Joan Laporta

[serghei]

You are talking about the sporting side of things, which I agree we could be on the way up but even with the sporting side of things I think it is way too early to say ?whatever Laporta is doing, it works?. We will have to wait and see.

Again I was talking mostly in the sense of the state of the club in general, not just the sporting side of things. Recently the economic VP Eduard Romeu?s boss, Jose Elias, who was one of Laporta?s guarantors for his presidential run, quit the Espai Barca commission that he was sitting on and completely disassociated himself from the club because he felt his opinions were ignored and the commission was just there for show, that they have no power in any decision-making or anything relevant to Espai Barca. Reverter quit allegedly due to similar reasons. It has pretty much become a one-man show with his friends and acquittances he hired to become nothing but a bunch of yesmen to Laporta, this is not how this club should be run. Less transparency, less democratic and less merit- and business expertise-based decisions. I don?t care if Bartomeu was like this or not, that was a very poor yardstick to compare with anyways.

I don?t care too much about his antics, they don?t bother me that much if he gets stuff done. The problem is, on the non-sporting side, not only hasn?t he done much, he has dismantled a good business organization (for example digital department ), driven a top notch CEO away. Do I trust Laporta to negotiate with CVC, Goldman Sachs or whoever to secure Espai Barca or whatever funding? Do I trust Laporta with business decisions? Do I trust him to keep the club growing? No way.

The way I see it, if you get the sporting side spot on, the rest will follow. I agree it's early, but so far, the club is on the way up. I also agree Laporta is not the nicest boss you can have (speaking from the point of view of his collaborators and subordinates) and he's pretty dictatorial and it's my way or the highway with him. But this is not new stuff for presidents with a big personality like he has.

If he will build a top Barca, the rest will follow IMO. I don't see much merit in being good with finances, if you are pretty boring and shit on the field. This would turn us into United, probably the worst model of the last 10 years outside of PSG.

Our focus should be to compete with the likes of City, Liverpool, Bayern for the time being. Not build stadiums with money we don't have. You're looking at it in a corporate way, trying to get more money while the foundation is sketchy and unstable. Imo, a club institution should be very different. Especially a non-profit organization like Barcelona. Get your team in order, and more money will come our way.

 

[Luftstalag14]

The way I see it, if you get the sporting side spot on, the rest will follow. I agree it's early, but so far, the club is on the way up. I also agree Laporta is not the nicest boss you can have (speaking from the point of view of his collaborators and subordinates) and he's pretty dictatorial and it's my way or the highway with him. But this is not new stuff for presidents with a big personality like he has.

If he will build a top Barca, the rest will follow IMO. I don't see much merit in being good with finances, if you are pretty boring and shit on the field. This would turn us into United, probably the worst model of the last 10 years outside of PSG.

Our focus should be to compete with the likes of City, Liverpool, Bayern for the time being. Not build stadiums with money we don't have. You're looking at it in a corporate way, trying to get more money while the foundation is sketchy and unstable. Imo, a club institution should be very different. Especially a non-profit organization like Barcelona. Get your team in order, and more money will come our way.

I think finances and sporting result go hand in hand, both are needed and both will detrimentally impact the other. However, my point is, we have a very shaky and even perilous foundation for the entire club right now, with huge debt and negative net worth (-453m I think) which we badly need to revert, because if we don't, sporting side of things will soon be adversely affected and everything goes down. La Liga. CL. EL. Whatever. Goes up in smoke. And at this critical time, Laporta is doing everything to make it worse, not better, with many of what he has done.

Again, Camp Nou/Espai Barca was just mentioned in the context of Laporta shameless shifting the blame. But actually it is important to rebuild it, it is literally crumbling (Last season we spent about 1.5m on some temporary fixes to make sure some fallen pieces won't pose any safety hazard etc. Also, according to a talk that the VP Elena Fort given a couple of weeks ago I believe, she said that at Camp Nou you can't turn on certain things while certain other things are on, otherwise you will short the circuit). Getting a revamped Camp Nou is not just for bragging rights, it is estimated to generate around 300m income, or 150m more a year that we badly need. If folks don't understand or don't care and rather focus on the sporting side of things, just think about how many Haalands we can get with an additional 150m a year.

The thing is, Laporta is no businessman. He was a lawyer and a politician. He was in some failed business before (CF Reus), and outrageously and unbelievably, from where he hired two people into our club already. Bartomeu was and is at least a businessman. Florentino Perez is a very successful businessman with a real estate business that is worth 2 billion euros, so I was told the other day by a Madridista. Laporta can be a very good and effective president if he hires the right businessmen and women to make those business decisions. However, he sabotaged them and fired them or drove them out, now we don't have a CEO, he himself has assumed the role together with the club treasurer. How can anybody trust him on making sound business decisions? How can anybody trust him to really have the vision and foresight to get the club out of this hole? Because again, if we don't, the sporting side of things which everyone seems to only care about will fizzle out.

 

[serghei]

We'll see Luft, but in his previous stint, he generated two Barca versions that were the best team in the world, and one of them was a hard-to-beat candidate for the best team ever. Not saying he did it alone, but he has a proven track record on the sporting side at building great teams.

In the end, the club's success is measured in titles and performances on the football field first. The club could earn 10 euros if that gets you titles and memorable CL performances for all I care.

 

[Luftstalag14]

We'll see Luft, but in his previous stint, he generated two Barca versions that were the best team in the world, and one of them was a hard-to-beat candidate for the best team ever. Not saying he did it alone, but he has a proven track record on the sporting side at building great teams.

In the end, the club's success is measured in titles and performances on the football field first. The club could earn 10 euros if that gets you titles and memorable CL performances for all I care.

I think we can argue about how much of that was Laporta's own making, whether or not it was because he was lucky to have Pep and the generational players of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets etc. but that won't be time well-spent at all. Also, even if that was the case (Laporta made it so), it doesn't mean he will be equally successful this time around.

Sure, club's success is ultimately measured by titles and performance on the pitch but without money and a solid foundation, you will not have the right players to make it happen.

 

[Bobo32]

I saw it as Joan taking a dig at Font because rather than come up with original responses to questions, he kept deferring to Xavi this or that as it was some sort of card he kept playing. So sure, it was childish from Laporta but absolutely needed to be said & it very clearly imploded his election chances that were on fumes anyway

Politically, Joan is a formidable opponent against corporate guys but the beauty is that he is not merely a politician for his own advancement but that of the club

And I just love his smirk when he sits besides Perez or whoever!
It is very nice with Laporta back, he usually carries himself well. I think he should've tried to win in a more mature way though, and I wonder about some of his decisions since then, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[DonAK]

I support Laporta, but supporting him blindly is just silly. You should never support anyone blindly, whether that is a player or someone in a management position. It just makes no sense.

Hiding the real figures behind the sponsorship deal is unprecedented. Especially for a board that preaches transparency.

As for Xavi then he was not the first, second nor third option for Laporta. He made that pretty clear multiple times when he talked about how Xavi is inexperienced and how there's been reports from people close to Laporta too that he needed to be convinced by Jordi Cruyff, Alemany and a few board members to go for Xavi as Koeman's replacement.

Remember when Laporta told Koeman he needed a week or two to find his replacement and if he didn't Koeman would stay? What stopped Laporta from hiring Xavi back then in the summer? Nothing. He just didn't want to hire him. Not right now at least.

 

[FCBarca]

13M was not an incentive

 

[Luftstalag14]

The new "executive presidency" created by Laporta

https://www.2playbook.com/clubes/la...sorero-busca-director-comercial_7448_102.html

 

[Messigician]

Imagine how this stinky Catalan would react if Rosell or Bartomeu wanted to sign a sponsorship deal without telling socios the figures behind it.

 

[fergus90]

Laporta giving an interview right now. Says he's a huge fan of Joao Felix, has positive reports on Raphinha and that a CB(Christensen) and a Mid(Kessie) have already been signed.

 

[serghei]

Laporta giving an interview right now. Says he's a huge fan of Joao Felix, has positive reports on Raphinha and that a CB(Christensen) and a Mid(Kessie) have already been signed.

Not much info.

 

[jamrock]

Basically confirmed 2 signings.
Ruled out haaland & mbappe
Confirmed we want rapinha.
Roberto & dembele are bye bye.
Will try everything to extend gavi & Araujo, but will not break our new salary structure.

 

[jamrock]

Think he wants to sigh one "big name" but not the too youngster Because the monies involved with those two guys will be too much.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Even commented on Will Smith hitting Chris Rock....

Laporta is some character for sure.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Laporta giving an interview right now. Says he's a huge fan of Joao Felix, has positive reports on Raphinha and that a CB(Christensen) and a Mid(Kessie) have already been signed.

Wonder if Felix thing is real, or doing Atletico and Mendes a favour?