Advocatus Diaboli

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. 

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.

Almost each and every fan has a specific club to Support. But at the end of the day, our support for a club comes originally from the love we share toward the sport itself. Barcelona fans can dream of how good the world would have been without a Real Madrid in it, and vice versa. Arsenal fans can always pray for the Spurs to relegate and vanish, the feelings are mutual. Milan Vs Inter Vs Juventus Vs Roma. Manchester united Vs Manchester city. Ajax Vs PSV. Lyon Vs Marseille, you name it.

Yet, deep inside we know that this sport is so exciting just because such feelings exist. Rivals make you love your club even more. Such belief makes every fan wish big troubles for a rival, but never a permanent collapse. It’s more like a “Tom and Jerry” life of immortal chasing and pranking. But make no mistake: Jerry needs Tom, and Tom needs Jerry! 

One of the main crises this sport faced in the past decade was the money sharks attacking the premier league. English premier league was a very tempting feast for those who see life as numbers. People as numbers. And values as numbers. English clubs were easy yet promising targets. After all, most of the clubs own their stadiums. Excellent stadiums. A league of great history in football. A country of passionate fans, willing to fill the stadiums in NUMBERS and spend in NUMBERS. But most importantly, a league with a new structure aiming to develop and become the best in the world. 

From the Abramoviches to shinawatras no one bothered to ask how they built their fortunes in the first place. It doesn’t matter as long as they bring cash in Big NUMBERS. Clubs’ fans –obsessed by winning trophies- started to think like brokers rather than sport admirers. No wonder they were relegated with time from club supporters to customers. 

From the Glazers to Hicks and Gilletts not even the Football Association bothered to check how far the clubs really need to take gambling adventures. Who care? Investors can come in NUMBERS regardless of the number of Man Utd fans protesting against such acquisitions. They saw it from the beginning, a useless move packed with troubles.

Arsenal fans decided to step in to rescue their club. Manchester United fans are working on a similar campaign for a while now. We all need to wish the best for them, and support any way possible. Even by posting an article on a blog with low traffic to promote their campaigns a bit. Arsenal and Manchester fans all over the world must contribute either buying shares or –if they can’t afford the fees- donate even a euro to collect money so collaboratively you finance buying shares. Technology made all that possible. Other clubs' fans need to step in as well and initiate similar attempts for their clubs.

Back to the basics, Clubs are the homes of the supporters. Football is peoples’ sport. The massive slice of people, not just the elite. People are added values, not numbers.

“Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.

As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience…” Wiki

Episode one,The art of creating Propaganda: Freedom of speech or losing the leash? 

This is not exclusively about Sports, but about the general impact of media in creating public opinion. It’s about how wrong it is to be less “media critical” and more reliable on whatever it tells. Public behavior toward press this summer was a good demonstration. Some of the public responds on media claims were extremely worrisome as they showed that we never learn our lessons. It also expressed how easy it is to mislead people through repetitively hitting the same nail day in day out or just claiming to do so. People bought it and believed it even though it was too shallow to pass. No wonder then that we fall victims to some more well-planned campaigns that we -worldwide- end up paying the price of our laziness to investigate first then decide how far the incoming news is reliable or meaningful. At the end of the day, journalists are no prophets. They are employees and if they do not generate profit through increasing readership they lose the job that feed their families. Truth gets overestimated when it's a matter of life or death.

Obviously, one of the main shows this summer in sport was Cesc's Circus and the “daily interviews” Barcelona players gave to the press. That’s a strong example of how fragile we are under the media impact. It will be interesting to create a report about all the daily “interviews” the players made with the media in the past few weeks. It would have been more believable if the players were training with the club during that period. You can assume that journalists were hiding behind a bush near the training field and the moment a player shows up, they throw themselves in his way screaming: “What is the best bullshit you can come up with about Arsenal today?” Then the player starts running out his mouth. Yet, all this mess happened and the players were having their vacations. If we can assume that every interview took two hours from setup to goodbye, it seems the players wasted their vacation time rambling on the streets begging for attention and searching for the journalists for an interview. Isn’t it also interesting that some of the “interviews” were just about one thing and sometimes ended up with one statement? I would have expected the players to talk shit about Arsenal, then hail the world cup victory, then shit about Arsenal, then joke about Puyol’s sheep, then shit about Arsenal, and so on…But it was more like a player inviting the media for an urgent press conference, scream: “Arsenal is a shit!” then slamming the door behind him and vanish. Few hours later and here we go again! 

I always thought that players try to disconnect themselves permanently from anything football related when they have their vacations, which is probably another reason why none of them commented on the rumors till late (Puyol for example twitted recently that he gave no Arsenal bashing interviews). I read interviews this week during preseason that some players even missed watching the world cup final because they were enjoying their vacations. Anything fishy?

The players who –supposedly- voices all the statements published were closer to Cesc during that period than they were to the club. They spent their vacations together. Now I am not completely sold on Cesc’s maturity but I strongly doubt that he was standing beside barca players while they were bashing Arsenal. Again, my same old question: If all the statements are true, then was it Barcelona who tapped Cesc using the players or Cesc tapped Barcelona to buy him using his friends (some of the most powerful players in Barcelona’s squad? That's if you buy all this circus. I don't.

You-dear reader- knew that such statements will make it more difficult for Arsenal to accept selling Cesc to Barcelona. Not only you, but all your friends knew it as well. All the bloggers you read. All the comments posted on the blogs you follow. I knew it as well, and all those I know knew it, same as all the people I know, know knew it! Hell!! How possible is it that ONLY Barcelona board were the junkyard ones who didn’t know and kept on planning such strategies to tap Cesc? We are talking about some of the most successful lawyers, businessmen and negotiators here. At least, you expect such entrepreneurs and business managers to know a bit more than uncle delusional, right?

You got pawned! Believe it or not, 90 % of what you read is based on lies and 90 % of the rest are manipulated. “Is that possible? Is it really happening to me?” You ask… welcome to the world where the certainties are exactly the issues that you need to doubt. If all the bluffing ended up with some angry comments on a blog here and a blog there, it will be all fine. Yet, till we start creating enough anti-bullshit immunity, we will keep being the victims of our own making.

Break in:  

Relevant demonstration. The art of creating propaganda.

You misunderstood, whatever you understood.

If you missed all the “fun”, worry not. You will catch the following train:

Not only that, but it’s so strange how versatile and moody propaganda can be and how far we are still welling to get sold on it. I picked such example just because it is related to the country having the strongest impact on world’s stability. No doubt you can bring similar prototypes from every inch across the globe. 

Break out/ Back to football

But was it all about fake press? We must not exclude the responsibility of Barcelona’s management, players, media, and fans for feeding that decline in likability we witnessed this summer. They were able to behave better, react smarter, and be more level headed. But how far is it the club’s faulted and how far was it a setup on bad intentions or at least naïve perceptions? Who carry the responsibility of all this mess that causes the circus of Chaos?

There is no doubt Barcelona’s board failed many times to keep things under control. Last season, Laporta was so busy preparing for Barcelona’s election but also brainstorming his political future. His speeches reflected that. His behaviors were unacceptable to say the least. He created lot of enemies, especially within the Catalan community, powerful enemies with media arms. They started to bash him anyway possible, even if that meant punching the club he represents. The easiest thing in Spain is to create a story and publish it, and nothing the media across the world love more than quoting such stories and spice it to meet the taste of the readers. 

He also gave the green light for the wave that “Catalanized” every incident and every event. In Catalonia that’s always an exhibition that generate readership for the press. We all saw what happened during the Champions’ league game against Inter. That was one of the biggest damages for the image of the club, especially in the eyes of the fans who do not support Barcelona, but sympathize with the club and respect its model.

The “Catalanization” continued by launching the project to bring the Catalan boy back home. There is nothing wrong about showing interest in a player. But the fact that he knew we are not going to sign him –Lot of us knew it since day one- made this case a shameful attempt to mislead the Socis who were going to elect a new president. Mind you, Rosell was not better when he pointed out that signing Cesc will be an “easy operation”. Both knew they were bluffing. But that was the spark needed to start the fire. And there was no way back from there on…

Barcelona was no doubt the team that generated the highest return for tabloids, the highest readership for bloggers and the best revenue for pay-per-click ads. The team was constantly under the spotlights since two years when the club won everything possible taking the world by storm. This summer the Anti-Barca-flu hit the peak. Regardless of how valid the attacks were, those were completely expected and understandable. Nothing against Barcelona in specific but as they say in the small village of my childhood: “Stones are always thrown at fruitful trees” 

Barcelona can’t complain. They earned the blessing of that habit when they were on the rise. I remember after the domination of EPL clubs in the champions’ league how the fans of different clubs in Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and across the world were cheering and praying for Barcelona in 2009 for being the serious contenders to break that English dominance. People were not only sick of English teams outshining the European clubs in the Champions’ league but were also upset of the continuous claim that English premier league was the best in the world. 

English media in the other hand used to underrate the club quality. I remember dozens of “Barcelona is overrated” and “they look strong because Liga is weak” articles clinched on the homepages of journalism in England. So far it was about overlooking with sympathy more than hatred and envy. 

Then the club marched to win the liga, champions’, world cup for clubs (or whatever they call it!), European super cup, you name it. And they won it in Style. Every fan’s dream at any club. They achieved all that employing a team with a spine made at home and promoted from the youth academy. Every fan’s dream at any club. They introduced their club model as a club owned by its fans in the ra of acquisitions’ mess. Every fan’s dream at any club. Instead of earning money from betting sponsorships they paid UNISEF and used the shirts to promote the good causes and moral values insisting that the club colors are neither for rent nor for sale. Every fan’s dream at any club. Barcelona was the only club with a solid argument to claim being more than just a club. Every fan’s dream at any club. This progressed so rapidly that lot of football fans started to support their club and Barca. Even when the club failed to win the Champions league this season the players won the world cup where Barcelona earned most of the credit of providing the resources and style for the winners (regardless how far we agree on that). Success creates envy. Domination generates enemies.

Episode four, Barcelona’s catastrophic debts:

I already wrote about this issue here and here. Swiss Rambler's article about Barcelona's finance confirmed what I mentioned in a more eloquent way. I think the mentioned posts sum up the case well.
 

There is an image –especially outside Spain- that there are two empires in Spain: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. The first rule Catalonia and the second rule the rest of Spain. As for Barcelona, they have all the financial resources they have from the Catalan banks to defeat Real Madrid. Politics support them as well and the holly spirits. That’s not exactly true, though there is some truth in that without being conspiracy-inspiring by any means.

Banks of Catalonia- so as everywhere in the world- works for their own interest. Starting with a clear example, check the relation between Real Madrid and the Catalan bank, La Caixa. That bank contributed in financing Perez presidential campaign and his spending spree to strengthen Real Madrid’s squad. I won’t call that a favor to Barcelona.

Now is it true that Barcelona can get loans with low interest? Yes. Is that unfair? No. It’s a fair game. Is it something only Barcelona can get? No. I can even tell you how to do it! Become a Barcelona. Let the club fans of Manchester United own their club. Encourage them to open bank accounts and put their savings in a bank in Manchester so that a hundred thousand of the club fans become bank customers and then let your club request a loan from that bank. Tell me what you get. Not satisfied? Worry not! All the politicians of London will work under the table to guarantee you better conditions. No politician wastes the chance to win the hearts of hundred thousand voters or at least they avoid making them angry.  Even big companies there would work there nights and days to secure their customers are satisfied. Now imagine the impact of such dynamics in a community where the club really means more than just a club for the population.  It’s now a deep rooted mechanism that click without planning.
 

Call it whatever you want but making the banks suck less blood and the politicians bow a bit more is a better model than selling the club for the highest bidder hoping he finance our dreams.  One of the strengths of this club model.

Episode six, Barcelona’s arrogance
 

It’s not easy for anyone within Barca’s orbit not to lose some of the modesty during this era of stunning success. And there were no doubt some out-of-order cases. But generally speaking this club with all its entities is still the modest club compared to success achieved. If you don’t agree name any. Yet, there are some who overreact toward some of the club’s cultural aspects. “More than a club” is one. Is it really a sign of arrogance? May be for those who started following the club recently. But Barcelona was always more than a club even when they were struggling in relegation zone. If you read the club’s history and bringing you can see that the mission of the club goes beyond football to promote some more precious values. So it is more about stating facts than showing up.
 

Even Lack of Commercial sponsorship on the shirts was considered as arrogance sometimes. Projects like UNICEF, Mes, etc…were also overlooked as “better than though” claims. Something I feel disgusted when I read. First, because it is actually making a difference. If it is something Barcelona is doing to show up then guess what: Do the same! Besides, this kind of projects is actually based on business approach in parallel with its charity values. I believe it worth pasting a comment I made on Barcelona football blog regarding Sponsorship:
 

If we try to rank the impact of media in European football, it’s easy to figure that English media has the strongest influence worldwide. There are three reasons for that:

1) Well…Because it is English. The global language of the world which by itself generate more readership and makes it easier for others to resource for “information and news” then quote it and republish it in different languages.

2) The success of the English premier league put the English press under the spotlight more than any other press.

3) English press operates in streams. Unlike the press in Spain for example, where you have Barca bias and Madrid bias and both are more focused on bashing each other, press in UK are relatively more English media than clubs’ media. They definitely put the interest of English football over anything else. That’s not exactly the case in Spain where the media is split between clubs then within every category there are parties supporting different sessions processing within the orbit of that club. Obviously that give English media a better chance to leave a bolder impact. 

There is the belief that Spanish press act as spokesmen for the clubs’ managements. There is nothing further than truth than that. In fact, the past few months provided enough examples that counter this idea. Rosell created his “Father of success” image throughout the media when his enemy –Laporta- was heading Barcelona’s board of directors. Catalan press did exactly the things that Barca’s board hates most: Increasing Sandro’s popularity. Two years before that, the same press gangs were riding the high horses of voting no confidence, aiming to throw Laporta out of his position. There is a misconception that anything quoted from Spanish media is reliable because “they have inside contacts”. Surprise surprise! They don’t. Last summer they officially signed Villa ten times before –to their surprise- Laporta made his trip to Milan shopping a Swed. This summer they bought each and every player plays in the Liga, beside Adriano who was the player we actually signed. They sold Ibra to Man City, loaned him to Milan, and released him for free for ten pancakes in return and a slice of bread. They signed Silva, Martinez, Senna, Ozil, Robinho, you name it (even if you picked the name of Cesc). 

Cesc episode gained an accelerated momentum because it had the materials needed to attract readership. Did the players –initially- respond to questions about him? You be

t. But there is absolutely nothing strange about it as it happens all the time everywhere. Admit it. The most helarrious thing happened in the past two days was Arsenal's official website taking off a post they publish where in an interview with sagna he praised a player (Spahic) saying that he is a great player who will fit in the club. Let’s not start googling similar statements for different players in different clubs–including Arsenal. Yet, such statements never inter the recycling process of Spiced quoting and quoting back. People read and skip. With Cesc, that’s not the case. People read and start shooting each other on the streets. When no more bullets available they go back to the blogs and tabloids and reload. Good business so let’s keep it going.

From there on, English media ride the campaign and seize the opportunity. A successful none English club is on target, shot at will. The “Barca is overrated” argument is no more a valid or convincing material. “Barca style is boring” received sarcastic and critical feedback even from English readers. The “classless Hymn” takes place. I am sure you heard about it before. The best way to damage the growing brand of an opponent.

When English media picks the song, press across the globe start shaking on that tempo. Without being aware of what is actually happening, you are gladly the propaganda’s feast.

"Signing Cesc will be very difficult. The only solution would have been that he wouldn't have left." 

In another news -that you know more about than I do- Barcelona played the next preseason game and thanks to our friend Jnice I will watch it later today after downloading it. I will make a ramble on the youth of our club after the preseason games to discuss their contributions, potentials, and the expectations we can have in that regard, as a respond to questions raised in the comments' session.

English premier league was the subject of the first part about the best league in the world. I apologies first for some spellings in the first part –I updated the post fixing where I thought there was a need for editing. This part will be brief as there are lots of factors the EPL have in common with the rest of the world leagues.

If it’s not convincing to consider the EPL as the league to crown, its more unlikely to find a sold case for the liga to consider it the best league in the world.

Evaluating the EPL in the first part was based on what the league generally stands for:

For being an exhibition, the liga and the Serie A are the same. They are more like a Shakespearian theater than a music concert. In a Shakespearian theatre, you can expect the artists to have more quality, the music is more correct and the lyrics are of the best ever written. Yet, lady gaga will always generate more headlines than Andrea Bucelli. More audience. More dancing and chanting and fun.

The liga is the place where you find the Picasso type of footballers. The techniques and skills. The offense and the flair. But it’s also where the stadiums are only attended in occasions. The fields are not always up to the standards and the media coverage ranges from “not that good” to embarrassing. Matches schedule is also a bug that hurts the liga’s market value. 

As mentioned in the first part, it’s not accurate that the EPL is generally more competitive than the liga. Yet, while competitiveness means different objectives from avoiding relegation to qualifying to the Europa league, champions’ league or winning the title, the competition for the title is still the most attractive face of all. 

The gap between Barcelona and real Madrid as title contenders and the rest of the liga teams is getting wider every season. The solution must not count on blocking the improvement of the big two so the rest can catch, but to help the rest to grow in a stable manner. Some of the teams were so close to break through, and the failure was mainly the result of sloppy management than anything else. The most recent example is Valencia. They were up there. They needed two more seasons of stability with some smart signings and a new monster will start competing for the title. Instead, they decided to take risky shortcuts. The most irresponsible decision was to start building a new stadium while not sure how to sell the existing one. From there on, it was a free fall. Deportivo was another example. And the list is long. That shows the need to put some guidelines to channel the clubs’ management on the proper path. That’s even more important than injecting more money. With bad management that will not really make a difference. Ask the English premier league teams.

Taking about the EPL, the main demand in Spain is that the TV revenues should be distributed as it happened in England because that will help to create a more competitive league. While I agree on the first part (the distribution) I don’t believe in the second part (enhance competitiveness). It didn’t happen in the EPL anyway. The teams competing on the title are the ones financed by sugar daddies, not TV returns. The rest are less competitive than the liga clubs as I pointed out in the first part. 

Still, there is a need to reconsider the distribution of TV revenues. The change will not damage the big two as much as it will help the other 18 teams to finance their operations (even though at the moment, the change will be bad for Valencia because they will earn less money than they do through the existing system- proving that the change will not solve problems alone). 

On the bright side, the liga is no doubt the best big league when it comes to feeding the national teams. Not only the first team but all the way through the youth squads. Barely can you find a Spanish club without a proper youth setup. Its hard to predict how long that will last, but at the moment the liga is perfectly fitting to develop domestic talents into world class players.

Unlike the liga, the Serie A suffered a decline in football quality in the last few years. It’s a heartbreaking to compare this Serie A to that’s of the nineties for example. Other than sharing all the mentioned defects of the liga, the continuous scandals Italian football faces make things only worse for the Calcio to heal. 

Even though, the tactical level of the Italian football is still superior in many ways, that’s not enough to rescue one of the most popular leagues in the world. Unless the clubs start to trust the youth more, invest in the infrastructure and the stadiums (some are disastrous even for amateurish leagues), and until the FIGC gain the trust of all its members and maintain enough stability, the Calcio will never be the league we knew. 

Then where can we find the best league in the world? 

It’s possible to build a case for any league. In fact, leagues of France, Holland, and Portugal for all the players they generate for the national team and the number of players they export (economical factor) added to the level of competitiveness (regardless of the quality of competitiveness) can build a case. South American leagues are also unfairly overlooked. 

But in my opinion, the best league in the world at the moment is the Bundesliga. It’s not the best league for any specific reason but it generally ticks more boxes than any other league. Financially it is stable and the clubs are governed by strict regulations to control the books. The competitiveness is improving. The youth setup is impressive feeding the national teams. The stadiums are also wonderful. I can’t claim that a football fan will straight forward find it more exciting to follow the Bundesliga than the liga, the EPL, or the Calcio as the German teams will need some time to build their fan base abroad. But if there is a module to follow, that’s the one I can recommend.

I was planning this series of posts for a while now. Showing gratitude for players who served Barcelona and brought the pleasure to the hearts of the fans. It will not be a regular sequence of posts as it depends on the daily news and what kind of topics it generates. This post is dedicated for Tierry Henry.

I followed him when he played for arsenal with great pleasure. I had a big poster for him, which is not something I do that often. Yet, I was against bringing him to Barcelona. I always prefer players with quality but yet to establish a name. They are usually come with greater hunger and perform for a longer period. But the most important reason for not being a fan of this transfer is that Barcelona had more important position to strengthen. At that period of time, Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Messi were without any doubt the perfect offense trio while the defense and the holding midfielder positions were yet to be considered stable. Besides, there was no place for him in the selection. I’d never bought that “fantastic four” hype.

His first season was far below the public expectations. At Arsenal he used to move to channels but still he was the lone striker or at least led the offense. At Barcelona he was used almost as a pure winger who had to serve the striker. It was also a big mistake to put him on the field at the beginning of the season despite the fact that he was injured. Some poor performances damaged the momentum he had when he signed for Barcelona. Instead of showing his quality he was in a position to prove he has it. Usually big names do not react well when they face this situation. He made effort, he scored a decent number of goals but without the huge impact you expect from such a talent. Yet, it’s also important to note that the whole team collapsed in that season, which was not helping him to adapt and perform.

His second season was his best for the club and the best season in Barcelona’s history. Ronaldinho exit meant that Henry will have his own position in the selection. The most notable difference was Pep’s tactical customizations that fit Henry like a glove. He was still considered as a wide forward but had more freedom to cut into the box. Pep’s stress on high pressure –even though Henry was not so comfortable with at the beginning- proved one of the biggest advantages of having Henry. A season to remember. He deserved to fulfill one of his dreams and won the Champions’ league.

His third season was a decline. The injuries he had to deal with and the explosive performance of Pedro added to some lack of motivation led to a less impressive season. And it was obvious that his journey with the team will come to an end. 

Some fans will remember his good games and hail him, others will remember the poor performances and point out that they are not that impressed. But what stands as a source of pride for him is that he was willing to make sacrifices for the shirt even if it meant to customize his style that made him the king of London and start running after the ball all over the field. His impact on the youth was obvious as well. His contribution in the greatest season we had is more than enough to stamp his name in gold. 

Henry playing for Arsenal. Better, is not possible:

Henry against Barcelona

Henry joining Barca

Henry 2007-2008

Henry 2008-2009

Henry 2009 -2010

Starting with this interview about Henry moving to US. 

And here Henry introducing himself:

Henry, here we go:

Another nice interview with Henry:

Wish you great time with your new team. One of the greatest forwards in the game’s history.

This is the the interview content without my own opinion. Followed by my five cents and impressions:

"Villa can play in the center or on the left wing. Wherever he has played, he has always scored. Villa is a player who moves well, and creates space. Let's hope he'll continue scoring and that he'll be happy here."

"We thought that signing a player just to let Alves rest every now and then wasn't right. Abidal can play as centre-back, that's why we preferred to sign Adriano. Adriano is very versatile. He is 24-25 years old, he knows the league, and has a lot of energy. A great transfer."

"I'm not aware that we're interested in Alou Diarra as possible substitute of Touré. We're looking for someone with the profile of Touré. Or we could play Keita in that position. It will depend on the finances."

"Touré is a unique player but he wanted to leave. He is a big loss for us. We've done all we can to make him stay but I understand he wants to play more. I thank him for what he has given us and I hope that he will find what I wasn't able to give him."

"Chygrynskiy? I know I'm alone on this one but I didn't want to sell him. The president said we needed to sell for economic reasons. The sale of Chygrynskiy was needed to pay the salaries of the employees? They told me something like that. The economic criteria of the president and the club are moreimportant than my opinion. So I understand the sale of Chygrynskiy. I'm just an employee of the club. I feel part of the new structure of the sport’s area but the club made the decision. I'm a man of the club. Although it might not seem like that with people suggesting I'm deciding everything around here" 

"It has been an immense pleasure to have worked with Henry. We keep good memories from his time at the club. I wish Henry all the best in New York."

"We plan to loan out the same players as last season. Today, I've talked with some of them."

"Will Marquez leave? That's possible. He will make the decision. I cannot guarantee him a lot of playing time."

Ibrahimovic and his agent will choose what they think is best for his future. He has to be a key player. We've talked. Last season he did very well. I didn't ask anyone to try and sell him. 

I'm delighted Bojan continues and that he proved me wrong at the end of last season. I hope this year I will be able to give Bojan the playing time he deserves.

Signing Cesc would cost us a lot. And I understand that because he's important for Arsenal. If Arsenal doesn't want to negotiate for Cesc, we can't negotiate. We want Cesc, but it seems Arsenal and Madrid want him too. I don't know how things stand now.

Small squad? Well, we don't have a penny left, so we can't sign new players. Maybe we'll have a couple more, plus the youth. I'm not worried about a small squad. I'm working better this way. Maybe we need something in midfield but Cesc is expensive.

Abidal could be an option as center-back. Besides, we also have some youth coming. (Keita as a Holding midfielder as mentioned above).

We need to be competitive again. We need to make ourselves small to be great again. We'll try to defeat Madrid with modesty and enthusiasm. Last season, both could have won the league. Time will judge on next season's league. 99 points vs. 98, that's a small difference. It's about details, as in the CL semis. Winning the league will again be very difficult. We will have to compete for every victory.

I have a lot of faith in the players of the B team. Their promotion is great news. Luis Enrique and his team did an incredible job. There are great players in the B team but they are the ones who should do it now.

We will try for the B team to play before the first team so people can first go and support them.

Not even drunk I would have believed two years ago that Pedro and Busquets would win a world cup, a trophy I don't have. We will see how the world cup will affect our players and performances. The players and I want to repeat last season. I don't feel that world cup as mine. It's exclusively the world cup of the players and the coach. It has been a long process. It's not right to exclusively link Spain's world cup win with Barça. There are many other factors involved.

Spain friendly on 11 Aug? It wouldn't be logic since they only return from vacation 9 Aug but the federation decides. What if I'd give them two more days of holiday?

"I don't know why the press always speculates I'm having a bad relationship with the president. Last year Laporta, now Rosell. The new structure has been decided by the club. The president listened to my opinion, but the club makes the decision. I don't feel left alone. Manel [Estiarte] is here, Tito, the players. And I'll keep on calling Johan when I need advice.

I'm very happy and thankful to be able to continue another year. I don't make any promises, only that we will work hard. I feel more comfortable working with a short-term contract. I need to know there's a good understanding with the players. I asked the board for a one-year contract but the years don't really matter. The day I feel I can't make the team work, I leave. The president talked about the stability of a long-term contract but results are the only guarantee for stability. 

There won't be a problem with my renewal this year. There are no elections, so things will be calmer. The renewal was postponed because the president had 1000 things to do. We closed a deal in few minutes. There are few clauses.

I prefer short-term contract and I'm grateful the board has respected my wish. There's no better place than here.

It would be good the president meets with Cruyff because he has been an important person in the history of the club.

Cruyff should always be linked with Barcelona. Something went wrong. Johan doesn't deserve this. He'll talk with the president.

"I don't think the hours of the games will change. The television stations are deciding, they have the right to do so"

Fining me is just bad for them. The images are there. They're not saying the truth, fine or no fine. They falsified the referee reports and I guess they can't go back now.

"Mourinho? The more good players and coaches, the better for the Liga. His character? Every has his own."

Pep interview shed some lights on the overall environment in the club at the moment and the team to expect for next season.

In a way, he confirmed what we’ve been repeating on this blog since a while. He is considering Villa as a quality option on the left flank –something the world cup already demonstrated. Its also good that they took in consideration that we can’t sign a pure backup for Alves. I would have preferred a player who can play both as a Right back and a Center back instead of Adriano as that would have met our direct needs without other modifications. But in the post where we welcomed Adriano I mentioned that there might not be any good option in the market to fit that demand. So we signed Adriano. 

Pointing out that Abidal is an option for the center back is also good. But it’s yet to be seen how far we can use two offense oriented fullbacks with only a holding midfielder in front. We can’t do it Spain’s world cup way, because it means changing the whole structure. There are numerous options; we will come to that in another article about next season tactical potentials. Keita is another name that Pep mentioned to enhance some positions’ depth. It’s true that he can serve as a holding midfielder. But if Hleb will be loaned (as pep said regarding all ex-loaned players) then beside the youth, Keita is the only available backup for Iniesta and Xavi. To count him as a backup for Busquets as well is a bit too much. Moving Messi to play deeper in some games is an option. But that will not provide the minimal depth needed. Signing a midfielder is a must. And I am sure we will. 

Also, glad to know that Adriano was Pep’s choice. I had no doubt about it for the kind of utility players Adriano is.

Marquez is leaving. It seems inevitable. I would have liked to keep him for one more season especially that he can play as a Center back and as a holding midfielder. But Pep can’t give him any guaranties. Fair enough.

Talking about guarantees, the same thing applied on Ibra. I am a believer in Ibra’s qualities, a player who was the backbone for different teams in different leagues playing different styles. His attributes makes him the best combination of offense pivot for Barcelona. At the same time, we are talking about a coach who achieved everything for the club so far, the coach who brought this player in the first place. It’s a challenge for the coach to create the perfect structure to benefit from this immense kit he has in his squad. It’s also a challenge for the player to fight to prove his worth. If Ibra and his agent demands any guarantees, they can’t expect any. If Ibra wants to stay and succeed, no one can stop him. Nor even a club president hiding in the bush waiting for an opportunity. If he wants it easy, Man city is out there. 

Talking about determination, take Bojan as an example. If a young child-like Krkic had the patience and spirit to keep working for his spot, Ibra need to know the requirements of being in a big club like Barca. That psychological remark pep made about Bojan was extremely smart. You can imagine Bojan’s moral now. There are no automatic starters. Let the battle begins. 

In the same context, Pep enlightened us more regarding Yaya’s case, though it was not that mysterious. He is a great player. He lost the starting role for a player who performed better. It was a matter of form more than being a matter of quality. He wanted the guarantees Pep can’t and shouldn’t give. He picked another choice where he felt it fits him better. Good luck. 

I will not comment about Cesc. While his praise for Henry is a given. A player who was a crucial member in the squad that brought the best of Barcelona in the history of the club.

Chygrynskiy’s transfer brings us to the work environment in the club this summer. Regardless of how we evaluate the player’s qualities, there are some issues about the transfer that bring lot of concerns to the table. Pep didn’t want to sell him. And it seems he was not completely convinced regarding the economic needs behind selling him “The sale of Chygrynskiy was needed to pay the salaries of the employees? They told me something like that.”. Rosell approached the case from a position where Pep can’t actually win an argument: “The economic criteria of the president and the club are more important than my opinion.” When the president says if we don’t sell we bankrupt, what can the coach argue about? At the end of the day he is “just an employee of the club…Although it might not seem like that with people suggesting I'm deciding everything around here".

Chegrnskiy’s transfer can barely pay the salaries of Messi and Bartra. That tells enough. There should have been some other ways to pay the salary of the clubs plumber for one month other than selling an asset that the coach feels he can be great for many years, especially if you take in consideration that the money arrived couple of weeks later. 

No doubt, Pep is taking the “professional employee” profile here. He is not in a conflict with the current board. But it’s safe to say that he is not as empowered and its not the same friendly environment. He didn’t waste a chance to take his position in the cruyff-Sandro case. Not only that but this comment is interesting:

“I don't feel left alone. Manel [Estiarte] is here, Tito, the players. And I'll keep on calling Johan when I need advice.”

He barely has a clue about some operations that he is contradicting himself Sandro-style. In one sentence he says we don’t have a penny and in another he says Cesc is too expensive (which means that there is more than just a penny in the pocket but just not enough for Cesc-60M price tag). “Maybe we need something in midfield but Cesc is expensive.” Is the best remark he made. It’s still too easy to get confused, we had 50 million-Adriano= 40 Millions + any new transfer we make (sell). May be Sandro was just bluffing when he said we have 50 M, but it can go both ways: 5 million instead of 50, or may be 500. 

Yet, if we will not sign, we must not sell. And maybe we must not be as enthusiastic to loan out every player we can.