Seems the English discovered that spending £800million on the new Wembley *might* have had some detrimental effect on the overall football program and led to the collapse in Euro qualifying... shocking. I think it's interesting to think of Laporta or his successor saying similar things a few years down the line once the new Camp Nou is over-budget and uglier than anyone imagined, the club is buried in massive debt, there's no more mini-Estadi, can't keep their star players, can't attract the best from other clubs (other than with the state-of-the-art espresso machine in the locker room), and has no promising stars coming through the youth system... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=484462&cc=5901
Sheesh, I'm not talking about the current condition of the club. I mean to post the England story as a cautionary tale about the path Laporta wants the club to embark on: drowning millions of euros in a stadium renovation will inevitably mean cutbacks in other areas of expenditure, including the youth system. It's not inconceivable that the Camp Nou pitch might one day be used for NFL games in the middle of the Liga season, the way Wembley's was last week. The Dragons were pretty popular for awhile, and if Laporta drives the club into desperate levels of debt, we'll soon see such stories about NFL/Barca "partnerships" emerging... I personally don't want this club to sell out its financial security on stupid ventures. Sure the English can get pretty melodramatic about themselves, but it's an interesting case to look at right now if you want to imagine one possible future for Barca...
Couple of things: - The renovation to the stadium will not result in cut backs in other areas of the club, especially the youth squad. These are modern day businesses and facility upgrades/expansion are essential components for progress froward. - If the NFL decides to stage a game in Barcelona, the venue would be Olympic Stadium. The Camp Nuo would not work because ground level is only a pitch leaving ZERO room for a side lines if a regulation field is too be used. - Barcelona's financial situation is one of the best in all European clubs. A few years back this was a different story but after effective debt consolidation and restructuring, the club is paying back debt far ahead a schedule.
I agree with Lucho. Also, there are quite a few promising players in the youth squad: Gai Assulin, Iago Falque, Jeffren Suarez and Thiago Alcantara. There's also Gio's brother, Jonathan...
As for that article, Wilkinson makes a very good point, but England's sucking goes much deeper than just the FA investing in Wembley and not a development center. As Lucho said, the club is on very secure financial grounds. Considering the amount of talent that comes through year in and year out, I don't think they'd be making cuts there. Even if they ended up financially strapped (which they won't), keeping the youth system thriving would be an even smarter idea. The NFL Barca partnership thingy was already in place a few years ago. The Dragons became the FC Barcelona Dragons in '02 and Laporta was talking about marketing alliances with the NFL. I don't think anything ever became of it. The Dragons were never that popular there. They were never more than a curiosity. Laporta may be an egomaniac (what club president in Spain isn't) but he's a good businessman. There really isn't anything to worry about.
Ha! Puyol wouldn't even need to audition if they ever had a casting call for a Catalan remake of "The Program." He should play the next Liga match with those shoulder pads under his jersey. I vaguely remembered an NFL/FCB venture a few years back, but I didn't want to write it into my original post. I agree with chrisc and Lucho - but I'd add that England sucking is attributed to a crisis only because they are expected to be a perennial power. It seems inconceivable to most of the English press that their players are overrated and, well, just plain suck. I especially loved the English fan poster on the England-Croatia forum who started blaming Arsenal for treason. Uh, those 'traitors' are top of the Prem... Either start loosening your citizenship rules or accept the facts. But I digress... I appreciate the good, serious comments about the club's future - Laporta sometimes sounds like he's taking Barca down the galactico's path, and we know where road that ends up. Tons of Asian kids wearing your shirts, but no silverware.
I seriously doubt that could ever happen. For a start, if there are NFL games in Wembley must be cause they need to do some regular events in that stadium (no club plays there), otherwise there'd be no use for it (how many games does England play a year at home?). On the other hand, the Dragons no longer exist or play here and anyway it was a minority thing. I'm not sure, but the regular attendance was... 10,000 people being optimistic? There's no reason to play at the Camp Nou for that amount of people, and also you have to consider that the Dragons would still play at the Olimpic if it ever happened again, for the same reasons as Wembley. If nowadays there's a lack of events there, imagine when Espanyol have their own stadium next season or so... About the Mini Estadi, the youth teams will play at the new Ciutat Esportiva. Not having the Mini anymore won't affect them. Actually, there hasn't ever been much use for that stadium apart from being able to say that we are such a great club that our little kids play at a better stadium than some of the Primera Division clubs.