FC Barcelona Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Turtwig · 09-06-2015 6:09pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

It's great that the club is keeping Enrique, it's not good that he is so aligned with Bartomeu, a cancerous presence at the club.

They might not be keeping him. Spanish press on monday were fairly confident on their reports that Enrique had hinted he wanted to stay. But contract or no contract, it's not in his hands. If Laporta wins he could just as easily realise Enrique from contract. Unlikely but I'll bet anything Bartomeu will play up that fear to the socis.

IrishCule · 09-06-2015 8:14pm

No president could possibly get rid of Enrique after the season we have just had.

Andersonisgod · 11-06-2015 3:41pm

Just an update, apparently the prospective presidential candidates thus far are Agustì Benedito (confirmed to run), Bartomeu (confirmed to run), Jordi Majò (will run but not yet officially confirmed) and Joan Laporta (will run but not officially confirmed)

miralize · 11-06-2015 3:44pm

And all except Bartomeu are against the upcoming Qatar renewal deal

IrishCule · 11-06-2015 8:27pm

I'm certain Laporta will win a landslide. Not sure how I feel about it, while he brought so much success to the club he also left it in not the best financial position.

Andersonisgod · 11-06-2015 8:39pm

IrishCule wrote: »

I'm certain Laporta will win a landslide. Not sure how I feel about it, while he brought so much success to the club he also left it in not the best financial position.

I dunno, I mean it's been said before but prior to him being the club president Newcastle were generating more revenue (could be wrong there) than Barcelona. He did a lot of good maximizing the monetary potential of Barcelona while at the same time not completely destroying club traditions and what he brought to the club on the pitch can't be argued. He's a Cruyfista, his primary concern has always been the welfare of the club, he's the enemy of Rosell and that's enough for me to say he's the right man for the job.

IrishCule · 11-06-2015 10:39pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I dunno, I mean it's been said before but prior to him being the club president Newcastle were generating more revenue (could be wrong there) than Barcelona. He did a lot of good maximizing the monetary potential of Barcelona while at the same time not completely destroying club traditions and what he brought to the club on the pitch can't be argued. He's a Cruyfista, his primary concern has always been the welfare of the club, he's the enemy of Rosell and that's enough for me to say he's the right man for the job.

No doubt Barca's revenue grew tremendously during his reign but alot of that was due to the success of the team coinciding with a time when the money was exploding in world football.

As much as I hate alot of the things Rosell and his cronies have done, I really do think that financially the club is in a much better position because of them. The one caveat here is that there was plenty of bull**** from the Rosell camp trying to make it seem that Laporta almost ran the club into the ground, so maybe it wasn't all true and I am overstating the importance of Rosell's financial work but I don't think I am.

MisterAnarchy · 11-06-2015 10:45pm

Whoever is the new president I hope that they dont feel the need to put their imprint on the club and change things too much or buy marquee players just for the sake of it .
If it isnt broken dont fix it.

Andersonisgod · 22-06-2015 8:04pm

So Joan Laporta has opened his campaign all guns blazing. Says Abidal would be the sporting director, Ludovic Giuly would also play a role in the club, supports the continuing management of Luis Enrique, says that La Masia has the handbrake on right now and we must get back to it being a priority, says if the Man Utd jersey is worth 70 million then the Barcelona shirt is worth, and should cost, far more. Says that Rosell and Bartomeu represent Qatar, he represents UNICEF, reaffirms the club's commitment to Catalan independence, says that while Bartomeu and Rosell shouldn't be arrested they should "stop lying" says that the club's treatment of his friend Johan Cruyff was disgraceful and stresses reconciliation with one of the most important figures in Barcelona history, says that there are many interesting options in the transfer market that the club could pursue.

In short, bring this man back!

Also the club are closing in on the return of Denis Suarez who will cut short his loan deal at Sevilla and return to Barcelona, the club perhaps see big things for him next season.

MisterAnarchy · 22-06-2015 11:23pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

So Joan Laporta has opened his campaign all guns blazing. Says Abidal would be the sporting director, Ludovic Giuly would also play a role in the club, supports the continuing management of Luis Enrique, says that La Masia has the handbrake on right now and we must get back to it being a priority, says if the Man Utd jersey is worth 70 million then the Barcelona shirt is worth, and should cost, far more. Says that Rosell and Bartomeu represent Qatar, he represents UNICEF, reaffirms the club's commitment to Catalan independence, says that while Bartomeu and Rosell shouldn't be arrested they should "stop lying" says that the club's treatment of his friend Johan Cruyff was disgraceful and stresses reconciliation with one of the most important figures in Barcelona history, says that there are many interesting options in the transfer market that the club could pursue.

In short, bring this man back!

While he was at it did he mention anything about a role for Andersonisgod ?
Perhaps English language marketing manager ?:D

dfx- · 22-06-2015 11:55pm

I wouldn't trust any Spanish chairman really though, they're all largely the same sort..

glued · 23-06-2015 12:05am

Andersonisgod wrote: »

So Joan Laporta has opened his campaign all guns blazing. Says Abidal would be the sporting director, Ludovic Giuly would also play a role in the club, supports the continuing management of Luis Enrique, says that La Masia has the handbrake on right now and we must get back to it being a priority, says if the Man Utd jersey is worth 70 million then the Barcelona shirt is worth, and should cost, far more. Says that Rosell and Bartomeu represent Qatar, he represents UNICEF, reaffirms the club's commitment to Catalan independence, says that while Bartomeu and Rosell shouldn't be arrested they should "stop lying" says that the club's treatment of his friend Johan Cruyff was disgraceful and stresses reconciliation with one of the most important figures in Barcelona history, says that there are many interesting options in the transfer market that the club could pursue.

In short, bring this man back!

Barcelona really need to dump Rosell. I'm not sure if Laporta is the man but he's probably the only one to beat Rosell. Surely there is a large number of cules who are deeply concerned by the clubs connections to Qatar. Also, he's right Barcelona are currently far more marketable than Man United but you would have to imagine that companies are fairly uneasy sponsoring a team which quite strong links to Qatar at the minute.

Like or not, Rosell sold the club's image with the Qatar deal.

MisterAnarchy · 23-06-2015 12:10am

dfx- wrote: »

I wouldn't trust any Spanish chairman really though, they're all largely the same sort..

I like his style !

El-ex-presidente-azulgrana-dis_54187588453_54115221155_600_244.jpg

Andersonisgod · 23-06-2015 12:23am

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

While he was at it did he mention anything about a role for Andersonisgod ?
Perhaps English language marketing manager ?:D

I was hoping for a title more like "minister for propaganda"

But genuinely I think he's the right man for the job, he turned this club around the first time and we are in a much healthier position in the pitch at least this time.

Andersonisgod · 23-06-2015 12:28am

glued wrote: »

Barcelona really need to dump Rosell. I'm not sure if Laporta is the man but he's probably the only one to beat Rosell. Surely there is a large number of cules who are deeply concerned by the clubs connections to Qatar. Also, he's right Barcelona are currently far more marketable than Man United but you would have to imagine that companies are fairly uneasy sponsoring a team which quite strong links to Qatar at the minute.

Like or not, Rosell sold the club's image with the Qatar deal.

Sorry man I'm assuming you mean Bartomeu because Rosell stepped down quite a few months ago. Though Rosell certainly did begin many of the problems at the club, namely the association with Qatar, the arguments with Guardiola and split with Cruyff, the transfer ban, the lack of focus on La Masia and Catalan independence.

glued · 23-06-2015 12:38am

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Sorry man I'm assuming you mean Bartomeu because Rosell stepped down quite a few months ago. Though Rosell certainly did begin many of the problems at the club, namely the association with Qatar, the arguments with Guardiola and split with Cruyff, the transfer ban, the lack of focus on La Masia and Catalan independence.

I do indeed sorry about that. We all know what Barcelona stand for as a club but as an outsider Rosell has certainly taken away from that. I don't think the club will be able to get away from the Qatari association until the deal ends but I'm a big believer in what Barcelona stand for and they shouldn't be a marketing tool for the Qataris in Europe. It's sad that Rosell and Bartomeu have sold the club out in that way.

Bringing Laporta back will ensure that the club reverts back to its old ways. A lot of people stick the knife in at Barca for the Qatari association but as you say he's also pushed back the political stance of the club over the support independence for Catalunya.

He was good at generating money and he stabled the ship financially but it's time for Barca to move on from the era of Rosell and Bartomeu.

dfx- · 23-06-2015 12:50am

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I was hoping for a title more like "minister for propaganda"
But genuinely I think he's the right man for the job, he turned this club around the first time and we are in a much healthier position in the pitch at least this time.

why'd he leave the first time? How much of it was him taking his eye off the ball to run as a politician and how much was it a civil war orchestrated by him or Rosell?

Turtwig · 23-06-2015 1:19am

Barto won a treble. He might win.
Laporta's legendary status is mostly down to him being the "architect" of the first treble team.

Rosell refused to offload pique. Pep wanted him gone.

Rosell's irregularities were only discovered because a soci wanted access to the documents and kept getting brick walls. So he involved the authorities. Had Rosell obliged it's highly unlikely a pharmacist would have spotted the infringements.

As dfx noted, this is Spain corruption plagues Spanish football. Who's to say laporta didn't have similar dealings?

I found it telling he didn't agree that Rosell should be arrested.

Aenaes · 23-06-2015 11:29am

Didn't Laporta start his first election campaign with a promise to sign Beckham?

gimmick · 23-06-2015 11:30am

Yup. But he got Ronaldinho instead.

I know which Id prefer even with hindsight

Aenaes · 23-06-2015 11:40am

Yeah, it's just building your presidential foundations with the intent to spend a large amount of money on David Beckham doesn't really indicate a strong desire or a lot of faith in the youth academy. Maybe Beckham did play "Total Football" though and would have suited the "Barcelona way".

Anyway, that whole paragraphn Andersonisgod posted is just Laporta saying things people want to hear.

gimmick · 23-06-2015 12:12pm

But that is politics the world over.

Plus Laporta has the track record to back it all up.

Turtwig · 23-06-2015 1:51pm

gimmick wrote: »

Yup. But he got Ronaldinho instead.

I know which Id prefer even with hindsight

It was actually Rosell that managed to save Laporta's face. Rosell got Ronaldinho. He used his contacts in Nike south America.

IrishCule · 24-06-2015 1:02pm

Honestly my only concern with Laporta was the money side of things. It appears from the outside looking in that Rosell and Co. did a much better job of managing the clubs finances than Laporta did (with regards to accumulation and payment of debt etc).

From the footballing side of things there can't be much complaints about Laporta IMO. His model of what Barca should be, align with my and most others views I think - Cruyff, Mes Que un Club, La Masia based first team supplemented with big stars.

IrishCule · 06-07-2015 9:16pm

Arda Turan officially signed with a clause for the new board to sell him back to Atletico for almost the same price.

Great player but a weird signing IMO.

Turtwig · 06-07-2015 11:03pm

Jays lads that transfer ban has really punished ye

MisterAnarchy · 06-07-2015 11:21pm

IrishCule wrote: »

Arda Turan officially signed with a clause for the new board to sell him back to Atletico for almost the same price.

Great player but a weird signing IMO.

Strange signing allright ,not sure how he will fit into the team ,seems Enrique really wanted him though.
Apparently the new president can resell Turan back to Athletico /cancel the deal and Barcelona have that right until the 20th of July.

£24m is pretty good business when you consider that Southampton want £27m from Man Utd for the vastly inferior Schneiderlin.

eagle eye · 07-07-2015 9:37am

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Strange signing allright ,not sure how he will fit into the team ,seems Enrique really wanted him though.
Apparently the new president can resell Turan back to Athletico /cancel the deal and Barcelona have that right until the 20th of July.

£24m is pretty good business when you consider that Southampton want £27m from Man Utd for the vastly inferior Schneiderlin.

How can you compare Turan to Schneiderlin, its like Apples and Oranges.

Schneiderlin is a DM/Box to Box type. Turan is an attacking wide player.

There is a very small market of elite box to box/DM type players while there is a currently a glut of top class wide attacking players. You have, in no particular order, Hazard, Reus, Gotze, Silva, Bale, Ribery, Neymar, Ronaldo, Sterling, Coutinho, Mane, Depay, Di Maria, Lavezzi, Griezmann and I'm missing plenty

Anyways I loved the Barca team under Pep but now they are just like Real Madrid going out spending huge money to buy the best players. The romance is gone for me. I was never a fan of Barcelona but loved the football and philosophy that was prevalent while Pep was in charge.

Andersonisgod · 07-07-2015 11:07am

My pet peeve has quickly become "the transfer ban." It's not a transfer ban, it's never been a transfer ban, its a registration ban, it's not out fault that the media interpreted it wrong, it's not our fault that you believed the media's incorrect interpretation of the ban so stop using it as a stick to beat the club. It isn't some wild conspiracy to keep Barcelona on top, it isn't Uefa showing favouritism, it's them enforcing the actual punishment dealt to the club, not the punishment that the media and you think it is.

greendom · 07-07-2015 1:28pm

How does the punishment actually impact on Barca ?

GLaDOS · 07-07-2015 1:33pm

Andersonisgod wrote: »

My pet peeve has quickly become "the transfer ban." It's not a transfer ban, it's never been a transfer ban, its a registration ban, it's not out fault that the media interpreted it wrong, it's not our fault that you believed the media's incorrect interpretation of the ban so stop using it as a stick to beat the club. It isn't some wild conspiracy to keep Barcelona on top, it isn't Uefa showing favouritism, it's them enforcing the actual punishment dealt to the club, not the punishment that the media and you think it is.

FIFA refer to it as a transfer ban themselves, before specifying that it means they cannot register players

As such, FC Barcelona is to serve a transfer ban which will see the club prevented from registering any players at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2014/m=8/news=fifa-rejects-appeals-of-fc-barcelona-and-spanish-fa-in-relation-to-tra-2423945.html

Can hardly blame everyone else for using the same terminology

Andersonisgod · 07-07-2015 2:27pm

ScienceNerd wrote: »

FIFA refer to it as a transfer ban themselves, before specifying that it means they cannot register players

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2014/m=8/news=fifa-rejects-appeals-of-fc-barcelona-and-spanish-fa-in-relation-to-tra-2423945.html

Can hardly blame everyone else for using the same terminology

Yes and they then outline what that means, of course nobody cares about that, they saw the term "transfer ban" and went to town.

The punishment is that even though the club can sign players, as they have done with Vidal and Turan, they still can't play till January so it is a punishment.

MisterAnarchy · 18-07-2015 1:27am

Today's the big day ,Election Day

~Rebel~ · 18-07-2015 9:12pm

So, seems like Bartomeu has won fairly comfortably.

I don't know the in's and out's of this election to be honest, but i'm surprised Laporta only got 36%, thought he had a huge amount of goodwill built up from his previous terms in office.

IrishCule · 18-07-2015 10:52pm

Pretty disappointed to be honest. Laporta is no saint but definitely better than Barto. I expect the Camp Nou to be renamed to McDonald's Stadium and the team name to be changed to FC Qatar Barcelona in the next 6 years

MisterAnarchy · 18-07-2015 11:35pm

IrishCule wrote: »

Pretty disappointed to be honest. Laporta is no saint but definitely better than Barto. I expect the Camp Nou to be renamed to McDonald's Stadium and the team name to be changed to FC Qatar Barcelona in the next 6 years

Very disappointing result to be honest.

I cant see the person who forced these elections to be brought forward a year being happy, Messi.
The whole idea of the early elections was to get Bartomeu out.:(

JPA · 19-07-2015 12:14am

Hard to lose after overseeing a treble, that's the peak.

MisterAnarchy · 19-07-2015 2:33am

JPA wrote: »

Hard to lose after overseeing a treble, that's the peak.

Perhaps but I dont think Bartomeu played much of a role in that success.
If anything the success was in spite of alot of his decision making and that of his predecessor Rosell of whom Bartomeu was a puppet.

Rosell is the man who has always wanted to reinvent the wheel.
A vice-president when Joan Laporta came to power in a footballing renaissance fuelled by Johan Cruyff-ist philosophy back in 2003, Rosell always detested the Dutchman’s manner, legacy and influence at the Nou Camp.

Smack bang in the middle of Barcelona’s Field-of-Dreams vision and painstaking construction, Rosell walked away from the club in 2005, contending that everyone was out of step except for him.
He wanted big, athletic, preferably Brazilian footballers — he wanted physical power and powerful spending. He wanted power.

Barcelona were producing intelligent, balletic, technical geniuses like Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Messi while scouting, training and developing to a Cruyff/Ajax/Rinus Michels template.

Rosell dedicated himself to finding ‘his’ Messi — an iconic footballer who would, in theory, give Rosell his place in the history books and allow Barcelona to edge the Argentinian towards a vastly lucrative transfer to fund the vanity project of a new stadium.

Barcelona were a repeat-Superbowl winning franchise with an almost perfect playbook — and Rosell burned the formula.

He launched an offensive against Cruyff so malignant that the club icon handed back his entitlement to be honorary president and hasn’t been to the Nou Camp since.

The Cruyff ideology becoming verboten inevitably coincided with Pep Guardiola beginning to feel a cold and distant relationship with president Rosell.
It all caused Barcelona to prematurely lose a tired, burned-out coach .

Bartomeu is Rosell's puppet,his stooge.
What this election has done is reelect the same guys who are responsible for all of the scandals that have happened during the past few years, including the transfer ban, the Neymar case,etc.
Most of Bartomeu's votes were from the seniors, 60+.

Laporta ran a terrible campaign ,his main strategy seemed to be the signing of Pogba despite 70% of the Barcelona members not wanting to sign him for the reputed 80m euro.
I get the feeling he foolishly thought he only had to show up to be elected.

There is a good chance Bartomeu wont see out his term after Rosell and Bartomeu were found guilty by a judge for tax fraud and fraudulent administration in a probe focusing on the signing of Neymar.

Andersonisgod · 19-07-2015 2:48am

I understand why this result happened as it did (a treble and a strong, biased in house media campaign will do that). Though Bartomeu's contributions to that treble success were zero, rather he almost derailed the whole thing with his polling on the prospect of selling Messi.
I guess the good guy doesn't always win and not everything has a happy ending. If this were a Hollywood flick Laporta would have vanquished his evil, Qatari-backed nemesis.
I don't know about anyone else but when I think of Barcelona I think of beauty both in how the club strive to play football and how they conduct themselves. I think of youth and how Barcelona is the antithesis to Real Madrid's Galactico model. I think of Catalunya and the club's important role in that struggle. I think of Cruyff, Michels but more than anything else I think of Pep Guardiola's monster come to life, his glorious creation, his vision played out in front of him by Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Messi all from La Masia, all made possible by a President who idolized Johan Cruyff as a kid, Joan Laporta. I guess we may never see those days again, it really was something special, when the phrase "mes que un club" couldn't have been more poignant.

Turtwig · 19-07-2015 2:58am

Treble or not. Laporta's approach to the campaign makes me question how competent he'd be as president. Only Donal trump could have done worse.

Now the main reason for cules to resent the barca board is gone. This board is now an elected one.

eternal · 29-07-2015 12:18am

Anyone got dates for the Super Cups??

MisterAnarchy · 29-07-2015 12:24am

eternal wrote: »

Anyone got dates for the Super Cups??

Spanish Super Cup ,
First leg
Athletic Club - FC Barcelona , August 14th at 10.00pm CET at San Mames.
2nd leg
Barcelona against Athletic Club Bilbao, August 17 at 10.00pm CET at Camp Nou.

eternal · 29-07-2015 12:25am

Cheers

Andersonisgod · 29-07-2015 1:14am

Serious lack of Samper in this team, Gumbau is nowhere near his level.

Andersonisgod · 29-07-2015 1:22am

Douglas whipped off after 17 minutes of a pre season friendly, making a strong case to be considered the worst Barcelona player ever.

dfx- · 29-07-2015 1:38am

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Douglas whipped off after 17 minutes of a pre season friendly, making a strong case to be considered the worst Barcelona player ever.

Some way to go still over Pinto, Rochemback, Dos Santos, daddy Busquets, Chygrynskiy, Rustu, Maxi Lopez(?)

Keepers feature a fair bit in that list....

MisterAnarchy · 29-07-2015 1:39am

That should have been 2-0 ,atrocious defending.
Suarez looks lively ,he is like an eel,you can tell the Chelsea defenders are very wary of him.

Andersonisgod · 29-07-2015 1:54am

dfx- wrote: »

Some way to go still over Pinto, Rochemback, Dos Santos, daddy Busquets, Chygrynskiy, Rustu, Maxi Lopez(?)

Keepers feature a fair bit in that list....

I think we can safely add Douglas to that hall of fame.

Good first half, lots of chances created though also lots of chances conceded. Suarez looks even sharper than last season and Rakitic did well too. Of that starting 11 i suspect only 3 would start in our strongest lineup and 1 of those was out of position in the first half. On the downside Bartra, Douglas, Gumbau, Sandro and Munir all struggled.

Andersonisgod · 29-07-2015 2:08am

Loving this whole "don't play your best young players in a glamour friendly even when clubs are sniffing around him" strategy. Samper remains firmly on the bench.

Andersonisgod · 29-07-2015 2:16am

Suarez cool as a cucumber, fantastic composure and finish from the Uruguayan hitman.

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