Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Fergal on March 07, 2012, 09:21:44 PM
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Just watching Barca hammer the opposition, made me think.
How much do you think it would cost to turn us into a club like Barca and who would manage us?
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I imagine a team-kidnapping could be organised for less than a million quid.
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In theory that Barcelona side didn't cost that much as so many of them came through the ranks. Probably less than MON spunked.
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Dimitar Berbatov got kidnapped by an opposition team when he was a teenager, we should probably go and get some tips from them.
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A lot of money, but on wages and infrastructure as much if not more than transfer fees.
Also, it would take time. A LOT of time.
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15 + years of the correct approach.
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It would be a long long time for us to be like Barcelona they are light years ahead of us at the moment.
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I dont believe that money is the only way forward, a few good appointments could see us doing an arsenal rather than a barcelona. Kev Mac back to the reserves for me, he has achieved so much success there it is where he belongs. Mcleish out at the end of the season and someone like Glenn Hoddle into run things on a long term contract with a clear vision. Maybe bring in an assistant with Villa in their hearts like Martin Laursen or Ian Taylor to work with Sid. I would sack faulkner and appoint someone who knows Aston Villa like Graham Taylor in a non executive board advisory role and hire a smart money man to the board - someone of the ilk of Damain Comolli. Finally I would hire Gerrard Houliier to manage our scouting network and improve links both locally and worldwide as well as overseeing youth development. 10years down the line we could be where we want to be having done things the right way.....
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A civil war would help.
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To reproduce the Barca system would be difficult. They've generally been successful and have always attracted top players. They've had barren periods of few trophies but were generally considered to be a European footballing power. Continual success and huge crowds attract talent at youth level and at senior level. This would take a very long time to replicate to the same level as Barca.
The more likely but more expensive option would be to buy success. I think Man City will win the Champions league within 5 years and how much have they spent to date? How much will they spend in the next 3 - 5 years?
As for manager. O'Leary, McLeish or Mourinho.
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
Well, I can only say as someone who's moved too far away from Villa to go too often - and who goes to plenty of non-Villa games up here - the Villa never do leave you. Having said that, I go to Hibs, Hearts and Falkirk games, so maybe the Barca comparison isn't accurate.
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Falkirk are a pretty good footballing side to be fair.
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Pauliewalnuts, surely you don't mean that. Why, we have the majestic sweep of the Gravelly Hill Interchange, the throbbing hustle and bustle of Lichfield Road, the exotic smell of 15 year old Burger fat emanating from The Steakhouse mobile eatery with the lush piquancy of the reconstituted meat products it proffers to us, the lucky clientele.
Women you say, what can compare with the madonna like beauty of Basket Case Brenda of Saltley Viaduct and the unfettered sexuality of STD Stacey of Old Nechells?
You've been spoilt sunshine, that's your problem.
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I live 90 minutes drive from Barcelona. I don't go and watch them though.
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If it were possible for an English club to do, Manchester United would already have done it.
They have had years of stability, success, unlimited money, public support and the pick of young players on three continents.
And yet they are still closer in quality to Villa than they are to Barcelona.
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Get the philosophy right first, that's free. The reserves played like that 2nd half Monday night, we just need to take it up one more level.
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A lot of money, but on wages and infrastructure as much if not more than transfer fees.
Mascherano took a substantial drop in wages to sign for them, makes you wonder how much Liverpool were paying him.
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A world class academy system, a clear progression through there with world class scouts finding kids and a big emphasis on local lads. Finding them much younger than we do currently, getting them in house in Villa dorms, bring them up to love the club and give a good education incase they don't make it.
Sustained motivation from the first team (who also happen to be world class players and love the club) for the young kids to make it, helping out with coaching and as role models.
A revenue much bigger than we do currently so that when we finally do pull the next Messi out of the arse-end of Erdington that we can actually keep him by paying him sickening amounts each week.
Thats the easy bit and then all we need is a young manager who plays attractive football who used to play for the club in his pomp..
Also all these world class graduates of the academy to break through at the same time and also just so happen that we have world class players in every position come through at once, they all click very well with a few additions and none of our players get poached by other clubs.
Repeat for next 40 years.
Easy.
I'd say 300m initial investment with about 10m per year investment into the academy (Barca's costs £8m? a year to run?). And about 20 years worth of continued investment (into academy) and (first team) success. None of which would be of any point unless the entire time the whole club was pulling in one direction, with one aim and one set out way of doing things (style of football etc) without any deviation from that plan.
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
Well, I can only say as someone who's moved too far away from Villa to go too often - and who goes to plenty of non-Villa games up here - the Villa never do leave you. Having said that, I go to Hibs, Hearts and Falkirk games, so maybe the Barca comparison isn't accurate.
I moved a long way away for three years, and watched lots of local football, and forgot Villa really quickly. In fairness, I was living in Italy and watching Milan frequently (when they were good) rather than Scottish fitball.
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Buy this book and find out how it was done, it's a brilliant read.
http://www.backpagepress.co.uk/
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I went to see Barcelona last weekend.
I can confirm that the women were lovely.
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Chelski spent how many hundreds of millions and still havent achieved Barca status yet.
It aint just the cash. Barca also have a footballing philosophy along side the cash to purchase the top talent.
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Falkirk are a pretty good footballing side to be fair.
And they're really using the youngsters. Craig Sibald is only 16, but he's been brilliant all season. They may or may not get promotion, but there's an atmosphere and a sense of fun about the place which, more and more, I'm convinced is our way forward.
It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
Well, I can only say as someone who's moved too far away from Villa to go too often - and who goes to plenty of non-Villa games up here - the Villa never do leave you. Having said that, I go to Hibs, Hearts and Falkirk games, so maybe the Barca comparison isn't accurate.
I moved a long way away for three years, and watched lots of local football, and forgot Villa really quickly. In fairness, I was living in Italy and watching Milan frequently (when they were good) rather than Scottish fitball.
Well that is a slightly higher standard. Bad spelling, by the way. It's definitely fitbaw.
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One huge benefit Barca have that I do not think any club can replicate is the fact that after Barca there is only one move for a player and that is downwards.
Arsenal have arguable copied their model but every year or two loose their star player(s). Even Man U lost Ronaldo, whereas I do not think there is a club in the world that could buy Messi, unless Barca choose to sell him.
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We're the anti-Barcelona, well, anti-football
Will that do?
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One huge benefit Barca have that I do not think any club can replicate is the fact that after Barca there is only one move for a player and that is downwards.
Arsenal have arguable copied their model but every year or two loose their star player(s). Even Man U lost Ronaldo, whereas I do not think there is a club in the world that could buy Messi, unless Barca choose to sell him.
Arsenal for about 12 months played some of the best football seen in this country a few seasons back, and then got thumped by Barcelona. They are the model for me, not Barca, as the Arsenal model is achievable. I also think if Wenger was a little less stubborn or still have David Dein above him, then Arsenal would be very close to Barca now. Losing players through the wage issue has killed them, as have the youngsters not reaching the potential expected 3-2 seasons back. There was a spanish kid they thought was the next Fabregas that never made it etc.
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
Sounds exactly like where I live!
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One huge benefit Barca have that I do not think any club can replicate is the fact that after Barca there is only one move for a player and that is downwards.
Arsenal have arguable copied their model but every year or two loose their star player(s). Even Man U lost Ronaldo, whereas I do not think there is a club in the world that could buy Messi, unless Barca choose to sell him.
They said that about Luis Figo, and look where he moved to!
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Barcelona just live and breathe a football culture.
After a tour round the nou camp you go through a museum. With all the success they've had it could be all about them and how great they are, but its not it just shows a passion for football and the best players in the world.
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Barcelona just live and breathe a football culture.
After a tour round the nou camp you go through a museum. With all the success they've had it could be all about them and how great they are, but its not it just shows a passion for football and the best players in the world.
So they've got an Emile Heskey statue?
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I don't think we need to copy one club's style. Right now it's Barcelona, but early this season we were asking why can't be be like Swansea. A year or to ago it was Arsenal, and still is to an extent. Go back further than that and Ajax were the model all clubs were aspiring to.
We've been producing good players for a while now, but they're development seems to falter when they hit the first team, as the difference of approach and necessity of results dulls what they learnt and how they played through our system. But then neither K-Mac or Sid strike me as 1st team management material, so what do we do?
I think what we need is a 'Villa man' managing the first team who knows, understands and believes in what the reserve and youth coaches do and is willing to let that be carried forward to the first team. Yet is there such a manager out there? Would we have to take a gamble and appoint an ex-player without experience like Laursen?
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i still maintain that one of the key contributes to a football style of play is climate, yes i said the climate.
there will always be exeptions but the where a patient passing game is played and a emphasis on technique is encouraged it is mainly in hot countries where you just cant charge about for 90 mins flat out.
so they develope a style to fit in with a 90 degree heat,
whereass over here especially in winter its more than likely to be freezing so the importance is on speed, running, competativeness etc
our game is just different, brilliant foriegn players come over and have to addapt, many do, its easier to become quicker and play the game at a faster tempo than develope all the intricate ball control skills that our players would have to do if they went the other way.
anyway its just my theory, so i think its imposible to develope players the way Barcalona do in this country because of the culure of the way we play the game.
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I think you need a structure and manager in place to encourage technical and passing football. This seems to be the way to move forward, once you have that structure in place then you can attract the most promising youngsters as they'll want to adopt that style. The manager doesn't have to remain throughout, but if you have the philosophy as a club then when a manager leaves you can replace him with someone with the same vision and the transition is smooth. However I don't think our board appears capable enough to understand this.
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Easy. ;)
Sell all but four or five of the current senior squad, remove the manager, and immediately replace with the NextGen squad and Kevin MacDonald. Reinvest transfer proceeds in worldwide scouting resources, coaching structure across all levels, including reserves and first team. Then allow the same Academy/youth team cycle to progress and continue to supply the first team with players. Use transfer funds to buy one standout player a season.
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I saw Luis Figo play against the Villa, he was shit. Laursen monstered him
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Start with the academy as we are doing and as Barcelona do, but it is a long term project ie more that the mystical five year plan. Oh and make sure we have the best possible coaches at the club. Yes I know that rules out McLeish and Grant, but we could have got better and not paid out any compensation to get them. As fans we then have to be patient. However patience soon runs out when even we can see that the guy in charge of the first team is out of his depth.
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Twelvety squillions and all of the precious things in Doug's treasure chest.
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To be honest, having watched Barcelona stuff a team 4-0 in a league game this season I wouldn't want us to be like them.
Yes it must be nice being able to thrash teams like Bayer Leverkusen and seeing Messi play is a delight but Barcelona are so successful that their fans pay a silly amount of money to watch them and sit there throughout expecting to be entertained. It's everything that's bad about modern football. The atmosphere is crap and it all feels a little bit fake.
I'd much rather football in general go back to a game where, largely, everyone has just as much chance as everyone else. Yes, there will be better clubs than others but the current gulf between the best and the rest, as emphasised by Barca last night is a horrible situation for the game to be in.
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To be honest, having watched Barcelona stuff a team 4-0 in a league game this season I wouldn't want us to be like them.
Yes it must be nice being able to thrash teams like Bayer Leverkusen and seeing Messi play is a delight but Barcelona are so successful that their fans pay a silly amount of money to watch them and sit there throughout expecting to be entertained. It's everything that's bad about modern football. The atmosphere is crap and it all feels a little bit fake.
I'd much rather football in general go back to a game where, largely, everyone has just as much chance as everyone else. Yes, there will be better clubs than others but the current gulf between the best and the rest, as emphasised by Barca last night is a horrible situation for the game to be in.
I don't think Barca emphasise that as much as Real, Chelsea or City tonking someone. I know Barca aren't always saints and they do spend money we couldn't imagine, but essentially once a season rather than three times at least. They are not the problem as much as the teams who try and buy every component of their squad.
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They are not the problem as much as the teams who try and buy every component of their squad.
Au contraire.
I think you are being tricked by the general misconception that Barca "do things properly". It wasn't that long ago that the Barca president was complaining that the big clubs aren't earning enough revenue and that they should have more Champions League games and play them on a weekend:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/fifauefa-should-pay-playerstournaments-says-barca-head_618296.html
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They are not the problem as much as the teams who try and buy every component of their squad.
Au contraire.
I think you are being tricked by the general misconception that Barca "do things properly". It wasn't that long ago that the Barca president was complaining that the big clubs aren't earning enough revenue and that they should have more Champions League games and play them on a weekend:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/fifauefa-should-pay-playerstournaments-says-barca-head_618296.html
Don't conveniently fail to to quote the bit where I said "Barca aren't always saints". This isn't an issue of good vs. evil, despite what the Catalan press want to portray, but it is a case of shades of grey, where one club is doing things better than many others. Lack of perfection does not imply total moral failure.
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They are not the problem as much as the teams who try and buy every component of their squad.
Au contraire.
I think you are being tricked by the general misconception that Barca "do things properly". It wasn't that long ago that the Barca president was complaining that the big clubs aren't earning enough revenue and that they should have more Champions League games and play them on a weekend:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/fifauefa-should-pay-playerstournaments-says-barca-head_618296.html
Don't conveniently fail to to quote the bit where I said "Barca aren't always saints". This isn't an issue of good vs. evil, despite what the Catalan press want to portray, but it is a case of shades of grey, where one club is doing things better than many others. Lack of perfection does not imply total moral failure.
Sorry, I didn't mean to intentionally misquote you but I was picking up on your comment that 'they are not the problem'. I believe that Barca are just as much of the problem as the other big clubs who are all essentially trying to financially imbalance the game to their own benefit. I don't believe this is in the long-term benefit of the game as a whole and it's certainly not to the benefit of the 'almost-there' clubs such as the Villa who get themselves in to financial strife attempting to reach the promised land.
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That's ok, and I agree, the Spanish league is kept in its current astonishing state of imbalance largely by the individually negotiated TV deals which Barca and Real hold. I would still maintain that they are not the problem anywhere near to the same extent as other clubs, however, as their intelligent use of money they have is, in many ways, a good model for many clubs.
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
They also have orange trees growing on the roads approaching the ground, beer sellers in the stands (with change passed along the rows of seats!), and sitting in the gods watching the game and the sun setting is amazing. Still prefer VP though!
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It'd be much easier to just move to Catalonia and watch actual Barcelona.
You also get to live by the sea in a city full of lovely architecture, fantastic restaurants and lovely women.
I know we all like to think we have Villa in our blood, but honestly, I reckon I'd be over us in about three weeks.
They also have orange trees growing on the roads approaching the ground, beer sellers in the stands (with change passed along the rows of seats!), and sitting in the gods watching the game and the sun setting is amazing. Still prefer VP though!
And barely a steward in sight!
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You need a long term plan from the people at the top of the club and everything you do from that point on is geared towards that objective. The players you sign, the image you portray, the investments you make, the sponsors you associate with, the academy you build. The whole thing needs to continuous. Spanish football was in the dumps for a long time, but they now produce some of the best young players in the world and Barcelona are testament to that. Now it helps when you get a player like Messi to join you as a kid, but he wouldn't be as good as he is today had ended up at almost any other place. The culture is condusive to developing players that pass and move, and have incredible technique and control. He is just at the very, very top of that pyramid in terms of ability.
It can be done, because they weren't always this good. But it takes a lot of people to buy into one vision over a sustained period of time, from everyone at the club through all of the fans that now get to see this glorious stuff in action in every week.
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You need a long term plan from the people at the top of the club and everything you do from that point on is geared towards that objective. The players you sign, the image you portray, the investments you make, the sponsors you associate with, the academy you build. The whole thing needs to continuous. Spanish football was in the dumps for a long time, but they now produce some of the best young players in the world and Barcelona are testament to that. Now it helps when you get a player like Messi to join you as a kid, but he wouldn't be as good as he is today had ended up at almost any other place. The culture is condusive to developing players that pass and move, and have incredible technique and control. He is just at the very, very top of that pyramid in terms of ability.
It can be done, because they weren't always this good. But it takes a lot of people to buy into one vision over a sustained period of time, from everyone at the club through all of the fans that now get to see this glorious stuff in action in every week.
I agree with this. I'd struggle to identify our club's football philosophy. In fact I'd almost certainly say there isn't a thread that runs through all the teams. John e also raises some good points about the weather, however we would not need to replicate Barca's tikka takka but we could follow Germany's style pretty easily (4231) as it largely complements the cliched athleticism and passion of british football.
At least then we'd have an identity and could grow in a logical linear fashion.
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Perhaps we could pretend we are a bank on the verge of bankruptcy and go cap in hand to the government for a few billion pounds.
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The first step in creating longevity of a footballing philosophy is identifying and appointing a Director of Football that oversees the football played by the club from the most junior team through to the 1st team. You then employ coaches as opposed to football managers. In this way, the football played by the 1st team does not change every time you appoint a new manager.
A DOF needs to be technically gifted so as to assess strengths and weaknesses but will also be well respected so that he has a wide circle of contacts in the game. Above all the DOF would have to want to be in it for the long term and therefore somebody the owner would be comfortable with. To support a DOF you need a top quality financial guy.
Somebody mentioned it earlier, we should rely substantially on home grown players and just buy one or two quality key players a season to cover the inevitable weaknesses that will occur from time to time with using home grown talent.
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If the club actually came out and said that was the plan then I think the whole atmosphere would be different. The only problem is that it's a massive gamble and if it starts to go wrong and the club are at the bottom of the table what do they do.
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I live 90 minutes drive from Barcelona. I don't go and watch them though.
I'm living 5 minutes walk from the Nou Camp and I do go sometimes, but it doesn't do it for me like a 1-1 mid winter draw at home to Everton, or similar.
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fuck Barcelona . I'd be happy If we just played like Swansea.
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Fuck Barcelona, how much to turn us into Bilbao?
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To be honest, having watched Barcelona stuff a team 4-0 in a league game this season I wouldn't want us to be like them.
Yes it must be nice being able to thrash teams like Bayer Leverkusen and seeing Messi play is a delight but Barcelona are so successful that their fans pay a silly amount of money to watch them and sit there throughout expecting to be entertained. It's everything that's bad about modern football. The atmosphere is crap and it all feels a little bit fake.
I'd much rather football in general go back to a game where, largely, everyone has just as much chance as everyone else. Yes, there will be better clubs than others but the current gulf between the best and the rest, as emphasised by Barca last night is a horrible situation for the game to be in.
I agree about the atmosphere. I've been to see the other Barcelona club RCD Espanyol as well recently, and for a neutral it was actually much better for atmosphere and as a game of football - arrived not knowing who would win and saw an end to end thriller.
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To be honest, having watched Barcelona stuff a team 4-0 in a league game this season I wouldn't want us to be like them.
Yes it must be nice being able to thrash teams like Bayer Leverkusen and seeing Messi play is a delight but Barcelona are so successful that their fans pay a silly amount of money to watch them and sit there throughout expecting to be entertained. It's everything that's bad about modern football. The atmosphere is crap and it all feels a little bit fake.
I'd much rather football in general go back to a game where, largely, everyone has just as much chance as everyone else. Yes, there will be better clubs than others but the current gulf between the best and the rest, as emphasised by Barca last night is a horrible situation for the game to be in.
I agree about the atmosphere. I've been to see the other Barcelona club RCD Espanyol as well recently, and for a neutral it was actually much better for atmosphere and as a game of football - arrived not knowing who would win and saw an end to end thriller.
I think both are good points, and part of the issue with English football and football across Europe. There are at the start of the season realistically only a couple of teams who can win the league, and the top 5-6 places are dictated every season before it begins. There is no system in place to level the playing field at all, so essentially you watch your side to finish mid table and never compete for anything unless you support one of 4-5 teams. One day people will cotton onto this and attendances will plummet due to the lack of any sense of competition. It is interesting that the SFA have jumped on the opportunity to try and seize some power off the Old Firm while Rangers are up in the air.
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Fuck Barcelona, how much to turn us into Bilbao?
That's simple get Bielsa, because it's the style he plays. He pretty much only attacks, which is why Chile were so good to watch in the World Cup. He's essentially the anit-Mcleish.
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All you need to do is go into the latest version of PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) and you can register players to teams. So you could put all of Barcelona's players in the Villa Squad. Easy.
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There is no system in place to level the playing field at all, so essentially you watch your side to finish mid table and never compete for anything unless you support one of 4-5 teams.
Potentially the FFP rules will help in a way as the ultimate punishment is sanctions that prevent you entering European competitions. Therefore clubs below have the opportunity to overspend to get themselves closer to the top but must have their finances in order once they're pushing for european places.
I'm not sure whether that is how the rules were intended to work but it's a small crumb of comfort for smaller clubs (on the assumption that UEFA actually prevent clubs like City taking part in the Chumps League).
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There is no system in place to level the playing field at all, so essentially you watch your side to finish mid table and never compete for anything unless you support one of 4-5 teams.
Potentially the FFP rules will help in a way as the ultimate punishment is sanctions that prevent you entering European competitions. Therefore clubs below have the opportunity to overspend to get themselves closer to the top but must have their finances in order once they're pushing for european places.
I'm not sure whether that is how the rules were intended to work but it's a small crumb of comfort for smaller clubs (on the assumption that UEFA actually prevent clubs like City taking part in the Chumps League).
Haven't UEFA already come out with some ruling that essentially allows clubs to spread existing debt over a number of years as a transition period?
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There is no system in place to level the playing field at all, so essentially you watch your side to finish mid table and never compete for anything unless you support one of 4-5 teams.
Potentially the FFP rules will help in a way as the ultimate punishment is sanctions that prevent you entering European competitions. Therefore clubs below have the opportunity to overspend to get themselves closer to the top but must have their finances in order once they're pushing for european places.
I'm not sure whether that is how the rules were intended to work but it's a small crumb of comfort for smaller clubs (on the assumption that UEFA actually prevent clubs like City taking part in the Chumps League).
Haven't UEFA already come out with some ruling that essentially allows clubs to spread existing debt over a number of years as a transition period?
Indeed they have, that's why I think we've announced our financial results as we have, make the debt look bigger now so we can show it coming down over the next couple of years ready to go into europe without issues next time we qualify. If only we stood a chance of qualifying...
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Indeed they have, that's why I think we've announced our financial results as we have, make the debt look bigger now so we can show it coming down over the next couple of years ready to go into europe without issues next time we qualify. If only we stood a chance of qualifying...
Makes sense...ha ha yes although I wouldn't worry, AMc is actually ahead of the curve. Like fashion, football playing style is actually cyclical not evolutionary. In a couple of years when barcelona's fancy pants passing game is seen as anti-football we'll reign supreme again ;)
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I support Villa and Barça, as I`ve lived here for nearly 30 years.
I went to the Camp Nou on Wednesday and was bored out of my mind.
7-1 - great. What's the point? I wish I'd taken a book. I agree with the other posters who like a bit of competition in a game. Claiming they go to watch Español is a bit much though (!)
One point that hasn't been made yet here (I don't think): Barça go on about their "home grown" players, but bear in mind the amount of scouts they have all over the world: they can afford to bring in, say, a thousand kids for trial, and if they do this often enough, by the law of averages, they'll get a Messi from time to time. Iniesta is from Albacete (he and Messi have lived here for about ten years, but neither of them speak Catalan, ooooh!). Piqué and Fàbregas both left and were then bought back for large amounts of money. It's the scale of the Barça youth set-up that makes the difference. It's everywhere. We'll have an Eskimo kid here soon.
Barça have very skilfully marketed their image since the Cruyff years (Villa fans will remember Barça's reputation in the early 1980s). Before Cruyff, they used to sign everyone under the sun and it was Madrid who developed their own players (Butragueño, Michel, Sanchis, Martin Vázquez, Raúl a bit later). So that's changed. Another change is the worry that Barça players would go off to Madrid (see Schuster, Laudrup, Figo, Ronaldo) - that's hard to imagine now.
But Barça were always a sleeping giant with a huge potential that they were unable to realize for whatever reason (they blamed it on the dictatorship for many years, in spite of the fact that they won four leagues in the 1950s when the regime was at its fiercest, and then won only two leagues between 1960 and 1990). Barça have also historically competed with only one other club, Madrid: to be like them, Villa would have to eliminate Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, and Chelsea, and then organize a run-off with Man Utd season after season.
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About twice the entire Greek national debt.