Barcelona in crisis after six directors resign in protest at way club is run

africanspur

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
9,082
Supports
Tottenham Hotspur
He’s going to retire there, or at least leave on a free to play a season in America or Argentina. It’s mad that his loyalty to the club will eventually work against their interest. Its hard to argue against the idea that his wages are currently stifling their ability to build a squad and in an ideal world they would have cashed in on him like Real did for Ronaldo. It’s a couple of seasons too late now but £200m for Messi from PSG or City and £90m / season freed up would do Barca a big favour.
Considering how poorly they've spent money recently, I feel like it would have just been wasted and they wouldn't even have Messi anymore to bail them out when needed.
 

Pretzels81

Not Salty…
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,766
So, 2 Liga titles in 2018 and 2019 and a second place by 2020 is a major horrible crisis??
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
The day Messi retires they'll become a real mess. Too many players expected to perform like him and the pressure will be insane.
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,144
Supports
Real Madrid
It's the truth, he takes up too much in terms of wages, influence on and off the pitch. They need a reset
He’s going to retire there, or at least leave on a free to play a season in America or Argentina. It’s mad that his loyalty to the club will eventually work against their interest. Its hard to argue against the idea that his wages are currently stifling their ability to build a squad and in an ideal world they would have cashed in on him like Real did for Ronaldo. It’s a couple of seasons too late now but £200m for Messi from PSG or City and £90m / season freed up would do Barca a big favour.
they spent huge money in transfer fees and wages since Messi's new deal. It's not limiting them

Spending that money on the wrong players is. Also the fact they haven't hired a good enough manager since Luis Enrique, and the bar there was much lower at the time thanks to the MSN at the peak of their powers(and they still only got 1 CL and 2 leagues to show for it, and that only after Luis Enrique took a step back and started doing things more to the players' liking, though he did get Messi to move back to the right to make space for Neymar in the process. For about 6 months)
 

Pretzels81

Not Salty…
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,766
When Messi finally leaves they are going to have a nightmare few years like we did post Fergie. It's really not possible to replace the irreplaceable. The drop off st the club after that little genius goes will be staggering. They only won one CL before he started. What do they have now? 5 or 6? Can't remember.
2 UCL before he started and 18 league titles,tbh (he was marginally useful in the 2005/2006 Liga/UCL double).

And most Barça fans would swap current Messi for Neymar+Lautaro.
 

Renegade

Full Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
5,393
Messi is on €1.3m per week, Griezmann €850k per week, Suarez €450k per week, De Jong €300k per week, Busquets €300k per week, Coutinho, Rakitic, Pique, Dembele and Umtiti are on €250k per week each, Roberto €200k per week, Vidal €180k per week, Alba and Ter Stegen €165k per week... And most of them still have multiple years left in their contract!

Their wage bill is out of control, and their financials are dire. Their next board even if Bartomeu loses the election has a hell lot to deal with.
Surely Griezmann isn’t on that much? They need to worry about shifting Suarez before they do Messi.

Suarez, Vidal, Dembele,UmtitiCoutinho and Rakitic out this summer if they can find buyers would be a good start to the summer. Give Greizmann a chance as the number 9/false 9 next season and build around De Jong in midfield. Much easier said than done though.
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,337
Location
india
Seen some of their fans suggest a rebuild cannot happen until they let Messi go.
I think they can rebuild with or without Messi as long as they actually well run. Instead they keep splashing money on misfit players and hiring managers with no pedigree/genuine quality.
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,337
Location
india
I mean, didn't everyone here pretty much feel Griezmann was a poor fit beforehand? Strange that their board could not. It's basic errors like this that have gotten them in a soup. Countinho, another player that was an odd fit.

That coupled with poor managers. I mean, if you fancy yourself as an elite club, why not go for someone with genuine quality and not these random managers?
 

simonhch

Horrible boss
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
14,368
Location
Seventh Heaven
Supports
Urban Combat Preparedness
I mean, didn't everyone here pretty much feel Griezmann was a poor fit beforehand? Strange that their board could not. It's basic errors like this that have gotten them in a soup. Countinho, another player that was an odd fit.

That coupled with poor managers. I mean, if you fancy yourself as an elite club, why not go for someone with genuine quality and not these random managers?
Well they are cheap for a start. For example, Simeone makes 43m euros a year. Guardiola 24. Klopp and Mourinho 18. Zidane 16. Conté 15.

Quique Setien?.....6.

The top five highest paid players in the world, by contrast, are (in order) Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez, and Griezmann. When three of the five are from Barca, you can see why wages account for an unsustainable 78% of revenue, and why you might penny pinch when it comes to the coach. Regardless of how stupid all those decisions are.
 

RoyH1

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
5,888
Location
DKNY
I think they can rebuild with or without Messi as long as they actually well run. Instead they keep splashing money on misfit players and hiring managers with no pedigree/genuine quality.
The way they spent the Neymar money should be taught in sports business schools as to how not to run your sports business.
 

Mb194dc

Full Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
4,595
Supports
Chelsea
I don't think Bartomeu can stand for election again, there is a term limit.

Financially Barcelona are a shambles, big part of the problem is they've just continually pandered to what Messi and other big players in the squad expect. Totally turned their back on what made them successful originally, bringing through their own youth players.

With revenue now set to implode all the greed and bad transfers will come home to roost.

Very interesting article on Arthur transfer:

https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...lona-for-70mpjanic-to-move-in-other-direction

Essentially they've done this swap as they can book the sale money straight away but buy money is amortized over 5 years. Accounting tricks so they board arn't on the hook for the losses...
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,337
Location
india
Well they are cheap for a start. For example, Simeone makes 43m euros a year. Guardiola 24. Klopp and Mourinho 18. Zidane 16. Conté 15.

Quique Setien?.....6.

The top five highest paid players in the world, by contrast, are (in order) Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez, and Griezmann. When three of the five are from Barca, you can see why wages account for an unsustainable 78% of revenue, and why you might penny pinch when it comes to the coach. Regardless of how stupid all those decisions are.
Better to pay big for a quality manager than on the likes Griezmann. A performing manager will anyway save you money in the long run.
 

Dave Smith

Full Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2019
Messages
2,506
Supports
Anything anti-Dipper
I think people forget that Barca before the Xavi/Messi/Ineista crop where always bad at buying players. Before they stuck gold with that crop, they had had one CL and 16 leagues. Further, if you look at them before the 90's they were not really a player on the European level.

My hope for them is that they go back to their pre-90's place once Messi is done as they are one of the most arrogant clubs out there - 'more than a club' - and they have had the favour of decisions far too much for my liking in Europe.
 

KChucky88

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Messages
106
Location
Barnsley
Barcelona need sell Lionel Messi and new strong manager in this season will make Barcelona better future and no more then need look at Real Madrid is strong team now after sold C Ronaldo
 

reoffender

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
16
Interesting to see what happens when Messi is gone . La Liga is not as competitive as Premier League, so it's very unlikely that they will collapse like we did after Sir Alex retired.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
13,127
Supports
Erik ten Hag
Interesting to see what happens when Messi is gone . La Liga is not as competitive as Premier League, so it's very unlikely that they will collapse like we did after Sir Alex retired.
I agree on this one, Barcelona can always take the other La Liga team best player to bounce back, while we would always struggle when there are 5 other teams who are competing and nowdays PL clubs always have the power & money to make things difficult in selling their players to another PL teams. However they need to make the change about the board there otherwise they won't be able to recover if they keep messing things around for too long.
 

Adisa

likes to take afvanadva wothowi doubt
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
50,315
Location
Birmingham
That tweet is hyperbole. As long as there is steady cash flow, they won't be bankrupt.
On another point is takes staggering mismanagement for a club that makes €600m+ consistently to need that sort of a loan. Even in this climate.
 

Uniquim

Full Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
5,742
Location
Location, Location
They need a new board. For the Arthur / Pjanic deal, they needed to sell players by June 30 to balance the books, else the board of directors would either have to resign, or dip into their own pockets to make up the difference, as dictated by article 67 of the club's statutes.

They went with Arthur seemingly because they didn't get any offers for the other players they had wafted around in the press. With the incoming €72+10m extras for Arthur counting towards this years books, and and the outgoing €60m for Pjanic will be spread out over the numbers for several years. That's why it's not a Pjanic + 12m deal.

They also sold a player from Barca B to Juventus for €8.2 million, with a midfielder moving the other way for a similar fee, for the same reason.

And the Arthur deal was landed on June 29, which is the day before the fiscal year ends for the club, getting the books balanced just in time.
 

cyberman

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
37,331
Its telling they cant get this from a Spanish bank who would be a lot more politically lenient towards the club.
Thats well over 1b in debt. With the way theyre run its like a bad payday loan during the worst financial crisis football has ever seen in the background.
 

VBI

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
681
Supports
Celtic, Barca
The thing is, if they were willing to properly address this, they could do massive good in only a couple of seasons. Shift a lot of the overpaid 30+ guys out the door, promote several youth talents and focus on building something longer term, the income will still be massive but the expenditures would dip tremendously. The club has allowed the wage bill to grow to cartoonish levels. I was shocked when I watched that TalkFBC video that showed that Ter Stegen is one of the lowest paid guys, and most of the squad are floating around 200K a week. Utter madness to sign guys like Vidal on that wage, already over 30, and spending over 100M each on 3 players, with no plan on how to fit them into a team. The club might need to drop down a level of competitiveness for a couple of years as it rights itself, but given they are coming off an astonishing period of success, people can't be that upset about it.
 

FootballHQ

Full Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
18,139
Supports
Aston Villa
Well beaten by Madrid in the league really. Just seen they lost 2-1 at home to Osasuna (who played with 10 men for last 20 minutes).

Interested to see what they do in the summer, it feels a bit like summer 2008 again with the ageing first team lacking motivation.
 

Traub

Full Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
10,221
Barcelona need sell Lionel Messi and new strong manager in this season will make Barcelona better future and no more then need look at Real Madrid is strong team now after sold C Ronaldo
Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick
 

Bastian

Full Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
18,444
Supports
Mejbri
The most responsibly thing they could do would be bite the bullet, live a few years in the wilderness of only reaching the Champions League last 16 or quarters, 2nd or 3rd in La Liga and sell off their superstars earning upwards of 400-500K a week. Rinse and build again. It's not even worth it trying to build around Messi and Suarez. They probably need to cut their losses dramatically with Coutinho, Dembele (mostly because by most accounts he lacks the attitude to be a top player) and trust in youth more or less.
 

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,565
This loan is pocketchange for the powers that be out there that have the financial muscles to buy a football club like Barcelona.

The problem is of course that FC Barcelona is owned by it's fans. About 140.000 of them. A takeover would be extremely technical
 

Eddy_JukeZ

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
16,977
Awful transfers. Aging players. Bad manager. Bad board.

They're about to endure some trophy-barren years with or without Messi.
 

awop

Odds winner of 'Odds or Evens 2022/2023'
Newbie
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Messages
4,086
Location
Paris
Supports
Arsenal
If Madrid play it right they could bury them for a good while. They are going to waste Messi's last years.
 

TheNewEra

Knows Kroos' mentality
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
8,133
Messi should leave but he's at an age where I don't know who would take him
 

Josep Dowling

Full Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
7,622
They need a new board. For the Arthur / Pjanic deal, they needed to sell players by June 30 to balance the books, else the board of directors would either have to resign, or dip into their own pockets to make up the difference, as dictated by article 67 of the club's statutes.

They went with Arthur seemingly because they didn't get any offers for the other players they had wafted around in the press. With the incoming €72+10m extras for Arthur counting towards this years books, and and the outgoing €60m for Pjanic will be spread out over the numbers for several years. That's why it's not a Pjanic + 12m deal.

They also sold a player from Barca B to Juventus for €8.2 million, with a midfielder moving the other way for a similar fee, for the same reason.

And the Arthur deal was landed on June 29, which is the day before the fiscal year ends for the club, getting the books balanced just in time.
I find it amazing this sort of accounting is allowed in football. Surely there will be anti-avoidance put in place to mitigate this in the future?
 

TheNewEra

Knows Kroos' mentality
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
8,133
The real question is which team wouldn't take him?
Plenty, unless he's willing to take a pay-cut.

He'd be on ridiculous wages at Barca, which club would ruin their wage structure for a 33 year old Messi?

They'd need to sacrifice in a few areas of the pitch too.

Don't get me wrong, Messi is the greatest player of all time, he's amazing to watch. But he's honestly at that stage of his career where for example I'd rather take Sancho over Messi, a 20 year old over a 33 year old?

Unless Messi is on a free-transfer then there's no point.
 

Zen86

Full Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
13,871
Location
Sunny Manc
Poetic justice, thinking back on how patronising and up their own arse they’ve been in the past.
 

2mufc0

Everything is fair game in capitalism!
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
16,992
Supports
Dragon of Dojima
This is great to watch :lol: