At the end of 2014, the disaster experienced by "Barcelona" in the Sports Arbitration Court is further shaken by an institutional crisis that promises nothing good, written on the "fcbarcelona.lt" website.
It is already clear that due to violations in registering underage academy players, this year the Catalan club will not be able to add any new acquisitions. Not only that, the fans with voting rights this year will face another challenge - they will have to elect a new club president.
The 51-year-old Josep Maria Bartomeu, who inherited the seat of the president of the Catalan club after the resignation of Sandro Rosell, resisted calls for elections and claimed to have enough strength and motivation to continue working until the summer of 2016. According to the "Barcelona" statute, the term of the Board of Directors officially ends after six years (S. Rosell won the presidential elections in the summer of 2010).
However, the ambitions to survive in one's position will need to be put off for at least half a year.
At a press conference held on Wednesday, J. M. Bartomeu raised the white flag and surrendered: the current president finally gave in to the pressure from his colleagues and fans to hold early presidential elections for the club.
Everything. The Rubicon has been crossed at the beginning of the year. There is no turning back. But it will still be necessary to learn to crush ambitions and overcome oneself.
The fact that early elections will be held essentially de facto confirms several very unpleasant and bleak assumptions.
The institutional crisis in the "Barcelona" club is deeper than could have been suspected. It is nice, of course, that J. M. Bartomeu finds an opportunity to celebrate the good and constantly improving economic condition of the club, but "Barcelona" does not operate as a money-making machine. Of course, profit should not be forgotten, but the Catalan club has always prioritized sporting achievements and has always boasted of the ambitions of all its professional sections to fight for trophies.
The press conference on Wednesday completely destroyed the myth about the ability of the current club leadership to continue working. It is more than obvious that the situation at Barça has become completely uncontrollable, and there are no people who could manage the crisis.
Too many mistakes have been made, which led to the current Board of Directors, led for three years by Sandro Rosell and his successor J. M. Bartomeu, losing even the moral authority to be considered authorities in the eyes of the fans. Not only those fans who have voting rights, but also ordinary, regular fans.
And everything in such cases starts from small details.
Many have already forgotten that the decision-maker who took over the team, S. Rosell, sold Dmytro Chygrynskiy back to Shakhtar Donetsk just a year after acquiring him, whom the then head coach Josep Guardiola really wanted.
The reason for this decision sounded very formal: the club's financial situation after the mess left by its previous leaders was very poor and a large sum of money was urgently needed to pay the employees (salaries at Barça are paid twice a year). D. Chygrynskiy was sold, Barcelona got the money, paid the salaries, and everything calmed down, especially since more important matters had arisen.
You might say, a trifle? Maybe. Barcelona often buys and sells players, but this case is unique. The coach needed a player, but a new manager came and sold that player because "they need to do this and that, they need this and that." Formally, everything seems right, but the coach (in this case, J. Guardiola) received a clear signal: he will not have full freedom to shape the team. And even if he does, his ideas can be discarded at any time by club officials, who would prefer to simply sell one player instead of looking for other ways to get the required amount of money.
The black cat leaped between the people of the previous management who remained to work in the club after S. Rosell's arrival, and the new Board of Directors after the honorable position of "Barcelona" president, taken away from Johan Cruyff, was taken by the same J. Laporta.
And then everything started to unravel like a small stone rolling down a hill, causing an avalanche. Barcelona did not treat their beloved Eric Abidal with respect, who was promised a new contract after recovering from a serious illness and liver transplant surgery. However, E. Abidal, who left the Catalan club with tears in his eyes, received not a contract, but only polite offers to return to Barça and take on some role in the team management.
Of course, the crisis was exacerbated by force majeure factors, such as the illness and death of Tito Vilanova, but the highest price was paid for decisions made by living people. And here, once again, details had an influence. For example, it was the current club management that decided to say goodbye to Chema Corbella, the soul of the Barça dressing room. He had been in the club for 30 years as the "kitman," the team employee in charge of the players' clothing.
Ch. Corbella was like a father to several generations of Barcelona players, and if you want a vivid comparison, you can remember Juozas Petkevičius, the masseur of the Lithuanian basketball team. Just like Juozas was eyes, ears, and the first psychologist and a friend 24 hours a day to the basketball players, Ch. Corbella was the same in Barça's dressing room. And suddenly he was gone. It is easy to imagine the players' feelings and internal turmoil.
Again, these are just small things. There have been numerous publications regarding more significant issues: Zlatan Ibrahimović's behavior and departure, the "Qatar Foundation," Lionel Messi's tax scandal, the so-called Neymargate, the resignation of S. Rosell, and ultimately, the dismissal of Andoni Zubizarreta, FIFA sanctions and the ban on registering players.
All of this has caused great harm to Barcelona's reputation, which must be rectified.
The remedy for the immense tension, psychological pressure, and a heap of negative external factors currently plaguing the club can only be elections. By announcing them, J. M. Bartomeu acted wisely and correctly, but at the same time signed his own "death" sentence. He is already doomed, and the elections this summer will not only bring no luck but will also be a shamefully humiliated. The fans' pain will be too fresh at that time.
Unless some miracle happens, Barcelona wins everything, the Spanish championship, the King's Cup, and the UEFA Champions League. Only then will J. M. Bartomeu still have some chance to "shine" in the elections, but for now, without a doubt, he has no chance. None at all.
And one more right decision by the current leadership: urging all future contenders for the presidency to behave correctly and support the team. The players now more than ever need support and tranquility. Their attention should not be diverted by scandals, power struggles within the club, external stimuli like "this ultimatum for that" and "that ultimatum for this."
The only thing the Barcelona players should desire now is to play. Just play football as well as they know and can, play with enjoyment and fire in their eyes. And then everything will be fine.
If J. M. Bartomeu wants to do something useful for the sake of the club he still leads, the president and his assistants should try to protect the team from media rumors. Yes, there is no need to be angry with journalists and communication is necessary, but they should not become friends and reliable allies either.
It is doubtful whether J. M. Bartomeu, leading the team in the midst of a crisis, would want to enter the club's history as the president who sold Lionel Messi. If so, then I do not envy him or his family up to the third generation. And the same fan curse awaits every future "Barça" leader if they agree to the departure of the little Argentine.
Meanwhile, "Barcelona" is looking for a sports director, as the chair left by the dismissed Andoni Zubizarreta is still vacant. And it is already clear that nothing serious will be found.
Why? For a very simple reason: the current leadership has about half a year left to work. The winner of the elections will bring his closest associates, one of whom will take over the role of sports director. These positions are very important, and they will become even more important in the summer of 2015.
As it is known, Barcelona will only be able to acquire new players after a year, which also means that future presidential candidates will not be able to feed the fans with promises: "I will do everything to bring player X to our team." This is a very popular lure thrown by all election participants, as election promises are the bread of those with voting rights.
Now that future candidates will not be able to use this bait, the choice of a sports director is like a wildcard in the cards of a player. The more famous and reputable the candidate, the more chances they have to win the final victory in the elections. And if Joan Laporta says that "Pep Guardiola will be the club's sports director," he will have a 99 out of 100 chance of succeeding.
It is likely that precisely for this reason Monchi, the transfer guru of Sevilla, is not rushing to join Barça. An experienced fox understands perfectly that if he accepts J. M. Bartomeu's offer now, he will have to resign in 6 months because the new authorities will not be tolerant of those who supported S. Rosell and J. M. Bartomeu.
In other words, who will want to stick their head under the guillotine, which will somehow chop it off in the summer of 2015.
And this summer, living would be desirable, oh, how desirable. It promises to be no less impressive than when you could still buy players.
fcbarcelona.lt
