instead of what it should actually be: Clubs getting players for specific positions they need, clubs selling players they do not need, players moving clubs to improve their careers and financial benefits – within the boundaries of commonsense.
There is a need for a structure that creates proper checks and balances to protect the game from its current circus.

   The minimum duration for a player contract is five years for a player aged 24 or younger, and three years for a player older than 24.

The maximum transfer fee for a player is (His salarynumber of years left in his contract a fixed variable to be determined through further analysis). That’s where the FFP regulations regarding salary control become more powerful and make more sense as it compliments this structure. But a tweak there will also be good and that is to put a cap on how much the difference could be between the highest earner in the squad and the lowest earner. That will balance things up and make the clubs less pressured to splash all the cash on star players. A player who earns 30M today will not retire and seek a career as a carpenter if such new regulations make it impossible for any club to offer him more than 15 M. So, why not going for it?

  The maximum commissions clubs (buying clubs) pay for transfer agents is a fixed percentage applied on the agreed transfer fee.

  There is a maximum fixed percentage an agent can charge a player annually from the player’s football salary and rewards.

Let’s apply that to a player who is 23 years old with a salary of 10 million on a 5 years contract. If we assume the fixed transfer variable is 2.5, the player’s maximum transfer fee one year after signing his contract is 100 M, one year later it becomes 75 M, then 50M, then 25M in his final year. At any point, his club can improve his salary by offering a new contract which will reshape his transfer value.

This will keep the transfer market working without inflating it madly. Put that with the previously set rewarding systems and any ambitious club can start building a proper academy, improve its financing, and reach a point where it can also compete in the transfer market.
4) Controlling the money leaking

Regulators on national and continental bases (like parliaments) may need to step in at this point putting new laws differentiating sports clubs from the normal business companies to make it possible to protect the game without breaching business laws leading to legal cases.

Accordingly, there should be a maximum percentage of clubs’ net income that owners can take out of the club annually so we make sure the most of the money generated through football remains in the sport. That alone can make investors who only care for cashing money out of the clubs’ blood retreat and find themselves other investments away from the game. Open a hairdresser or something, who cares, just stay away.
5) An obligatory reserve

In short, it is a tempting idea to discuss whether each club should have an obligatory reserve account and move a small percentage of its annual income there till the account sum matches the operation cost of running the club for three years. The club can’t use that reserve beyond very specific conditions. This is a financial guarantee against any future financial crises. A three years soft landing is enough to restructure the club to counter the urgent situation and adapt to it.

We want any club to have a chance to win titles, become a dominant club, and aspire to greatness. All the attempts to make leagues more competitive in the past 20 years ended up being just noise. EPL was the jewel of the crown with TV distributions, and we are still with the same clubs, plus one funded by a Russian Oligarch and one funded by a Petro-state. Yea, Leicester. I knew you were going to go there. We had similar phenomena before all the holy changes. Heck, the UCL was won once by Red Star Belgrade. Aberdeen? Deportivo in Spain? Verona in Italy? Besides, if Leicester's achievement was exceptional, well, that’s exactly the point. Exceptions.
Pumping more money randomly in clubs on short-term results-based success serves no purpose other than inflating the market and making football agents richer. Let the clubs actually earn it instead of the exhausting rambles about All-clubs-Matter. A club that wins, gets rewarded. A club that contributes in developing talents gets rewarded. A club that does neither this nor that shouldn’t.

The keyword: Evolution. Organic growth and progression. And a football economic model that makes that actually possible.

You can always check latest rants on @FootballMood

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Happy for Ronaldo, and I support FC Barcelona.

2016-07-12T15:24:00.001+02:00

Euro 2016 final, 25 minutes on, Ronaldo throws the captain’s armband on the turf, is down and ready to be subbed off!

He goes off on the stretcher and on comes Quaresma.

Quaresma, a player over a decade ago was considered the h,o,p,e of the word hope for Portuguese football. When FC Barcelona scouted for the best youth to sign, they melted the wedding rings of all board members to pay the price of getting him (figuratively speaking).

From there, his career swung back to Portugal, another attempt by Inter, ended by a loan to Chelsea, off to turkey, then Dubai, packed back to Portugal before heading back to Turkey. Altogether, playing 486 games on (barely) club level and scoring 87 goals. On international level, he played 56 games scoring 8 goals.

The player Quaresma replaced in that final was a player who was exactly in the same position like Quaresma over a decade ago, yet with a lower natural flair.

Ronaldo reached that substitution moment after playing 673 club matches, scoring 487 goals added to 133 international games with 61 goals. Three EPL titles, a La liga title, three UEFA champions league titles added to a collection of other club titles here and there. Three Ballon d'Or, four Golden shoe and a bunch of other individual awards on every level.

The only relevant comparison that should actually inspire people and become the case to discuss is right there: Quaresma Vs C. Ronaldo.

That contrast is the best demonstration you can make for youth about the value of ambition, determination, hardworking and drive. The difference, you can see just there.

We are talking about a player who accepted nothing but perfection for his career. He dedicated his life to exceed the highest limitations of his potentials. He worked on daily bases to run faster, jump higher, shoot stronger, score more, and accepted nothing but to be the best. If you believe Messi is the best player ever, then how much credit should C. Ronaldo get for being so good that people compared him to Messi, in Messi’s era?

Unfortunately, social media and the more engaging football mediums created more polarization than enhanced realization. There is an irony that in such an open space we were still able to fold ourselves in tight cults. The windmill of ranting and counter-ranting keeps on spinning the dust all over the virtual battlefield that we can barely recognize what we are fighting or fighting for anymore.

Make no mistake, rivalry is the best thing ever to happen for sports. And as an FC Barcelona fan, you can be sure I will keep on setting up banters and knitting jokes about Real Madrid, and C. Ronaldo. But it should just be that: Barely a half serious rambles. Sometimes, like when a great player like Messi suffers an unfortunate situation and retire, or a brilliant player like C. Ronaldo achieves one of the milestones of his life, winning for Portugal, maybe we can have a pause there and just recognize how far they deserve the best they can get.

And again, stop getting too obsessed about current narrations of how Messi or C. Ronaldo will be labeled in history. When that history arrives, y'all will be dead! So why don't we get advantage of the current situations for some current gains? After all, the legacy game is out of our hands.

Quaresma has a teardrop tattoo placed underneath his eye, which signifies that the wearer has killed someone. Judging by earlier expectations, the only thing Quaresma killed was an exceptional career.

Not only it was easier for C. Ronaldo to do a Quaresma, it was easier for him to do a Ronaldinho. A talent enough to complete Some brilliant seasons, win a handful of titles and take enough cash to the bank. Then, get the party going!

If you have a child who considers football an obsession, which comparison will serve you better to inspire him/her to have a great future, a Messi Vs C. Ronaldo, or a C. Ronaldo Vs Quaresma?

I can tell you now, anyone who is willing to put half the level of hard work C. Ronaldo invested in his career, will make his parents proud no matter what career he walks through.

So, Kudos for C. Ronaldo for winning Euro 2016, but more for setting such an example.

You can always check latest rants on @FootballMood

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Maradona, Messi and football legacy

2016-06-28T13:52:00.000+02:00

Scene one: Copa America

It is telling that as soon as Messi lost the Copa America final, the Maradona Vs Messi legacy discussion kicked off to demonstrate that Messi is no where near Maradona.

Our script of Maradona's legacy overlooks the fact that Maradona never even came close to compete for Copa America title, getting kicked out of the group stage in 1979, coming fourth when Argentina hosted the tournament in 1987, and forth in 1989.

Worth noting as well that Pele came as close as third in the tournament with Brazil, and that was in 1959.

And that is fine and normal. Because we are basically comparing two different things here: What we know NOW about Messi (the news) to what we collectively narrate about Maradona: His legacy. Two completely different languages.

The legacy thingy

We get it all wrong when we start arguing about Messi's legacy as if it is up for us to live it, analyse it, and deliver the narration of it as a permanent historical script for the future.

As proven over and over again, time has its own dynamics, and life rewrites us as a past tense over and over again in many ways and different versions mixing our subjective views, future generations' approach, sentiments, and nostalgia in an outlined narration of what matters most for Them then, not for us now.

So many details we are so obsessed about now regarding Messi will have no relevance in the future narration about Messi's legacy. Same as so many details about previous Greats (Oh, the details!) were left behind and ignored in order to trim, polish, and add a magical touch of aura - a main ingredient needed- to the legacy iconic formula.

Reading through the refined legacies of past Greats and trying to pull it off that heavenly throne to its past reality will put their achievements in the right none-supernatural perspective and offer a chance to predict how Messi's legacy will look like after his achievements get the same level of maintenance and packaging over time.

I should note that I am a life time Maradona fan, and putting Maradona's legacy on the table here is simply because he is the name used most in comparison with Messi, and because for me Maradona was always the greatest of them all (I didn't watch Pele matches), until Messi.

Scene two: Club legacy

There is no doubt that Maradona's era at Napoli was a blast. Not only for the titles Napoli won but as a part of the south vs north sociocultural background in Italy. However, the margin distancing the legendary legacy from the great reality is the issue we should spot a light on more.

The club:

Starting with Napoli's position in the league table during and around the period Maradona played there (Maradona's seasons with Napoli are in brackets), from 1980-1981 season and on, Napoli's ranking swinged as the following:

3rd, 4th, 10th, 12th, (8th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 8th) , 4th, 11th, 6th...

The boost Napoli enjoyed during Maradona's time there is obvious, but a closer look at the sequence shows that Napoli was not exactly the Leicester City of Italy that Maradona carried on his back to title. If anything, Napoli was more the Liverpool or Spurs of Italy, an inconsistent team swinging between top but not enough in a good season, and dropping low in another. A team with a budget good enough, and a project exciting enough to afford getting a player like Maradona, and a club name known enough to tempt a player like Maradona to escape to after a not so impressive time at FC Barcelona.

Do I think adding Messi to Liverpool or Spurs make them competetive enough to win some titles? Yes.

Instead, Messi played for a club with a higher quality and achieved more on the club level. You cant take that against him.

We don't even need to draw comparisons between Napoli and the mentioned English clubs, falling in the trap of "No, its not the same" argument. Was Napoli the best title story in Italy during that era? "The club that snatched the title out of the gigantic italian clubs hands" like the legacy tells. No, not even that.

The name of that club is: Hellas Verona.

Promoted from second division in 1981-1982 season, the following seasons for Verona went like this:

4th, 6th, 1st, 10th, 4th, 10th...

Verona finished their first season in Serie A in top four, and won the title two years later. Beating all the big clubs in Italy, without having a Maradona.

That, added to the swining position of both Verona and Napoli in the league sheds a light on the state of the Italian league back then. It was a period where the competition was wide open for all teams to entertain their chances until the mid nineties when AC Milan had their best team in history and more or less dominated with Juventus the following cycle. We should not mix the two periods together, as the legacy narration tends to do.

Here are the league winners during Maradona's time in Napoli:

Verona, Juventus, Napoli, Milan, Inter, Napoli, Sampdoria, Milan...

It was not exactly a closed title winners brotherhood of clubs that Maradona hacked. More, a tough competition where Maradona's brilliance added to Napoli's squad provided enough quality to compete in it.

Napoli's squad? What squad? Wasn't it all about Maradona?

Napoli finished each of the two title winning seasons as the second best team defensively, with the least number of conceded goals. Keeping 16 clean sheets in 30 games in1987, and 14 clean sheet in 34 games in 1990.

Maradona was capable of doing many miracles with the ball, defending was not one of them. Napoli had a group of players who ended up having hundreds of international caps, especially for Italy and Brazil. They were not no ones by any scale.

In 1987, Maradona finished the title winning season scoring 10 goals out of Napoli's 41 scored goals in the league. Of course, the argument is: You can't compare Messi's numbers to Maradona's. Different leagues. So I will not do so. That season, Virdis finished as a top goalscorer with 17 goals out of his teams 31, Vialli came second with 12 out of 37, Altobelli 11 out of 32, then Ramon Diaz 10/30, Maradona 10/41, and Aldo Serna 10/42.

In 1990's Napoli title, Maradona scored 16 goals out of 57 goals the team scored. Van Basten was the top scorer with 19/56, followed by Baggio 17/41, then Maradona 16/57, and Schillaci 15/16.

Assuming that all the goals Maradona didn't score for Napoli he assisted, you need more than no ones in the squad to score 31 goals in 1987, and 41 goals in 1990.

There were names that made history in that Napoli. In fact, the current MSN, BBC, etc... naming trend for forward Trios is not new. In 1990, Napoli had its catchy Ma-Gi-Ca trio in Maradona, Giordano, and Careca. The Careca who scored 73 goals in 164 games for Napoli, and 29 goals in 60 international games for Brazil.

Scene three: The worldcup

Maradona's adventure in world cup 1982 was so chaotic that Argentinians demanded to chop him off world cup's 1986 squad and replace him by Bochini, a supposedly better player. Then he lost world cup 1990 final (scoring no goals in the tournament) before blowing off the chance of Argentina's excellent squad in world cup 1994 after getting tested positive for five variants of ephedrine.

Its all about world cup 1986 then, where he had an amazing tournament and played the major role in Argentina's world cup win. But to suggest that Maradona single handed won the world cup while Messi failed, that's where legacy narration fails the reality check.

Argentina 1986, as all critic from that era confirm, was a brilliant team defensively and had a perfectly organised and executed 3-5-2 system that caught everyone by surprise. They conceded an average of 0.71 goals per game in that tournament, which is even lower than Italy's 0.86 World cup 1982 winners.

At the same time, having a look at the goalscorers in the 7 games then, we find:

Maradona: 5

Valdano: 4

Burruchaga 2

Ruggeri 1

Pasculli 1

Brown 1

Even in the final, the goal scorers of the three goals winning Argentina the title were Brown, Valdano and Burruchaga.

Fast forwarding to world cup 2014 (Where admittedly Messi was not at his best form after a complicated season) :

Messi: 4

Rojo 1

Di Maria 1

Higuain 1

Ibisevic, Bosnia and Herzegovina player (own goal) 1

Maradona had to score only a third of his team's goals in 1986, while Messi had to score half of it. A Bosnia and Herzegovina player scored as many goals for Argentina in 2014 as any other Argentinian scorer beside Messi.

This detail is not just about the numbers. It makes a big difference when the opponent feels the obligation to keep an eye on more than one player, rather than focusing on marking the only threat out of the game. It also improves the assists converted to goals, something Maradona teammates did, Messi's didn't.

Maradona's highest point in Worldcup 1986 was the game against England, where not only Maradona delivered an unmatched display in a world cup game, but also won a game for Argentina against a country that just defeated them in a war. It also helped his case that Argentina was craving for a hero to match their football rivals, Brazil, who had Pele.

Messi did wonders for over 10 years, but it's a missed chance by Higuain here or there that determines his greatness. Get out of here.
— Ramzi ⚽Ⓜ (@footballmood) June 27, 2016

Messi's Legacy

Maradona is a legend. And that's stating the obvious. His real value was extraordinary enough that WE embraced a legacy about him that almost purified his career. We trimmed off his flaws on the field and almost completely ignored everything else about Maradona that may scratch his statue. That's how the unique greats deserve to be treated.

Messi's legacy is fine. It is just pending till the right time. Talking about Messi's legacy already is another sign about his brilliance. Legacy building starts when a player career is over.

Legacy building starts when the rivalry soften down, and the people witnessing the miracle grow some years to get back to it with a dosage of nostalgia, even if they were not FC Barcelona or Argentina fans.

Legacy building starts when current generation concur with a new generation 20 years from now, having their own hero. And that's when we feel like claiming our bragging rights: "Hey, I lived a time where we watched Leo Messi games on weekly bases. Sit...down".

Legacy building starts when new generations look at our current Greats with an eye craving for inspirational examples from the past, not rivalry bantering at the heat of a moment. When they stand in awe, watching that amazing force of nature demonstrating a peak football performance for the coming generations to look up to.

And then, there will be no space for lots of the noises and twitter rants. There will be no twitter in the first place. A legacy is all about the brilliant moments that defines it. And when it is brilliant enough, even the little falls can trigger more compassion than doubts, like Netherlands 1974, or Brazil 1982, and the same as coming generations will see when they look at FC Barcelona of the past decade.

If a team or a player delivers enough brilliance to inspire the future, the future can be more forgiving and generously rewarding than what one can imagine.

Future has no time for our detailed details as it has more past to write about, and more future to make.

So, lets just enjoy what we have, and let the rest sort itself out. Messi videos will be there for generations to watch and appreciate. His legacy will not be denied.

You can always check latest rants on @FootballMood

Football News 24/7

FC Barcelona: When is it right to ask the tough questions to Sandro Rosell?

2013-08-27T17:01:00.000+02:00

"Questions?"

There is an investigation going on in Brazil as we all know already. When you mention former CBF President Ricardo Teixeira, then add that Rosell is his friend who was responsible of organizing friendly matches for Brazil, fraud is a given conclusion for many. Yet, two things should be noted: The first is that things are way more serious than just suspensions, and secondly (though as important), no official accusations yet to Sandro Rosell - whose real name is not even Sandro Rosell, as if he needed that to get people more skeptical!

Talking about being skeptical, I am probably the founder of SFAR club, A.K.A. Skeptical fans about Rosell since 2003 when he was a member of the victorious Laporta’s board. The smell of “Nike deals” in Brazil was there since then, and it never went away.

Jumping forward, there was the promise of Rosell to bring transparency to the club after accusing Laporta’s board of manipulating accounts based on a report by an accounting (international) agency which had more suspicious history than the one investigated. He provided an initial accusation, promised to come back with more details that will make everything clear, and we are still waiting…

Zlatan Ibrahimovic sale was another one for me. If you knew for months that this is a player that should be sold, why didn’t you put him in the market earlier? Why waiting till that specific club came hunting for Ibra at a moment where there were no other options, then agreeing a deal my neighbor’s child, Kenny, would have laughed at? That wasn’t for the club’s interest for sure.

Then of course, the big fish, the Qatar foundation deal that turned to be Qatar Airline deal and soon Falafel Qatar, or Qatar mosquito’s shampoo, who knows? Wrote a lot about it before as it was always a suspicious deal.

For me, if you don’t open the market space, put your product there and invite offers, then announce all offers received and pick the one that is best, you are manipulating. Especially if the deal comes from a side you already run business with (Aspire- Qatar). Pulling a deal out of nowhere and propose it to the assembly without giving a chance for other alternatives to present counter –better- offers is a fraud, or at least a misleading process. Regardless if the deal passed thru voting or not, if it is flawed, it is flawed. Yet, when is it the right time to run such investigations?

And here we are at it again, FC Barcelona signs yet another deal with Qatar airways. I will not even bother analyzing whether the deal is the best since signing Messi’s contract on a handkerchief or worse than signing Alexandre Hleb. This deal comes in a suspicious period where there are investigations in Brazil about the Rosell thingy. Of course, no one suggest firing Rosell and electing a new president already, as he is still as innocent as mother Theresa in that case till the court says otherwise. But there is the commonsense argument regarding keeping the eyes opened.

Is it the time for FC Barcelona Assembly to ask Rosell to clarify what is happening in Brazil – from his point of view at least? How far such mess will leave an impact on his focus to do his job well at the club? How far it will touch the club image?

Is it the right time for the Assembly to create a committee that double check previous board decisions, including what mentioned above and make sure no fishy fish fishing there?

At what point the assembly should ask Rosell to hand his responsibilities to the rest of the board, fly to Brazil to sort his mess and if he is back he get his role back? Too early already, but there should be an idea already so the tsunami of Brazil doesn’t hit the Catalan shores.

Yet again, this is politics more than anything else, and that is where Sandro Rosell is still well covered. How long that cover will last? Only time can tell.

You can always check latest rants on @FootballMood

Football News 24/7

FC Barcelona's sponsorship of Qatar foundation, has no foundation.

2012-09-06T16:37:00.001+02:00

Was that a prank?

When FC Barcelona signed there sponsorship agreement with Qatar foundation, there were lot of critic toward the decision. The idea that FC Barcelona didn't REALLY need such agreement, keeping in mind that the club passed worse crisis without the need to sell the shirt.

However, the main praise many pointed out was the value of the sponsorship for being the highest a football club ever got.

We pointed back then that getting a higher deal than the rest was just because it was the most recent, and predicted this record not to survive enough to offer enough answers to doubters.

There were so many added values to benefit from while negotiating a sponsorship agreement for FC Barcelona:

1) Being the first ever to sponsor such a great club with the history background supporting it and providing it the immunity against sponsorship deals. To be the first to achieve what others failed to get in a hundred year should have a price - big one.

2) At that point, FC Barcelona was already the best in the world. Winning all titles for fun Playing the best football there is. Already considered one of the best (if not the best) ever in football history. Having the best players in the world and one of the best (if not the best) in football's history. That's not just another great club, it is The Club of the moment.

For a sponsorship offer to worth looking at, it should've been good enough to survive at least five years (or the contract duration) as the highest worldwide.

We predicted back then that ANY big club in Europe will exceed that value in their following sponsorship agreements canceling all the negotiation leverages mentioned above. And it happened.

Source: Swiss Ramble

In the graph above, you can see how a club like Manchester United use its own leverage (Like playing in EPL) negotiate sponsorship deals. At the moment, FC Barcelona shares second place with two clubs. Guaranteed, many clubs will pass in the coming two years.

After a hundred year of sanity, FC Barcelona sold their shirt's virginity for a price that failed to survive at the top for two years. What a waste.

When it come to FC Barcelona's interest there is no two ways to say it. Either Qatar foundation made a joke out of Rosell's board and the club, or both Qatar foundation and Rosell made a joke out of the club while counting their earnings to the bank. Maybe, Rosell found a better source of "business" than Brazil.

FC Barcelona: The real legacy of Laporta.

2012-08-02T16:31:00.002+02:00

By Xavier Sala i Martín, former board member and treasurer at FC Barcelona 2004 - 2010

Original article in Spanish and Catalan here.

I have a rule not to comment on Barca unless if it is to defend the board of directors of Joan Laporta, which I was a member of. In three articles published before (October 2 and October 17 and November 2 ), I explained that Sandro Rosell (1) missed the truth when he said that "upon arrival at the club there was not a single euro in the box", (2) had deceived the newspapers when he leaked few invoices that allegedly showed the unjustified squandering of Laporta (neither there were bills, nor unjustified) and (3) had induced the assembly to vote for actions against Laporta based on a false summary of the whole situation.

Again, I write about Barca following the presentation of the accounts of the 2011-12 season because the numbers make many things clear. Since coming to office, Rosell has not stopped repeating that he had inherited a poorly run club financially. He said the problem was not the revenue (already a record at the time) but the cost, full of assumed squandering. To get rid of all that squandering, he announced a policy of austerity and cuts: among other things, removed the ink color printers, eliminated some sections and did not pay the invoice of the security system that the club had put in Laporta’s family house (Who received death threats by the violent groups that had been expelled from the club by President Laporta).

These savings, of course, have brought a huge reduction in spending ...Oops! Sorry! Now that I look, I see that the costs of this season, 442 million are higher than the 428 million of Laporta’s last year! I see that both wages and non-athletic sports have increased by 3 million over 2010 and "other amortizations" in 2.6. Operating expenses have increased by 14 million, going from 87.2 to 101,300,000 euros.

Apart from the amortization of players, the only item that has "fallen" is the "other expenses”, which corresponds to some provisions imposed arbitrarily by the new board when they arrived, reformulated so bizarrely Laporta’s accounts and arbitrarily attributed a lot of "expenses" in the form of provisions. For the inexpert, the provisions are not a result of actual expenditure or waste but a sketch book in recognition of future risk (notable for its magnitude, Sogecable providing 37.5 million). When occurring in timely and non-recurring provisions, it automatically disappeared in 2010 in 2011 and 2012 without having anything to do with Rosell.

We, therefore, conclude that the supposed austerity of Rosell has not only failed to -comparably -reduce the total costs, but has increased it by 14 million over the 2010! This increase is somewhat surprising especially when you consider that in 2010 they won La Liga and Euro league of basketball, which entailed an expenditure of 38 million in wage variables. Current board has not had the challenge to face such expenses this year, because, unfortunately, has not won any of these two major titles.

This increase in expenditure leads me to a thought: if, as Rosell said in 2010, allegedly catastrophic situation was due to uncontrolled spending, how the situation may have changed without reducing that expense? Could it be that what they said in 2010 was not true? Could it be that they have failed to cut the squandering because in reality there was no extravagance to cut? Could it be that the alleged losses of 2010 were not real and were not caused by the squandering but were accountants’ and were caused by a malicious and arbitrary provisions, designed to discredit the former president and bring him to justice?

And while we ask, isnt it funny that Barca get a benefit of 48 million just two years after the current president said he had inherited a bankrupt club? Isnt it funny that they have obtained the highest profits in history right now, when other companies and institutions in the country are drowning in the midst of a financial crisis? The answer is no. It's not funny because it is untrue that the club that Laporta left was ruined. Plaster is seen in the income statement presented by the club now ... Yet not in the expenditure but in revenue!: This season has entered a record 495 million euros. An important part is due to the good work of this board that has managed to negotiate sponsorship agreements, advertising, stadium tours and exploitation. That is clear. But no one doubts that, even if you're a great negotiator, you cannot get all these contracts without a good product. And the "product" that Russell has found (again, found) when he arrived, was a team that had already won it!

That is, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, Abidal, Valdes, Alves, Guardiola, Vilanova and the rest of the sports structure, all are great sports assets. Besides, there are some extraordinary economic assets that have allowed the current board to negotiate a contract, which, without having to cut costs have generated the highest profits in history. And that, although Sandro Rosell and his board persist in hiding, is the real proof of the good management of the previous board, the true legacy of Laporta ...

Barça in Watercolor

2012-02-24T17:44:00.000+01:00

a detour from troublesome words...

FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, who will win the Liga 2012?

2012-01-28T17:30:00.000+01:00

Three celebrates, three think its too early

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid find no third in the Liga to bug their plans of winning the title. But by having each other, they can hardly wish for additional challenges. In fact, the big margin of quality separating the big two from the rest is one of the main reasons why the rivalry between the two clubs reached a do-or-die level. This is a league where a draw for any of the two teams can cause the collapse of the season. The chance of reversing the damage and balancing the books of points is very slim compared to other leagues in other countries.

However, there is one main difference this season that makes this league way more interesting. If you go back to last time Real Madrid won the title, you will notice that the strong fight they put till the end (in two seasons) came hand in hand with a catastrophic collapse for FC Barcelona on and off the field. Then you move forward to the seasons FC Barcelona won and you notice that even though Real Madrid had superb seasons, FC Barcelona were on a very high level and almost unbeatable. In my opinion, this is the first season where the two teams are playing on the same level – each utilizing own strength and suffering own weaknesses. While Barcelona is still the best team collectively and (for most positions) even if you compare individuals one-by-one in the starting eleven, Real Madrid squad provide more depth and diversity. The fact that both teams have their backs to the wall (No more: we are building a team for future) put more pressure and make the mental strength, squad moral, and club’s environment deciding factors, more than ever.

The stock market of hopes:

At the moment, most Liga followers consider it done and dusted for Real Madrid. Five points difference is a big margin in the liga, and Real Madrid are winning all the time – beside when they meet Barcelona. Barcelona fans – or the majority of those I discussed the issue with- already surrendered that this is not Barcelona’s year. So I’ll not argue if Real Madrid can win the title because that’s the common belief. The question is: Can Barcelona still win the title? Do they have a realistic chance?

After the disappointment against Getafe, lot of people considered Real Madrid as the favorites to win the Liga. Then the clasico came, Barcelona won it, and they became the team to beat. Then another disappointment against Espanyol and that’s doom’s day. Barcelona lost the Liga. I didn’t agree before the clasico, and I don’t agree now. Some people complained that I’m just being in denial. Other’s praised my optimism. Its neither this nor that, it’s just about the way each football follower observes the situation.

The secret:

Some people count on statistics; others simply check the points’ difference, or simply count on the “feeling”. Most may mix all together. Today, I’ll walk you through one of the most confidential and restricted departments in FootballMood’s base, it is called: “The” (just that as we can’t leak its name). Sign the papers you receive at the entrance (which confirms that you do this at your own risk), and walk just between the two yellow lines, any slip and you are gone! Make your way through the tunnel and narrow paths where it only gets dimmer and colder, and here you are facing “The” giant lead gate. Opened. Get in and check the table in the middle.

The operation room in "The" area

Alright for an untrained eye we made an easier map to observe, have a look and before jumping to conclusions, give some time for the following argument.

This is my way to follow the league. And the posted schedule lists all the Liga matches for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid (with Cdr and CL confirmed matches). Looking at the whole picture makes a big difference. It gives you a perspective for the way the Liga may go based on previous matches and the coming ones. We already conceded that Real Madrid chances to win the league are as good as them getting another penalty for Ronaldo to score. No question. But why am I still as confident that Barcelona can still win the title?

If we make a flash-forward to the clasico day at Camp Nou, with Real Madrid being five points ahead of Barcelona. If Barcelona wins that match, the points difference will go down to two points. Now for each his own to figure the possibilities there. I think for Barcelona to win this Liga, they have to defeat Real Madrid at home, and I don’t see this as a mission impossible. But then there are still two points difference…

Putting the tricky game against Sevilla, Real Madrid will play after the clasico (and clasico defeat may also leave an impact), the main bet for Barcelona will be on Real Madrid’s visit to Bilbao to face Athletic. I’m not sure if this is the last season for Athletic at their cathedral before moving to the new stadium (or maybe next year will be the last), but in any way there is no better opportunity to make the historical stadium more historical than damaging Real Madrid’s title hope. Knowing just a little about the rivalry between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid will make you certain that this game will be far from being certain for the visitors. A draw there may hand the title to Barcelona.

Can Betis cause damage for Barcelona’s title hopes? Of course they can. They did it before, and they will remember that forever. So as many Barcelona players who lost a title when Betis defeated them, they will remember that as well. We are definitely not talking about any certainties there - Only possibilities. Now be realistic and make your own probabilities.

Looking at it this way, if you are a fan of FC Barcelona, then Real Madrid’s wins each and every week will not cause you a moral damage, as you still have something ahead to look forward to. Same goes for Real Madrid fans when things are going the other way. The league is a competition full of complexities.

For Barcelona, it is vital that the difference separating them from the top does not get wider than five points till the coming clasico. The most difficult part is passing February without increasing that difference. If you look at the matches starting with Villarreal till Atletico, it will be a huge challenge for Barcelona to keep the five points difference as it is. Villarreal is a team that can take points at home. Real Sociedad match is sandwiched between two CDR games against Valencia. Osasuna game is at Pamplona, one tough place to be. Then Valencia visits the Camp Nou after playing Barcelona twice in the same month (repetition rarely serves Barcelona), before traveling to play against Atletico in Madrid, a team that developed after changing the coach. While lot of Barcelona fans may still feel down at the end of February if the difference stays where it is, I will be looking at the schedule posted above and singing relief for the accomplished mission. Especially if you take the injuries crisis in consideration.

Any additional points added to the difference between the two teams, Barcelona will need to cancel during the second slice of the games – the queue of games preceding the clasico. Looking at that slice of fixtures, Real Madrid may have more matched to worry about than Barcelona. This is a relatively balanced slice, yet Barcelona can bet on collecting couple of points more than Real Madrid there, narrowing or closing the difference.

That’s why I don’t think anything is decided yet and the title can still go both ways. Lots of factors can imbalance the teams, causing a U-turn in the sense of the Liga. Injuries records in the coming weeks, moral variation, Champions league and CDR results, and much more, all will happen one way or another.

While losing against Getafe was a surprise, winning against Real Madrid was another. Barcelona lost more points than I expected through my First-19-matches planner, but not a lot more. Taking the squad available in consideration (and my opinion is known about squad, transfers, etc...), I expected the team to lose/draw more matches this season than before. Barcelona earned more points in some matches than I expected (Athletic, Real Madrid...) and in return lost points where I didn't expect - all balancing all in a way or another. And that's why my view for Barcelona's chances to win the league are still exactly where they were at the beginning of the season.

Now that you have this roadmap on your table, add it to your own charts and enjoy watching the league from a different perspective. It worth following till the final day, I can assure you that.

What happened to FC Barcelona?

2011-11-29T15:49:00.003+01:00

FC Barcelona, from a team winning six titles in one season to a team six points behind the Liga leaders this season, a free fall in the eyes of many observers. Some hot-blooded are calling doomsday, questioning the form of the players, their fitness, their commitment, or their spaghetti-making skills.

But what is really REALLY happening at FC Barcelona?

Nothing. Case closed. Thank you for reading this "insightful" post.

Saying that nothing changed overnight, turning the best club in the world to an old half-dead horse, does not mean there are no "issues" to fix. It means that there are no NEW issues emerging or at least nothing of a great significance.

Word on the street is all about the flaws of Barcelona's system, and the need to apply changes and turn things around. Now those who were generous enough to read many of my previous posts in the past three years can tell, I am not the Shaolin temple of that system. No doubt, I am a dedicated apologist for the key concepts of Pep's method of play, but even during the most glorious, Lets-all-hail-greatness, periods I was the boring dude nitpicking flaws and demanding changes to perfect what is genetically great. Yet, strange enough, what the team need to do first is to go back to the basics of the current system BEFORE talking about any changes. Getting carried away by the praise targeting some of the main features of that system, led to forgetting what system is all about. In fact, every season this team is moving one step further from the system we witnessed during Pep's first year as a first team manager.

Season one:

The first team Pep stitched played -mainly- two offense structures: The first with an offense line of Messi-Eto'o-Henry supported by Yaya, Xavi, Iniesta. The second structure consisted of Messi-Eto'o-Iniesta supported by Yaya-Xavi-Keita in the midfield.

In the first structure, Barcelona controlled Possession thru midfield, but at the same time they had players in the offense line who love to play as close to the opponent box as possible. Henry and Eto'o contributed in the buildup through midfield just when they felt it was needed, BUT were never settled to that. One of the great changes Pep made was giving Henry the permission to act as a second striker when possible, beside his nominal function to run on the left flank to create width. Henry became much more lethal this way compared to Rijkaard's days where the french role was to hug the lines and play as a wing (Remember this point as we will come back to this later).

Henry and Eto'o always tried to demand the ball between defenders or behind them rather than shying away from the defenders to create redundant outlets in the midfield. Their physical characteristics offered them the requirements needed to hold on the ball while having a defender breathing at their necks, offering the chance for more dynamic outlets to move around the mesmerized defenders. By doing so, Henry and Eto'o served like board pins, clinching defenders to hold position, being more worried about how to contain the forwards than how to cover behind their defending midfielders.

In such selection, Barcelona had a midfield combination (and Messi, Alves, ..) capable of swallowing the opponent midfield in a black hole of possession and ball circulation, while the forwards were torturing the opponent defense line and pushing them to the edge. Such mechanism automatically creates more spaces between the opponent lines, something Messi and Co are capable to expose best. To visualize things a bit, get the ball to Messi between the lines and the defender will have to chose either to release Eto'o and intercept Messi (who will ultimately pass the ball to Eto'o through Xavi/Iniesta), or to stand by Eto'o and watch Messi slicing through the box like a shark.

When the offense of Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta was backed by Yaya, Xavi, Keita, Keita was the most advanced midfielder of the three adding more directness in offense to compensate Henry's absence while Iniesta's dual functionality as a LW/CM made the team perform as if they have 12 players in the selection. The importance of a level of directness in the selection was demonstrated during November-December period of Pep's first season (and I always refer back to that period for its significance). Iniesta was injured during that period and by having Keita in the midfield and Henry upfront, the team witnessed one of its most lethal periods scoring like freaks against the best teams in the Liga back then (and the competition was tighter there, for the record).

Season Two:

Eto'o was exchanged for Ibra, not only to add aerial threat but also for being more technical, and more capable of holding on the ball, beside his play-making qualities (Beside many other Eto'o/Pep/Ibra stuff, not so relevant to this post topic). Another very significant factor at the beginning of season two was the -predictable- collapse of Henry's form after winning the champions league. And so the club started the new season counting on an offense line of Pedro-Ibra-Messi.

Out of sudden, two players who were fond of playing close to the opponents' box were subbed by two players -added to Messi- all more ball-o-holic and like to play wherever the ball rambles. The whole offense line sank in the midfield, contributing in crawling the buildup carnival all the way to the offense third. The opponent players who check Barcelona forwards first became the midfielders while the actual defenders became more focused on creating depth and diagonal cover and to close popping up holes appearing here and there.

At the beginning of the season, Messi (by being Messi), and Ibra (by being Ibra) led the scoring sheet decent enough to keep things going, regardless of the systematic failure. It was about individuals quality in a period still early to expect more chemistry from/with a new striker. Then it all turned chaos when Messi decided to play as a false nine and Ibra decided not to play anymore. There was enough room for mistakes in the Liga and so it was won, but not the Champions league.

Season Three:

When Barcelona signed Villa, I was very excited about the offense line of Villa-Ibra-Messi, and I wrote about that. Keep in mind we didn't know what was happening behind the curtains back then (I can't say I am certain I know now) .

Villa was never a choice for me as a center forward for Barcelona, and I still cant understand how some considered him so. He was an obvious choice for that Missing Henry role. Open to the flank, cut to the center, and score. With both Ibra and Messi being very interested in contributing in the buildup, Villa was the X-factor supposed to add more directness and scoring threat. But the offense line ended up being Pedro-Villa-Messi

We don't need to repeat ourselves, talking about the offense line sinking in the midfield. It needed a supernatural Messi to have an extraordinary season and carry the team on his back to win titles. What we need to note though, is that season three completed the transition of the initial system from being an attacking-based system structured on possession to become a possession-based system with attacking vibes.

Such transition meant that the possession quality became -by far- a higher priority than offense drive. Losing possession became more drastic from the system's perspective than missing a scoring opportunity. This situation put more pressure on the forwards to become less daring to take gambles. Eto'o and Henry used to lose the ball too often to even work in the system that Barcelona applies at the moment. But I bet they would've kept on doing few things their way. Only a player with enough courage (and ego) would dare to take responsibilities and try stuff from the high-risk-high-return shelf. Villa relegated from being the offense leader he was at Valencia to serve as a co-pilot to Messi, and as Pedro he felt more settled to play it safe and only go for the guaranteed decisions. Offense players are not supposed to avoid doing the wrong things, they are supposed to try doing the right things, regardless of all the risks involved.

Season four

In the summer post Protection, perfection, or excellence we analyzed the possibilities available to strengthen Barcelona's squad during the summer. Pep decided to go for the excellence option (or maybe the players available in the market made the decision for him), and Alexis was the fortunate player to join the group.

It is still too early to figure how far this alternative will work. Theoretically, I believe. Yet, if we learned anything in the past two years its that unpredictable football is way more unpredictable when it come to Barcelona. And there are specific requirements needed for this new adventure to sail in the right direction.

First thing first, "the system" need to be generous enough to accept more diversity. The players available since three years are the best possible to serve the religious practices demanded by the exciting holly system. No new monks can do this better. So if all what's needed is more of the same, buying any player is useless. Unless if "the system" agrees to stop chewing players and spitting them in the same one-flavor bowl, we can safely say this team has reached its ultimate potentials with no more room for any progress. Checked.

To demonstrate that, Alexis Sanchez is a player with sharp directness. Watch him at Udinese, and watch him when he plays for Chile. He receives the ball and first thing he does is to turn toward the opponent's keeper, giving him a dirty look and murmuring: "Here I come Bastad! You better run and hide before its too late!"

Well, most of the time, he doesn't really arrive to the destined station. But if every time a forward want to run over defenders he end up scoring, this sport will turn to a scoring Karaoke! What we know is that despite all the misses, messes, and possession loss, he generated enough threat to become one of the best performers in South America and Serie A, and he proved good enough for Rosell to sell the club's printers, collecting enough money to buy this energizer Bunny.

Again, it is still far too early to know how this will work out. But there are some signs what left me wondering. Sanchez hesitation on the ball is something new for anyone who followed him enough. His unadventurous passes, bowing to his team's midfielders to take his leash. Lack of the daring spark he is characterized of, and -here you go- being too worried of losing possession in a one-on-one that he end up hesitating AND losing possession.

It is really normal for any new player to feel like an underdog and try to play it safe at the beginning till he finds his steps in the selection. I am by no means picking on him. But he HAS to take responsibilities even if there is a chance Messi will yell at him for not passing the ball. One of the main reasons why Messi is that brilliant is the fact that he takes risks and can afford to make mistakes and losing possession. Alexis is NOT Messi yet, but he should take a page from that book. Pep has a HUGE role here, and it is a role that exceeds providing enough guidance to Alexis but also to the rest of the selection. Take responsibilities. This is not going to work if the club ends up being FC Messi.

Talking about Pep, I believe Villa's role should be modified as well. Currently, he is playing the same role Henry played in Rijkaard's last season as a coach. I started to believe that the main tactical structure Pep wanted to apply this season was a 3-4-3, basically to find enough playing time for the Zillion and one midfielder he has in his squad. To do so, it was Villa's role to play as a wing for the head of midfield rhombus (Cesc/Thiago) to attack the center. This was not supposed to work, and it isn't - for many reasons. If the rhombus is a logistic need for squad rotation, play 4-4-2. Regardless of the fact that Pep should use the best selection to get results, not to satisfy players. This is coming from someone who demanded buying the players the club needs and not the players of the club need. But let's not go there...

If Pep is willing to play three defenders, then a 3-5-2 is the way to go as it utilizes the main qualities of each and every player while covering their weaknesses.

Players picked here were based on the available squad when this image was made

There is nothing catastrophic to talk about in this team. Each and every team in the world has its strengths and flaws. This is still the same team after Getafe's match and before it. On one side, this is a praise, but on the other side it is not the best position to be the same while everyone around you improves, or at least become more experienced in how to deal with you. Great performances will keep on coming and titles are certainties regardless of the frequency of winning them. The main challenge is that there is less room for mistakes, and Barcelona's football method is so sensitive to flaws that it requires perfect performance game in game out to expect consistent results. Is that fair? You already know my response... C'est la vie!

Football mood on Twitter: @FootballMood

An Exclusive Interview With PR Director of FC Viktoria Plzen

2011-10-20T18:23:00.000+02:00

We are very grateful to Pavel Pillar, the PR Director at FC Viktoria Plzen, for kindly offering us the time needed for this interview, despite being contacted very late. Read on for his insight on the club, the city, qualifying for Champions League and his thoughts on the upcoming game on FC Barcelona.

Q: Some football fans may not have a clear idea about FC Viktoria, How would you introduce the club for them?

A: It´s a small family club, which celebrate this year 100 anniversary – the completely history you can find in attached document. In the long history the biggest moment came last year, when for the first time won the Czech league. And today´s match in Barcelona – that´s a dream of all generations of Pilsen fans.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the city?

Plzeň is the fourth biggest city in Czech republic (after prag, Ostrava and Brno). It´s known like a city of bier – in this city is made very popular bier “Pilsner Urquell”. It´s also the city of sport – most popular are football, ice-hockey and Handball. Last year Plzen was chosen from the European Union like a “European city of culture in the year 2015”.

Q: Winning the league title last season then qualifying to play in the Champions’ League group stage this season were the best achievements in the club’s modern history, what are the main factors leading to that exceptional success?

A: The most important thing is, that team stayed together for the last three seasons. The´re a lot of players, who used to play in Sparta or Slavia Prag – they have enough experiences with the big games. The coach Pavel Vrba os an excellent specialist – he is the trainer of the Czech republic for year 2010. Very important was sommer 2010 when came to the club new owner – mr. Paclík and solved most of the financial questions. Very important is support from city Plzeň – right now we´re rebuilding our stadium in Pilsen – that´s why we have to play Champions league games in Prague.

Q: Yet things are not going well so far this season, the club is in fourth place…

A: For the team it´s a new experiences to play in so many competisions – Czech league, Czech cup and champions league – and we want to be successful in all of them. But now it´s getting better – we are on the fourth place in Czech league and we hope, till end of autumn gonna be even better.

Q: How can you describe the team’s football style? Where do you believe your main strengths are and what are the weaknesses that troubled the team most this season?

A: We´re trying to play offensive football with a lot of chances. Very important person is the captain Pavel Horvath – he is very experienced and his left foot is one of the best in the whole Czech league. Most of the rest players are very fast, technical and they profit from Pavel´s skills.

Q: How did you feel when you knew you will play AC Milan, FC Barcelona and BATE in the champions’ league group stage? Was it a good news or you would’ve preferred easier draw?

A: We were enthusiastic. It´s a very hard group and we all know, that AC Milan and Barcelona are one of the best clubs all over the word – but it´s perfect experience for the fans and players. And we still can fight with Borisov for the third place in the group.

Q: How can you describe the clubs performance in this competition so far after a qualification round and two games played in the group stage?

A: Qualification round was a big surprise for the whole Czech public – first of all games in Trodnheim and Copenhagen were really big moments for our team. We were little disappointed after the game against Borisov – but first point in the first champions league game was after all a good result. AC Milan was a better team in the game, but we showed a good performance – and that´s what we want to do today against Barcelona.

Q: And now it’s the game against FC Barcelona…

A: We´re meeting the best team in the world. We want to enjoy this game and show performance, that we could be proud of.

Q: How did the team prepare for this match? Any unfortunate injuries or missing players in the squad travelling to Barcelona?

A: The team is complete and all the players can´t wait the beginning of the game.

Q: The match starts 0-0 with one point for each team, Will FC Viktoria defend the point in this game or try to get the three points and improve their position in the group?

A: We want to be active and do our best to make the game for Barcelona as complicated as possible. There are going to be fve thousand fans from Pilsen – we don´t want do defense for ninety minutes and disappoint them.

Q: Václav Pilař was full of praise for Messi in his most recent interview; will stopping Messi be the main mission for FC Viktoria? Is he the player who decides this match?

A: Messi is the special one, but the whole team is amazing – every single player. It would be crazy to concentrate only for one player – excellent are all of them,

Q: Who are the players FC Viktoria will count on most to hold the team together against Barcelona? What are your main concerns?

A: We´ll try to be successful as a team, but in the last weeks Petr Jiráček, Václav Pilař and Daniel Kolář play a wonderfull game – all of them are in the Czech national team.

Q: Your last thoughts at the end of the interview and before the big match.

A: We believe, that´s gonna be a wonderfull match and our fans can be proud of us.

Thank you very match for the time you offered and the insightful thoughts you shared with us. We hope to watch a great game, and best luck for the two clubs this season.

(Interview conducted by Ramzi) You can follow us on twitter @footballmood

Want to know more about the history of FC Viktoria Plzen? Read on!

THE HISTORY MILESTONES OF FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ

The Football Association of the Czech Republic originated in 1901, which was formed to keep an eye on the order and organization of football. After the birth of this association on the 28^th February 1901 the Football Association for the Royal City of Pilsen was established. Disagreements among clubs caused a quick end of this Pilsner association. Not until 23^rd March 1909 did the Football Association of the West of the Czech Republic succeed. In those days of Pilsner football there appeared names of football clubs, such as SK Plzeň, FC Union, SK Slavia, SK Olympia, SK Český Lev and AC Sparta. A big rivalry was noticed among these clubs not only on the football pitch but also in terms of the life of clubs.

The roots of FC Viktoria Plzeň can be traced in Dobytčí trh, a place where nowadays an ice-hockey stadium is situated, where boys living near Doudlevecké Street would come to play football. When the soldiers finally left their barracks near this street, these buildings were soon occupied by young fans of a new kind of sport. They then learnt basic techniques with a special ball and played until the dark chased them home. They established their own club (kroužek) called Blesk.

At this time there were no rival teams for Blesk to play against, but the boys had to play some real matches. That is why all of them moved into FC Union and after some time into a newly born club SK Smíchov Plzeň. However, they found out that the idea to establish their own club and to defend its colours was the best. The members of Blesk found a manager, a clerk of the national railway called Jaroslav Ausobský who applied for the licence to give rise to a new football club in Pilsen. The foundation meeting of Viktoria Plzeň took place in 1911. Right before it Viktoria played its first match against Olympia Plzeň on 27^th August 1911. Viktoria in the red-blue team kit lost 3:7.

In 1917 Viktoria became a winner of the District Cup for the first time and they were placed in the 2^nd class of the championship. After the 1^st World War the club fixed its position among the best clubs. Although Viktoria worked in purely amateurish conditions in 1922-23 they won 6 matches out of 9 in Spain, which was the first destination of the tournament abroad. In June 1929 there was an extraordinary meeting of the members of the club, whose task was to decide the question about entering the professional football league. Viktoria applied to enter the 2^nd professional league, in which there were 8 teams in 1929-30: SK Náchod, Meteor VIII, SK Libeň, SK Rakovník, SK Čechie VIII, Nuselský SK, Slavoj Žižkov a SK Viktoria Plzeň.

In the first year of the 2^nd league Viktoria ended up in 7^th place, but immediately the next year this club lifted to 2^nd place, so it meant historical progress into the 1^st league. In the highest league the football players played really well and in 1935 they fought their way to the Middle-European Cup. In those days this was the highest competition the clubs could reach, because of their 4^th place in the home league. Due to two matches with a famous club named Juventus Turin, Viktoria became noted in European football.

After the successful years in the 1^st league some failures came and in 1938, Viktoria fell to a division from where after a year they came back among the Czech top teams. All the football competitions were affected by the war and that is why there were no Slovakian teams anymore. In 1942 Viktoria slumped in this division again, but after only one year they returned to the highest level where they maintained their position until 1952. In this year they ended up at 11^th place in the Championship of the Czech Republic (1^st league), however, it paid off the absurd reform of the football competitions, which were henceforth organized according to industrial fields. As a result of this reform, Viktoria, coupled with 7 other clubs were set aside from the 1^st league. They played one out of two groups of the National League (2^nd league), they finished in 6^th place, however, because of another reorganization they dropped down to the Western League, which they won in a sovereign way.

In those days the name of the club was at first Sokol Škoda Plzeň and then changed to Spartak Plzeň. An effort to come back amongst the top teams of the Czechoslovak Republic took 9 years to succeed. Finally in 1961 Spartak succeeded. They celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their origin in a worthy way; nevertheless they kept their position only for two years. In 1963 they dropped down this league again and came back up only for one year in 1967. It was a time of ups and downs within the club. In 1972 Sparta changed its name to Škoda Plzeň and settled down in the highest league for the next 8 years.

Before that in 1971 they won the Czech Cup and as a finalist of the Czechoslovakian Cup they entered the Cup Winner´s Cup and played two incredible matches with the famous club Bayern Munich. After 1980 there was again a long period of oscillating between the 1^st and the 2^nd leagues, but in the beginning of 1990´s after the dividing up of Czechoslovakia, the situation was getting better and better.

In 1992 the club returned to their historical name FC Viktoria Plzeň and the year after they became a part of the 1^st league, where they stayed until 1999. After one year Viktoria came back again but only for one year. This club was a good importer of football players of high quality especially for the teams from Prague. This is why the position of Viktoria in 1^st and 2^nd league changed a lot.

Viktoria transformed into a joint-stock company in those days, in which 99% belonged to an Italian company called Fotbal EAST Ltd. This situation did not change until 1995 when Plzeňská sportovní a.s. became a new owner of the club and gained 100% of them, so the club returned back to Pilsen in terms of property. Subsequently, the club was stabilized in sense of economics and sport and Viktoria has been playing 1^st league since 2005.

THE BIGGEST SUCCESSES OF VIKTORIA PLZEŇ

The first biggest success of Viktoria was in 1922, when they won the Championship of West Bohemia. Viktoria coupled with 8 other teams acted in a sovereign way, no match was lost and there was only one draw. Viktoria was winning this championship for the next 6 years and in 1926 they won the title of the Junior Championship of West Bohemia. During this year Viktoria organized a big trip to Spain where 6 matches out of 9 were won, 1 draw and only 2 matches were lost.

In May 1926 Viktoria went to Jugoslavia where 8 matches were played with different results. The club became more and more famous within European football; they also celebrated the 15^th anniversary of its origin.

There were also 3 trips to France in 1933, which were very successful. The team played 12 matches and they won 9 of them.

Under the 1^st Republic Viktoria were written into the football history of 1935, when they started in the Middle-European Cup because of the 4^th place in the home league. Unfortunately their competitor in the 1^st round was Juventus Turin, in which they had several world champion players from 1934. The game finished 3:3, which was played in Luční Street in front of an audience of 18 000 spectators. These are the names of the Viktoria players: Dědič - Wana, Mudra, Bešťák, Biro, Vlček, Horák, Čulík, Červený, Hess and Bína. However in Turin they were beaten 1:5 and were knocked out. Nevertheless, the whole of European football now knew the name of FC Viktoria Plzeň. In 1935 Viktoria also played several successful matches in the north of Africa.

The year 1939 was mostly taking up travelling the north of Europe. It was one of the most successful years, which were taken by the Czechoslovakian teams. 14 matches out of 17 were won, 1 draw and only in 2 of them Viktoria was beaten. The competitors were, for example, the national team of Latvia or Lithuania.

Viktoria played the final of the Czech Cup twice in the fall of the 2nd World War. In 1943 they were beaten by Sparta Praha 1:3 and 1:7, and in 1944, when Viktoria beat České Budějovice, Zlín and Slavia Praha were beaten twice by Sparta Praha in the final again (4:2 and 4:3). In 1948 Viktoria ended up in 2nd place after Slavia Praha in the 1st League, but it was not an official and complete league year. Since 1949 our football leagues changed their organization according to the Russian model of their system of Spring and Autumn, that is why in autumn 1948 only half of the year was played. This year was successful for Viktoria. They only lost to ATK Praha, which caused Viktoria to finish 2^nd place after Slavia Praha.

Viktoria Plzeň was also successful in the field of junior teams. In 1951, under the name Škoda Plzeň, they became the winner of the Championship of the Czech Republic. The players (Hodina, Štogr, Beránek, Šerý, Salcman, Ženíšek, Lukeš, Skřivan, Zoubek, Tauš a Sloup) won all the matches led by the coaches Václav Svoboda, Václav Dědič and Emil Hrudlička.

In 1961, named Spartak Plzeň the club began to play in the 1^st League. After the autumn they finished in 3^rd place. In 1962 they played a friendly match with the famous Brazilian team Flamengo Rio de Janeiro and won 2:1 in Štruncovy Sady (the football stadium in Pilsen). It was an incredible match, František Hlavatý, a goal keeper, contributed with his great saves and when Stanislav Štrunc added two goals, it was a big surprise because Brazil became a winner of the World Championship for the second time!

In 1961-62 Spartak was introduced to the 1st League and finished in 9th place, and they qualified to play in the Rappan´s Cup because of it. AC Padov, Swiss FC Chaux-de-Fonds anf Hungarian Banyasz Dorógy were also in the same group. The results of the matches were as follows; Padova 0:5, 1:1, Chaux - de - Fonds 1:1, 1:3, Banyasz Dorógy 7:1, 2:4. The team from Pilsen did not move ahead from the basic group, although they played in the international club league which was considered as a big success.

The decline to the 2^nd League in 1971 was a big disappointment for the players and the team; however, Škoda Plzeň was really successful in the cup. They won the Czech Cup and despite they lost twice to Spartak Trnava (1:2 and 1:5) in the final of the Czechoslovakian Cup. They also played in the Cup Winner’s Cup because the Slovakian team could not start in this cup competition, nevertheless they were not lucky because in the 1^st round Bayern Munich with famous players like Beckenbauerem, Gerdem Müllerem, Breitnerem came to Pilsen. The Czech team consisting of Šestava J. Čaloun - Špinka, Plass, Michálek, Pleško - Süss, Sudík - Kamír, Bachner (Hoffmann), Bican and Ziegler played bravely and lost only 0:1. In Munich though they lost 1:6 and were knocked out.

In the years between 1972-80 Škoda Plzeň continued to play in the 1^st League and in 1977 two very important historical events happened, in May the offender Stanislav Štrunc scored which won them the match with Inter Bratislava (2:1). It was his 100^th goal and he entered the prestigious League of Top Scores. The club players, J. Čaloun, Sudík, Brusnický, Michálek, Kopřiva, Rejda, Sloup, Jelínek, Berger, Uličný, Süss, Forman, Dvořák, Štrunc, Minařík, Vojta, Hřebík, Morávek, Fojtík, Bican, Karafiát and the coach Tomáš Pospíšil finished in 6^th place of the Czechoslovakian Championship which was a great achievement! They were better than most teams for example Ostrava, Slovan Bratislava, Bohemians, Teplice, Sparta, Trnava, VSS Košice and other famous clubs.

In 1993-94 in the separate Czech 1st League under the renewed name of Viktoria Plzeň, the club was led by the coach Zdeněk Michálek and finished 5th position in this new league. This great place was gained because of the efforts of M. Čaloun, Bečka, Diepold, Drahorád, Heřman, Janota, Kopřiva, Mika, Purkart, Skála, Slabý, Susko, Šámal, Šamberger, Šmejkal, Švejdík, Tesař, Vágner and Vlček.

In the new century a young football team celebrated success as well. In June 2001 the under 15 team won the Czech Championship, they beat Zlín (2:1) in the final match. The team (led by the coaches Josef Žaloudek and Miloš Kopecký) were Jiří Misař, David Král, Ondřej Šiml, Jakub Sádlík, Jan Procházka, Tomáš Borek, Lukáš Tomášek, Michal Chocholatý, Pavel Vacek, Michal Smejkal, Ivan Ševčík, Stanislav Protivínský, Martin Dolejší, Lukáš Ulč, Zdeněk Kolář, Martin Fillo, Karel Řezáč and Zbyněk Toman.

In June 2008 the under 19 team became the winner of the Czech Championship, it was the second title in the history of the club. Houdek, Frei, Blažek, Chvojan, Bauer, Nový, Mandous, Matas, Puchmertl, Vitouš, Darida, Mudra, Staněk, Dvořák, Vaněček, Hulina, Štverák, Herák, Mašek, Mičkal, Bezděk and the coaches Karel Krejčí, Jiří Kohout, Jiří Žilák and Jiří Krbeček gained the gold medals.

THE STADIUM

The first football pitch of Viktoria was a ground in Bory. The Municipal Authority of Pilsen gave it to the new club under the football ground called SK Český Lev. However, they trained in the rooms of today’s ice-hockey stadium “na Dobytčáku”, because going to Bory was quite far away.

In 1920 Viktoria´s big dream became true; they gained a real football gound. It was bought from SK Plzeň for 20 000 Czech Crowns and it was situated in the Královské Square (nowadays náměstí Míru). SK club moved to Bory, Máchova Street. The members of Viktoria paid the money needed for buying it. The biggest credit of it made vice chairman Vališ, who gave his own savings of 14 000 Czech Crowns. The ceremonial opening was held on 26^th September, when the team also played a match with Hagibor Praha. The match finished a 3:3 draw especially thanks to two offenders – Štapl who scored twice and “Mindě” Kučera once.

In 1929 the club was not lucky and the football pitch which was expensive and hard to build was lost. They had to move away because of a big town development. Thus the club, with great chances to become one of the top teams in the whole country, economically strong, technically well-equipped and with the players of high quality, stayed without a football pitch.

The discussions about the ground with the city council immediately began and were successful. Viktoria obtained for rent a place in Roudná in Luční Street. They also bought the seating area for 13 000 Czech Crowns. Each member of the club had to pay 100 Czech Crowns for the building of the new football pitch and had to work for 50 hours there. The new stadium is still standing there till this day and is still in quite good conditions. The stadium named Viktorka was ceremonially opened on the 11^th May 1930. The Budapest club Hungaria was invited and came well trained and ready to jump into the game – and won 4:1. The ball which was used to play this match was thrown off the plain into the middle of the football pitch. The football ground was roofed in 1933 and there were also a room made for trophies.

The stadium in Luční Street sustained damage during the 2^nd World War in 1945. During the air-raid of the Americans to Pilsen on 17^th April the stadium was damaged, only ruins remained there after that. On 24^th May 10 000 people gathered at the ruined stadium because of the match against a team from the American army. Viktoria won 11:1 and in June the stadium was ready again for the big football matches. Despite being damaged by fire the stadium was rebuilt thanks to the great help of other clubs.

In 1953 some works in Štruncovy Sady started and it was opened for public in 1955 on the occasion of Spartakiada. Later on there was finished the Brána borců and the main seating area, which was in those days one of the best ones in the whole of Czechoslovakia. B. Kavan and J. Brabec from the Pilsner Stavoprojekt were the designers of the project for the stadium, whose capacity was 35 000 people out of which 7 600 seats were for sitting.

Between 2002-03 a wide reconstruction was undertaken in the City stadium in Štruncovy Sady in order to comply with the standards of the Football Association for the Czech Republic and therefore the stadium capacity was lowered to 7,425 seats.

In 2008 an artificial lawn of the third generation was opened in Luční Street, where except for it there are three more lawn football pitches. The statics of the origin wooden stands were seriously affected because of the big floods of 2002 – it was drowned under 2 meters of water and so had to be taken away in parts 2003. Only bricked changing rooms remained.

Nowadays in Štruncovy Sady there is apart from the heated football pitch (since 2003) a smaller one with an artificial lawn (20 x 40 meters).

Now our new stadium is under reconstruction – the new stadium it is going to be ready in summer 2012 with capacity of 12 500 fans. Dreams are coming truth.

THE MOST FAMOUS NAMES

Vladimír Bína

Vladimír belonged to the generation of football players who brought fame to Viktoria especially between the wars. He was born in 1909 and started to play football in the north of the Czech Republic. He came to Pilsen in the autumn of 1932 as a 23-years-old man, and stayed there until 1947 for 15 years.

He became a part of the team with Jabornický and Žaloudek as goal keepers and the other players were Protiva, Šimek, Přibáň, Fábera, Bešťák, Mizera, Kuželík, Názler, Bína, Čulík, Hess, Rajniš and Vlček. Vladimír Bína played a great game in the position of an attacker. This player was self-sacrificing and liked to play with the joy of the game, coupled with the great art of football techniques and his sense of quick decisions made him one of the biggest players of Viktoria. He was the back bone of the team.

He played 261 matches in the colours of Viktoria in the 1^st League and scored 38 goals. This football player also played for the national Czechoslovakian team in 1933 against Austria (3:3) and was also a part of the team which played the Middle-European Cup against Juventus in 1933.

After the war he moved to Litvínov where he died at the age of 79.

Vladimír Perk

With 130 goals he is a member of the Club of League Greats. He was born in 1920 and came to Luční Street from SK Karlov, aged 19 in 1939. He immediately became a part of the big aces of Viktoria. Bína, Bešťák, Moravec, Vlček, Tajčner and Dědič accepted him and adored his ability of scoring. There was hardly any match without Perk scoring! Three or maybe four goals per match as in Zlín, this was not any surprise of Perk.

During the occupation he represented the Czech nation and in one match against Morava he scored four times. Immediately after the war he put on the Czechoslovakian sporting kit in Paris. He travelled around the whole of Europe with Viktoria and played 201 matches in the highest league with this team.

When he finished being an active football player in 1954 he started to be a football coach. He led teams such as Škoda “A” and “B”, Karlov, RH Plzeň and Bolevec.

He died in 1998 at the age of 87.

Stanislav Štrunc

Another member of the Club of League Greats with one hundered goals was born in 1942, and he tried to play football when he was 13 years old in Spartak Plzeň. At first he was placed between the posts; however thanks to his speed and impetuousness, he quite soon became an attacking winger. He also played for Spartak Skvrňany for a while, but because he scored a lot he soon came back to Spartak Plzeň where his great career started.

He scored in the highest league for the first time in Žilina in 1961. In 1965 he left for Dukla Praha where he shot 65 goals in the 1^st League. Stanislav Štrunc was a member of the national Czechoslovakian team three times, of the Olympic team six times and of the junior team six times as well. He played against Brazil and coupled with another football player from Pilsen named Miloš Herbst who was also in the Olympic Games in Mexico of 1968.

He came back to Pilsen in 1972 and scored again. Finally, against Inter Bratislava in 1977, it was his anniversary 100^th goal. He completed a total of 329 matches in the 1^st League. After that he finished in Viktoria but still played in some lower leagues – in Kaznějov as a playing coach and in Pilsen for the team called Potraviny, today’s Sparta Plzeň.

He passed away too soon in 2001 as a 59 years-old legend.

František Plass

One of the best football players in Czechoslovakia during the 1960´s and 1970´s was born in 1944 and he came to Spartak Plzeň from ČSAD at the age of 19. Later he was called Pilsner Beckenbauer thanks to his ability to completely control the ball, great football technique and sense for the combination and perfect thinking during the game.

He played 11 official international matches for Czechoslovakia, also a lot of matches for the Olympic and junior teams. As a universal football player he tried to function in several positions – namely, centre back, midfield and striker. The most useful job of this player was apparently in a position of a libero, so called “free player”.

He the backbone of the team and played 169 1^st-league-matches and scored 16 times. He was allured by Sparta, Slavia or Slovan Bratislava but never left Pilsen. His loyalty for this city was exemplary.

After a few years, he left in 1976 as a coach to Cheb coupled with Jiří Lopata and these two names led RH Cheb into the 1^st League for the first time in their history. Later he was a trainer for Dukla Praha, Ústí nad Labem, once he nearly moved up to the 1^st League with Škoda team and he was also at the origin of a miracle in Blšany.

Zdeněk Michálek

It has been 43 years since he appeared in Štruncovy Sady for the first time. He was born in 1947 and began to play football in Bory at the football pitch of SK Plzeň. He scored for Lokomotiva in the position of left winger since 1955. In 1966 he moved to Škoda Plzeň and straight away in 1967 he helped this team, under the coach Vlastimil Chobota to move up the 1^st League.

Later the coach Karel Kolský moved Michálek to full-back. This decision was based on his discipline during the game, ability and intelligence. Rudolf Vytlačil, a famous coach chose Michálek to become part of the national team of the Czech Lion, which was an unofficial representation of the Czech and Morava. He played in Chile, Peru, Columbia and Uruguay.

A serious injury finished his career as an active football player in 1976. He started to function in the position of a trainer’s assistant; he also was a secretary and later started to be a coach as well. He was a leader of a junior team, functioned also in Příbram, Rakovník, Rokycany or German Regen, with which he had a big success. The most important thing is, of course, that he always returned to Pilsen and helped Viktoria to move up to the 1^st League several times, which is very unique! Moreover, he contributed to the final position of 5^th place for this new up and coming team in this league.

He belongs to the biggest fixed stars in the history of Viktoria. He enlisted to the annals as its excellent and maximum trusted player (142 starts in the 1^st League and 18 goals) and a brilliant trainer of high quality as well.

Josef Čaloun

In 2009 he crowned his 30-years service working for Viktoria. He was a goalkeeper for 14 years and later became a coach for the next 16 years. It is not only Čaloun, who stayed in the memories of the football public. There were two of his relatives before him, who trained as well – namely, his cousin František with his son Michal. Čaloun was born on 18^th June 1946 and started to play football in Zliv in the south of Bohemia. He went through Dynamo České Budějovice, Dukla Tábor and Pardubice in order to get to Škoda Plzeň in the summer of 1970.

He experienced all ups and downs with this team. It happened twice that he dropped down to the 2^nd League; however, he was a member of the team which he continuously played in the highest League from 1972 to 1980 where his number of starts was 261 as a goalkeeper and he contributed also in the matches against Bayern Munich. In 1977 he won the trophy for the best goalkeeper of the league and despite Sparta allured him to play there, he continued in Pilsen.

He was also part of the national Olympic team for two years; he though did not go to the Olympics because of unknown reasons and in 1980 lost his chance to win the gold medal. Čaloun significantly helped in the match against Borussia Dortmund. He left Pilsen for Svéradice, which went up from the West League to the 3^rd League. As a goalkeepers´ coach he brought up a significant number of big names, such as Havel, Ticháček, son Michal, Hauzr and a lot of others including the present ones.

Jiří Rubáš

He belongs to the best coaches in the history of the club. He was born in 1922 and as a junior he was placed to a position of a forward in Rokycany. After the transfer to Bohemians he was retrained to the midfield or defender. For the Czechoslovakian national team he participated in 6 matches.

In 1954 he finished being an active player and immediately started to be a trainer in Bohemians. He left for Ostrava after 14 years from where he finally moved to Pilsen in 1970. He stayed here for 5 seasons. He took this new team to the 1^st League, with which he dropped down but after only one year they moved up again and Pilsen played in the 1^st League continuously until 1980. In 1975 he left for Ostrava and reached the trophy for the winner of the 1^st League with Baník Ostrava.

He came back to Pilsen, a 2^nd-league team in June 1986 and after two years he significantly helped the team to achieve the 1^st League again. His big training advantage was that he was able to create positive and friendly atmosphere in the team, nevertheless, in terms of the discipline he was strict, rigid and uncompromising. He assumed the presumption of success was discipline.

He died as an 83-years-old in 2005.

Jiří Sloup

He fits in a heavily branched clan of the Sloups. He was born on 30^th April 1953 and first kicked the ball in Sokol Letná where he went from juniors to adults. The year before he joined the army he attempted the division in ČSAD Plzeň. In 1974-76 he played for the military service in Dukla Tábor and in one year he scored 22 goals in the 3^rd League. He was later picked to play for Škoda Plzeň by the coach Tomáš Pospíchal. At first he was placed in the position of left winger, later a midfielder and finally a full-back.

He was a very high-powered player, excelled at shooting from the middle and long distance. He scored a lot of goals from 20 or 30 meters. In 1982 he transferred to follow the coach Pospíchal to Bohemians, with whom he gained the trophy of the winner of the Czechoslovakian Championship and also played in the European Cups against famous teams. He came back to Pilsen after three years and significantly helped Škoda. He had in total 231 starts in the 1^st League and in spite of being a defender he was still able to score 48 goals. He played 8 matches for the national “A” team and scored once.

He scored against the legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff at the stadium San Siro in Milan in 1982. The match finished 2:2 draw and Czechoslovakia gained a worthy point during the qualification for the Euro Championship. He left Škoda at the age of 36 and finished his active career after the year when he scored nine times.

Pavel Nedvěd

A holder of the Golden Ball Trophy for the Best European Footballer in 2003 made his first steps to big football from Pilsen. He was born in 1972 and first kicked the ball in his hometown of Skalná and then onto Cheb where he played went to Pilsen in 1986. His coach was a legendary man Josef Žaloudek who made the birth of fateful relationship between them and he was also the one who strongly influenced Nedvěd as a player.

He was able to use his left and a right foot as well, also good with his head. He was in a good physical condition and was literally obsessed with football. He started to play in the “A” team in 1990, in 1991 he transferred to Dukla Praha and after that Sparta and the Czech national team were waiting for him. He became world known for the first time in Euro 1996 in England from where he won a silver medal and soon he joined Lazio and then Juventus in 2001.

Nedvěd played in Euro 2000 and 2004 and also in the World Championship in 2006 for the national team. He is also the winner of the Cup Winner´s Cup, a finalist of the Champions League, a finalist of the UEFA Cup and also won the Czech Cup and the Czech 1^st League several times.

He played all the trainings and matches to capacity, and his attitude to the game was always at maximum level. He learnt these habits right in Pilsen.

Josef Žaloudek

He belonged to the best junior coaches in the whole country. He brought up a significant number of later big names and he was heavily involved in the professional development of Pavel Nedvěd. He was born on 3^rd January 1941 of the football family in Nýřany. His father was a goalkeeper and two older brothers Adolf and Oldřich were referees. He himself was trying to succeed as a player but soon he started his career as a coach. He gained his highest trainers´ education in 1978 and became a leader of the training academy for juniors in Škoda Plzeň.

Žaloudek brought up the under 15 team and won the trophy for the best team in the Czech Republic in 2001. Martin Fillo was one of the players who played for the west Bohemian team. Some of the players who were in his care later started their career as a coach as well, for example Vítězslav Lavička or Jaroslav Šilhavý. A wrongly underestimated football specialist trained as his last stop at 33rd sport basic school of Terezie Brzková in Skvrňany.

He passed away after a hard disease on 3^rd August 2003 at the age of 62. A lot of celebrities from the Czech football came to say goodbye to him including Pavel Nedvěd, common fans, coaches, officers and players. There is held a juniors´ memorial trophy every year in honour of Josef Žaloudek and the stadium in 33rd basic school carries his name.

Petr Čech

In the football history of the Czech Republic there was no better a goalkeeper than Čech. Since he was 16 he regularly participated in Euro and World Championship at junior categories. Čech is also a winner of Euro U-21 in Switzerland in 2001, participant of Euro 2004 in Portugal, World Championship in Germany in 2006 and Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.

He was born in 1982 in Pilsen. His beginning with football is settled in Viktoria and he stayed there until 1999 when he transferred to Blšany. He appeared in Sparta Praha in 2001 when he already was Czech number one goalkeeper. He was offered to go to French Stade Rennes in 2002 and after two years the famous club Chelsea chose him where he immediately became number one and started to pick up the trophies of the winner of Premier League. He also stars in The Champions League.

This 197 cm tall goalkeeper has got great technique, excellent reflexes and hardly any Achilles´ heel. He appears as a completely calm and concentrated player even in some crucial moments. He is also great in directing the defence of the team.

Not only the Czech Republic, but also Viktoria Plzeň becomes widely known thanks to his achievements. He learnt the alphabet of goalkeepers in this club.

THE FUTURE OF FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ

Almost one hundred years long, history ties Viktoria down to settle amongst the top teams of the Czech Republic and to represent the west-Bohemian region in the 1^st League in a dignified way, eventually to fight the way to play in some European club league. The high level of football is possible to keep on a long term basis only if there is a balance in terms of finance and economics of the club. This is the first priority to pay attention to.

On behalf of this balance it is necessary to develop the cooperation with the world known company Škoda Plzeň or if you like related company Škoda Power s.r.o. as well as with other companies namely, Japanese Daikin and Plzeňská teplárenská a.s.

Another aim is to concentrate on the development of the junior and women football, as well as the professional football. The club also needs to watch the young talents in the wide region and to give the chance to the best ones to develop their own skills in the youth teams of Viktoria.

In order to improve the quality of the base they need to be heavily involved in the discussions about the new stadium and to continue up dating the training premises in Luční Street in Roudná, which are intended especially for the young players.

FC Barcelona, gifting Thiago to Arsenal to get Cesc, The dumbest deal ever

2011-06-10T20:06:00.000+02:00

I mentioned at the beginning of the silly season –transfer period- that I’ll follow it casually like a vacation. Enjoy it the way it comes, no matter what. And as anyone with some commonsense can tell you, it’s naïve to take any transfer rumor seriously, as the only reliable media sources are the official websites of the clubs.

Yet, even if you are on a vacation, you can’t enjoy a heart attack when it strikes, no matter what kind of optimist creatures you are. And even though Graham Hunter is a journalist and not a club official, he doesn’t work for Daily Mail after all. So when he tells me –on Football Mood twitter- that what he mentioned in this interview is based on information and not just personal impressions, one should take things a bit more seriously than usual.

Why will Barcelona buy a midfielder in the first place? Pour que?

Word on the street is that Barcelona is focusing on strengthening the offense and might not be able to buy defenders. Spot on.

As I pointed out at the end of the season, the defense passed all kinds of tests and kept being reliable regardless of all injury crisis and suspensions. Now imagine the scenario where the offense suffers half the injuries the defense had to struggle against last season. So it’s a given that investing in offense is more important than strengthening defense. What I can’t understand is investing in midfield instead of defense – again, if it happened.

The club has two of the best holding midfielders, Xavi and Iniesta (enough said?), A quality tactical midfielder in Keita, one of the most talented young midfielders in Thiago, Dutch key midfielder in Afellay, and a long queue of young quality midfielders in the youth teams like Jonathan dos Santos and –especially- Sergi Roberto who will be knocking the first team door in the coming two years. Strengthening offense may even give the chance for Messi to play in the midfield if needed (where I predict he will play few years from now).

Why will a club with such a luxury midfield seek more?

Letting Thiago go to get Cesc? Are you kidding me! Pour que??!!

So far, I cant find one valid reason for Barcelona to buy Cesc –ever- and even a marathon-ic six hours meeting with Pep will unlikely convince me of the virtue of signing Cesc now. Sacrificing Thiago? Get outta here!

Cesc is a quality midfielder. No doubt. But there are also no doubts about current quality in Barcelona’s midfield. And it will only get better with Afellay and Thiago next season.

Graham Hunter suggests that Pep considers Cesc as good yeast for a future captain at Barcelona. Since when future means now? Isn't it the worst time to buy Cesc? His performance last season was not up there, and he is a frequent guest on treatment table, isn't it wiser to wait one more year to see if that injury will follow him throughout his career?

While Cesc is an already developed player with more possibilities to decline than improve, Thiago is getting better each and every day. Isnt it smarter to wait one more year to see if Thiago will bloom enough to prove being a better bet for the future?

Beside, Cesc's price will only go down with time, while Thiago's market value will no doubt increase next summer. Isn't it smarter to do the deal then, if players exchange is imminent?

FC Barcelona's economic vice-president, Javier Faus made his normal fuss about Barcelona's finance in his most recent interview. Still, he promised that in the coming years the transfer budget will only get better and soon Barcelona will be able to spend a 100 Million on transfers without asking for receipts. Why doing cash plus amazing player deal to get Cesc now, when you can safely wait one more year and flood Arsenal's budget in green -just cash?

Isn't it cheaper to spend 40 M when your transfer budget is 100 M than spending 30 M plus player when your transfer budget is 40 M?

Talking about future captains, when will Barcelona need Cesc to lead the team? Place him in the right position on this waiting list after Puyol: Xavi, Valdes, Iniesta, Pique, and Messi. Obviously, Cesc's leadership magic can wait one year or two. If he wants to join this club and be with his childhood friends, he can wait. The political benefits (The in your face Laporta! This is how you do the deal!) can wait. And the key players in the dressing room who are aggressively pushing the decision makers to seal the dealtheir childhood friend to Moc Moc happily for ever can also. Even Arsenal –who in my books are more interested now in selling than ever- has no choice but to wait.

There is a good chance that what Mr. Hunter hunted as a news feast is far from being even close to what’s actually happening. Sometimes clubs leak information to create smoke that covers their true intentions, and sometimes Journalists misunderstand the signals. Or maybe, the news source is Pique –You and your silly pranks… Tsk…tsk…tsk…

It feels like living in denial, but I like to believe that this is the case. That it’s just a misunderstanding, or a Pique prank. Maybe, because you can dig for more sense in keeping Hleb, making him the captain, and listing him above Xavi in picking order than this “sell Thiago to get Cesc, and do it now!” joke.

Talking about jokes…You know what will be even “funnier”? FC Barcelona selling (Exchanging) Thiago with a market value of 9 Millions, then buying Lunas goalkeeper Esteban Andrada and Hercules' player Kiko Femenia for more than that.

Nostradamus just texts me saying: If this deal see the light, Barcelona will make Arsene Winger looks like a transfer Guru with the needed potentials to send Luciano Moggi back to elementary school. Thiago may get offended enough to find his long term future at Real Madrid, where Florentino Perez will not waste the chance to make Barcelona's transfer vision look increasingly a joke.

Looking at the bright side (Meh...), buying Cesc will write the final chapter in the Circus of Chaos, and start a new tale about lack of vision, reasoning, and patience.

FC Barcelona and Manchester United defeating the dead souls in champions league final

2011-05-30T14:58:00.000+02:00

The moment the referee blew the final whistle, my first reaction on twitter was so spontaneous that I still cant believe how fitting it turned to be. And by fulfilling my wish, Barcelona crowned their night in perfection, or should I say the two teams did so? Because you need two teams to create a perfect night of football, and Manchester United made it happen, same as Barcelona's brilliance.

Manchester United is the reason why this match was so wonderful to watch.

There will be lot of tactical talks about the game. The two coaches decided to go for the tested horses rather than the ones -theoretically- more appropriate while planing their game plan. The hindsight pattern will demonstrate that Pep got it right - because his team won, Sir Alex got it wrong -because his team lost. No one can deny that Pep was on the driving seat in this battle (especially with his Busquets-Xavi trick in the second half that changed the match dynamics), and the Sir could have done a bit better here or there. Yet, at the end of the day it was all about players' quality and football perfectionism that you cant counter in one or two weeks of preparations. Evra put it eloquently:

""Every time Messi gets the ball he knows Xavi is going to be there, Pedro is going to be there, or Iniesta. It is amazing"

That's all the tip of the iceberg, though. Such matches should be seen in boarder perspective than merely results. This was a match that revived football in its right essence. From a respectful buildup, to the hug between the two managers before the game, to players' behavior on the field, to Abidal's epic message holding the cup as a champion in the face of cancer, to Manchester United players reactions after the game and most importantly Sir Alex Ferguson comments that summarize what is so underrated and ignored in football most of the times. He admitted -showing self security, and mental balance in defeat- that his team lost against a better team, and considered it a challenge for the future to rebuild his squad for the moment he meets FC Barcelona again and get his revenge. Isn't that how its supposed to be? As obvious as it may sound, there are some who still cant get it.

The moment the match ended, I was extremely fulfilled. I had no appetite to voice any opinion or make any comment. I wanted to hear it all, read it all, and see it all so I miss no moment. But I also wanted to check what the lost souls had to say about it. The group of dead-soul fans are minorities in different clubs having nothing in life to do beside trying to bash success and hate the Catalan club for their own reasons, whether its pure historical rivalry (the most understandable), or sense of inferiority, envy or jealousy. All that without generalizing the fans of any specific club. And the reactions of the dead-souls group never fails to catch you by surprise.

Manchester United is the reason why this match was so wonderful to watch.

By the end of the match, the dead souls group started rambling here and there and everywhere pointing out how this match proved Mourinho right. By not playing as thugs, Manchester United handed the victory to Barcelona. They missed that Barcelona reached the final after defeating Mourinho himself, and his "winning by all means" approach. Even the claim that Barcelona reached the final because they dived, bribed the referee or hired UNICEF children as serial killers, that won't serve their case of "winning by all means" as they sound like someone with dissociative identity disorder. Is it by all means or not? If it is then fair enough, if not then bow to Manchester United who dictated the right way to play this final, and ask yourself a question: Will you prefer to watch this final ten more times again or that semi final once more? Based on the answer you figure whats football and whats not.

Manchester United approached this match as a team that wants to honor its name in victory or defeat. By not applying dirty tactics, Manchester United sent a significant message to Barcelona players that: "We are here to play football, just football, and nothing but football". They came to play football and decided to play it the right way. Wait! Is there a right way and wrong way to play football? No. There is only one way. Playing within the rules and ethics of the game. The so called "wrong way" is not football in the first place. Is it a crime that teams play defensive football? No. There is an increasing number of people who are getting confused, or pretending not knowing the difference, between defend and defendo , catenaccio and Kenjutsu. Playing defensive tactic is all good and fair in football. Playing like a thug committing career assassinations is not. Just so we rest that case aside and proceed to the core. Is diving and being theatric good for the game and meet the ethics of it? No. And thats EXACTLY why:

Manchester United is the reason why this match was so wonderful to watch.

Barcelona met a team that dictates respect, and they behaved per se. They didn't find themselves in a situation where the opponent is too dirty to compete against by being honest. The comparison between the semi final and the final is there to learn the lessons. And there you can figure what kind of football each approach will lead to. FC Barcelona can win playing fair and may lose, the same as they can win or lose if they try "unappreciated" antiques. Against the right team they can contribute with the opponent in creating a master piece of football, and they are fragile to getting dragged into the mud against a dirty approach creating a disgusting show.

By expecting Barcelona to counter dirtiness by honesty, the dead souls are putting the Catalan club players above the level of humanity, which is as ironic as it can be. This is a club passing through an amazing cycle with lot of quality to cheer the world and they would love to do so. But its not all for them to plan the show.

After the game, while every football lover was cheering and applauding the beauty of football, the ghosts of dead souls were hysterically rambling in the shadows mourning months of work where they tried every dirty way possible to ruin FC Barcelona's image and legacy. All continuous poisoning for public opinion ended in one night of magic. Every word of praise toward the greatest team of all times chopped the haters' heartless chests like bullets. They will crawl to their caves for a while then try another attempts as they always do, but there is a lesson learned through this experience: You can use a thug holding a knife to leave a mark on a beautifull face, but if the beauty comes from within, its unbeatable and will always find a way to prevail.

Manchester United came to the final as a great team with an ambition to add another victory to their wealthy cabinet, and left the final as a great team with lot of determination to comeback. They lost the game, but they were not the ones who were actually defeated.

FC Barcelona Vs Manchester United Champions League final A match that leaves a marK

2011-05-28T18:04:00.000+02:00

Champions league Final FC Barcelona Vs Manchester United: My preview for The Offside

Scene #1: How it all starts

As a youth (or a child) you get lot of your affections by infection. You have those you look up to and so you inherit some of their own. That’s how I was Barcalized for example. But that was all shallow till 1992, the season where Barcelona’s dream team performed football symphonies and were deservedly crowned the kings of Europe.

Koeman was the hero of the closing night, Pep Guardiola was my own icon then, and still he is.

Scene #2: The lesson

May 18, 1994, sitting on the couch with some football seniors, and waiting to watch the game of the century between my favorite club and my all time favorite striker. Not a very comfortable situation for sure, but as a teenager you have a license to paint fantasies, so it was sorted out for me by hoping FC Barcelona win by a margin against AC Milan, which drives Marco Van Basten crazy so he decides to move to the Catalan club.

The Van Basten part was no doubt a long shot as it was highly unlikely (looking at it now). But the certainty was Barcelona’s victory. Even in the Italian city there was a belief that the game is destined to upset the Rossoneri. Make no mistake, they had one of the best squads ever known in world football (A team that can make an argument being better than THIS Barcelona), but the absentees where too many and too influential to ignore – that I didn’t really know by then, but I felt “The favorites” vibes showering the Catalans and ringing everywhere.

The match started and my first thought was: “Where the hell is Van Basten?!” I was full of rage cursing the stupid naïve coach. I should have coached Milan so that Van Basten plays! And As usual in such situations, I took actions! I went to the kitchen with my Dictation notebook and on the back I wrote the selection that should have started for Milan. Van Basten and some other players I like were at the top of the list of course. That’s how it should be done, stupid coach!

I didn’t need that long to discover that Milan’s coach was not actually naïve. I mean… as soon as the game started the Italians hammered the Catalans to death and the game ended 4-0 for Milan, though they were the side who should complain they were unfortunate while looking at the scoreboard.

That was the day I discovered the impact a coach can make on any game, which was not obvious for all youth who witnessed Maradona’s era. And that was the day when I became infected by “The favorites” phobia. Say it twice and you Busquet-ize me, as I faint without a trace. And that was a turning point for Barcelona.

Scene #3: Rise of the phoenix

The club won the Liga many times afterward but the magic was gone, regardless of the presence of Rivaldo and co. Managerial chaos, financial collapse … well…Gaspart.

Barcelona needed a change and got it. A new board, coach, and football approach were the signs of new era. Yet, there was a need for a new “chosen one” to do the miracle, thus the arrival of Ronaldinho The Great. And like a phoenix, the club revived out of the ashes and the magic was back! The peak was no doubt, the Champions League title in Paris.

The importance of that title is the fact that it introduced the club to new sectors of football followers, new generations who were not there during the glory days and new destinations where football was not taken seriously then. The internet helped a lot as well and the popularity of the club reached its peak.

Scene #4: The perfectionist’s return

The final in Paris was the reward for the revolutionary approach Pep practiced since day one. Pep is so underrated because it is easy to say:” Well, you have great players!”, but what he did at Barcelona perfected a school in football. His ideas are already making an impact on world football. I can safely say that Pep Guardiola’s development as a coach was even more impressive than Messi’s development as a player. With every season that passes, he gets ten times better.

FC Barcelona approached the game suffering plenty of injuries. They were not the favorites they are now. Manchester players were confident they can catch Barcelona by surprise, and they almost did. This is the title that made Barcelona a strong candidate for “Best team ever”.

Scene #5: Welcome to Wembley!

With three champions league titles won by each club, there is no better place to play a final between Barcelona and Manchester United than Wembley. After all, that’s where Manchester United won the first European title 43 years ago. And that’s where Barcelona won their first champions league in 1992.

All the talks about who is the favorite to win this battle are historically unfounded. In the champions League (and knock out matches in general) its not about the best team, but the team that has enough quality to win. Both clubs are up there. Some details will no doubt have an impact on the game, but it’s all containable.

In one hand, Wembley makes Manchester United feels more at home. And if you take in consideration that Barcelona’s away record is not that impressive, you can make a case that Wembley gives Manchester United an advantage. Yet, the most important factor is the fact that Wembley is relatively a slow field. That’s not what Barcelona players like. But the Catalans dealt with worse already.

In the other hand, Manchester United’s Wembley records are not that impressive either. Another positive factor for Barcelona is the rest the players had after guaranteeing the Liga. It is true that Manchester United rested their players as well, but it’s the Catalans who needed it most considering the shallow squad of exhausted world cup winners. I thought Messi should have played the second half of the last match to keep momentum though. We can only wait and see if resting him for two consecutive matches will make him fresh and hungry enough in the final, or disconnected.

Manchester United starts matches strong and lethal. Barcelona dominates when the players catch the tempo. If I have to draw “The favorites” chart for this match, Manchester United players are extremely dangerous in the first ten minutes (that’s a general trend, not only based on the previous Champions league final in Roma). Barcelona are the favorites of the following 60 minutes where they may demonstrate the selection quality, but as a sandglass watch the game will go for Manchester United favor as time goes by, mainly in the last twenty minutes. The Catalan team has no doubt better selection; the English team has better depth with lot of tactical cards on the bench for Sir Alex to use.

The tactics

I didn’t have enough time to review all the tactical posts published about the match on the net, but what I read so far predict the future based on how the two teams played throughout the season. One thing is almost a certainty, we will not see this:

Regardless, of the result, I will be disappointed if the two coaches met the tactical predictions of the public. Teams don’t have enough time to make lot of tactical changes during the season because there is no time for that. But with the two teams winning their domestic leagues weeks ago, there was enough time to change the tactical drills and get the players used to a new game plan that catch the opponent by surprise. That’s something both teams need.

Manchester United

The predictable lineup:

Van der sar, Rafael, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Rooney, Hernandez

This is the no surprises / go for the tested alternative. But I can see Sir Alex customizing the selection a little. O’Shea may play instead of Rafael to act as a third center back and give Evra more freedom to go forward. For all his good, Park like to cut inside more than Valencia, and in such case Evra will be needed to stretch Barcelona’s defense balancing the counter attack on the two flanks. In the other hand, O’shea ability to play as a third center back where needed, assisting Rio and Vidic in the center is more needed than the offense contribution of the Brazilian right back. After all, it’s highly unlikely that Manchester United will instruct both fullbacks to attack Barcelona. That dictates shuffling the defense line up against a team that masters diagonal passes and runs while having two defenders (especially Ferdinand) fragile against dynamic offense in spaces. Finally, Manchester United counter attacks will be based on the element on surprise. They don’t really need both Valencia and the right fullback to buildup offense on the flank. That’s why I have a hunch O’Shea will be a starter in this final.

In the midfield, there are some doubts Fletcher will play instead of Carrick. I can’t see that happening but there is a possibility that Manchester United’s tactical structure change to 4-3-3 with Giggs Carrick and Fletcher protecting the defense behind Valencia-Rooney-Park. Hernandez may need to wait till the second half or play instead of Valencia with Rooney moving to the flank (Won’t bet on that one). This structure will give Giggs a better chance to do what he master best when he plays in the center: Arriving late to the opponent third and pick a shot around the box or paint an assist.

FC Barcelona

The predictable lineup:

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Villa

Again, this is the standard selection. I can’t see a reason why Pep should keep Abidal on the bench. I think he will be very motivated in this match and his presence may even inspire his teammates. If he can’t play the full match, it is better to start him and sub him later rather than benching him till the second half. He was by far our most reliable defender this season and after his comeback he showed that he didn’t allow the tumor to win any battle. Beside, it is true that there is no place for sentiments in the Champions league final, but for every role there is an exception. Having Abidal in the starting lineup is a victory on its own.

Will Pep catch us all by surprise? It is true that he is very loyal to this tactical structure, and sometimes to a suicidal level (as in the first leg against Inter last season). Who can blame him, its working like Nutella. Yet, in the big matches he always pulls a rabbit out of his hat. A tinny rabbit maybe, but it makes a Bugs Bunny difference.

I will not talk about the obvious regarding the way Barcelona plays normally, and you don’t need me to do that. Instead I will get that notebook from the kitchen and show you how some changes may do all the difference in this match. You may not like it, but that’s only because unlike us, you mortals always resist change.

If Pep decided that Abidal can play (And yes, unlike Obama, Abidal really really can!), then he may put Mascherano as a holding midfielder, Play Busquets beside Xavi and use Iniesta as a blade in a 4-4-2 diamond, giving him a Messi-stic freedom to move at will. Iniesta is a very intelligent player who knows how to expose spaces and create it. Busquets is much better center midfielder than people may think and he can create a good partnership with Xavi, there isn’t a lot to adapt to anyways. This Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta can run over any midfield and it will help keeping Messi and Villa closer to Ferdinand and Vidic all the time rather than forcing them to withdraw to the midfield and help in the build up. Alves is the player who normally creates width from the right while the combination of Iniesta/Villa synchronized movement can stretch Manchester’s defense on the left.

Or maybe, we avoid making all these tests and simply play Keita beside Xavi and keep Busquets as a holding midfielder. The most important factor in this trick is giving more tactical freedom to Iniesta. That may prove being THE deciding factor of the game.

And you already know that I will not resist the chance of suggesting the 3-5-2, right? I thought NOT trying that option against Inter was the main reason why we didn’t win the Champions league last season. And I do think this alternative can help in this final as well. This option is not as strange to suggest as the past two seasons. Pep already used an imbedded 3-5-2 at the beginning of the season and the current structure we play shares lots of genetic traits with that.

This option may prove vital if Abidal is not ready to start. Puyol-Pique-Mascherano is a good bet behind Adriano-Busquets-Alves. This option heals the Rooney headache. If Rooney plays behind Hernandez, he will take the assignment of canceling Busquets not only when Manchester United defend, but also when they attack. He will try to tempt Busquets to check him then drag him out of position creating a space for Giggs and Park to expose. His pendulum movement between Barcelona’s defense and holding midfielder can create confusion. A 3-5-2 give the opportunity to hire MAscherano as Rooney’s bodyguard and close the case. In the midfield, it will be easier to check Valencia and Park by having wingbacks and cover than it is through fullbacks acting already as wings with two center backs busy managing their own mess. The 3-5-2 gives more freedom for Adriano and Alves to play offense and stretch Manchester United’s defense while keeping Villa and Messi more central. That’s crucial. We need more 2 on 2 situations between Villa-Messi and Vidic-Ferdinand. This 2-on-2 means more one-on-one for Messi. Sir Alex will no doubt make sure not to let it happen. He will ask one of the midfielders to move back (Fletcher?), or a fullback (O’shea?) to play more central. This means either Rooney, or Valencia will need to work more defensively to cover, doing Barcelona’s defense a favor by limiting the English team’s counterattacking kit.

I can’t tell enough how important it is to keep Messi between Vidic and Ferdinand instead of inviting him to the midfield. Five midfielders in a 3-5-2 (Six midfielders when Mascherano track Rooney in the midfield) ca guarantee quality buildup and dominate possession. Let Messi get the ball as close to Van der sar as possible.

It may also prove important to keep either Pedro or (improbable) Villa on the bench to balance tactical choices for the second half with Manchester United.

How will this scene end?

It depends who you ask. By the end of the day, lot of youth will run to twitter and blog-o-sphere (no need for dictation notebooks anymore) complaining about tactics applied by Pep or the Sir depending on who wins this battle. Lot of new breeds will decide their lifetime favorite club tonight, as the case after every final. There will be sadness and joy all around the place. One thing for sure, this match will leave its mark on each football fan memories script, especially the fans of the two clubs.

For me, I will keep being proud of this team’s performance no matter what. This was not an easy season. Any other team in our shoes would have fainted like a Busquets in a bull fight. Last summer marked a change in the board, which meant a wave of critic against previous board’s economy, and ex-president‘s handwriting. Nothing new about that if you ask veteran Barca fans. This environment left its impact on the preparations of the team and we started the season with a squad too shallow for a Tennis team. All that, after world cup games that swallowed our player’s energy like swimming pool drains.

We are already used to global nitpicks for a while now. This team never wins deservedly (though one need to make a statistical analysis if a team possess the ball 3 times more than the opponent, how many calls should they get compared to defending team). There are dedicated journalists backed by those filled by jealousy to find any mean to damage the image of the club. Admittedly, we helped sometimes. Yet, relatively speaking, there is no doubt that our current players are some of the most respectful and humble athletes you can ever witness both in their personal lives and as football players. Such dedication in attacking this club created lot of inspiring moments in the past years, but there is nothing to compare with what happened this season. We were dragged without a choice to a dirty slump, so chaotic that Shakespeare himself had to come back from the dead to put everyone in place. I will not ramble about this one calling names because we should only talk about wonderful subjects and people today.

If this season was that tough for us casual viewers, one can only imagine how it was for players and coaching staff. Still, we won the Liga, which is the title that takes most of the team’s effort. The ties inside the squad are stronger than ever, especially after Abidal’s miracle and all what the group had to stand for across the season. Maybe, this is exactly what a winning team needs to keep the motivation and fighting spirit, a continuous challenge.

I am confident this team can win this title. That’s not underestimating Manchester United, but respecting our team and its dedication. If we win, that’s an unmatched glory in an era where it’s not as easy to win titles consistently anymore. If we miss this one, next year we’ll have another chance. I won’t be happy, but I will still being proud. Especially that it’s Manchester United we are playing against, a great opponent, not a wannabe.

Shakespeare attacks both Barcelona and Real Madrid in champions league semi final

2011-05-03T11:46:00.000+02:00

My Match preview: Published on THE OFFSIDE/Barcelona - Latest Edit

I'm here...Have no fear

I know you’re feeling sick

Of all the clasico games

Of people waving sticks

And bloggers calling names

Kindly, drop no tear

Don’t worry, have no fear

And welcome the one and only

Mr. William Shakespeare

Shakespeare shouts with anger:

“Can you stop being lame?!

Forget that name forever

Cool Shakes is now my name!”

Crowds applaud:

Shakes in the house!

Lets tell the story

Of the Lion and the mouse

Shakes:

Lets remember the previous game

That embraced you all with shame

Then we talk about what is next

And hope it ain’t the same

It started long ago

Though let’s not go that far

Accusing so and so

Raising the hatred bar

Pep agreed with Shakes

“Let’s keep the poem untainted”

Mourinho roared:”You…All…Snakes!”

Busquets screamed and fainted

Guillem Balague and co:

"Mou is the butter and the bread

Did you hear what he just said?

I admit not to understand

But I’ll say he’s a genius brand"

Shakes:

The signs before the matches

Are just like flames to ashes

Pep in a conference room

Called for the day of doom

“If Mou wants dirty tricks

I’ll bring my devilish mix

Mou teams smash our bones

Then he’s the one who moans

Complain and make a speech

Accuse, abuse, and preach

Now I’ll give him one of mine

And let him blame and whine”

No one knew what’s coming

Or which plan Pep is cunning

Is it the eye for an eye,

if you tackle to death, you’ll die?

How will he create the balance?

Will he lead the battle of violence?

The players had also their own

mix of evil and excellence

Just when the game kicked off

And faster than a blink or a cough

De Maria dive, Alves Dive

The referee check if they are alive

Barcelona and the ball

Acquired half of the field

Zillion pass but no goal

Good radiance that won’t yield

In the other half, Madrid,

Built a huge tower of lead

How will victory have a birth,

If you don’t plant the seed?

Whenever Barca seek a chance

They face violence of no class

While with every breeze that pass

Barca players Spin on the grass

Disappointing was the test

Too bad, but painfully true

Instead of showing who’s best

It turned who is worse than who?

Ronaldo dive, Pedro dive

The referee chech if they’re alive

Mou screams “Kill! Don’t hesitate!”

Busquets giggle alone and faint

Guillem Balague and co:

"Mou is the butter and the bread

Did you hear what he just said?

I admit not to understand

But I’ll say he’s a genius brand"

Barca fans will say

The players had to dive

It was the only way

In this game to survive

Madrid call it physical

So stop being critical!

Wrestling is a sport, just as a football game

That proves the Mou theory: Both are the same!

Barca… we say despite

The violence and the pain

That doesn’t make wrong right

You failed to entertain

Madrid…Football’s root

Is simply: A ball and a foot

The foot should kick the ball

You don’t kick the foot at all

Put all the jokes apart

take this wise little rhyme

Being theatric is an evil art

And being a thug is a crime

Then a moment of "Pepe show"

That Alves abused, as you know

Shame! If such tackle you admire

or defend Alves, rolling like a tire!

Still, Pepe caused no bruises

So he searched for excuses

“I took the shot, but still

I failed to hit and kill!”

While Alves went on performing

An endless show of shame

Was he seriously assuming

This won’t disgrace his name?

That caused a major crack

In Real’s ugly tower

And came the chance for El Crack

To blossom and show his power

A hassling dazzling run

Then a cross by Afellay

Messi insures job is done

Scoring through the needle’s eye

If you thought it ended here

Your guess, so wrong, so tragic

Wait! ‘cause soon you’ll cheer

And hail Messi’s magic

He dribbles one

He toys with two

He bends a beam of light

And fold his way through

He’s the talent’s juicy ocean

The rest are just a drop

No one else deserves the notion

To match him at the top

The game was done and dusted

With all answers revealed and busted

But the real show begins

With saint Mou picking the sins

“Conspiracy!” Screams the Mou

“I want the answers now!”

“What? When? Where? And also who?

Why? Whose and even How?!

It’s Butterflies fault!

It’s floodlights' high volt!

The sugar, the batter, the salt!

Oh, I should win by default!

The trees, the breeze, the sun

The ball, the all, the None

Were all together united

Against me, the special one!

Even that little child

That stared at me and smiled

Karanka, go and check if

He’s an agent of UNICEF

Valdano responds with temper:

“Just take it like a man!”

Mourinho's furious answer:

“Shut up! You Barca fan!”

Guillem Balague and co:

"Mou is the butter and the bread

Did you hear what he just said?

I admit not to understand

But I’ll say he’s a genius brand"

Florentino Pérez

“Jose, what was your plan?

Arent we too good to park

The bus while we can

Attack them like a shark?”

Mourinho:

“Don’t fall in that delusion

I was planning a revolution

Where I attack with twenty players

After my sixth substitution”

Zidane:

“I’m Sorry, but I really doubt

You’ld have done any of that

While your tactics are all about

Defending, playing dull and flat”

Mourinho:

“Perez, Who is this guy

Who calls himself Zidane?

I swear it’s not a lie

Fire him, he’s a Barca fan!”

Perez:

“Jose, Are you insane?!

Just…give us a break!

Fans started to complain

Your future is at stake”

Mourinho:

“I’ll also fire you

And fire the fans too

I’m the mighty special one

You all don’t have a clue

Pep should feel the shame

Don’t claim we won the same

Cheating is all he does

Fairness is my aim

At Porto, it was all fair play

I don't care what you may say

No corruption, match fixing, or any

bribes by force or by money

Against Depor, I can’t recall

A red that changed it all

Against Manchester, in semi final?

I didn’t see the goal

Then in the team I managed next

I proved that I’m the best

There is no shame at all honey

To manage a club of laundry money

Did you watch last season, man?

I won the champions last year

And if you mention the goal of Bojan

I’ll just turn the deaf ear!”

Guillem Balague and co:

"Mou is the butter and the bread

Did you hear what he just said?

I admit not to understand

But I’ll say he’s a genius brand"

Now lets leave Mou alone

To whine, complain and mourn

It’s just the Jose style

A symptom of ego’s horn

If you think Barca reached the final

You’re wrong you silly mortal

With the team’s back to the wall

Real Madrid will give it all

They may sit back and wait a chance

Then switch to attack in a glance

If they score in the first forty five

That will bring back their chance alive

Press Marcelo, let him back

Make sure he doesn’t attack

In defense he may be weak

But he’s a danger if he got to sneak

In fact it’s all like before

We should press, attack and score

The more we keep possession

We'll irritate them more and more

We just must not hurry

Let the time pass, no worry

lets pass and pass and pass

And wait for the golden chance

But Pep need also to prepare

His players to absorb the pressure

Madrid may attack all out in despair

An their players might be fresher

Mourinho needs to work

On his quoting a further step

If quoting Einstein didn’t work

He should consider quoting Pep

Barcelona's first Sponsorship, inspired by need or weed?

2010-12-14T22:40:00.000+01:00

FC Barcelona played Real Sociedad this week in the liga, and it was just another amazing show of football and magic. The happiest person on earth was no doubt Barca's president Sandro Rosell, as its this team and those players are the reason why the majority of members are too lazy (and excited) to ask serious questions or voice complains. Ironically, we are talking about a squad structured by the same people the current president revolted to sack, when he was the Vice of the previous President Juan Laporta.

Still, it is not easy to hide an elephant having a "Musth" inside the room. Sponsorship agreement with Qatar foundation is not a walk in the park. This is a milestone in the club's history where there will be a BA (before agreement) and AA (after agreement) calender to record the the club's records.

Defending Rosell, Guardiola, and Qatar

Lets start by defending Sandro Rosell. The rants that doubt his loyalty to the club are nonsense. He is not an evil undercover madridista whose mission is damaging Barcelona, as some angry Barcelona fans stated in the past few days. Sandro Rosell is as loyal to Barcelona as anyone can be, and more. He -and his board- are doing what they believe it is the best for the club. Thats where we may disagree with him (them). Yet, there are no doubts about the intentions.

In the other hand, this agreement has nothing to do with Pep Guardiola. He supported Qatar bid for the world cup for many reasons (Money is one of the reasons, as a professional figure). But that has nothing to do with Barcelona's agreement with Qatar foundation. Pep was an automatic choice for Qatar to promote them in the world cup bid even before the new board inherited Barcelona's management. In fact, Sandro Rosell has more contacts and cross roads with Qatar than Pep, so neither he needs Pep nor the Qatari needs the coach to cook or suggest this sponsorship agreement.

I will not re-defend Qatar and the Qatari toward those who consider it a shame to sign an agreement with such a Bla bla bla country, as I already stated my opinion about this in a previous post. It won't make any difference for me if this deal was with a foundation in Qatar or the Vatican. Thats not the point. At all.

Dealing with the deal

First thing first, lets make one thing clear: This is a commercial deal. A Business, only a business and nothing but a business. Lets put the "Charity" smoke bombs aside so we don't feel guilty whipping the hell out of the agreement. Selling a car to red cross will not make you Mother Tereza. Thats S.E.L.L.I.N.G, and you count your money before you hand the car. In fact, it was better to make a deal with a commercial company than taking hundreds of millions supposed to be invested in good cases. Unless if by Charity we mean that Qatar foundation paid 170 M as a charity to Barcelona, there is no other way to make the statement more valid.

If we agree that this is just "business is business baby!" , we have to see it from a business perspective. I am aware of all the emotional factors involved. All the pride. And there were lot of eloquent posts on different blogs who wrote about this side better than I can ever do. But here is a board of directors telling you "Romance feed no hunger, softy! Grow up!" . So...Was this business deal an Edsel or an IPod?

The first factor to consider is the need. The validity of any deal depends on the alternatives available and the urgency driving one party to make a deal with the other. Was it an unavoidable need for Barcelona to seal the deal?

It is impossible to know the real figures concerning Barcelona's financial situation. Some may like to believe the previous board budget, others consider this board's budget the reliable one and the majority are probably on the fence and can barely take any budget seriously (count me in). Accounting is not the science of stating the facts but the method of perfecting the books to meet specific objectives and already decided numbers. Deloitte or no-Deloitte, it is the client who dictate the results of any budget and the accounting auditing role is to skew the accounting process to meet the client's numbers. Dont tell my taxes vampire I said that.

It is even more confusing to get anything out of the current board's statements. The previous board of directors lied. No doubt about that regardless how far they went in that direction. But they were good lairs and were able to create a good story. One story. The current board failed to meet the basic requirement of creating a story, and that is being consistent. One day Barcelona sells Chegrinskiy because there is a need to pay salaries - the board states. The other day we discover that Barcelona's transfer budget is 50 M plus the transfer returns of Yaya and Chegrnskiy -The board states. Then afterward the board end up sorting out the transfer budget to 50 M. Just that. Its a kind of "Dissociative identity disorder" management with lot of acrobatic accounting and Executive functioning.

Then a Sponsor deal with Qatar foundation take place. To start with numbers, Barcelona shirt sponsorship is: 5 years at €30m, commercial rights fee €15m, performance bonuses €5m. But there is one additional condition that went unnoticed in the chaos of the agreement. Barcelona will play a friendly every year in Qatar or anywhere in Europe (Qatar foundation decides). Thats also a significant part of the deal and will have an impact on the numbers, and the nature of the agreement.

During preseason, clubs have limited number of opportunities to play friendlies. Friendly matches earn Barcelona couple of millions . Friendly matches are also important to promote clubs, get them closer to their fans across the globe and increase merchandise return. In brief: Friendly=money. For the following five years, one of Barcelona friendlies will be handed to Qatar foundation. In brief: Thats a loss of money.

In the other hand, friendlies are important to expand clubs' awareness and commertial presence in promising markets from the business perspective. Looking forward to the following five years with the global economic forecasting map on the table, anyone really think Europe will be the best market for Barcelona to focus on in the following years? So while Real Madrid, Inter, and Manchester United for example are working on expanding their commercial presence between USA, Japan, China, and Saudi Arabia in the following five years, Barcelona will spend five years bouncing between Europe and Qatar. How far will friendlies in Europe increase merchandise selling (compared to existing growth rate) for the following five years? What about other markets including USA or East Asia to name some destinations? Of course Barcelona can go to USA beside playing friendlies in Qatar during preseason. I am sure Pep quardiola will be so exited to spend the preseason jumping from one plane to another. Will a friendly in a bad timing cancel a preseason tour? Isn't that also another financial loss?

Talking about Pep Guardiola, if Qatar Foundation will decide where to send Barcelona for the friendlies, isn't it safe to say they at least have the upper hand in deciding the friendly date? How does it sound that Pep will have to customize his preparations for the following seasons based on Qatar foundation agenda? Is it even appropriate that in the following five years Qatar foundation will send Barcelona to play in the country (club) that pay the highest price?

How far all this complexity affect the club preparations and moral in the following seasons? Between the money lost from playing a friendly for free, and the impact of this five seasons plan on merchandise and commercial strategies, It is too conservative to estimate the loss in the range of two millions per year. Thats why instead of 30 M per year from the sponsorship agreement, Barcelona will barely get 28 Million (while the other two are considered as compensation for the friendlies).

Now lets not forget that this is the first main Sponsorship deal in 111 years of Barcelona's history. That's a leverage to tempt the best sponsorship deal ever. Is it true that 28 M is a huge opportunity that is too good to waste? I am aware there are variables in the agreement, but compare it to Liverpool's new sponsorship deal where they will earn 24 Millions annually for the following four years. I do respect Liverpool and once they had three times the commercial value of Barcelona. Now? Thats not the case. I can safely say that if Liverpool can sign an agreement for 24 Millions, then Barcelona must not even consider an agreement that goes under 35 Millions per year plus variables, and without friendlies. And I am not even considering such an offer as too tempting to reject.

But then again, what if Barcelona really RRRReally need the cash Qatar foundation offered? What if there were no other options? Thats reasonable. Yet, Rosell and Co management antiques cause you a mental breakdown if you try to track. I was probably alone demanding that Barcelona must sign Mascherano. Though, not for any cost. In a perfect world, Mascherano is a great signing for Barcelona. In a crisis situation, his transfer was no doubt avoidable. If Xavi can play a zillion match per season though having an injured foot, Busquets -a younger player- can do so as well. If a back up needed, keep Marquez. Sign Senna. Or even use Pique as a holding midfielder when Busquets is not available. None of them will fail to serve the matches Mascherano played so far.

Then Barcelona signed Maxwell's identical. Again, in a perfect world, Adriano is a good utility player. But for a team in crisis he is simply a waste of unavailable money. Puyol can play as a right back if needed. Maxwell can. Pique can, and a bunch of youth are also waiting their turn. If this is a club owned by the fans, Rosell should have asked the members if they prefer a sponsorship agreement plus the transfers of Mascherano and Adriano or no sponsorship and no players. I am sure you will not find such a poll on Sports website anytime soon.

Mascherano and Adriano transfers will cost the club between 70 and 80 Millions in the following five years. We are still not talking about Afellay's transfer, considering that it is a good bargain. And dont let me start predicting how much Cesc would have cost the club in the following five years if Arsenal accepted selling him-even for the 40 Millions Barcelona offered- something in the orbit of 75 millions?

If the club needed this sponsorship deal after the mentioned signings, then we can conclude that -avoiding the unnecessary transfers- the club lack less than a hundred million for the following five years to recover. That's if we assume the sponsorship deal worth 170 M, which is not accurate, first because of the friendlies compensation and secondly because not all the variable amounts will be certainly achieved. One hundred millions in five years mean 20 millions per year. Now it is time to have a look at the club's accounting books for 2009/2010.

Based on the new board 's Auditing, the club generated a revenue of 408.9 millions last year. Mind you, we are talking about the revenue generated by the worst board in the club's history as the current board repeatedly remind us. If the current -better- board succeed to increase the revenue 5 % next year, thats 20.5 Millions, and increasing. But lets not get too ambitious as it is probably hard to increase revenues by 5 % next year. If Barcelona increase their revenues 2% annually, they will generate 126 millions extra cash in the following 5 years.

Regardless of the current board plans for the future, and regardless of the complexities of business and accounting, this percentage (2%) is just an indication that this sponsorship agreement is not a radical u-turn in any way as it is too small compared to the business operation value in the club that will exceed (back and forth) billions of cash in the following five years.

In the current board -Audited- accounting, where they tried to put all the mess possible on the previous board, the books recorded a loss of 80 Millions (Previous board budget for the same year recorded a profit of 9 millions). It is important to look at the Expenses section and draw a circle around players amortization (71 M). That amortization includes 8 millions related to Henry's transfer from Arsenal to Barcelona. Regardless how valid it is to add this to the budget (after Henry's move to USA), what is certain is that this amount of money will not exist in the current year. It also includes 13 Million amortization related to Ibra's transfer, something the current board could have reduced from the current year budget if they sold Ibra directly to Milan instead of one year loan (even if they received the first payment next year as the current agreement dictates). Add an estimated 5 millions amortization for Chegrnskiy. It also includes amortizations related to the signings of Caceres, Henrique, and Keirrison.

This means that with some more quality management (especially Ibra's transfer conditions), next budget will have 26 M less amortizations to record as expenses (Henry,Ibra,and Chegrnskiy). Then the selling of Caceres, Henrique, and Keirrison will clear their amortization expenses and add to the revenue (transfer return) neutralizing the amortization account completely. That alone will decrease the books deficit from 80 Millions to 9 millions in no time, even if the revenues didnt increase a bit. Sell Milito and you break even. Simple as that. We must not forget the club will start receiving payments from Ibra's transfer next year. So instead of him adding expenses through amortization and salary, he will add to revenue.

Take note, I am still taking in consediration that Mascherano's and Adriano's transfers were avoidable (Keeping Marquez or signing Senna). It is true that some contract renewals will increase some players salaries, but we must not forget that the club already knocked Henry, Ibra, Chegrnskiy and Marquez (if he leave) out of the payroll. All in all a decline in salaries expenses. That means: Even if we go by the current board's accounting numbers, and even if the club failed to increase revenues (The club increased the revenues almost every year since 2003), still the 80 millions loss we saw in the current books will not exist in the following fiscal year anyway. That lead us to believe what the previous board said: Next year Barcelona will generate profit. How many league champions and Champions league contenders in Europe can match such a balanced financial situation? Again we need to be aware that the current board auditing is not a certainty, as they definitely have an interest in showing the financial situation worse than it actually is. All that bring me to the debt issue...

Quoting Swiss Rambler:

"We’ve not been given the full details yet, but the adjusted figure released by the club was gross debt of €552 million (net debt €442 million). However, we do know that this represents total liabilities and is thus misleadingly high, as it includes trade creditors, accruals and even provisions. In fact, Rosell and his cohorts should be ashamed of this needless scaremongering, which is not consistent with standard accounting practice – or, indeed, UEFA’s definition, which explicitly states, “net debt does not include trade or other payables.”

As an example of how absurd the total liabilities definition is, just look at how high other clubs’ gross debt would be using this measure: Real Madrid €683 million, Liverpool €578 million and Manchester United €1.1 billion. Even Arsenal, which is regarded as the template for financial sustainability, would have “debt” of €767 million (though it’s come down a lot since the last annual accounts). This places Barcelona’s €552 million firmly into context. To use an old adage, you have to compare apples with apples."

Still, I will consider the 442 Millions as a debt the club need to pay (which is again not the case). It is a cartoon monster that is easy to counter even through playing by numbers Rosell-way. Sandro Rosell announced many times that the club will be able to reserve an average of 50 Million transfer budget annually. Having a look at Barcelona's squad where the most important players can serve (Key players or squad players) 3 to 5 more years like Abidal, Xavi, Villa, Keita and even Puyol (next year could be his last as a starter though), notice I kept Mascherano and Adriano out, added to players who will be in the club for longer period like Valdes, Pique, Busquets, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, and Bojan supported by extremely promising talents like Fontas, Bartra, Oriol, Dos Santos, Thiago; anyone in his right mind believe that this club need to spend 250 M on transfers in the following five years?

If the club increase the revenues 2% as mentioned above, thats a 126 Millions in 5 years. More than enough to strengthen the squad. The club already took a loan for 155 M where 70 % of it went to pay urgent commitments (as the board mentioned), which means rescheduling commitments in a controllable manner. So it is safe to say that 100 Million of the 442 M rumored debt is already on the right track. Put the 250 Millions already reserved for transfers above it and that's 350 Millions sorted out (250 M paid completely in 5 years).

What about encouraging fans to become members rather than kicking them away, which may generate couple of millions more to the cash account? What about reviewing the salaries expenses from head to toe, especially on the administrative level? There are so many options to increase revenue and decrease expenses. Now I am aware that this is simplifying the issue, but it sound relevant for me to say: The club is not in an irreversible situation that require sponsorship agreement to jump for the rescue. It is safe to say the club now is in a better position than it was in 2003.

What this sponsorship deal did is that it ruined the last defense the club can use if things -really- went bad. Before the agreement, the club could always argue creditors that "we don't even have sponsorship agreement...we don't have sponsors for the stadium...we don't...we don't...and still we are the most competitive club and generate a revenue close to half billion" That hidden sponsorship card would have always had more value than it actually worth. The moment Barcelona signed the sponsorship deal this card was revealed and now it has a price tag. It is no more "priceless".

One of the most important things in business is to have a clear mission, vision and branding strategy and to stick to it as far as possible. There is no branding image that can win all the time. The clubs having the most luxurious sponsorship deals are the most debited ones. So it is not true that sponsorship is the make or break for any club's finance. Barcelona's image almost reached maturity in the past few years and there was a chance to stamp it on steel in the coming years. "More than a club" and for the first time in the club's history earned a market value and generated commercial benefits. It is amusing to keep repeating the 408.9 Millions revenue presented in the last Auditing the current board did. If you cant manage a club that generates this amount of money, you cant manage it even if you double the figures.

Beside, who said that this UNICEF-BARCA partnership reached its peak commercially? All what the club did was stamping the logo on the shirt and selling it. The UNICEF-BARCA partnership had massive potentials that the previous board didn't recognize and the current board killed. You can at least double Merchandise return through developing this partnership. You can sell almost anything with a UNICEF-BARCA Logo stamped on it from plates to printers. Even with a 50/50 profit share between the two parties Barcelona can still enjoy an increase in commercial return.

Agreements could have been made with third party to create pubs brand that generate franchising agreements across the globe. Sportswear. Restaurants. You name it. All based on the same partnership that offer UNICEF a share of the return. Anyone will spend money on items that match the market quality, knowing that a share of that money will go to support good cases, whether Barcelona fan or someone who has know clue about football all together. Thats a way to boost commercial return and club image through being faithful to the club mission and history. And we are still talking pure business.

I just cant stop explaining how unnecessary this agreement is. How damaging. But I am committing myself to shorten my posts a bit (though it is too late for this one already). Finally, whenever Rosell doesn't show up to announce something and send his directors instead, you know there is a problem. Ibra's transfer, Membership regulations and now sponsorship deal. Then they say "we can discuss it later in the Assembly", and it is astonishing how the members hatred toward Laporta make them accept anything thrown their way. Discuss what? "If you -dear members-don't like the agreement we can still pay some millions penalty for breaching the sponsorship contract" says Rosell.

World cup mess:How foxnews generation made Blatter look like a visionary prophet

2010-12-09T13:07:00.000+01:00

All have flaws, all have pros. It depends on what you want to see

In a series of three posts -this is the final part, I made an attempt to create a countering argument against the massive stream of attacks targeting Russia, and especially Qatar. The posts do not necessarily express my personal opinion but an attempt to be outside the box and figure another version of the story. Sometimes it is important to be reminded about own flaws to become more understandable of others cons. Call it an attempt to be the devils advocate if you like (Many times I received advices to become a lawyer. hm...). But be careful, this post may contain offending views for those unwilling to read anything that doesn't echo their own believes. After the logistics, the technicalities, now we reach the misconceptions.

World cup 2018 will take place in Russia while Qatar will host World cup 2022. Dooms day. And the ranting engines started to roar like never before. FIFA is corrupted! (No shit!).

Then the holier-Bigger-Better than though anthem blew its horns, as predicted. Democracy! Human Rights! Environment concerns! Corruption! Terrorism! And again Terrorism! Just 'cause it sounds more convincing when you repeat it twice.

All this ranting proves the FIFA were right to make the decisions they made. Regardless of the luxury discussions about "technicalities", this FIFAstic decision served beyond football, revealing the ugliest face of the trident engagement between Arrogance, ignorance and hypocrisy. This make people who were not that excited about FIFA's decision (count me in), stand up and bow for Blatter and co. If Football-and Sports- role is to bring people together regardless of their differences, to make them know, then this FIFAstic move proved being a master strike.

Now heading to Qatar, the country that received most of the critic. Basically because it is an Islamic country in the Middle East. And fox-news generation visualize Middle east as a compact homogeneous Ben laden-ish block of cannibals jumping over each others' back with sharp daggers dripping blood all over the place.

Let me start with this tiny -side note- information: Qatar is more a "Liquefied Natural Gas" country than "Oil". HA? Yes...that's true. It is one thing when a blogger or someone who comment on a blog or a casual chatter mix-up things, but it is another thing when some "professional" journalists on the payroll of well known journals start ranting without putting an effort to know the most attainable details about the subject they discuss. So for those who want to explain how Qatar bought and corrupted everyone, Pullleeaazzzee refer to the LNG country, not the Oil country. At least this will give some credentials for your argument, and delude your readers that you have a clue what you are talking about. Deal? Deal.

Thats just a demonstration about all the nonsense we read in the past few days. Lets go straight to the point, and I hope I dont forget anything...

- Women's hair: First, I cant avoid pointing out -sarcastically- the current "let us see it. LET US SEE IT!!!" obsession in women hair. But I wont ramble about it (we want to brief right?). So I will just say, YES women can walk in Qatar without the need to cover their hair or to wear the traditional Qatari clothes (In some European countries women have no choice to decide). Surprise surprise! And YES women can go out alone without the need to have any men with them (I am laughing while stating the obvious here). In fact women can go out and walk anywhere at anytime day or night in Qatar, something I don't think women (or even men, so to speak) dare to do in some of the biggest cities in Europe or USA.

- No history in football: Why do people consider this a flaw in Qatari bid? I don't understand. In fact, it should be considered as a plus. If we want the best team to win the world cup, then we need to create a fair competition. The basic element for fair competition is to play the game in a neutral stadium. A great team hosting the competition at home will have an unfair edge over the rest. World Cup 1998 was not a fair competition. World cup 2006 was not a fair competition, so as world cup 2014 will not be a fair competition. The country that host the world cup must not be one of the best 20 nations in world football. this way we create a fair competition. In the other hand it spread the contribution and involvement between nations so excited because their teams are title contenders, and other nations who will never win the world cup, but they can at least have a better chance to host it.

- Freedom of speech: We will keep this one short boys. It is true, freedom of speech is not guaranteed in Qatar or the Middle East (more or less). But here is a small remark:" There is no freedom of speech anywhere in the world". There are taboos in Middle East, so as there are taboos everywhere else. You doubt? Where are you from? Ask journalists in your country about it and if they brag that their country is the land of freedom, we put things in practice: I pass you ten essays and you pass me ten. Lets see how many posts of mine you can publish in national journals in Europe and USA (for example) and how many of your topics I succeed to publish in the Middle East. I lived in Lebanon (and visited many middle east countries), and now I am living in Sweden (and had my ramble across Europe). I can safely say there is more freedom of speech in Lebanon than Sweden/Europe. Just as an example. So let's cut the crap.

- A country too small to host a world cup: First of all, Qatar is a member of the expanding CCASG where other countries are in the queue to join. Citizens move smoothly from one country to another in this union and soon they will have a common currency (though I am not sure if they will reconsider after the Euro's crisis). They are also a member of The Arab League.

That will not make the country bigger but it shows that the world cup is not only about few hundreds of Qatari, but millions of people living in the middle east . Besides, it is much easier for people from around the globe to go to Qatar, than for any middle eastern to book a visa to Europe or USA (no one want a middle eastern in their plane, right?/end "sarcasm"). Thats why this world cup will be more attainable than any other world cup.

Having all the stadiums close to each other create a challenge for Qatar to manage. Can they manage? We can only judge after the event. But it also has its advantages. Anyone traveling from another country may have a chance to watch two or three world cup matches in one day. That is not the case when the stadiums are spread thousand miles away from each other.

- Alcohol and homosexuality: First, if you are planning to go to Qatar (and some other conservative countries in the middle east) anytime soon, make sure not to make out in the middle of the street. You already heard that some homosexuals were captured by the Qatari officials, but you shouldn't feel you will not face the same trouble if you are not homosexual.

The thing is, it doesn't matter if you are homosexual, heterosexual or petro-sexual, that's not the point. Qatari are conservative people -at least in public. That's their culture, religion and tradition. They like to walk their children across the city without being worried that they may witness any "Odd surprises". Whether you are married, or one night adventurer or love rat, control your gun and hold your fire till you reach your room. I am sure you can do that, it even add more pleasure and excitement if you have to wait. Qatari police do not put cameras in the rooms to check what happens when two guys rent a room together. There are homosexuals in each and every Middle east country. You can find some through facebook, and if you can then no doubt their country's intelligence can as well, but they don't go out hunting after them. So this is the deal, in your privet bubble, follow your rules. In public, respect your host rules. And for me, that's fair enough. Sexual life is a privet practice, not a public showcase.

There are laws in Qatar that may offend homosexuals and upset alcoholics. True. There is a need to have open discussions about some of the laws and try to change it (Especially if their are laws that consider homosexuality as a crime, which is wrong no matter how you see it). It is also important to discuss the whole homosexuality issue with Qatar and all other nations who may see this case from a different perspective based on their cultural background. Thats all fine. But if we consider it a crime to let Qatar host the world cup because some laws offend a group of people then we must not host the world cup in any country that offend Hinduism (more than a billion adherents) for example. Regulations that allow cows slaughtering must be changed in any country that want to host the world cup.

Now here is another thing: We like alcohol as a part of our life style, they forbid it based on religious demands. Why is it them who have to change and not us (And BTW I don't want anyone to change their life style)? Why is it always our own values that should be considered as the margin of "international" right and wrong?

We like Alcohol. it brings lot of joy and set the mood right. But if regulations are meant to protect individuals and societies, Alcohol is damaging for individuals and societies, as proved by each and every medical and social study.

So while Alcohol-friendly countries do not dare to put strict regulations because its a loss of votes where people who like Alcohol-same as drug addicts- love to get high. There are other countries where the cultural belief helped them to reach there. We don't need to follow them. But how relevant is it to say "Screw your youth and move backward to our position if you want to host a world cup"?

If you think about it, it is even so wrong that FIFA's main sponsor for a competition followed by youth, is an alcoholic drink. Is that even compatible to football or sport in general? Does Messi get drunk before the games?

In any way, this "do it our way" argument sounds like accepting an invitation to have dinner in a Jew or Muslim house but then criticizing them for not serving pork. If you don't like it, don't go there. Simply put. BTW shouldn't we change the universal laws so we forbid pork to satisfy Jews and Muslims (that's another billion of people)? Just saying...

- Environment damages: This is one of the most shallow excuses. It is not Qatar who complicate Kyoto agreement. I think it will be a good idea that FIFA refuse to offer any country that contribute mostly in CO2 Emissions the chance to host the world cup. This is a sample of a schedule that help in deciding the countries that can (or can't) host the world cup. Regardless of the fact that Qatar suggested an environment friendly alternatives to counter FIFA concerns.

- Democracy, Terrorism, corruption and all the other stuff: First thing first, democracy is the method where the majority of citizens agree on a system to rule the country. Luckily Qataris are not numerous, so it is easy to figure if the existing system is what they want. I have no idea. If the majority of Qataris are comfortable with the current ruler, then who are we to stick our nose and complain? Did anyone investigate their opinion about their regime? Good question.

Now to the big question: Can the countries that promote, support, and protect dictatorships preach against it?

Some people not even aware that the project inspired by School of the Americas expanded already, creating a franchised system of dictatorships across the globe. It is true that there are dictatorships and corrupted systems in the Middle East (now that this is the case in hand). But the truth is that such regimes are there because they count on the backing of those who like to preach about democracy.

On daily bases, people in the middle east raise the voice and spread their fleshes on the streets demanding a change while putting their own safety on the blade (including women -for those who are sooo worried about women life in the Middle East). It happens every.Single.Day. They are doing their part of the job putting pressure on the first face of dictatorships' coin and showing will to sacrifice for the good case. Are the preachers doing their role dealing with the other face of the coin? Because if Mr. Keyboard hero believes he lives in a "democratic country", he cant say "It is not my fault". The existing politicians represent you, and you carry the responsibility of their actions.

I can -kind of- understand someone who say: "I don't like politics and I don't like to talk about it". I say "Fair enough", regardless of the fact that global era makes it impossible to spread responsibilities and blame. But when someone just feel like throwing couple of shallow statements then retreat to bed laying under cover alone to touch and enjoy, someone will have to pull him out to a seat, look straight in the eyes and say it the way it is.

Besides, dictatorship can be dump and obvious, like one man ruling a country till death. Or smart and sneaky, like a lobby or two ruling a country since ever and for ever, though behind the curtains with dolls in the highest positions to serve their masters' needs. Everytime people get sick of a doll and show anger toward the whole situation, a new election (with lot of promises and excitement) change the doll and bring new hope (drug) to calm down the flock. Show must go on.

Its laughable to accuse Qatar of terrorism. Seriously. Lets check how many war crimes Qatar (Or middle Easterns in general) committed compared to other bidders who wanted to host the world cup (2018 or 2022). How many countries did Qatar invade or sent soldiers to, neglecting clear statements in the international law that forbid it? Lets take any international organization you like and review their reports. Based on that, we decide who can and who must not be allowed to host the world cup. I call that fair and right. And don't let me start talking about bloody corruption.

There is also this "Damn them!!" chauvinist argument against Oil/Gas middle east countries. Because they are rich, they are corrupted and deserve no respect. I will not argue that. But why the same people who damn the primitive middle easterns do not complain when those same "Terrorists/corrupted/primitives" offer them jobs and contribute in keeping their economy alive? So, when they keep Mr. Holly-man on the payroll and buy him a beer, its all good. But when they want to host a world cup they are suddenly lacking the human values needed to do that. I see... Now what can we call that?

But then again if Qatar is the monster of all Evils of dictatorship and corruption, USA has a huge military base in Qatar capable to change their regime and bring "justice and love". Oh...yea and "world peace". Let the knights of rights do the job. They didn't hesitate before.

What I know for sure is that Qatar will make lot of changes in the following twelve years to meet the international standards (Everyone will be able to drink till get drunk and puke under each and every tree separating the stadium from the hotel room). But if it will be up to me, I would recommend that Qatar stay loyal to it's culture and introduce it to the world. Every country, society, culture, or religion has its flaws. People who are willing to accept differences will enjoy a life experience of watching football matches and knowing more about the other human living on this planet. A chance to see things the way it is on-site, not as the propaganda want to show it per interest. Those who cant accept seeing things outside the box can follow the tournament at home resting on their favorite couches. After all, this is how middle easterns followed the world cup for decades. So, fair enough.

Again, nothing uglier than the trident engagement between Arrogance, ignorance and hypocrisy. Something you can stumble upon both in the east and the west where each party feels they own the naked truth and are the right opposing the ultimate wrong existing elsewhere. Then they start a holly war to change the other or kill him. It is not about wearing a tie or a Burqa, covered hair or dressed in a bikini. It is not what you feel like dressing, but how far you can reach people having a different criteria about clothes, life, and what goes beyond that.

World cup 2018 -2022 FIFA is corrupted, But...

2010-12-08T18:27:00.000+01:00

After we discussed the logistics in the first part, lets deal with the "technicalities". There were lot of noises about the technical flaws of the winning bids. Hosting a world cup has never been (and will never be) a technical decision. Right? If Russia's bid was catastrophic from the technical perspective -leading to the claim that those who voted for Russia are FIFAnatically corrupted- then why did Mr. Geoff Thompson -England's FIFA ExCo representative-vote for Russia -the weakest bid technically- in the second round? Of course he is not corrupted -because he is English and English gents don't -EVER!- do that, the same as English players do not -NEVER!- dive.

Obviously Mr. Geoff Thompson had his own reasons. But why is it hard to believe that there are some people -who are not English- who might also have their own reasons to vote in the same direction?

Is it true that BBC panorama program had an impact on FIFA ExCo voting? You bet. Is there anything wrong about that? Following English media reactions after the voting, one argument sums it all:

"Voting for Russia proved the claims about FIFA's corruption. FIFA had a chance to clear its name by voting for England, they wasted it!"

I see...Well, BBC plan went in the wrong direction then. Timing the program just before the voting was meant to create a pressure on the ExCo to "clear their names" by voting for England. There is no other explanation for the timing of the program. The thing is, the BBC played it so wrong. In Fact, if the Exco voted for England, that will prove everything said about their corruption. It will sound as if they made a panic voting, trying to Buy England's silence. The competition between England and Russia was so close, as the telegraph described the two bids before the voting:

--------------------------------------------

England

Technical report in brief: Fifa risk ranking: 14 low risk categories, 2 medium risk and a low overall operational risk. Report reveals England has made the most detailed proposal, and praises both legacy plans and commercial strength of the bid.

Can they win? Yes, but they’ll have to come from behind to do it. Major challenge to make it in to the final round against Spain or Russia, but if they do it’s winnable.

Odds: (William Hill) 13-8

Russia

Technical report in brief: Russia has five areas of medium risk, with air transport judged a high risk because of the absence of a reliable rail network and concerns over the pressure this would put on air travel.

Can they win? Definite contenders and received wisdom has them vying with Spain in the final round, but Russia are chasing many of the same votes as England, and may not be the clear favorites.

Betting odds: 8-11

--------------------------------------------

Then the BBC attempt was intended to add more weigh to England's bid, but it was not well-calculated and causes an irreversible damage.

One of the aspects of England's bid flaw, was the messages they tried to send through there campaign. Now seriously, in a country where there are lot of Excellent marketing consultants it is astonishing how bad the campaign was from marketing perspective. After the bidding, English officials were talking about "They don't like us because they believe we are arrogant" then in their campaign you only find slogans about"Bring it back home" and bragging about this and that. Bad. Just Bad. talking about "it has been a long time since the competition was hosted in England" sound smart. But it still give more credentials for other bidder complaining that the tournament has NEVER been hosted not only in Russia but in Eastern Europe all together. They should have worked more on the message they want to present for England's bid, rather than getting too confident about the technicalities.

Then there are suggestions like "Putin called some voters -personally". But in some other interviews England's representatives leave you astonished while telling how some FIFA members promised the prime minister, Beckham and the royal family to vote for England, then they didn't. And please..."They promised to vote for us"...Ask anyone who was involved in any kind of elections from classroom representatives to national leaderships they will all tell you how naive this complain sounds.

Did Russia (and Qatar) try to create intensives for Exco members to vote their way? Hm...One of the members is from Thailand. England arranged a friendly match to be played against Thailand to help world cup bid . Why will England need that if it is all about technicalities where England is supposed to have the best chance? Now there are rumors they are canceling it after the voting . Is THAT "fair bidding"? Isn't there any conflict of interest there? Thats corruption, no matter what dictionary you check. Thats just one example of many we know, and more we don't. So lets stop this "we played it fair...poor we..." claims. The only difference between different bidders is that some had more intensives to offer than others. Fullstop.

Then you wonder, where were all the whiners -at least- in the past two decades? There were lot of incidents where people stepped in to complain about FIFA's corruption while the current preachers were hiding in their holes. Now everyone want to become a national hero, and its as easy as screaming "Corrupted!!" While carrying a banner with FIFA's name on it marked by a red X. Then FA chairman Roger Burden ride Alexander's horse announcing he will quit as a protest against FIFA corruption. But before anyone HAIL Burden's English pride, alow me to share this little irrelevant detail: he was actually planning to quit anyway. But now he can exit passing under the bow of glore, rather than sneaking from the back door. Good radiance.

It is so wrong to look at the technical reports and jump to conclusions. If the technical reports decide it all, then why do we wait the voting? Let's refine the technical criteria as far as possible and decide the best host per se. Obviously we will end up having one country in each continent that is capable to create the best infrastructure in the continent and the world cup will keep dancing between handful number of countries for ever.

It wasnt a technical decision to play the world cup in USA 1994. It wasnt a technical decision to play the world cup in South Africa. It barely was a technical decision to offer the world cup to any country. So why now? Higher risk? Less qualified? Well, it depends on how you see it.

Keep in mind that we are talking about a world cup that will take place 12 years from now. Taking the economic curve of Qatar -for example- and comparing it to any other contender, it is easy to predict that Qatar's economy will be more reliable in the following 12 years to meet the world cup demands than the rest. Is Spain-Portugal 2018 more reliable than Qatar 2022? Technically -and at the moment- they are better. Yet, in Spain they are failing to meet the demands of managing the LIGA, even though -technically- they can.

I have a serious doubt that this whole EU will have to answer some big questions in the following few years and there is a big chance that it collapse.

In the current economic difficulties where everyone is demanding cutting down costs, it will be easy to arrange a campaign in USA (2 years from now?) to generate public opinion that oppose spending on a tournament a massive segment of the citizens dont even follow the sport it will host. I am aware the basic infrastructure is there, but you still need to reserve a budget for all the customizations needed to meet the demands of the tournament. And lets not start a discussion about "profitable tournament", there are no profitable tournaments for the hosting countries anymore. We can play by numbers and stretch it one way or another, same as Greece did before. But the fact is that all the big tournaments in the past few years from world cup to Olympics caused economic challenges afterward in the hosting countries.

Was all that in mind when FIFA decided the best alternative to host the world cup?Was it more relevant to only consider the current technical advantages of all bidders? or was it right to try to forecast long term dis/advantages? especially for a tournament that will take place 12 years from now. I cant claim any of the mentioned points were the incentives behind voting for this nation or that. But it is easy to see that there is another face for the story other than "they bought it undeservedly".

People forget another factor FIFA focus on: Offering the chance for new countries to host the world cup. All the alternatives for 2022 hosted the tournament in the past two decades-beside Australia and Qatar. Thats an important factor to take in consediration, and while Qatar's bid was extremely impressive the way they put it, Australian's were not as convincing. Qatar took all the notes presented in FIFA's technical report and worked on it till the presentation day showing strong intentions and determination that they want to make it happen. No doubt, that bring lot of reliability, confidence, and votes.

Next: My favorite -last part: democracy, terrorism, and the holly horses of western values.

Special thanks for Gabriele Marcotti for all the information he provide about this subject. He provided lot of the material I used in this post, though he carrys no responsibility about anything published in this article.

World cup success story: Qatar and Russia played it right, others failed.

2010-12-03T17:37:00.000+01:00

How predictable! The easiest way to cover someone flaws and failure is to accuse others and underestimate their success. That was exactly what we witnessed in the last 24 hours after FIFA announced Russia and Qatar to host the following two worldcups, 2018 and 2022 instead of great and developing football nations like England, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and USA. At the heat of the moment, things turned ugly. I mean, really ugly.

Maybe for the first time, I had no clear favorites. Yet, if I had a vote, I would have voted for Russia and Australia taking in consideration their geographic location on the planet’s map and the fact that they never hosted the competition before. No doubt, Middle East is a fitting region for a worldcup –again if you browse the map of previous worldcup tournaments. But Qatar? I don’t know about that. UAE (with Qatar maybe), Egypt, Morocco, or some other co-hosting creative arrangements like Syria-Lebanon, Syria-Jordan, etc… In that deserted corner of my mind, I could sense the cross paths leading Qatar to pull out a surprise, but I refused to believe it will happen that fast. Till the last moment, I thought Qatar’s campaign was more a PR project promoting the country, and creating a portfolio for the following attempts. I was aware they WILL get a decent number of votes, though not that many.

The moment the result was announced, the world got crazy screaming statements range from FIFA’s corruption to Middle Eastern cannibals. The question is, did anyone give this a second thought, trying to understand what really happened?

First: Logistics

Before getting into FIFA’s Evil spirit, technicalities, and human virginity crap that we read, lets state a given that no one seems to get: This was a voting battle. The one who earns most of the votes, get the cheek. I do believe it is there where some serious contenders failed miserably. They thought it is about promoting the message “we are the best”. Seriously? Now how naïve is that? Since when any election has anything to do with “who is better”? Yes…yes…In fairy tales and pink notebooks. Agreed. In real world, this is laughable. Silly. Elections- and voting battles- are about campaigns, connections, presentations, interests’ concurrence and promises. Unless if you really believe the prime minister, president, or governor you just voted for is the genius of your nation. Here is some news for you: The winner is the candidate who happened to stand on the cross paths of the position keepers’ interests. The big bulls. You don’t like that? Neither do I. But we both know the world will keep going.

When you decide to play a game, you need to be aware of the rules before you step in. If the rules are that obvious since day one, don’t get involved then if you failed you complain: This is not fair! I hate this game! I don’t want to play with you anymore! CHANGE THE RULES! Childish.

While the main contenders were busy bulling Platini every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and bashing Platter for the rest of the days, other contenders were sewing their voting canvas one stitch at a time. Take Qatar as an example, being an Arabic country means an initial boost for its campaign both in Asia and Africa. Translate that. Votes. Most importantly, they had a good understanding about who really wear the pants in this process. Some people like to believe it is all about Blatter. He is the one who decide and the rest follow. This belief goes deep in time since the Havelange-Johansson war that led the big European nations to consider FIFA as the father of all evil-though there is some truth in that. Now here the thing: Lots of the voting members who actually decided who hosts the world cup are more fragile to their national or continental pressure than they are Blatter’s puppies. Through the mentioned channels, Qatar and most probably Russia sneaked in tempting or bargaining interests to seal the deal. That’s while England campaigners were celebrating Beckham’s inclusion in their team. He will make the speech that turns the world around and bring glory to the Island. That’s when USA thought Morgan Freeman can through a charismatic spell on everyone then snatch the big prize. That’s mixing act with fact. Australia played the “we are the ones with no enemies, we play it smoothly” card. So as Netherlands-Belgium. It is not if you have enemies, but how many friend you have who can translate their support to votes. Let’s not start talking about the laziness of Spain-Portugal and how far the economic complexities effected it. Their campaign sounded like “we want it…but it’s ok if we don’t get it. Really.”

Was it possible for Blatter to put pressure against Qatar and Russia? That’s the second fold of the deal. Qatari Bin Hammam, and South Korea's Chung Mong-Joon are two presidential candidates who can threaten Blatter’s position in the FIFA. Bin Hammam had a good bargain to offer and Chung Mong-Joon knows that he can’t dream to become FIFA’s president if he makes Qatar’s Lobby in the FIFA angry A.K.A a deciding number of countries in Africa and Asia. Issa Hayatou in the other hand is the long serving member of Africa, he need to do favors for North African countries supporting Qatar. Maybe, if England, Australia or USA were able to stand behind Brazil's member Ricardo Teixeira (another FIFA presidential candidate), and succeeded to convince enough FIFA members to get involved in the bargain they could have created a countering leverage. Why didn’t they do it? Good question. Because they wanted to play it fairly? Wrong answer. They just weren’t as bright as a country they like to call “700,000 inhabitants”.

Does that prove the need to change the voting regulations? I can see a solid argument supporting this suggestion and I tend to agree on it to some extend. But let’s not get too patriotically driven while demanding a change. It was so wrong for some to take the approach of good people (countries) bad people (countries), those who are the knights of democracy and ethical conduct and the others who exist only to damage all that. At least the current –FIFA- system still respects the voting of the majority regardless of how the voting decision was made. It is far better than a system where one vote can cancel the will of all other 191 members, ironically supported by the loudest voices demanding a change in the FIFA. We didn't hear any voices demanding fairness. All our international (and national) palaces are made of glass. So let’s combine efforts in the right direction, if we really want to make a move. A change based on principles, not on interests.

It is extremely unfair to claim it is all about corruption and buying votes, denying the effort made by the winning countries and ignore the mistakes made by the rest. Mind you one of the big contributor in the Qatari achievement is an English man whom the English campaign decided not to hire thinking he will damage their attempt. Qatar knew exactly what they were doing. They left nothing for chance and did much more than just preparing speeches and spreading smiles. From the quality presentations to the stunning stadiums’ designs and ideas, to the storyboard supporting the need to host the tournament as a message of peace in the Middle East, taking the World Cup to a Muslim nation for the first time and to break down barriers between Islam and the West.

A small country succeeded to play the cards right on the international level, getting gains from a system that is made to serve only the big boys-as usual. For once, the great nations need to accept being on the receiver end.

But wait! Technically the winners were the worst candidates! Those abusingterroristdiscriminatingkillers!!! We must not let them host a world cup!

That’s for part two…

FC Barcelona - Real Madrid the clasico of football and hyperbole

2010-11-26T14:29:00.000+01:00

Barcelona hosts Real Madrid for this season Clasico, the Jewel of Spanish La liga. This is an edited version of the article I wrote for Barcelona Transfers Blog Dec 12, 2008, recording the history of Rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Trying to show the two sides of the story, Barcelona's and Real Madrid versions, I made a roundup collecting quotes from different resources where the mentioned rivalry is covered.

RIVALS FOR EVER!

To warm up before a game like el clasico, its not enough to discuss squads and tactics, not even the media coverage following the event on everyday, and may be every second, bases. That will be good enough for a champions league final may be, but not for a game injected by that amount of passions, emotions and memories, el clasico that represents not only a battle of rivals but also a clash of wells that was documented in history and “immorted” in poetry.

That’s why, and in order to live the event to the extreme, we need to tour back and live the birth of this eternal mêlée.

Socio-cultural and political factors fueling Rivalry culture

Source: Wikipedia

The rivalry comes about as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and the two clubs are the most successful and influential football clubs in the country. Real Madrid has amassed 73 trophies and Barcelona 68, while Athletic Bilbao comes third with 32 trophies. They are sometimes identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid and Barcelona representing Spanish nationalism and Catalan nationalism respectively.

The Primo de Rivera and Franco years

As early as the 1930s, Barcelona "had developed a reputation as a symbol of Catalan pride and identity, opposed to the centralising tendencies of Madrid". During the Franco dictatorship, most citizens of Barcelona were in strong opposition to the fascist-like régime, with several players of Barcelona enrolling with the opposition forces in 1934. On a representative level, the president of Barcelona Josep Sunyol was killed by Franco's security police as part of his political activities while visited Republican troops north of Madrid. Phil Ball, the author of Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football, calls the El Clásico "a re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War".

Though the first socialist party in Spain was founded in Madrid, almost all the ideas that have shaped the country's modern history – republicanism, federalism, anarchism, syndicalism and communism – have been introduced via the region of Catalonia, where Barcelona is. During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera and of Francisco Franco, all regional languages and identities were frowned upon and restrained. In this period FC Barcelona gained their motto més que un club (English: More than a club) because of its alleged connection to progressive beliefs and its representative role for Catalonia. However, during Franco's regime, the blaugrana team seemed to be granted profit due to its good relationship with the dictator at management level. In any case, for most of the Catalans, and many other Spaniards as well, Real Madrid was regarded as the establishment club, in spite of the fact that during the Spanish Civil War, presidents of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra, suffered in the Spanish Civil War.

Source, Soccerlens:

The first clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid might not have taken place until February 1929 but when it did occur, it was already observed as the embodiment of the tensions felt between the two most prominent and culturally contrasting regions of Spain. Barcelona were the representatives of Catalonia, the free-thinking region in the north east of Spain striving hard to gain autonomy and the distinction of a country; Castilian side Real were the manifestation of the Spanish State’s sovereign oppressive centralism.

Immediate to the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, the rivalries between the two clubs gathered momentum and intensity. The fixture wasn’t perceived so much as a football match as a demonstration of freedom and control. Barcelona became més que un club (”more than a club”, as the Blaugrana’s Catalan motto suggests), a symbol of democracy, republicanism, federalism, anarchism and communism while Real were observed as the Royal club, the club that was always preferred by the Spanish political hierarchy.

William Wilkes in his article “Soccer and The Spanish Civil War.” Wrote:

The Spanish Civil War lasted from 1936 to 1939, ending with the founding of a fascist dictatorship led by the Nationalist General Francisco Franco. The war claimed 500,000 lives...

Barcelona was the epicenter of the republican resistance against the Fascist Nationalists.

Consequently, as a focal point for the population of Barcelona, the city's football club, FC Barcelona, was soon drawn into the conflict .A month after the Civil War began, FC Barcelona's left-wing president Josep Suñol i Garriga was murdered by Francisco Franco's soldiers in Guadalajara.

On 16 March 1938, the fascists dropped a bomb on the club's social club. A few months later, Barcelona was under fascist occupation and as a symbol of the 'undisciplined' Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, was threatened with extinction.

After the War, Franco banned the Catalan language and flag. Football clubs were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures led to the club having its name changed to Club de Fútbol Barcelona (from FC Barcelona to CF Barcelona) The Catalan flag was removed from the club's shield.

During Franco's reign one of the few places that Catalan could be spoken freely was within the club's stadium.

CF Barcelona spent many of the post war years trailing the Nationalist club Real Madrid. Franco's Government frequently intervened to give Real Madrid an advantage over Barcelona. Most notably in making sure that the great Alfredo di Stefano signed for Madrid and not Barcelona.

In World Football: The Greatest Rivalries: Barcelona Versus Real Madrid, Jon Marum Wrote:

The game described by Sir Bobby Robson as the biggest club game in world football is an obvious place to start when examining the fiercest rivalries around the globe.

FC Barcelona were founded in 1899 by Swiss businessman Joan Gamper just a year after a humiliating defeat for the Spanish army in the Spanish-American war of 1888. With a sense of disillusionment in the declining Spanish Empire, local pride grew provoking a stronger sense of Catalan nationalism. In FC Barcelona, the Catalan people had the perfect vehicle to express their local identity.

These sentiments of nationalism within Catalonia have not only survived to the present day, indeed time has only served to increase them. The oppressive nature of the Francoist regime toward Catalonia and her people forged a siege mentality within the club and region towards the controlling centrist powers in Madrid. The fact that Franco’s team was Real Madrid only served to intensify the rivalry between the two clubs.

The theory is, therefore, that Barça are the club of democracy and freedom fighting against the fascism and oppression of Real Madrid. As always, the reality is not as clear cut.

Barça fans animosity towards Real Madrid properly started in 1936 when club President Josep Sunyol was murdered by Francoist troops. Every year his death is remembered by FC Barcelona delegates with a not-so-subtle subtext of anti-Francosim and anti Real Madrid. The fact that his assassination had more to do with his affiliation to the Catalan Independence Party than to Barça is overlooked by fans who see him as an embodiment of their cause.

The success that FC Barcelona enjoyed during the years of the Franco regime is also often overlooked, with fans preferring to concentrate on the injustices their club suffered at the hands of referees they believed to have been threatened by members of the Franco regime. In all fairness, there is a long list of blatant cases which prove Barça suffered at the hands of refereeing “malpractice.”

For example in the final of the 1943 Copa del Generalissimo, after winning the first leg 3-1, Madrid defeated Barça 11-1 in the second leg. It is claimed that the referee, in the company of a state official, paid a visit to the Barça dressing room with a gun. Another example of this came on June 6th 1970 in the shape of “The Guruceta Case.” Guruceta, a young Basque referee, produced a string of biased decisions in Real Madrid’s favour in a match at the Camp Nou against Barça. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and provoked a mass riot and pitch invasion. This was an outpouring of frustration and anger at years of injustices Barça had suffered at the hands of the Madrid authorities, the fans taking it as an attack upon their very culture, country and identity.

On the CNN partners, Time, Lisa Abend in her article “Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: More Than a Game” Explained:

Under the Franco dictatorship, which suppressed the Catalan language as part of its campaign to create an authoritarian centralized state, the team provided an outlet for the expression of local identity, a place where Catalan flags could be waved and Catalan cheers shouted. And now, at a time when Catalonia has achieved an unprecedented degree of autonomy, thanks to new statues negotiated with the Zapatero government, the Barça continues to symbolize the region's aspirations. "All societies need spaces where they can express their identity," says anthropologist Jordi Josep Salvador, who specializes in the political meanings of soccer in Spain. "That's what Barça is. Its symbols have merged with the symbols of Catalan identity."

Di Stéfano transfer

Source: Wikipedia
The rivalry was intensified during the 1950s when the clubs disputed the signing of Alfredo di Stéfano. Di Stéfano had impressed both Barcelona and Real Madrid whilst playing for Club Deportivo Los Millonarios in Bogota, during a players' strike in his native Argentina. Both Madrid and Barcelona attempted to sign him and, due to confusion that emerged from di Stéfano moving to Millonarios from River Plate following the strike, both clubs claimed to own his registration. After intervention from FIFA representative Muñoz Calero it was decided that both Barcelona and Real Madrid had to share the player in alternate seasons. Barcelona's Franco-imposed President backed down after a few appearances as Barcelona's side claimed but Real say Barcelona's decision was voluntary, and di Stefano moved definitively to Madrid.

Di Stéfano became integral in the subsequent success achieved by Madrid, scoring twice in his first game against Barcelona. With him, Madrid won the initial five European Champions Cup competitions. The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the European stage when they met twice at the European Cup, Real Madrid winning in 1960 and FC Barcelona winning in 1961.

The Driving Force Behind Spanish Football explains:

Barcelona and Catalonia have always been Madrid's arch-rivals, both in football and politics, so it's ironic that the club was founded by two Catalans, Juan and Carlos Padrós, in 1902. But even in the early days, Real Madrid was the major club in Spain's capital city and so almost immediately became the motor behind the establishment of football as a major sport in Spain.

In 1903 the club organised the very first Campeonato de España, the forerunner of the modern-day Copa del Rey - the first edition was won by Athletic de Bilbao, by the way, - and at an international level, they also were one of the founding members of FIFA a year later in 1904.

The Long Road to Success:

Throughout the first half century of its existence, Real Madrid weren't as successful on the pitch as either Barcelona or Bilbao - only 9 Copas del Rey compared with Barça's 11 and Athletic Club's 17 and just 1 Liga.

Everything changed in the early fifties, though, after they signed Alfredo di Stéfano - the star of the team that went on to win five consecutive European Cups between 1956 and 1960. Admittedly the club received support from General Franco but it was a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Did Real Madrid become successful because of Franco's support or did the Dictator support them because they were successful?

I tend to favour the latter option, myself. The Regime, which had originally backed Atlético de Madrid, was trying to open up to the rest of Europe and Real's successes came at a perfect time. One of Franco's ministers even described the club as 'the best ambassadors Spain's got'. That's not to say that Franco's support wasn't to the benefit of Real Madrid and the detriment of Barça, but the truth is that the politicians weren't out on the pitch, playing the games and winning the titles.

Spain-football discuss Barcelona's history leading to become "more than a club":

Why is FC Barcelona 'More Than A Club'? In a nutshell, because the institution represents the hopes and fears of a stateless nation - the Catalans - in a way that no other club in the world does. Because of the feelings of national identity that it arouses, a Barça-Madrid match is much more similar to an England versus Scotland than to a Manchester United against Chelsea

What's more the Catalans' democratic republican view of Spain contrasts sharply with the authoritarian centralism that has typified Madrid throughout Spanish history. So Barça attract the sympathies of people who are 'anti-system' from all over Spain and the world.

So Barça team must not only win but also do it in a style befitting of the nation it represents and woe betide any elected president that is seen to behave in an a way that contradicts the principles of its fan base. Remember Futbol Club Barcelona is one of the few clubs in the world that is owned and controlled by its members.

Under the First Dictatorship:

By the 1920s, Barça had moved to its first decent ground, Les Corts, and was firmly established as one of the top clubs in Spain and Catalonia's representative in sport. This became clear during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-29) when the Catalan language was made illegal for the first time in the twentieth century.

In June 1925 an English ship docked at the Port of Barcelona, and the ship's brass band was invited to play at Les Corts. Ignorant of where they were and the current atmosphere of cultural oppression, the band launched straight into the Spanish National Anthem. The assembled crowd began booing and jeering and arrests were made. The dictator closed Les Corts and banned FC Barcelona from playing competitive football for six months. Almost at the point of bankruptcy, Barça was saved by donations from the fans.

Yet, on the other side of the Coin, some may see the story completely different

Real Mad in his article 40 Reasons say:

Lie number 2: Real Madrid is Franco’s team:

It has been repeated many times in this forum that Real Madrid is Franco's team. That is as absurd as saying that the Beatles are Queen Elizabeth’s band or that the Roman Forum was Mussolini’s great civic accomplishment. It is one of those rumors that probably started in a Barcelona bar after a loss to Madrid, and was carried home by Dutch people who were drinking too much beer to question the truth of what they were hearing. They probably couldn’t think of anything to ask except which way to the bathroom.

Real Madrid came into being in 1902. It was granted the title of “Real” by King Alfonso XIII in 1920. La Liga was founded in 1928, and in the inaugural year, Barcelona came in first, and Real Madrid came in second. The antipathy goes way back, way before Franco. Real won two Ligas in the 11 years before Franco came to power, in 1932 and 1933. You can’t give Franco credit for that. The Franco years were 1939 to 1975. Madrid hated Franco, and held out against his forces much longer than Barcelona, falling one day before Valencia surrendered, ending the Civil War. It was the capital before Franco, it remained the capital, and as capital, it suffers the antipathy of the provincials to this day.

The tyrant had managed to suppress all of Spain into another dark period in its history, and yet Barcelona routinely won the La Liga title, and the Copa del Generalissimo. During the Civil war, Real Madrid’s president was captured and tortured by Franco’s forces. The fascists’ made repeated attempts to crush Real Madrid and the joy it represented. They were largely in favor of Atletico Aviacion (soon to be renamed Atletico Madrid), the official team of Franco’s air force. The fascist air force bombed Real’s Stadium, and their troops stormed the offices and stole our trophies.

I grew up with the Guardia Civil and their truncated tricorner hats standing for days on my corner if they knew Franco was going to come down my street in the future. People from other towns didn’t have half a clue what it was like to live with his most powerful goons in their neighborhood. They just liked to tell the rest of us that is was them who suffered, even though they were far away from the epicenter of that scrutiny.

The great turning point in the history of Real Madrid was the building of the original Santiago Bernabeu stadium and the signing of Alfredo DiStefano. Real started having incredible success, not because Franco was president, but because they had taken the right steps to build and sell a product that Spain and the world was hungry for. All of us were under their spell, including Franco. But it is just wrong to say that Real was Franco’s team. It was damn near everybody’s team, like the Beatles were everybody’s band, and the Roman Forum was everybody’s ruins.

Here are all the reasons why Real Madrid is the world’s team, and not Franco’s team:

17 Liga titles when he wasn’t in power

9 Copas by Barcelona when he was in power, compared to only 6 for Madrid

2 UEFA championships, over which Franco could not have exerted any control

3 Intercontinental Cups, for the same reason

9 huge honking CL trophies and you all know about those

40 good reasons to never tell that lie again, because someone might call you out on it.

While Trevor choose attack as the best way to defend by wondering: El Barça, Franco’s favourite team?

The claim that Franco sought to benefit Real Madrid at the expense of FC Barcelona is, along with with half-truths like the banning of the language and blatant lies like the banning of the sardana, a key element in Catalanista victimist mythology, and has been readily embraced by innocents from abroad….

Etcetera. Here, from the notably even-handed Anti-Barcelona.com, is part of the case for the defense:

During the Civil War Real Madrid tried to get away from the front and provide a solution for its professionals by requesting inclusion in the Catalan championship inaugurated on October 4 1936. Given the increase in income this would have meant, all the Catalan clubs participating were enthusiastic, with the exception of Barcelona… [This] earned them the condemnation of all Catalan society, including their own players.

Protectionism. The Barcelona public …, incited by an aggressive press campaign which counted on the collaboration of Juan Antonio Samaranch, resulted in the first displays of sporting terrorism, intimidating Real in their 1943 Cup semi-final away match. Madrid won the subsequent game 11-1.

[...]

The Regime’s team. From the end of the Civil War until the arrival at Real Madrid of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Barcelona was the most successful team… At the beginning of the 60s, Barcelona had a large deficit which it decided to pay off with the sale to developers of the old Les Corts ground. Since it was green belt, the council rejected the scheme but, after losing various appeals, the Council of Ministers, presided over by Franco, gave the project the go-ahead… In 1974 the dictator received the club’s 75th Anniversary Gold Medal.

Mini-charts of the absolute and relative (Real position - Barça position) league positions of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona during the Second Republic and the Franco dictatorship tend to support this interpretation. There’s a fairly clear correlation between periods of repression (40s, early 50s, early 70s) and Barcelona successes, while Real did better during periods of comparative openness (early 30s, late 50s, 60s).

I doubt, however, that evidence will ever emerge of any clear causal connection explaining football results in terms of government policy or Franco’s personal preferences. The closest we will probably get is in the Atlético’s string of post-war successes, when, as Atlético Aviación, it was sponsored by the armed forces. Allegedly. The same Santiago Bernabéu hagiography contains an anecdote from the period. Bernabéu escaped murder by the left and fought with the rebels during the war, but this was not, apparently, always enough:

An ardent Spanish patriot, but politically independent, he always kept Real Madrid safe from meddling by the winning side in the Civil War which was prevented from laying hands on our Team thanks to the truly heroic resolution of Don Santiago. Resolution that could have cost him his life when he stood up to no-one less than General Millán Astray, founder of the Legión Española and comrade in arms of General Franco, whose more prominent “deeds” include having been on the point of shooting dead [the philosopher] Don Miguel de Unamuno at the start of the University of Salamanca’s year and having attacked [tango star] Carlos Gardel. Millán Astray was in the VIP box during a match at the [old] Chamartín stadium when he took liberties with the wife of one of the other guests. When Don Santiago heard of the incident, he went up to the VIP box and threw out Millán Astray, forbidding him from entering the stadium. Millán Astray threatened to have Don Santiago killed and only the intervention of the mythical general Muñoz Grandes, under whom Don Santiago served in the Civil War, prevented our having lost our chairman. This act of Don Santiago, completely inconceivable in post-war Spain, raised him to the status of a true hero. The interference of the winners of the Civil War in Spanish sport caused Don Santiago to have various furious confrontations with the hierarchy of the Franco regime during which he always received the full support of Madrid fans, inhibiting the regime from taking reprisals against him such as forcing him to resign. To Don Santiago politics and football were like water and oil and he never allowed them to be mixed artificially. Another example of the personality of Don Santiago was seen in the sports pavilion (today the Pabellón Raimundo Saporta) during a basketball game between Real Madrid and Macabi from Tel-Aviv. During the presentation Don Santiago took off his golden Real Madrid insignia and pinned it on the Israeli general Moshe Dayan who was proud of being a faithful Madrid fan. This unprecedented act caused the wrath of the government, since General Franco’s regime didn’t recognize the state of Israel and it caused the “eternal hatred” of many in the Franquista hierarchy for Don Santiago.

Federico García Lorca

One of the most inspirational figures in any camp nou Clasico, is by no doubt the Federico García Lorca tragedy, who is Federico García Lorca?

Federico García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theater director. An emblematic member of the Generation of '27, he was murdered[1] by members of the fascist group Falange at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.[2] (here complete life story ).

The story of Lorca's brief life (1898-1936) seems forever fated to begin with his death: ''Federico Garcia Lorca was thirty-eight when anti-Republican rebels in Granada assassinated him at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.'' So begins, almost ineluctably, the introduction to Ian Gibson's rich biography of the great Spanish poet.

Even in the most death-conscious country in Western tradition - where, as Lorca once pointed out, death is the national spectacle - his obsession with the subject was remarkable. In a poem written in New York in 1929, he predicted that he would be assassinated and that his body would never be found. On Aug. 19, 1931, he finished and dated an insistently death-centered, autobiographical play called ''When Five Years Pass.'' Five years later to the day a fascist death squad executed him and dumped his body into a common, unmarked grave.

In 1934 his friend Ignacio Sanchez Mejias returned to the bullring after seven years in retirement, and Lorca knew intuitively the matador would be killed. When it proved true he told a friend: ''Ignacio's death is like mine, the trial run for mine.'' The matador, he commented, ''did everything he could to escape from his death, but everything he did only helped to tighten the strings of the net.'' (More)

My one cent

As J.B. Priestley said – in The Good Companions, 1928 “ To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink.” No doubt, this clasico represented the cure values of sports for being a better way to express people's emotions in various directions.

I am not so interested about the Franco vs Catalonia debate as an isolated issue. I am not even sure if in this era of global world, there is any place for "A state for every nation" Idea. Sometimes national patriotism goes to an extreme that it turns to behave like a "Racism with nice attractive makeup". Yet, what I am dedicated to, is supporting the freedom of having a choice, as an individual or as a group, what I am against is domination by force and whiping diversities. I believe franco was a devil who caused pain all over Spain - not only in Catalonia. I do believe supporting clubs that boldly -and officially- oppose his antiques in the way to go. This is not about what happened in the past. this is a message sent to the future.

But if there is one thing you can give Mourinho a credit for, it is the fact that his presence made everyone busy talking about his story with Barcelona, and how each party will receive the other. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid had never been as close in quality to each other as they are in this clasico. There is a myth that when one of the two teams shine, the other collapse. It wasnt the case last season, at least in the liga where the two teams were simply brilliant. This season, Real Madrid is even better. This will be a classic clasico. No doubt!

The stadium on Monday:

Fc Barcelona player Daniel Alves proves diving is essential to protect fair play in football.

2010-11-08T14:22:00.000+01:00

From Busquets at FC Barcelona, to Ronaldo at Manchester united then Real Madrid. From the Drogba of Chelsea to Eduardo once at Arsenal. From Krasic at Juventus to all the other players of all the teams we follow. Diving is the curse that usually address them all and mark disgrace bruises on their talent and quality. The question is: Can we generalize and say that all diving acts are wrong? Or is there a room to classify diving in two categories: Fair and unfair?

Advocatus Diaboli

Football and Diving

The fast spontaneous answer is that there shouldn't be any place for diving in world football. Done and dusted. Yet, Daniel Alves was able in seven days to make anyone who has an attention for details reconsider.

In the first match, Dani was at the receiving end of a knock by Zaragoza player Leonardo Ponzio. The rules are clear: Red card. And that's what happened, Ponzio was suspended. Fair enough.

Few days later, Dani continued his experiment and this time he was at guilt when he dangerously kicked FC Copenhagen left back, Oscar Wendt. The rules are clear: Red card. Yet, Alves survived without a booking. UEFA made no respond afterward as well. Unfair.

Now if we try to figure what made the difference between the two situations dictating fairness in the first case while delivering an unfair outcome in the other, it is easy to tell that the victims response to the attack made all the difference. Alves dive in the first case brought fairness, while Oscar Wendt honesty kept a frustrated Alves in the game with a threat that he may break someone else leg or kneck.

Thats not the only time where diving leads to fair play, while honesty dragged its knight to a losing end. Again, few days after the match against Copenhagen, FC Barcelona visited Madrid to play Getafe. Then:

In my opinion, that's a penalty. The defender didn't touch the ball, but Messi's legs. Messi lost his balance and that was enough to kill the threat on Getafe's goal. It was still a goalless draw. Messi decided not to fall as long as he can still stand on his feet. The referee thought that as long as Messi is not flying in the air, banging on the field, rolling like a wool ball holding his leg at one moment and his head in another, before raising his arms and screaming complains, no penalty is deserved. Messi didn't do this act, and he got no penalty. Was a little dive enough to set the records right?

If the defenders feel free to kick you at well, is there any fairness for the forwards to start a mental game that make the defenders think twice to find a smart way to defend rather than a reckless approach? Because when you don't dive at all (and here I am not claiming that Messi doesn't do it at all), you may end up harassed by football butchers.

But maybe, some dives make it hard for anyone to argue the annoyance of that habit.

Football ramble:On bandwagon fans and Glory haunters

2010-10-21T17:39:00.000+02:00

From Manchester and Arsenal, to Liverpool and Chelsea across the English Premier League the term “bandwagons” rings in every direction. From Juventus and Roma to Milan rivals the claim that “there are no glory hunters supporting our club” is a claim written on every supporter chest and echoing in each corner at Serie A. And let’s not start talking about La Liga, and mainly the two poles of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Bandwagon fans and Glory haunters, Who are those people?

"A bandwagon fan is a phrase used among sports fans and sports writers to describe a fan that only roots for popular and successful sports franchises, then when they fall and are unpopular they switch to the new team. Sometimes people may change teams due to many factors, such as bad management, scandals involving the team, poor draft decisions, or unfavorable conditions in the current residence (which often could cause them to adopt their hometown's rival team as their own)... Bandwagon fans are usually despised by fans who consider themselves die-hard". (Source)

Before getting into the threat this slice of football fans can present for big –popular- clubs, it is relevant to go back in time to figure how the big-popular- clubs became big and became popular. It usually starts with one or handful football entrepreneurs collecting players and organizing a team like many in the city or the region. The team develops and shows enough promise to be recognized by the neighborhood that starts following the team regularly. At that early stage, if the team fails to secure continuous improvement, the followers start to vanish, attracted by other clubs with more potential in the same surrounding. The club ends up being one of numerous small clubs worldwide with few hundreds of followers competing on local minor rivalries and unrecognized competitions.

If that small team succeeds to satisfy the followers hunger to victorious joys (A.K.A. results) dipped in the bragging opportunities to tease those living across the street, it sets the cornerstone to win over the followers hearts. With time good memories, cultural and social concurrence starts to tie the fans and the club more. That’s when temporary failure becomes more forgiven. It is no more this street club against the club of another street, but the club that represents the City best against the clubs of other cities. The more the club succeeds, the more its fan base expands the same way it was initially created: Results increase awareness. Awareness makes more people interested. Interest creates addiction. Addiction structure loyal supporters, added to the support inherited from father to son originated in that small street, then through the City, the nation, and worldwide.

I am not sure if the term “Bandwagon” is originally offending. I am not an expert in English terminology. But if we use it with good intentions and based on the definition and argument above, there are two kinds of club followers: Ex-bandwagons outcome (Loyal fans), and current bandwagons (fan base contenders). So called bandwagons are people who became interested in the club when the club proved capable of bringing pride, joy, and satisfaction. Some of them became loyal fans and the rest decided to aboard the ship when the wind started to blow in another direction. But there is an important question here. Is it only about the people? It seems that the club has nothing to do in this matter, which is not the case at all.

To understand the clubs’ role and responsibility we need to consider the club as any other firm, organization, or business. If you own a restaurant, you invite people to visit and try your food. If the first time they visit you fail to satisfy them, you are done and dusted. If they leave your restaurant smiling and praising, you can be sure they will come back again. But it will take more than just few successful trials before you can consider them as loyal customers. They need to enjoy some more lunches and dinners, to start recognizing the staff faces and names, to feel comfortable with the way food is served and the food diversity available, and most importantly start sharing the nostalgia of the memories they share with that restaurant. When they become that loyal, then they will forgive you if for once the launch was overcooked. A bit too spicy. Or the service was not up to the expected standards. During trial period they forget you. When they become loyal, they forgive you.

That’s how clubs create fan bases. Like loyal customers. Using marketing terms, clubs successful period is the marketing campaign. Bandwagons are the leads. Permanent supporters are the loyal customers. Successful periods -full with titles- act as marketing campaigns. It generates leads and increases awareness and attractiveness. Leads may visit your showroom because your marketing campaign was successful. That’s your opportunity brought to you on a golden plate. Now it’s your job to turn the leads to loyal allies. If they end up visiting your showroom without buying anything, then it’s your fault not theirs. If they buy just to get advantage of the offers promoted through the marketing campaign then you are lucky because that will buy you more time and extend your opportunity to do your homework. If they vanish the moment the marketing campaign cycle ends, that’s because you –as a club- failed to show more interesting features about your club/business beside titles/offers. You failed to create a more personal/human-like relation with them. You failed to make them aware that your club is so special in many ways that bring even more pride to its fans than titles.

If they jump out of your ship when your club wins no more, don’t call then glory hunters. They are so, because you failed to show them the glory lies behind supporting your club, regardless of the titles won or lost.

FC Barcerlona: If you want a future,dont mess with a 14 years old member

2010-10-19T13:07:00.000+02:00

Fans and club, being as close as that!

Barça Beeckman is the first member of FC Barcelona to be named after the club and is now number 185,508.

"A Belgian couple have called their first son Barça and he has already become the first club member to have the name. The pair told the media they chose the moniker because "they liked it".

Taking inspiration from the verse "tinc un nom que el sap tothom, Barça, Barça, Barça" (I have a name that everyone knows, Barça, Barça, Barça) from the Blaugrana hymn the new arrival has the full name Barça Beeckman and he lives 60 kilometres outside of Brussels in Nieuwerkerk. Aged three the youngster was made a member of the Camp Nou club on July 19 by his father Wesley Beeckman, 23, an architecture student, and mother Anneke Maes, 24, a nurse."

Game on
During the pregnancy the couple could not reach an agreement for a name for the baby as they did not want to know the sex until he was born. In the end they settled on the name Lona if the baby was a girl.

With a decision about the name if it was a boy in full swing the pair were watching Pep Guardiola's team play when Anneke had a bright idea. "Suddenly, I said to my husband that if we had a boy then would he want to call him Barça," she explained. "He turned towards me and winked before saying 'yes, that is the name of my son'".

Surprise, surprise
On April 26 Anneke gave birth in Sint-Truiden and Barça came into the world. "We were convinced that it would be a girl," Anneke continued. "My family did not know what to say at the start and they were not keen, but now they are used to the name. People had to ask me twice what his name was early on and everyone has said it is the first time they have heard the name used." Wesley's relatives were happier. "My father liked it as soon as he heard it," he stated.

Firm fans
Despite the relatives' initial dismay the couple are "very proud that our son carries the name of the best football team in the world" Anneke commented. Anneke and Wesley are keen FC Barcelona fans and he plays for his local team VCT Terkoest Alken.

"We hope that when he grows up that he will like his name and understand why we gave it to him," Anneke added. Official Site

What Mr.Wesley Beeckman and Mrs. Anneke Maes were not aware of, is that two months later this child will be their only certificate to prove they deserve being Barcelona members, based on the new regulations. If you are a Belgian and you still has no child named Barca, then you are not welcomed. Fix your records first.

There was a huge mess recently regarding membership regulations at FC Barcelona. There is a feeling that the club that was hailed as the fans’ club, became after the most recent regulations a family-like-business. Before diving in the consequences and taking positions, it is important to shed a light on the membership idea itself, and try to figure the stitches hidden between the lines of the recent changes. Then, asking the big question: Will such changes help Catalonia or the Catalan identity of the club? Because protecting the Catalan soul of the club is the axe of the wheels in this matter.

Is Barcelona’s membership system that unique in football world? At the end of the day, almost at any club, you can buy a share or stock and there you are, a partner. In fact, that makes you more a club owner than the membership of Barcelona. In some clubs, you can even expect some dividends in the following few years. You won’t get enough for models to propose to you, but you got my point. Moreover, you pay just once, not once every year. If next year you had some cash, instead of spending it just to survive as a member, you can buy more shares and that makes you more owner-istic. Based on your shares value you can vote, contribute in decisions making, and –unlike membership-no one can take that away from you, as all the courts of the world protect your rights. If you need your share no more, you can simply sell it and get back your money. Some clubs will beg you to buy shares, because that will finance their books as well. Again, all the mentioned should be considered on a microscopic level compared to the big clubs finance, but it will still mean a big thing for a fan.

That’s exactly where membership at Barcelona gets the credit. It is not a financial alternative but a commitment. It does not generate immense profit for the club. At least, not as much as Barcelona fans may think it does. At the same time, it barely has any tangible benefits for the massive majority of the members if you think about it. What makes Barcelona’s membership unique though, is the fact that all the fans are equal under the membership umbrella. There are no elite and tweet classes between the club owners based on how many shares you own. At Barcelona everyone is (was) equal from the most distinct fan to the club’s directors. That gives Barcelona’s membership the edge over shares based clubs. And obviously, it is (was) way better than clubs owned permanently and eternally by one or many partners who inherit the club from father to son –to cousin- while the rest of the fans are just: Customers.

First of all, let’s put the mentioned regulations in their right perspective, instead of playing hide and seek. It’s a strategy that was supposed to counter the increase of none Catalan members in the last few years, threatening the club’s identity. During the election campaign, the current board thoroughly expressed their concerns about having 50, 000 Chinese fans. There were suggestions that such regulations will affect Catalan and none Catalan fans equally as it says: “All Barca fans who are not members will not be allowed to apply for membership unless if they have cousins registered as members etc…” They didn’t say “all none Catalan fans” they said “all fans”. So, where did this none Catalan argument come from? Shame on you, conspiracy psychos!

See, this is one thing I don’t like. Call me unwanted, call me unaccepted, call me –shudder- a foreign. But don’t assume that I am stupid. First, taking it from a hypothetical perspective, after generations where membership was exclusively a Catalan loaf, one can only wonder those –over 14 years old- Catalans who are yet to become members, have no cousins who are members, and never been members before nor their parents or their grandparents or eternal parents ever been. How far they will be interested to become members now? They are either Espanyol fans or aliens (if there is any difference), or people who have no interest in the whole membership headache. Why after all these decades, the board decided to change the membership regulations at this moment? Coincidence? Success is making Barca membership more appealing to an extend that it started to create chaos. Right (I will come to so-called glory hunters later). Well, this is not the first success cycle in the club’s history. So why THIS time there is a problem?

The increase of club members is not solely related to club success, but most importantly to new technologies, internet, and web applications that made the membership procedure more attainable. For whom? It is also the outcome of the previous board strategy to promote membership to help the rebirth of the club after being in a catastrophic marketing mess. That strategy took place and was approved when Sandro Rosell was still a key member in that (now shame on them) board. And that’s exactly what the new regulations try to block from a standpoint that: “Well, now we have enough of you. The rest need to scatter”. Checked.

But let’s assume that this is categorically untrue. Shame on me, conspiracy psycho! There is still another –smart- hidden stitch there. The percentage of Catalan fans to none Catalan fans at the moment will create an unannounced Permanente Quota on the long term. A thousand members will no doubt have more cousins than ten. No brainer. That serves the current board objective perfectly if you like to take people as numbers, not as values.

Then, there is this special condition about 14 years old fans who want to become members. I will walk in the field of my ignorance mines now and admit that, I have no clue about this detail. Are the 14 years old children eligible to become members in the first place? Do they have membership rights? I mean, if tomorrow a vote of no confidence took place (Not that I hope or anything…), will a 14 years old boy vote? If not, then hm…why the hell is that child a member? Who is that kid ruining the plants over there in the meeting hall? Take him out! What do you mean I can’t? Because he is the club owner? What do you mean get out? Opps! That’s not fair! A child who was jumping on the desks kicked me out of the club because unlike me he owns the club, or a tiny part of it (the plant he slaughtered maybe).

Not only that, but he is a Barcelona fan who can become a club member while the Pope is not qualified enough (Pope John Paul II was a member, too late for benedict xvi). There is no shame to admit having absolutely no idea about this. But there is one thing I can tell for sure, the explanation spread across the internet doesn’t make any sense. I am certain it is not true. “You can make your brother –who is 14 years old- a member, then based on that you can become a member yourself” Voilà!! People are really underestimating the intelligence of Barcelona’s board of directors. I don’t know where all that come from. Seriously. I mean, what if you convinced Mammy and Daddy to have another Baby. Made him a member. Created your membership based on that, then next year you renewed only yours. The baby will not need it anyway and whenever he wants he can reactivate it for being an old member (old young member to be specific, eh…) or for having a brother –that is you!!!- who is a member – thanks to him!!!. That’s not the case, I am sure. Hm… I hope.

Because if that’s how far the regulator generator can project inside Barcelona’s board, then expect more entertainment in the following year indoors than on fields.

Next: Bandwagons virus, Catalan identity of the club, and another approach to make things work. (Though a Champions’ league coverage will interrupt).

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Barcelona X-mass and The Grinch we create or terminate.

2010-10-18T13:34:00.000+02:00

The Grinch, a fictional, bitter, cave-dwelling, catlike creature with a heart "two sizes too small," lives on snowy Mount Crumpit, a steep, 3,000-foot (910 m) high mountain just north of Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos. His only companion is his faithful dog, Max. From his perch high atop Mount Crumpit, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. Envious of the Whos' happiness, he makes plans to descend on the town and, by means of burglary, deprive them of their Christmas presents, holiday ham and decorations and thus "prevent Christmas from coming". However, he learns in the end that despite his success in stealing all the Christmas presents and decorations from the Whos, Christmas comes just the same. He then realizes that Christmas is more than just gifts and presents. His heart grows three sizes larger, he returns all the presents and trimmings, and is warmly welcomed into the community of the Whos. (Wiki)

Fairy tales are just like that, a beam of beauty threatened by the pangs of evil vibes. It always ends with Beauty not only beating evilness but even turning it to kindness and joy. Because beauty should be infectious and healing by nature, and because it is the gift we seek most. It is planted deep in the subconscious where we water our dreams and raise our crops either hanged on the trees of our days or melted in the shadows of our tales.

But let’s forget about shadows and fantasies and present our facts under the sun. There are specific infections beauty may fail –and usually fail- to heal. Envy, fear, possessiveness, chauvinism, egoism, selfishness and resisting change. Beauty may heal one. Treat two. Or resist three. But when all the mentioned collectively stab their heartless daggers in the eye of Beauty, that will prove too much to handle. The only hair of hope in a moment like that is to pray the hands holding the daggers to point it toward the swamps of destruction existing in each and every one of us, whether it is envy, fear, possessiveness, chauvinism, egoism, selfishness or resisting change. That’s not the easy way. It is the right way. It’s easier to just let it go. It is easier for you to entomb your roses so no one else can smell instead of chasing its scent to lock it in a bottle. But then expect it to become a feast for the soil warms.

At the moment, FC Barcelona is the victim of clashing egos. Those who consider the club a possession they are not willing to share with others, and those who consider their support to the club as an unquestionable right to get their fair share of that cake. It is a clash between the parents of the princess who love her so much that they want to lock her in her room and the princess friends, admirers, and the life that is waiting her with open arms.

As Gibran Khalil Gibran said once: "Human beings unite in destroying the temples of the spirit and cooperate in building the edifices of the body."

This was the preface of a post about the new regulations of FC Barcelona. I thought it was better to post it alone though, so we free some space for more points in the main post. I will publish that part as soon as possible. Till then -now that we mentioned Gibran, I leave you with the following translation for one of his master pieces. As if he wrote it about Barcelona.

On Children

Kahlil Gibran

    Your children are not your children.
    They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
    They come through you but not from you,
    And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

    You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
    For they have their own thoughts.
    You may house their bodies but not their souls,
    For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
    which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
    You may strive to be like them,
    but seek not to make them like you.
    For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

    You are the bows from which your children
    as living arrows are sent forth.
    The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
    and He bends you with His might
    that His arrows may go swift and far.
    Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
    For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
    so He loves also the bow that is stable.

FC Barcelona: Sandro Rosell turns a fan based club to a family based locker.

2010-10-14T15:51:00.000+02:00

It didn’t take time. Sandro Rosell fulfilled one of his ambitions.

“This is a sad day in the history of FC Barcelona. The club has just been closed for new members if they're not family of existing members.

From now on, only family in 1st and 2nd degree from members, children younger than 14 years and ex-members can become a member of Barcelona.” Barcastuff

Will it just pass or will it be debatable at least? I can’t comment on that. You have to agree that fans outside Catalonia were too passive to take their responsibilities that I am not sure how far their membership worth protecting.

Admittedly we had a group that was working behind the scene to try creating a campaign to prevent such moves. Yet, this was fast. And I was too busy lately to follow up. I can tell you though, there are big Penyas across the globe who are not hailing this decision at the moment. From what I’ve been told at least.

Sandro is afraid that lot of foreign members means damaging the club identity.

I wonder if he will start dictating a specific number of children any member can have. So he guarantees the club’s “future”.

At the moment I leave you with this article I wrote once on Total Barca, in case you missed it

The moment of truth

Laporta’s Era is almost gone. Regardless of all the controversy, there is no doubt that the club was subject to a radical transition on all aspects. The team success, added to the revolutionary development of Media coverage, Internet growth, and sport’s marketing progress, introduced Barcelona to a massive number of football fans across the globe. That’s always good news as it creates opportunities. Yet, for a club like Barcelona, it is also a challenge.

Wind of – global – change

Suddenly, everything sounded different. New board. New coach (well, that was not something we were not used to already…). New players. But most importantly, a new strategy that promoted the club for being more than a club. The reasons why I became a fan turned out to be the slogans stamped on the Club’s banners and the words sung by each and every board member, coach, and player. With all the non-Catalan fans getting more and more interested in club membership, there was a need to invest the club’s success and fame to represent and promote good causes that are not just related to Catalan history but also concur with human values (and ultimately will promote the Catalan cause).

At the end of the day, the image of any club is not only what the history brings, but what the present demonstrates for the future.The material was there. The history of struggling against unfairness. The sacrifices made to protect the national identity against a more dominating force. Freedom of speech. And the living proof that you can’t bury what’s right under the smoke of the guns. Nor can you drown it in its own blood. That’s a global case represented by a specific nation. It was a great opportunity to elect that nation, through its successful club, to represent those values and people around the world who share such beliefs. There is a thin line between politics, something the club must not get involved in, and human values that any organization must not shy away from supporting whenever possible. In fact, this is a leading method in business marketing nowadays. It is applied all over the world. Then there was the UNICEF agreement, and players like Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi who fit perfectly the profile needed to serve the cause.

Football is no more about only kicking that round thing toward that net over there with eleven fully fit men trying to prevent that at all cost. It’s now the method of promoting hope; inspiring youth all over the world and creating new idols to imitate, other than the drug dealers and gangsters across the streets in impoverished lands. Showing the youth another way to get recognized through buying a ball rather than a gun. FC Barcelona, because of its ‘beyond football’ culture, was the right club to lead this challenge. Being more than a club means an unquestionable dedication in that direction. And there were football fans all over the world excited to embrace that approach by supporting not only the attractive football performed on the field but also the mission statement behind the club’s identity.

Wind of – global – challenge

After following the English premier league clubs standing in a row with their price tags stamped on their foreheads waiting for the highest bidder to sell their souls, I suffered a panic attack. Theoretically, it’s not impossible that Barcelona could end up suffering the same fate. It’s almost impossible, but any multinational company owner can make all his employees register as members, invest some money to convince some other members and here you go, another broker from nowhere is a favorite candidate to become the new president of FC Barcelona.

Another broker may take advantage of a massive number of members in his country and lead a national campaign to hijack the club through elections.

People may protest, Catalans may revolt, but 1) The existing regulations of any firm dictate legal commitments that go beyond any change of public opinion. 2) It will create a chaos regardless of how it will end. I support the suggestion that we must not wait till it happens.

All of a sudden, this non-Catalan fan based structure of the club started to become a tricky case to resolve, as far as it is a great method to be proud of. The global presence of the club is a necessity – in my opinion. Yet the Catalan impact must not dissolve in the massive popularity and global membership tsunami. The same Catalan members that resisted all the temptations to put a sponsor on the shirt for decades, regardless of all the bad times the club passed through (which proved the right decision afterward), must be there to create that extra immunity shield to keep the club on the right track all the time.

At the same time, it’s unacceptable to discriminate between the fans based on race, nationality, or ethnicity. I was looking forward to the election candidates’ propositions in that matter. For me, that’s one of the key issues the new board need to tackle. The feedback was not only awfully disappointing, it was naïve, unrealistic, and insulting!

The identity chaos!

The elections candidates are terrified that more Barcelona fans are seeking membership. One of the lame arguments is that the number of members must not exceed the number of seats because every member has the right to watch the games at the Camp Nou. As if the Camp Nou is packed game in game out. And even if 120,000 fans are camping there, all day and night, does it mean that we stop accepting new members or expand the stadium? Just a hypothetical scheme countering a hypothetical statement. You don’t kill your new child because there aren’t enough beds at home, what about buying a new bed instead? What if the club membership matched the stadium capacity, then a new Catalan was born; do we cancel the membership of one of those non-Catalans to spare a space for the new “pure” Culé? A sarcastic remark countering an ironic argument.

That’s not the true reason, that’s just an excuse. The serious concern is the threat that the global fans may affect the club’s identity passively. That’s valid. Yet, we -or the Catalans between us, Barca fans- must decide what kind of Barcelona they want for the future? If it’s a club for Catalonia and Catalan fans, A.K.A another Athletic Bilbao model, the club must customize its structure likewise. Close each and every non-Catalan penya and reconsider merchandising markets. The financial return may decline, but so will the costs because the club will not take the option of signing the likes of Alves, Abidal, Yaya, Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto’o, Ibra, Messi, Iniesta… The objective of representing Catalonia will bring even more pride to the club’s Catalan fans than winning titles.

If FC Barcelona is still the club we all support, a Catalan Club with a global community, then hold on there, Mr. Candidate! What started as vague whispers, ended up becoming a daily loaf in every candidate’s speech. Knowing that Sandro Rosell is the favorite to become the club’s leader, representative and new prophet, it’s valid to take his words more critically than the rest. It was a spark of lunacy to say:

“We have already 3.000-4.000 Japanese club members, which is good but one day we could have 50.000. Or 50.000 Chinese or 50.000 Russians, it’s the same. And those 50.000 Russians could one day decide that the president of Barça would be a Russian. He should have his legal residence in Catalonia, but that’s easy.”

As long as the presidental candidate is a true Barça fan who understands the club values and culture, where is the problem if he was Russian, Chinese, or Lionel Messi? When we talk about “Identity”, are we talking about the Club’s -Catalan – culture and values or Catalan blood? Saying so, Mr. Candidate didn’t only neglect the club’s history (the club exists thanks to a Swiss), but also sent a wrong message for the future.

According to Mr. Rosell, Raul Tamudo is a more valid candidate to become Barcelona’s president than Andres Iniesta. It’s easier to pay some money to become a member than changing your blood. Why are you -Mr. Candidate- so terrified of diversities and so obsessed with ethnic purity as the only way to reserve pride? While defending the “Identity”, aren’t you getting closer to everything this Identity fought against and suffered from for ages? It’s like defending the identity by reshaping it to what counters its nature.

Roadmap for the future

Protecting the club’s identity must not be seen as a Catalan vs. non-Catalan issue, from an ethnic perspective. This club is a Catalan child. Nothing will change that. No one who has any compassion toward the club will let that happen. Fans around the world spread their arms to the child, creating endless future opportunities to grow and develop. They embraced its motto and the culture -and nation- behind it. They created an engagement between its historical -local- values inspired by its past, and the global human values that can help create a better future for human kind. But they never -for a moment- forgot that this is still a Catalan child. If there is someone who can serve as a demonstration, it’s Lionel Messi. The Argentinean -football wise- owes the Catalan community through its club more than he owes his home country for the great player he became. But make no mistake; he is still an Argentinean as far as he can be.

FC Barcelona is a global club now. Its identity must recognize that, and must be reserved per se. We are all aware that the club must be protected from opportunistic gamblers, whether they are Catalan or not. When there is a will, there is a way. There are definitely better means than shutting down all the doors and burning all the bridges between the fans and the club. I may not be an expert, but I am sure if the club creates a qualification round for the candidates before the presidential elections, it will solve the problem once and for all. In round one, all the candidates need to get a nominal percentage of CATALAN votes to survive till the second round where the presidential elections take place.

This will make the Catalan members serve as the Knights of the Temple, making it impossible for the Abramovichs, Shinawatras, Gilletts and Hickses to hack the club, but will keep the door opened for the Iniestas, Messis and all the members who prove they can lead the club to more success whether they are Russian, Chinese, or …Swiss.

That will protect the club from the global threat, but still there will be a threat of over-politicizing the club, driven by temporary national fever that will lead to regret afterward. Catalan-ic fever can lead to mess sometimes. That’s where non-Catalan fans contribute in the first qualification stage with the right of Veto. Each non-Catalan fan will have one Vote to place against one of the candidates. The candidate who collects the highest number of Vetoes (over a minimal percentage) should be disqualified for the following round. This way the final candidates will be the options approved by the Catalan community (protecting the club’s identity). At the same time, none of them will be aggressively rejected by the fans across the globe (which opposes the club’s interest and the global face of the identity coin).

In the second stage all the fans, Catalans and non-Catalans, can safely vote for the following president with no concerns. If needed, similar arrangements could be made for the most crucial decisions depending on their nature.

With that huge concern being terminated, the club must focus on an unquestionable campaign to enhance the fans’ involvement in the club’s orbit.

There will be no anxiety if the /insert any nationality/ club members became 50,000 or even more. That’s a gift. Remember the stadium capacity excuse? Having 50,000 Russian, 50,000 Chinese, 50,000 Japanese members means that Barca can select the matches where predictions do not expect massive attendance and announce that: “Week 3, Liga game against YYY will be the Russian Culé week”. Russian penyes can work on special flight + accommodation packages to Barcelona. They come in numbers to the stadium to honor the club that dedicated a specific week for them, to create a carnival in the stadium that merge the Catalan/Barcelona inputs with their own flavors, being Russian culés. Another week for Chinese Culés, Japanese Culés, etc…

Bringing the fans from all over the world in numbers to support the team will not only increase attendance but will also create a positive economic cycle for the City throughout the season (which is not the peak months of tourism in Barcelona).

The club must put no boundaries while trying to convert fans to members, even if it meant stitching the members’ names within the official kit fabrics. This is the fans’ club after all. Penyes all over the world might be encouraged to communicate and enhance the fans’ PR, based on interest. The club -through a specific office- can generate franchising opportunities for Catalan firms by taking advantage of the club Penyes effort across the world in its respective markets. That will also include promoting theater, music, and art in general.

The potentials are huge. The return for Catalans will be remarkable. The output regarding loyalty, commitment and dedication toward the club will have no second. The benefits the fans across the world will gain would be immense.

The identity dilemma is neither a Catalan product nor a unique feature for FC Barcelona. Globalization raised this quandary all over the world. Different communities felt they are threatened in their language, culture, religion, or belonging. For some, it leads them to adapt to the challenge by modernizing their unique features and stamping it on the global face of the future as their trademark contribution to the world. Others panic and resist the change. A battle that was never won before and never will. It’s a matter of choice.

As for FC Barcelona, it’s the time to decide either to open all the windows and doors for the fresh breeze and the sun, or to lock its soul in the narrow cages of the dark ages.

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