FC Barcelona's sponsorship of Qatar foundation, has no foundation.

Was that a prank?

When FC Barcelona signed there sponsorship agreement with Qatar foundation, there were lot of critic toward the decision. The idea that FC Barcelona didn't REALLY need such agreement, keeping in mind that the club passed worse crisis without the need to sell the shirt.

However, the main praise many pointed out was the value of the sponsorship for being the highest a football club ever got.

We pointed back then that getting a higher deal than the rest was just because it was the most recent, and predicted this record not to survive enough to offer enough answers to doubters.

There were so many added values to benefit from while negotiating a sponsorship agreement for FC Barcelona:

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FC Barcelona: The real legacy of Laporta.

By Xavier Sala i Martín, former board member and treasurer at FC Barcelona 2004 - 2010

Original article in Spanish and Catalan here.

I have a rule not to comment on Barca unless if it is to defend the board of directors of Joan Laporta, which I was a member of. In three articles published before (October 2 and October 17 and November 2 ), I explained that Sandro Rosell (1) missed the truth when he said that "upon arrival at the club there was not a single euro in the box", (2) had deceived the newspapers when he leaked few invoices that allegedly showed the unjustified squandering of Laporta (neither there were bills, nor unjustified) and (3) had induced the assembly to vote for actions against Laporta based on a false summary of the whole situation.

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Barça in Watercolor

 

a detour from troublesome words...

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FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, who will win the Liga 2012?

Three celebrates, three think its too early

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid find no third in the Liga to bug their plans of winning the title. But by having each other, they can hardly wish for additional challenges. In fact, the big margin of quality separating the big two from the rest is one of the main reasons why the rivalry between the two clubs reached a do-or-die level. This is a league where a draw for any of the two teams can cause the collapse of the season. The chance of reversing the damage and balancing the books of points is very slim compared to other leagues in other countries.


However, there is one main difference this season that makes this league way more interesting. If you go back to last time Real Madrid won the title, you will notice that the strong fight they put till the end (in two seasons) came hand in hand with a catastrophic collapse for FC Barcelona on and off the field. Then you move forward to the seasons FC Barcelona won and you notice that even though Real Madrid had superb seasons, FC Barcelona were on a very high level and almost unbeatable. In my opinion, this is the first season where the two teams are playing on the same level – each utilizing own strength and suffering own weaknesses. While Barcelona is still the best team collectively and (for most positions) even if you compare individuals one-by-one in the starting eleven, Real Madrid squad provide more depth and diversity. The fact that both teams have their backs to the wall (No more: we are building a team for future) put more pressure and make the mental strength, squad moral, and club’s environment deciding factors, more than ever.

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FC Barcelona, gifting Thiago to Arsenal to get Cesc, The dumbest deal ever

I mentioned at the beginning of the silly season –transfer period- that I’ll follow it casually like a vacation. Enjoy it the way it comes, no matter what. And as anyone with some commonsense can tell you, it’s naïve to take any transfer rumor seriously, as the only reliable media sources are the official websites of the clubs.

Yet, even if you are on a vacation, you can’t enjoy a heart attack when it strikes, no matter what kind of optimist creatures you are. And even though Graham Hunter is a journalist and not a club official, he doesn’t work for Daily Mail after all. So when he tells me –on Football Mood twitter- that what he mentioned in this interview is based on information and not just personal impressions, one should take things a bit more seriously than usual.

Why will Barcelona buy a midfielder in the first place? Pour que?

Word on the street is that Barcelona is focusing on strengthening the offense and might not be able to buy defenders. Spot on.

As I pointed out at the end of the season, the defense passed all kinds of tests and kept being reliable regardless of all injury crisis and suspensions. Now imagine the scenario where the offense suffers half the injuries the defense had to struggle against last season. So it’s a given that investing in offense is more important than strengthening defense. What I can’t understand is investing in midfield instead of defense – again, if it happened.

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FC Barcelona and Manchester United defeating the dead souls in champions league final

The moment the referee blew the final whistle, my first reaction on twitter was so spontaneous that I still cant believe how fitting it turned to be. And by fulfilling my wish, Barcelona crowned their night in perfection, or should I say the two teams did so? Because you need two teams to create a perfect night of football, and Manchester United made it happen, same as Barcelona's brilliance.

Manchester United is the reason why this match was so wonderful to watch. 

There will be lot of tactical talks about the game. The two coaches decided to go for the tested horses rather than the ones -theoretically- more appropriate while planing their game plan. The hindsight pattern will demonstrate that Pep got it right - because his team won, Sir Alex got it wrong -because his team lost. No one can deny that Pep was on the driving seat in this battle (especially with his Busquets-Xavi trick in the second half that changed the match dynamics), and the Sir could have done a bit better here or there. Yet, at the end of the day it was all about players' quality and football perfectionism that you cant counter in one or two weeks of preparations. Evra put it eloquently:

""Every time Messi gets the ball he knows Xavi is going to be there, Pedro is going to be there, or Iniesta. It is amazing"

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FC Barcelona Vs Manchester United Champions League final A match that leaves a marK

Champions league Final FC Barcelona Vs Manchester United: My preview for The Offside

Scene #1: How it all starts

As a youth (or a child) you get lot of your affections by infection. You have those you look up to and so you inherit some of their own. That’s how I was Barcalized for example. But that was all shallow till 1992, the season where Barcelona’s dream team performed football symphonies and were deservedly crowned the kings of Europe.

Koeman was the hero of the closing night, Pep Guardiola was my own icon then, and still he is.

Scene #2: The lesson

May 18, 1994, sitting on the couch with some football seniors, and waiting to watch the game of the century between my favorite club and my all time favorite striker. Not a very comfortable situation for sure, but as a teenager you have a license to paint fantasies, so it was sorted out for me by hoping FC Barcelona win by a margin against AC Milan, which drives Marco Van Basten crazy so he decides to move to the Catalan club.

The Van Basten part was no doubt a long shot as it was highly unlikely (looking at it now). But the certainty was Barcelona’s victory. Even in the Italian city there was a belief that the game is destined to upset the Rossoneri. Make no mistake, they had one of the best squads ever known in world football (A team that can make an argument being better than THIS Barcelona), but the absentees where too many and too influential to ignore – that I didn’t really know by then, but I felt “The favorites” vibes showering the Catalans and ringing everywhere.

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Shakespeare attacks both Barcelona and Real Madrid in champions league semi final

My Match preview: Published on THE OFFSIDE/Barcelona  - Latest Edit

I'm here...Have no fear

I know you’re feeling sick

Of all the clasico games

Of people waving sticks

And bloggers calling names

Kindly, drop no tear

Don’t worry, have no fear

And welcome the one and only

Mr. William Shakespeare

Shakespeare shouts with anger:

“Can you stop being lame?!

Forget that name forever

Cool Shakes is now my name!”

Crowds applaud:

Shakes in the house!

Shakes in the house!

Lets tell the story

Of the Lion and the mouse

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Barcelona's first Sponsorship, inspired by need or weed?

FC Barcelona played Real Sociedad this week in the liga, and it was just another amazing show of football and magic. The happiest person on earth was no doubt Barca's president Sandro Rosell, as its this team and those players are the reason why the majority of members are too lazy (and excited) to ask serious questions or voice complains. Ironically, we are talking about a squad structured by the same people the current president revolted to sack, when he was the Vice of the previous President Juan Laporta. 

Still, it is not easy to hide an elephant having a "Musth" inside the room. Sponsorship agreement with Qatar foundation is not a walk in the park. This is a milestone in the club's history where there will be a BA (before agreement) and AA (after agreement) calender to record the the club's records.

Defending Rosell, Guardiola, and Qatar

Lets start by defending Sandro Rosell. The rants that doubt his loyalty to the club are nonsense. He is not an evil undercover madridista whose mission is damaging Barcelona, as some angry Barcelona fans stated in the past few days. Sandro Rosell is as loyal to Barcelona as anyone can be, and more. He -and his board- are doing what they believe it is the best for the club. Thats where we may disagree with him (them). Yet, there are no doubts about the intentions. 

In the other hand, this agreement has nothing to do with Pep Guardiola. He supported Qatar bid for the world cup for many reasons (Money is one of the reasons, as a professional figure). But that has nothing to do with Barcelona's agreement with Qatar foundation. Pep was an automatic choice for Qatar to promote them in the world cup bid even before the new board inherited Barcelona's management. In fact, Sandro Rosell has more contacts and cross roads with Qatar than Pep, so neither he needs Pep nor the Qatari needs the coach to cook or suggest this sponsorship agreement. 

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FC Barcelona - Real Madrid the clasico of football and hyperbole

Barcelona hosts Real Madrid for this season Clasico, the Jewel of Spanish La liga. This is an edited version of the article I wrote for Barcelona Transfers Blog Dec 12, 2008,  recording the history of Rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid.  Trying to show the two sides of the story, Barcelona's and Real Madrid versions, I made a roundup collecting quotes from different resources where the mentioned rivalry is covered.

RIVALS FOR EVER!

To warm up before a game like el clasico, its not enough to discuss squads and tactics, not even the media coverage following the event on everyday, and may be every second, bases. That will be good enough for a champions league final may be, but not for a game injected by that amount of passions, emotions and memories, el clasico that represents not only a battle of rivals but also a clash of wells that was documented in history and “immorted” in poetry.

That’s why, and in order to live the event to the extreme, we need to tour back and live the birth of this eternal mêlée.

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Fc Barcelona player Daniel Alves proves diving is essential to protect fair play in football.

From Busquets at FC Barcelona, to Ronaldo at Manchester united then Real Madrid. From the Drogba of Chelsea to Eduardo once at Arsenal. From Krasic at Juventus to all the other players of all the teams we follow. Diving is the curse that usually address them all and mark disgrace bruises on their talent and quality. The question is: Can we generalize and say that all diving acts are wrong? Or is there a room to classify diving in two categories: Fair and unfair?

 Advocatus Diaboli

Football and Diving

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.

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Football ramble:On bandwagon fans and Glory haunters

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. 

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FC Barcerlona: If you want a future,dont mess with a 14 years old member

Fans and club, being as close as that!

Barça Beeckman is the first member of FC Barcelona to be named after the club and is now number 185,508.

"A Belgian couple have called their first son Barça and he has already become the first club member to have the name. The pair told the media they chose the moniker because "they liked it".

Taking inspiration from the verse "tinc un nom que el sap tothom, Barça, Barça, Barça" (I have a name that everyone knows, Barça, Barça, Barça) from the Blaugrana hymn the new arrival has the full name Barça Beeckman and he lives 60 kilometres outside of Brussels in Nieuwerkerk. Aged three the youngster was made a member of the Camp Nou club on July 19 by his father Wesley Beeckman, 23, an architecture student, and mother Anneke Maes, 24, a nurse."

Game on
During the pregnancy the couple could not reach an agreement for a name for the baby as they did not want to know the sex until he was born. In the end they settled on the name Lona if the baby was a girl.

With a decision about the name if it was a boy in full swing the pair were watching Pep Guardiola's team play when Anneke had a bright idea. "Suddenly, I said to my husband that if we had a boy then would he want to call him Barça," she explained. "He turned towards me and winked before saying 'yes, that is the name of my son'".

Surprise, surprise

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Barcelona X-mass and The Grinch we create or terminate.

The Grinch, a fictional, bitter, cave-dwelling, catlike creature with a heart "two sizes too small," lives on snowy Mount Crumpit, a steep, 3,000-foot (910 m) high mountain just north of Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos. His only companion is his faithful dog, Max. From his perch high atop Mount Crumpit, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. Envious of the Whos' happiness, he makes plans to descend on the town and, by means of burglary, deprive them of their Christmas presents, holiday ham and decorations and thus "prevent Christmas from coming". However, he learns in the end that despite his success in stealing all the Christmas presents and decorations from the Whos, Christmas comes just the same. He then realizes that Christmas is more than just gifts and presents. His heart grows three sizes larger, he returns all the presents and trimmings, and is warmly welcomed into the community of the Whos. (Wiki)

Fairy tales are just like that, a beam of beauty threatened by the pangs of evil vibes. It always ends with Beauty not only beating evilness but even turning it to kindness and joy. Because beauty should be infectious and healing by nature, and because it is the gift we seek most. It is planted deep in the subconscious where we water our dreams and raise our crops either hanged on the trees of our days or melted in the shadows of our tales.

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FC Barcelona: Sandro Rosell turns a fan based club to a family based locker.

It didn’t take time. Sandro Rosell fulfilled one of his ambitions.

“This is a sad day in the history of FC Barcelona. The club has just been closed for new members if they're not family of existing members.

From now on, only family in 1st and 2nd degree from members, children younger than 14 years and ex-members can become a member of Barcelona.” Barcastuff

Will it just pass or will it be debatable at least? I can’t comment on that. You have to agree that fans outside Catalonia were too passive to take their responsibilities that I am not sure how far their membership worth protecting. 

Admittedly we had a group that was working behind the scene to try creating a campaign to prevent such moves. Yet, this was fast. And I was too busy lately to follow up. I can tell you though, there are big Penyas across the globe who are not hailing this decision at the moment. From what I’ve been told at least.

Sandro is afraid that lot of foreign members means damaging the club identity.

I wonder if he will start dictating a specific number of children any member can have. So he guarantees the club’s “future”. 

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Rubin Kazan-Fc Barcelona, Champions league coverage: More interviews from Kazan

We continue our coverage for the Group D Champions league match between Rubin Kazan and Barcelona. After the match records, The match Preview, and the first interview with Docent, We continue sharing the thoughts of Rubin Kazan fans. Marat Gilmutdinov from Kazan generously offered his time to provide us with his thoughts about the match.

1) Starting from last season, where were you during the Matches played between Rubin Kazan and Fc Barcelona? How can you describe that experience?

Didn't manage to get to Spain for the first game, watched it on TV, enjoyed the game, the result, the goals, especially the first one, which noone saw)

I was at the stadium for the home fixture, and trust me, it was beautiful, the stadium was 110% full even though the weather wasn't that good. Felt like seeing a big final.

2) Last season Rubin Kazan's performance changed the way the world see the club. What kind of effect that season left on Rubin Kazan as a club and fans?

I think you answered the question yourself. Sometimes such moments happen in football, when big clubs loose to a newcomer, but on the other hand, imagine what a boost this can give to a club like Rubin in Russia. That Champions League campaign has made a big difference in the way people look at the team and the club as a whole. Nothing is impossible.

3) What was the first impression you had when you knew that you will play Fc Barcelona once again this season?

To be honest, we wanted a new experience, and I have to admit that beating Barca two years in a row is very difficult for any team. But Barcelona is not the same this season, some slight changes have been made, and it will be great to see them in Kazan once again.

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Rubin Kazan-Fc Barcelona: An interview with a Kazan fan!

I am not the fan in your interview. Just so you know!

While journalists usually run after the stars seeking their "insightful" Cliche-like opinions, why not just sharing the spontaneous emotions and thoughts of unsung fans? I do believe it reflects more honesty. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did with Docent, the Kazan Fan:

Starting from last season, where were you during the Matches played between Rubin Kazan and Fc Barcelona? How can you describe that experience?

I was at home, sweet home, you know, watching the match online. And I can’t describe my experience, sorry man. Firstly, I’m not that kind of furious fans, I just like Rubin Kazan. Secondly, what experience we can talk about when watching online? Pls.

Last season Rubin Kazan’s performance changed the way people see the club. What kind of effect that season left on Rubin Kazan as a club and fans?

Huge effect, I can say. Club gained respect and attention, fans mob raised. Shortly. That’s my opinion.

What was the first impression you had when you knew that you will play Fc Barcelona once again this season?

Hmmm… Disappointment, as for me. We saw Rubin Kazan game with Spanish, German, Italian, Ukrainian and Israeli teams and want some variety!

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The day we call tomorrow: When Barcelona finally bows

One hundred eleven years ago, the “Generación del 98” caused chaos across Spain after the shocking defeat of their empire in the Spanish-American war. The national pride was hurt and despair wounded every heart. Such movement was led by art advocates and talented figures in poetry, literature and music. At a moment of misery, art –as usual- steps in to fill the space and challenge disgrace. 

At Barcelona, another art was sparking its immortal flame that year. Joan Gamper was heading the group of Fc Barcelona pioneers. The Catalan club was created not only to perfect the art of football, but also to represent the pride of the Catalan nation, inspire their dreams, and keep being the light leading them out of the dark tunnels. After the Siege of Barcelona the will of the nation had to show up through an art of any kind. Did I mention that, at a moment of misery, art –as usual- steps in to fill the space and challenge disgrace? And that’s how the Art of upgrading football from ball kicking to a campaign promoting values was born in Catalonia. 

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Spain and Barcelona: Mastering Total Football AND Total Catenaccio

Preface

This is not the first time I write about football styles and methodologies- that’s why a decent part will be a compilation of what I wrote in some articles before. Yet, the world cup and the Pundits’ inputs about it force to take the big tournament as a demonstration and case study. Especially that, as usual, there were more attempts to look at the empty part of the Spanish glass rather than analyzing it for what it is for real, With its flaws and benefits.

When Italy won the world cup in Germany, football romantic analysts claimed that they didn’t deserve it because they played a so-called “Passive football style”, the pragmatic football analysis responded by pointing out that the most important thing in professional football is winning titles. Football exhibitions place is freestyle tournaments, not world cup. They also recalled that defense is also football, and a team that produce quality defense the way Italians did, deserves the title as much as a team that win it depending on offense brilliance . 

The anti-Italy pundits were basically attacking football admirers, added to the Majority of journalists in UK who slate and underestimate any success if it’s not English. 

The analysts who defended Italy were basically the pragmatic ones who place result over anything else, beside the Italian journalists who rightfully defended their national team achievement. 

Four years later, Spain won the world cup. And as usual, there were journalists who hailed the achievement as a victory of offense football and beautiful game. They are basically the romantic analysts mentioned above who believe there is a right way and a wrong way to play football. The argument that “the right way” wins no title is proven wrong again. Spain won the title. Take that pragmatics!

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Barcelona’s football chess: Guardiola and Rosell, who will resign first?

 Not as clear as they try to show

Barcelona’s football chess: Guardiola and Rosell, who will resign first?

After Frank Rijkaard’s era, Laporta made the shocking decision of hiring Pep Guardiola as a new coach thought there were more proven names on the list of candidates. Laporta’s decision was not only based on sport reasoning, but also a well calculated attempt to ease the pressure of the fans during that period of mess. There were lot of doubts regarding Pep’s experience and readiness for the job. Yet, there is no other figure in world football that Barcelona fans will sympathize with more, even if they are not that convinced of his qualities for the job. That meant fewer headaches for the board facing a motion of no confidence campaign that may end up throwing them out of power. 

In his first season, he was the new coach hired by Juan Laporta and Txiki Begiristain. So he had no reason to complain. His second season was the election’s year. The last thing the board wanted is to make the most popular figure, player, and coach upset after winning everything possible for the club. That’s why –for example- they were not able to oppose his will, when he demanded paying 25 million for an unproven Chegrnskiy. Even though, the Sporting Director –Txiki- refused to fulfill the request, Laporta decided–for the first time may be- to face Txiki’s complains and support Guardiola, paying the bill with a smiley face while packing the Ukrainian to the coach. 

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