Back
Arun - October 29, 2021
With the disastrous Ronald Koeman era at Barcelona now over, the club will once again start out on the road to recovery in a bid to bring the good old days back to the Nou Camp. How they intend to go about doing that remains to be seen.
Of course, we’ve heard whispers of Xavi leaving Qatar to return to his former club to reestablish ‘the Barcelona way’ and we’ve heard murmurs of the club turning their attention to River Plate’s manager, Marcelo Gallardo.
Whichever direction they eventually decide to go, they desperately need to get their house in order, for the greater good of world football more than anything.
As far as Barcelona’s on-field woes go, if you needed another reminder of how much turmoil the club are in, just have a look at the latest Champions League betting and you’ll see Barca at extraordinary odds of 94/1 to win the competition.
It’s worth mentioning that the club’s future doesn’t look much brighter in La Liga either, with the Catalans at 13/1 to win the league. On the pitch, yes, they’re an utter mess but astonishingly, what is happening off it pales by comparison.
There’s no announcement in place yet for Koeman replacement at Barcelona. It’s gonna take few hours while negotiations are ongoing for Xavi to leave Al Sadd & become the new manager. 🔴🇪🇸 #FCB #Xavi
Other candidates for Barça job also know Xavi is the favourite, as things stand. pic.twitter.com/1LaHsGkNDc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 27, 2021
Indeed, it was confirmed in late September that Barca’s debts were well over £1 billion with corruption charges rife amongst the previous board and ex-president. To put it plainly, the club has been run with willful neglect in terms of the future which means that the here and now for Barcelona is a painful place to be.
Here lies the real danger for world football though and that is when a club like Barcelona falls into maladministration and racks up eye-watering debts, they become susceptible to acting underhandedly.
You only need to look at the failed Super League to understand this and the role Barcelona played in trying to get it off the ground. If they weren’t so cash strapped then it’s hard to imagine that they would be interested in bringing the game and their reputation into such disrepute.
Super League giants, Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona are still fighting. pic.twitter.com/RvG4EdrCuw
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 26, 2021
After all, this is an institution that labeled itself as ‘more than a club’ after shunning the idea of a shirt sponsor for 107 years. These days, however, you’ll find Barca running out of the tunnel with Rakuten plastered all over their once holier than thou kit. It goes without saying but should be said that having a short sponsor makes good commercial sense and is far from a problem.
In fact, perhaps if Barcelona had done it earlier, then they wouldn’t be nervously peering out of a gap in the boardroom curtains, trying to see if the sheriff of the court is outside with a winding-up order.
Rather, the issue is that it appears to be all or nothing for this club. Indeed, such pompous leadership in the past has left the club unable to pay the bills which is why they’re risking the integrity of football in Europe to keep the lights on by going to other extremes to generate income.
When all is said and done, if Barcelona have a problem, then we all do, which is why everyone should desperately hope that the club gets the decisive and honest leadership they need to get them out of this hole.
Image Credit: LenaKozlova
