Have to agree to disagree. Good evening, anyway,
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
[Football] FC Barcelona statement on the Super League
- Thread starter Change at Barnham
- Start date
Have to agree to disagree. Good evening, anyway,
Hampster Gull
New member
- Dec 22, 2010
- 13,462
No, we don’t have to agree to disagree but happy to leave you to it
You didn’t like it that there’s a discussion that goes beyond the simple hatred of 12 sets of owners.
Jumping on posts that did.
Now thar’s bizarre.
clapham_gull
Legacy Fan
- Aug 20, 2003
- 25,432
It's a bizarre complex situation that I was trying to explain to a colleague tonight.
Cultural differences to "competitive sport", the so called "richest" clubs up to their eyes in debt, other clubs (with a lesser history) drowning in money but not wanting to left behind.
Foreign leagues envious of the technically inferior but more "attractive" (to a television audience) Premier League and wanting a bit of the action.
Add to that the existing clearly dysfunctional leadership of FIFA and UEFA.
It's been broadly explained as the Big Clubs v The Small Ones, but retrospectively I see it as attempted "truce" between a number of competitive factions at the top of the game.
It was always going to end in failure because it was quite easy for the "rest of football" to come together (over 48 hours) and exploit the cracks in a very fragile marriage of convenience.
What they clearly didn't plan for (and let's be honest surprised us all) was how negatively their own fans would react.
Not so much divide and conquer but divide and unite.
Cultural differences to "competitive sport", the so called "richest" clubs up to their eyes in debt, other clubs (with a lesser history) drowning in money but not wanting to left behind.
Foreign leagues envious of the technically inferior but more "attractive" (to a television audience) Premier League and wanting a bit of the action.
Add to that the existing clearly dysfunctional leadership of FIFA and UEFA.
It's been broadly explained as the Big Clubs v The Small Ones, but retrospectively I see it as attempted "truce" between a number of competitive factions at the top of the game.
It was always going to end in failure because it was quite easy for the "rest of football" to come together (over 48 hours) and exploit the cracks in a very fragile marriage of convenience.
What they clearly didn't plan for (and let's be honest surprised us all) was how negatively their own fans would react.
Not so much divide and conquer but divide and unite.
Bartemeu was awful, obviously, but their problems seemed to start when they simply couldn't replace Iniesta and Xavi adequately (because, frankly, it's impossible). I was in Barcelona on the Monday they unveiled Coutinho. The money and hubris involved in such a failure was staggering and the hits just kept on coming.
Laporta should be cutting the cloth accordingly, not running away to join the circus. Let some other Spanish clubs have a chance at relative success and try living as more than a club, rather than using it as a slogan.
nicko31
Well-known member
Always remember them having UNICEF as shirt sponsors and thought they were a bit special, seems that's not the case at all...
Hampster Gull
New member
- Dec 22, 2010
- 13,462
I know, right, shameful. I have a Catalan friends, visit them frequently, I know the culture reasonably well. Barca is a core part of the identity of Catalans and they’ve been let down so badly.
Mo Gosfield
Well-known member
- Aug 11, 2010
- 6,295
Each founding member of the ESL put in £8m. That money was to pay for the legal process to set up the ESL. Some or most of that money will have gone and any balance will still be within the company ( The ESL ) They all signed a legally binding contract and there will be financial penalties for breaking that contract. We don't know the extent of those penalties. Barca, Real and Juve have deliberately not broken their contracts with the ESL. The ESL still exists as a company. The six English clubs ( + 3 others ) will face a protracted legal battle, which will cost them more money.
At one point they were all in and now nine of them are out. There would have been no ' cooling off ' period, which would have allowed them to trigger a release clause. You don't spend a huge amount of time and money setting this up and keeping it quiet, gaining massive comittment from some of the biggest clubs in the world and offer a 'cooling off ' period. This was long term and deadly serious.
So, it was a big decision to join and it was a big decision to leave. It will cost the six English clubs a huge amount, in more ways than one. Aside of the arrogance, insensitivity and contempt shown, they have forfeited any right to be trusted again. They have got to find a way to work with people who don't trust them anymore. Above anything else they have alienated their respective fans and have now empowered them to take action against these owners. Simple apologies were not enough, Talk is cheap. This is the straw that has broken the camel's back.
At one point they were all in and now nine of them are out. There would have been no ' cooling off ' period, which would have allowed them to trigger a release clause. You don't spend a huge amount of time and money setting this up and keeping it quiet, gaining massive comittment from some of the biggest clubs in the world and offer a 'cooling off ' period. This was long term and deadly serious.
So, it was a big decision to join and it was a big decision to leave. It will cost the six English clubs a huge amount, in more ways than one. Aside of the arrogance, insensitivity and contempt shown, they have forfeited any right to be trusted again. They have got to find a way to work with people who don't trust them anymore. Above anything else they have alienated their respective fans and have now empowered them to take action against these owners. Simple apologies were not enough, Talk is cheap. This is the straw that has broken the camel's back.
Braggfan
In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded
- May 12, 2014
- 1,838
Barcelona say that there needs to be financial reform, but really what they are saying is that football needs to big rejigged so they can pay off their debts. In other words, they've been spending money they dont really have. Real Madrid brought out the codswallop that they're trying to save football, that young people aren't interested anymore which is complete horsesh*t. If viewing figures and attendaces are down its because their own greed has pushed the prices up so that an increasing number of people can't afford to watch them.
Saving football and bringing about fininancial restructure isn't about making the big rich clubs richer at the expensive of everyone else. That would be like a billionaire trying to stop world hunger by buying up the world's food supplies and eating it all himself. If Barcelone believe there is "a need for structural reforms to guarantee the financial sustainability", then they and all the other big 6 have to accept the reality of what that means, restructuring it for everyone. There should be a limit on huge transfer fees, and wages. Now is the perfect opportunity to look at what options are on the table, and what can be done to achieve fair competition and even distribution of the money the game generates.
Saving football and bringing about fininancial restructure isn't about making the big rich clubs richer at the expensive of everyone else. That would be like a billionaire trying to stop world hunger by buying up the world's food supplies and eating it all himself. If Barcelone believe there is "a need for structural reforms to guarantee the financial sustainability", then they and all the other big 6 have to accept the reality of what that means, restructuring it for everyone. There should be a limit on huge transfer fees, and wages. Now is the perfect opportunity to look at what options are on the table, and what can be done to achieve fair competition and even distribution of the money the game generates.
On the footballing side, I’d add when Puyol retired. Piquet and Puyol were an immense partnerhship.
They’ve never recovered, a soft defence is their achilles heel.
Tokyohands
Well-known member
The way to ensure financial sustainability of football is to get the spending in check. Many clubs are functioning beyond their means and like any business or household that can only be done for so long. The clubs seem to think they can spend spend spend and shake the money tree that is their 'customers' (even our lovely club has been known to refer to us as that) to cover their arses. That just isn't possible any more, fans can only spend so much on attending games, kits, tv packages etc and although people do want to cough up when they love something as much as their football club, enough is enough. Fans are sick of being taken advantage of.
Having read both statements, I think he did.Now why didn’t you do their press release?
The 'oops we're sorry' is indeed mostly BS (it is possible one or two of them is a little sorry). Particularly Liverpool's pretend 'obviously we weren't going to do this without checking with the fans' after they'd already signed agreements.
But for Barca (and Real) to not only offer no apology, but also carry on pushing for it and trying to justify it, is clearly a lot worse.
I'm really surprised by you Swansman. Over the summer Messi said he wanted to join City, but due to a technicality (the previous season took longer to complete than planned) he wasn't able to do so without Barca's say so, and they said no. They said they'd like to continue paying him 1 million a week, and he can then go for free at the end of this season. And you claim that's a need for survival, not greed?
While Real Madrid sign David Alaba and shop for Mbappe etc. Who are you trying to kid?
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 17,143
'We're broke' roughly translates to 'We are no longer in a position to ruin football by paying ridiculous sums for players'.
Good!
Now the sensible clubs need to get together and work out how to stem the flow of silly money in and around our game.
I listened to the Bayer president talking on Football Weekly earlier. He made a lot of sense.
Its not "clearly" a lot worse, but if you think so - it means the PR divisions of the PL clubs did a good job as you are obviously buying the apology hook, line and sinker. Trying to justify it comes across as more honest as I see it.
Yes, its a need for survival (because they have been greedy and its gone all kinds of wrong). Paying Messi is not the problem. He is estimated to annually bring in €130-200m a year to the club, and now more than ever they desperately need him there to bring in the cash. Their problem in the last ten years is paying transfer fees and massive wages to players that didnt perform on and off the pitch.
I don't watch enough La Liga to know the answer to this, but are the likes of Brighton technically inferior to the likes of Alaves?
Mmm, I can't see that myself.
The biggest problem I see with that, is that quite a few of the big clubs will simply cheat. They'll secretly pay money money to players (and their families) etc, from hidden accounts, making it so that the law abiding clubs have no chance to compete.