Camp Nou: Tensions are Rising

After a poor El Clásico performance and a devastating loss to Celta Vigo yesterday, FC Barcelona fans must be wondering if the club will be able to find a quick victory against Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday. This is a must win for Barcelona if they hope to stay within close range of their arch rivals, as Real Madrid has taken over first place in La Liga. If the Catalans do not find their winning ways soon, fans from across the globe may begin to lose faith in a team that seems to have a plethora of promise. With arguably the best attack in the world and a FC Barcelona legend in Luis Enrique managing the squad, one would expect nothing less than a perfect season. Yet, both on and off-field situations are beginning to take a toll on a team that is struggling to find chemistry.

With stadium renovations looming, the club’s revenues may decline if Leo Messi and Co. cannot bring home another title within two years. The first phase of construction is set for 2017 and by 2020, the new and improved Camp Nou will have a seating capacity of over one hundred and five thousand. While this may bring long-term value to the club, the next few seasons may forever remain in the shadows of the clubs record breaking success of the previous decade. With tensions rising in Catalonia, this is a very important time for Barcelona to establish their dominance. Will Suarez finally find a groove within the offense? Can Messi find the back of the net and be the new all-time leader in La Liga goals? How will FCB respond in this transitional period?

Source:

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/club/detail/article/more-details-about-the-new-camp-nou

La Masia: The model for sports star breeding

Barcelona’s historic La Masia has produced some amazing football players.  As the training facility for Barça’s players, La Masia has been a staple in player development since 1966. Located right next to Camp Nou, Barça’s 98,787 capacity stadium, the training site produces camaraderie and great skill in sport for young men.

Set up as a dormitory with classrooms, La Masia has developed some of Barça’s great players over the past 50 years.  However, La Masia seems to not only be about shaping great play but shaping the players mentally and socially as well.  The club has its own description of the core values it tries to instill in its players. They include teamwork, humility, respect, ambition, and effort.

This former country residence turned awesome training site really tries to create quality players and quality people. The association the club has with La Masia and the relationships of those who spend their time working there show that the club is definitely worried about a healthy environment for its players and the club in general. Granted, La Masia has produced players Iniesta, Messi, Puyol, and many others and with these great players has come a fair share of money. In the end, La Masia focuses not only on helping the club financially but also on molding respectable people.

FC Barcelon’s Former President Joan Laporta found Innocent

Former FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta was accused by the current Barcelona board of putting Barcelona in approximately 47 million euros of debt throughout his time with the club. He was also accused of changing the numbers in the financial sheets to hide this fact and to make it look as if he in-fact increased their financial standing.

After being cleared of these false charges, Joan Laporta turned the tables and claimed that it is the new administration that should be ashamed, for they are making false accusations and making questionable business decisions. He even goes as far as to suggest that FC Barcelona wants to appear impoverished and in the need of financial aid so that they can better justify their sponsorship with Qatar.

Suing former Presidents on false pretenses, embellishing financial records for a public image, slandering the new board of ones old club? None of these things sound like they are in the spirit and love of sport and of ones Club. Rather, they sound greedy and manipulative which are the characteristics of a cutthroat business.

Hearing about things like this and about the absurd amount of money that players and clubs are already making, and how they want MORE, detaches fans from the club and makes them feel that the organization only cares about the Business side of things.

How do events like this shape your view of sport? How about this case in particular? Comment below.

source: http://www.espnfc.com/barcelona/story/2118061/ex-barcelona-president-joan-laporta-wont-rule-out-return-to-board

Barcelona loses 1-0 to Celta Vigo to End a Bad Week

FC Barcelona lost its match in El Clasico against Real Madrid last Saturday. Then, during the past week, they lost a legal case between the club and its former President, Joan Laporta. Finally, as we saw yesterday, FC Barcelona managed to fall to Celta Vigo 1-to-0. Although Barcelona had the majority of the scoring opportunities, everything and everyone was a step out of sync, and they were unable to get a single goal past Sergio, who had a terrific game.

There are two ways of interpreting Barcelona’s slump:

First, we could blame the business side of the clubs operations. A long drawn out court case being ruled in the favor of your opposition, the clubs natural tendencies for internal power disputes, and the fact that Catalunya is marking November 9th as the date that they will vote on a referendum for Independence all create an environment of tension within the club and with the fans.

Second, and the reason that we think the team is struggling, is because of team-level changes. Suarez, who has not looked in top shape the past two weeks, has served his suspension time, and is now among the ranks of Neymar and Messi. Although this sounds great, the team chemistry has been disrupted, and the high scoring offense we saw a few weeks ago has had a fundamental change. The team carried the loss from El Clasico all week, and let it affect them again against a inferior opponent.

Hopefully they will get this figured out shortly.

Do you agree that this is a Club, team and player issue, or do you feel more heavily in favor of our first point, that the Business behind the game may be creating the majority of the downswing? Comment below!

source: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/01/barcelona-celta-vigo-la-liga-match-report

Tax Evasion: Yellow or Red Card?

Following a disappointing match against Real Madrid on Saturday, things do not seem to be getting any better for FC Barcelona. Some of the top players for the Catalonian squad are under fire by Spanish tax authorities for improper imaging rights. Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Xavi Alonso, and Andres Iniesta are all players involved and may face further litigation. Essentially, companies were created to manage each player’s image rights. By receiving income through these companies, players would then be allowed to pay income taxes at a much lower rate than the personal income tax rate that applies to player salaries. Through legislation, this idea isn’t necessarily illegal; however there is only one issue. These types of companies are created solely for the purpose of paying lower taxes, and there has been no “real” activity shown by these firms.

So what does this mean for the entire club? Authorities have not yet brought on charges of tax fraud or other related crimes however they are insisting that the players pay the difference between corporate and personal income tax rates over the last four years. After all is said and done, players have decided to reach a settlement to avoid ruining their personal image. While this situation may come to a content resolution, this story still raises questions about player validity and corruption within the entire FCB organization. As a fan of sports in general I would be very downtrodden if my favorite team or club’s reputation was in doubt, especially regarding issues with ethical and moral connotations. In fact, I have experienced this phenomenon recently through my University. I am a North Carolina Tarheel, and the report regarding phony classes for athletes at my school have affected the student body deeply. As FCB continues on their quest for greatness, it will be interesting to see how the club’s fans react to this matter. From a business perspective, it is in the best interest of the club for their players to pay low taxes. However, could this create distrust with the club’s massive fan base? Furthermore, does this story reveal evidence that FCB is more of a business than a club?

Source:

http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/story/2116267/spanish-players-under-investigation-by-the-spanish-tax-authorities

Real Madrid El Clásico second half surge beats Barcelona

Carlo Ancoletti’s Real Madrid beat Luis Enrique’s FC Barcelona in Clásico on Saturday night.  Neymar put a goal in in the 4th minute, which was then followed by Christiano Renaldo’s PK to even the score. Gerard Pique, a Catalan born Spaniard, tried to stop a cross and left his left arm a little too low. He was given a yellow card for the handball in the box.

Reactions to his play of late have been questioning Pique’s ability to keep up with his usually shorter and faster opposition in the attack.  Pique said his hand was an «unintentional» move.  He also looked rather shaky at times against Ajax, a Champions League game the Tuesday before. In any case, he’s an example of how Barcelona can be seen as more club oriented than business oriented.

Real Madrid’s Benzema, Ronaldo, and Pepe scored the three for Real Madrid, with Pepe and Benzema’s goals to finalize the score at 3-1.  The second half showed how the much more diverse team, with players from Germany, England, Brazil, Uruguay, and others, that is Real Madrid seemed to always be on the counter-attack after poor possession by FC Barce.

Ironically, Manchester United wanted to offer Pique until he said he did not want to return to his former club.  It might be time for Barcelona to look to make some moves as well, perhaps that would benefit the defense in particular.

Leaving La Liga: The Right Move?

As the battle for Catalonia’s independence continues, Catalan separatists have befriended a very powerful ally. Three days ago, FC Barcelona confirmed that the club is in full favor of a vote to secede from Spain. Instinctively this decision makes sense. Defender Gerard Pique, along with a majority of the starting eleven players all have ties to Catalonia whether it be family relatives or their homeland. As a Barcelona native, Pique has been said to have attended massive rallies in support of the referendum vote to be held on November 9th. Pro-Independence chants have become commonplace at Camp Nou, along with the Catalonian colors represented on a variant of the club’s jersey. Along with the players, President Josep Maria Bartomeu had been suspected to be in support of former FCB President Sandro Rosell’s firm stance against Spain.

From a moral, logical, and emotional perspective this move is completely beneficial to the essence and purity regarding the club’s values. With this in mind the fans should stay happy…as long as the team can still play matches. La Liga has informed FC Barcelona that they will be excluded from the league if Catalonia becomes a separate state. This would be a devastating blow to the club’s business. Unless a new league is formed, this could be a potential disaster for one of the world’s most popular clubs. Moreover, the political events involving the team could have a negative ripple effect across the entire European sports industry. It is evident that these events can and should shed some light on our essential question: “FC Barca, club or business?

Source:

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/355121.html

Messi might get paid a boatload but he likes his club

Lionel Messi, an Argentinian and one of the best footballers in the world, scored his first goal professionally with FC Barcelona before his 18th birthday.  Before that, Messi had been with the team since he was 11, scoring an absurd amount of goals in every league in which he played.  Diagnosed with a growth plate deficiency when he was young, FC Barcelona jumped on acquiring the young prodigy, who now only stands at 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1/2 in).

But is Messi’s loyalty all about the money or the actual enjoyment of playing for FC?  Now at age 27, Messi has definitely made some money with the club over the years.  This year his base salary will be €16 million and will remain there unless his contract is mended before 2018.  He is currently the highest paid footballer in the world.

Messi definitely will not be living poorly in the years to come, but after 16 years with the team, there has to be an element of loyalty and love for Barcelona and its fans.  Messi’s unbelievable amount of accomplishments with the club, his family being from western Catalunya, and his paper napkin contract written by then sports director Carles Rexach are all reasons why Messi doesn’t hate the money but enjoys his club as well.

Neymar Jr signed with Barcelona for nearly half of what Real Madrid offered

According to Bleacher Report and multiple other sources, Neymar Sr and Jr were offered upwards of 150 million euros to sign with their club rather then with FC Barcelona. However, as we have seen play out with the signing of Neymar to FC, Neymar had an affection for the Barcelona club. He preferred them much more, in fact, that he accepted a contract with Barcelona that would earn him just 80 million euros over the same time period.

This decision could have been weighed by some kind of preference of Catalonia over Spain, the opportunity to play with Messi (who is more humble and willing to share the spotlight then Christiano Ronaldo), the teams incredible history of success and respectability, the type of fans he perceives Barcelona to have, the fact that FC Barcelona showed interest in signing him first, or a variety of other things. Regardless of his motivation, he ignored the business side of soccer and didn’t allow himself to be bought out. This decision has worked out very well for him and FC so far: Neymar has scored 8 goals in 8 games this season, and has tallied 6 assists.

When players are loyal to their teams and willing to take pay cuts to resign with them, allowing money to be used to bring in other talent, or in this case when a player isn’t even loyal to a team but just chooses it for what it represents, it gives the impression that many players admire the club side of sport. Futbol players are proud of who they play for and proud to be part of their respective leagues, especially those among FC Barcelona.

It is the owners, offering extraordinary amounts of money to pull players away from their rivals, that are making futbol a business and that are harming the club aspect of the sport.

What do you think about this? Comment below.

source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2216965-neymars-father-says-real-madrid-offered-eur150-million-for-barcelona-star

Welcome to our blog !

Hello and welcome. In this blog we will discuss Whether FC Barcelona is more of a business and in our globalized economic world, or if it has Remained a ‘football club’  in the traditional sense.