Women’s CL Final, Barca vs Lyon is tomorrow at 12pm ET in the US. On DAZN USA and free on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/live/FyIYooi1IHE?si=nH1OKWlEXmaj2Shk
Yeah, right up until Deco was appointed, I was more or less on Laporta's side. Since then? It seems like there isn't a unified vision and direction for the club. It seems like there are different forces, pulling in different directions. The 1st team roster, despite the many young jewels in it, is mismatched and full of holes. And now, the manager looks like he'd be a better fit for the EPL. Only, the EPL, circa 2002 or so... I've lost confidence in Laporta, and the board. I'd like the entire sporting department fired, and new elections held. It is clear to me that the club is poorly led, and poorly managed.
Interesting if true: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5518197/2024/05/25/barcelona-xavi-sacked-inside-story/ Most of this is commonly known. A few pieces that were interesting, to me. This link is well worth a read, and there's quite a bit to go through. I think it confirms that Xavi isn't a good manager, and also, that the changes made were made ham-handedly. From that link: ..."But older concerns had not disappeared either. There was frustration over a perceived lack of intensity in training sessions.... Xavi’s opponents also felt it was revealing that, when the manager gave his players the Sunday off before their decisive quarter-final second leg at home to PSG, players still decided to come in and train themselves. All this played a big role in the club’s decision to bring in a new physical trainer, Julio Tous, for next season. “He never fully switched his mindset from being a footballer to being a manager,” said one executive source, presenting his own view on Xavi’s transition to coaching. “When you are in charge of a dressing room you need to work a lot more, spend hours in the training facilities and know what’s best for the whole team.” "A case can be made in which, deep down, Laporta never fully trusted Xavi. He was not ‘one of his team’." Laporta only turned to Xavi as an emergency solution when Koeman was sacked. It was a convenient agreement for both sides of the deal: Xavi got his dream job and Laporta a well-loved new face to lead the club’s project at a tough time."
And also: 🔵🔴💔 Xavi’s message to Barça fans.“Dear friends, Sunday my stage on the bench of Barça will end. It's never easy to leave the club of your life, but I'm very proud, after two and a half years at the head of a dressing room that has been like a second family”“I want to thank… pic.twitter.com/Bd0Y4O7EOC— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 24, 2024
I hope this is true: https://www.barcablaugranes.com/202...ants-to-bring-mateu-alemany-back-to-barcelona Deco has been a sh!tshow, IMO. Hes not executive material, and his best attribute (his connections) are pretty much useless in a time where the club has no cash to spend. Good, bad, or indifferent, at least Alemany could bring some semblance of professionalism to a department that is devoid of it at the moment.
This would be a great move IMO. Alemany’s departure from the club was the beginning of this whole circus.
just more proof that Laporta doesn't know what he's doing. Messi in 2020: "the truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by."
Agreed. For the good that he's done with his 2nd go around as President, Laporta has also engaged in self-sabotage. That is, by means of his inability to keep himself and the club LASER-focused on a vision and on a trajectory towards an overall objective as an organization. Laporta [and the club] seem to have the attention span of a gnat or a sugar-soaked 12 year old on a cell phone.
Well ... it wasn't all that great in terms of signings with Alemany. Most of the free transfers didn't really work out or last. Think eric, Depay, Aubameyang, Kessie, Alonso, Bellerin. Aguero ended up being bad luck. Gundo seems like the best case. The ones he did spend money, it hasn't been that great to be honest. Torres and Kounde have been very underwhelming to bad. raphinha has had some OK moments ... but we expected more. Lewy, probably the best signing, delivered in the beginning but has faded. Although I think a good bit of it hasn't been his fault. The club has been depending a lot on Pedri, FdJ, Lamine, Araujo, Balde (last season at least), MAtS, even Fermin ... all players he didn't bring in. That's not to say his job was easy at all.
Disagreed, to this extent: Depay came for free in a moment of duress in the club, was sold for 3MM Euros Auby: Came for free, chipped in 11 goals in 18 matches, sold for 12MM Euros Kessie: Came for free, scored vs LPB, sold to Saudi for 12MM Euros Alonso: Came for free, appeared 30 times for the club, before his legs disappeared. Bellerin: Came for free, sold for 1MM + a %. In sum, 0 Euros became 26+MM Euros, 11 goals that helped a post-Messi side get uprighted, and at least 1 win over LPB for this club. This is smart business, when your club has zero cash. Tiburon has been more disappointing than Kounde. I think Kounde could be easily sold at a profit [and I think he should be sold]; Tiburon is a disappointment, in that palancas were pulled to get a guy who's just a utility forward. I was not much of a Raphinha fan initially, but his workrate and ability to play out of position has earned my trust. I mean, he starts AHEAD of Tiburon and Felix, even though those two are naturally LWs. Unfortunately, he is another that may have to be sold to balance the books. Lewandowski was in the Pichichi discussion until the end. His interactions with the younger players aside, the man HAS produced. And they would have been even more over their heads without Alemany, IMO.
From a financial perspective, yeah, those free transfer players were OK business. But Laporta isn't promising a club that buys low and sells high. He promised a quick return to the elite. I don't care if we make money on Kounde. I want them to get the right player. So from a sporting perspective, which is what I was referring to, many of those transfers didn't return much. Very few bright moments from some of those players if we are to be honest (the free ones) Lewy and raphinha are the best picks by far.
I don't disagree. But these were moves that were steps in the right direction, both financially, as well as from a sporting perspective. Free transfers Auby and Depay were the top two scorers [with 13 goals each] in 21-22, and then dropped 15MM Euros into the bank, for example. By contrast, Griezmann (Cost: 120MM Euros) scored zero goals; Dembele (Cost: 140MM Euros) scored one goal; Ferran (Cost: 65MM Euros) scored 7 goals to be the 3rd highest scorer. And BTW, Laporta [as usual] was completely and totally full of shyte, as it pertains to the bolded. In order to get ANY player, sales must be made, given the current financial situation. Of the defenders that would elicit a transfer fee, while cutting the most salary, Kounde would be the best choice for a sale. Its for this reason that I'd prefer Kounde to be sold, as opposed to Araujo. Up front, I'd prefer Ferran to be sold, but I fear that it'll be Raphinha. Hear me out: Without Auby and Depay and some of the others, 21-22 would have been even worse than it was. Without the cash generated by selling those free transfers, some of the subsequent purchases and loans would not have occurred. And some players who could not have been otherwise registered, without the funds from those sales. By extension, those free purchases and their sales made the following years better, to a degree. Or, if you prefer, less bad. Can't disagree. But on balance, Alemany made a completely sh!tty situation merely suboptimal, and less so than it would have otherwise have been. [Now, close your eyes, and imagine what a sh!tshow Deco would have made those years, and then tell us if Alemany returning would be good or not.]
🎙️ ¡Las primeras palabras de Hansi Flick como entrenador del Barça! pic.twitter.com/BScJ12Q8vj— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) May 29, 2024 Mixed feelings - I want to be excited and a part of me is, but I am also a bit cautious and skeptical. Like I might’ve said before, I think keeping Xavi for at least one more year was the move. Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but growing up in Spain and seeing everything Xavi gave to Barça and the Spanish national team, I can’t help but to feel attached to the guy. I hope he continues to grow as a coach and that he has another chance here at Barça later in his career, and that he absolutely kills it. However, Hansi Flick is our coach now and will have my full support since day one!
Before we can say these transactions were good business, we have to look at the salaries. Auba was a slick move mainly because we got him to agree to a significant salary cut and then offloaded him just before the season where his salary was about to bounce back up to about USD 20mn (assuming Chelsea picked-up his full salary in the deal). Unfortunately, I believe the opposite was true in the Memphis deal. Not only did we not sell him for much but, IIRC, he had the 3rd-highest salary on our squad, so we most definitely didn't pocket anything from that business transaction.
So from what i know, our new coach, Hansi Flick only has like near 2 years as a coach at club level, more than 1 year at NT level.
And this is fair. BUT, recall that Memphis was brought in as a last-minute injury replacement, whilst the club was under the extra duress of not having anyone in that position. So, while I hear you, I also give Alemany a little "leeway," because of the IMMEDIATE need for a player. And, both he and Auba provided the side with goals it so desperately needed in the immediate post-Messi Barcelona. The other, and equally important thing is this: Alemany brought in "like for like." IOW, when Barca needed a forward, he got a forward. When Barca needed a MF, hey, there's Kessie on a free. Need a defender? There's Alonso to fill a need. Compare that to dumbass Deco: Hey, some complete schmuck named "Sergio Busquets," who held down and DEFINED a generation of #6 for club and country retires to MLS? Let's go get a cheap Romeu, and then squander 30-60MM Euros on Roque. For "reasons," or some other stoopid sh!t. This is an idiotic and moronic tradition in this club in recent years. Go back to when Xavi/Iniesta/Pique got too old. Did they buy "like for like," or did they squander piles of cash on Coutinho/Dembele/Griezmann and others? Did they solve the departure of Thiago, or did they ignore it, to buy luxury players? I get that Alemany is no Txiki as SD. But, at a minimum, when there was a need, he addressed it, usually for free, and also, got a profit more often than not. THAT's how you do it, when your club is impoverished, not stoopidly squandering cash on luxuries.
to be more precise, at club level he has: 1.5 seasons of experience managing a club in the Bundesliga. plus four seasons managing Viktoria Bammental in the fourth and fifth divisions in Germany. plus five seasons with Hoffenheim in the fifth, fourth and third divisions in Germany. apart from his two years with the German NT, the rest of his 28 year career has been spent as an assistant.
You know what? You're absolutely right on this: Regardless of what had happened, and for better or for worse, Hansi is our guy now, and if we support Barca, we gotta support Hansi. It was still bungled by Laporta, et al, and made the club look like it was lead by a pile of grab@sstic, disorganized b!tches, rather than adult professionals with leadership, vision, and a project. And despite how we revere all that Xavi did as player and manager, he was not a good manager, IMO. At the same time, I simply don't rate Hansi, based on his body of work, and based on the people [Laporta/Deco/Bojan/the board] who DO rate him. Perhaps this is why I've been so irritated by this course of events. That said, here's hoping that this clownshow can stop, that LaPorta, et al can properly set a direction and vision, and that the right people in the club can do the right things FOR the club. Here's hoping that Alemany can come back, and be the adult in the room in the sporting department. Here's hoping that Hansi can "coach up" the players, and that silverware can be Barca's in the coming seasons.
I see a lot of Barça fans in social media very frustrated and upset about Real Madrid’s 15th UCL and their signing of Mbappé. I really don’t think we should compare ourselves to them. We need to play our game and focus purely on our team and our players. I sure hope Laporta doesn’t panic and tries to buy another superstar for immediate results and to try to win the UCL next year. Let’s build a solid team for the future, and let’s forget about everyone else. As Gavi said last summer: “Let Madrid sign whoever they want, I really do not care at all. We have OUR players and we’re gonna fight till death.” Today, more than ever, happy and proud to be a culer.
that's the kind of thinking that cost Xavi his job. Laporta already has his eyes on the elections in 2026 and needs immediate success.
Yep, it's the kiss of death for any Barca or Madrid manager. I recall Shuster got canned for a similar reason, and he was coming off a better season than Xavi. You can't think small in these roles.
FYI, the FCB Board of Directors recently approved the details regarding the return to the Camp Nou as well as ticket prices in 2024-25. The prices will remain the same as 2023-24 and were calculated on the basis that the first half of the season would be played at Estadi Olimpic. The aim is to play the second half of the 2024-25 season at Camp Nou. As we know, Camp Nou will not be 100% available on the return, with only the first and second tiers available initially (so around 60% of capacity). No word on whether 100% of the Camp Nou will be available for the 2025-26 season.
I'm late to the party here but I think it should be noted that Messi saying this in 2020 was directed towards Bartemeu, and maybe even Rosell. Not saying that Messi wouldn't have anything to say about how Laporta is currently running the club but since he hasn't been part of the team for a few years now he probably figures 'why bother'.
Messi also said a few months earlier in the beginning of the season that he was happy with the club's project and direction. Although it's understandable he didn't want to create a situation if he already felt otherwise.
Messi hasn't even attended a single Barca match since he left. Should be enough to say how Messi think of Laporta.