Quote from: pauliewalnuts on March 07, 2012, 10:02:43 PMIt'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!
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.
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 live 90 minutes drive from Barcelona. I don't go and watch them though.
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.
Quote from: Ad@m on March 08, 2012, 12:55:10 PMTo 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.
Fuck Barcelona, how much to turn us into Bilbao?
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.
Quote from: ozzjim on March 09, 2012, 07:02:45 AMThere 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).