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Barcelona: regeneration or contagion? THE JOURNAL OF SPORT, LEISURE & RISK WITH AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE March 2022

Barcelona: chairman who really paved the way for Barcelona would go on. No problems.

regeneration the glory years, was knifed in the back But problems there were. Recruitment
by former friend Sandro Rosell in that
year. Or maybe it was 2012, when Pep
was ham-fisted, as they passed over
Guardiola left, seemingly because he
Erland Haarland and Kylian Mbappe,
or contagion? was a central pillar of the old regime. settling on Oumane Dembele. The
Even then regarded as one of the world’s
Frenchman’s club, Borussia Dortmund,
greatest managers, he has since gone on
knew a mark when they saw one,
to become an icon of coaching genius. squeezing twice the 80 million Barclona
Tim Mottram, independent sports journalist decided was their top number out of the
Today, the name Josep Maria Bartomeu Spanish giants. Injuries and poor form
is barely uttered in Catalonia without a have seen Dembele play sporadically
For about one hundred years, most developed nations observed a gold standard. curse preceding it. Rosell’s arrest in 2014 since then, and he has become a
Put simply, the amount of paper money circulating was decided by how much gold paved the way for Bartomeu to take over scapegoat for the regime. Not wishing
the country had in their vaults. Economies existed in a clearly defined matrix.
the presidency, and he can best be seen to change a losing formula, Bartomeu
as the villain of the story. Certainly a fan splashed another 200 million on Philippe
But then gold was replaced by what can Enter Barcelona FC. of the club, he was not a football man and Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann. Neither
only be described as ideas. Potential, perhaps shows best why a massive entity player would be played in their preferred
debt, assets…everything got a bit more There was a time when Barcelona like Barcelona needs to be run responsibly. position, and both would be gone within a
marginal and a lot more speculative. represented something more than American banks pre-2008 were too big few years at a massive discount.
Everyone was having a great time, with football. They dominated the continent to fail. Barcelona pre-Bartomau was too
cheap credit meaning that white goods for a decade, this unstoppable force of blessed to fail. Meanwhile, down at La Mastia, the fabled
companies and construction boomed. football genius. For one magical moment academy, something was wrong. In the
everything clicked, and they were the The attacking trio of Leonel Messi, Luiz middle of the decade, Barcelona put out a
Then 2008 happened, and since then, the neutral’s dream team. Flowing football, Suarez and Neymar delivered trophies like team made up entirely of graduates, along
world economy has been like an out-of- seemingly unchained to dubious sponsors, Vito Corleone delivers horse heads: with with the coach who was also from the
control stagecoach in a Western B movie. superstars seemingly conveyor-belting fatalistic finality. Neymar’s 200-million- finishing school. Now, the cupboard was
Sure, there is a driver. He has the reins, into the first team like something out of euro release clause must have appeared bare. Perhaps these things come in cycles,
but the horse is half mad and they are an Isaak Asimov novel. They stood above so high that it was mere trivia. Try but no new players were stepping up. On
certainly not on the same page about the every other Super Club, pure and divine. telling that to a petrostate. Paris St the field, things were falling apart.
direction they wish to go. And if you wish Germain came in with an offer, Neymar’s
to continue the movie metaphor, there is a Only they weren’t. Drunk on the fantasy immaculately-coiffed head was turned,
stick of dynamite, lit and sparkling, taped of destiny, they were due a monster and suddenly Barca seemed
to the back of the wagon. hangover. rattled. Stars this big don’t
leave Barcelona.
The problem comes back to an issue far Like many hangovers, it is hard in the Like many hangovers, it
older than gold standards: the human harsh light of the following day to Bartomeu and the board
capacity to believe in dreams. pinpoint where it started going wrong. probably shrugged and is hard in the harsh light
Perhaps it was 2010. Joan Laporta, the turned to the market. of the following day to
Everyone is replaceable.
pinpoint where it started

going wrong. Perhaps it
was 2010.

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