Thread by @GuillemBalague

Back from hols. Anything happening? 😁

Let´s deal with Barcelona (THREAD). Starting with the feeling that there is a lot of jealousy for how they are trying to get out of a deep hole. Is everything they are doing right? No. Are they doing what they are suppose to? Mostly yes

Laporta is repeating the Virtuous Circle that brought so much success in his first era. All or nothing. Then he also blamed the past to explain big decisions. Now, ignoring that a pandemic had closed the money box for two years, has found in Bartomeu the perfect villain

In fact, it was Barto who separated some of the club businesses that are now being sold for almost £760m, which has allowed FCB to buy players. Clearly with Barto there were disastrous sporting decisions and expensive renewals of famous players, but not everything was bad

FCB has always suffered a civil war of the two sides that fight constantly for power, represented now by Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell on one hand (the Catalan establishment) and Laporta on another -less independent that he likes to portrait, he also defends particular interests

That forces the new chairman to go often for the short-termism and not always prioritise the bigger picture to please the fans and media

#FCB, with loans and selling bits of the club, had money to buy from Ferran Torres last January to Raphina, etc. The problem as everyone knows was to register players and follow the strict rules of FFP of LaLiga, to be able to pay the players wages within the limits imposed

And thank God for those impositions and limits, by the way. I read that 4 out of 5 Serie A clubs lose money, so I applaud the reign of Tebas

Now they are in the 1/1 rule (coming from 1/4). It means every € that leaves can be invested in new players (before they needed to sell 4 to be able to invest 1). If Pique agrees reduction of his wages, that’ll help the registration of Kounde who will probably play in his place

Laporta has gone for a strong squad and expending most of the money available now, trusting the success on the pitch (club calculates pitch success represents 30-40% of the value of the Brand) will bring money and partners, which will help pay wages and transfer fees …

… which will bring success, which will bring top players, and so on. But by their own calculations the FCB brand is so strong that it will survive even one or two years without the biggest successes as long as big players wear their shirt

How successful can they be on the pitch? Lewandowski (their new icon) is not Ronaldinho. And that success in Laporta era 1 was also based too in local boys and of course Messi. Pedri looks like Iniesta, but I can’t see a Xavi, a Busquets, a Puyol, a Pique, or…

… anything close to the best Messi at the team now. The team has got quality and will win most games based on that quality. What is not clear yet is how they will perform against the biggest sides, when more will be required. It is a work in process

What is Xavi trying to do? He thinks FCB can play similar to 2010 with pressure high, emphasis on positional game, wide players, midfielders getting on the box... But last season’s more used last pass? High cross to the box. Lot of work to do still but preseason was encouraging

And isn’t that one of the keys of football? For a team and a club to give hope. Look at United, or the up and downs of Arsenal, or Liverpool in the last two decades. Imagining a better future is part fo the job of a club and a manager and Xavi/Laporta are 10 out of 10 on that

What happens if success does not arrive on the pitch? Goldman Sachs are handing over €2b to the club and I am sure they would be ready to take over if necessary (check the recent story of AC Milan)

Even though the loan to rebuild the stadium is a great deal for Barcelona as they dont need to pay back those €1.5b plus interests till they start earning money from the new installations. But if everything goes wrong, the club would end up in private hands

FCB does not belong fully to season ticket holders anymore, they share that ownership with those that have bought parts of the club, and those that have loaned money, some of them on the board now. But most in Catalonia prefer not to discuss this right now

Why so much negativity coming from England? Maybe some feel that when a historic club is down, they should pay their sins for longer? I fully understand than when you are repeating ad nauseum that you are special and you dont behave as such, the backlash is logical

But lets tell another story -this is a massive club, one of the biggest brands looking to survive in a world that has changed, with clubs backed by states and a league hugely superior in financial terms. Fascinating, no? Why the insistence to keep Barcelona down? Jealousy perhaps

Certainly the behaviour towards Frankie de Jong is scandalous with the necessary and willing help of local media and fans. Not the first time, not the last, a club tries to push a player away to sort out club’s mistakes (Maradona suffered the same treatment)

United has tried to get rid of CR7 for a while (and Juve before) but more subtly. What makes de Jong case ugly is things like the threat of legal action when nothing wrong done and the new board due diligence did not see that earlier

What I see is a continuous fascination for @LaLiga. Often you hearLaLiga is dead or dying. Then Real Madrid wins the CL and Barcelona occupies lots of pages in foreign newspapers. I guess nobody likes to be shown they are wrong, maybe that explains some reactions

#LaLiga is well alive and this year, if I was you, I would keep an eye on it. In the UK, you can follow it on @PremierSportsTV

More fireworks are expected ⚡️