The Madridification of FC Barcelona

[Luftstalag14]

Wanted to hear you thoughts on this article which I thought was pretty thought-provoking. I agree with some of what it says and disagree with some other (for example the commercialization of the club etc. to stay financially afloat etc. is just inevitable and we had no other choice).

What do you think?

The Madridification of Barcelona: How Barca went from 'Més que un club' to just another global superbrand

 

[vlad]

i pretty much agree with text, barca turned wrong way with rosell, bartro and co.

 

[Neymessi]

Too big to read but yes we have become more and more like madrid these past few years and most if not all of that blame would go to this board.

Maybe in future when we have a better board we turn more like how we used to be.

But even now,even though we have become like madrid there is still a big difference between us and RM.

 

[Galning]

I read it a few days ago and it's a well written article with a lot of truths in it.

 

[BarçaBarça]

Commercialization
I think the whole thing about making money of our name is inevitable, but we still have a choice between going full ManU and presenting noodle-partner after noodle-partner, or concentrating on the big contracts. Our shirt-sponsor-deals and stadium-name-sale are necessary, imo, if we want to compete for the biggest players: Remember that not every club can afford the likes of Neymar, and if we want to decide how long he should stay, and not sell out of need, then we have to have these very big commercial contract-deals.

Transfer-business
If we began to sell players more like RM, I would see that as a positive thing. We can afford to be tougher on the players in order to get smart deals or more money, imo. Other clubs takes advantage of us to get bargains because we are too soft in negotiations.

Playing style
I think this spills into the debate as well, where RM has Kroos and Modric, both who are carbon-copy Barca players, while we got Rakitic and adjusted our style to a more direct form under Enrique. A new coach could turn this aspect around pretty quickly, so the claim that 'now we are just like RM' should not be exaggerated.

La Masia
This is the most worrying part - if we continue to let our young players go, without even giving them a chance at the first team, then we truly have lost some Barca-identity. No-one expects even a majority of La Masia players on the first team anymore, but we surely need to test our players, also from a young age, to see if they can surprise and get a breakthrough. This also relates to commercialization/transfer-business - we should never buy a player like James just to expand the awareness in Columbia, even if he doesn't fit the team. I don't think we are there yet, but we most certainly should never end there.

 

[JerseyAddict]

I agree that Club must make more money but realy disagree with that intent to make it so you have to be All-star team... I don't want to see "galacticos" in blaugrana... I despite that in RM. I see the moment now in MSN, that they are superstar trio but they do deliver. I would realy regret Barça to become "a hostage" of some "clause" that allows some player to miss the match if he likes and so on and so on.

 

[Barcaman]

Style is gone, Masia is gone (not one player promoted in 3 years), shirt is gone. 3 things I took pride in.

What's left is Catalonia vs. Spain. Small guy standing up to that bully archetype.

I'm not buying doom and gloom though. We've been up and we've been down and all things considered Barca has been playing best football in last 25 years with or without Messi, pep, Cruyff, Ronaldinho or whoever.

 

[BarcaOG]

Great article, and an issue well worth thinking about. Indeed, our new-style corporatism is contrary to our traditions. The hollowing out of La Masia I think is less pressing an issue--we can't expect the academy to pump out Busis, Iniestas and Xavis ad infinitum. There will be good, great and okay crops. I suspect that Xavi Simon's class will include a few stellar footballers.

 

[LeeRomeno]

Its quite funny to see people complaining about this and then head over to "who you want to see in barca shirt threads" and see endless discussions on what kind of superstars we should buy.
Club has evolved to become a global brand, as otherwise it would have been left behind. Think Bundesliga and Bayern vs Dortmund. We would have been Dortmund, lucky to win the title couple of times per decade if lucky and forced to sell the biggest prospects and only relying on smart deals and youth. You think we could have MSN without the commercial success? Messi perhaps due to his history and loyalty, but noone else.
It is also funny how current board is suddenly blamed as they are the only ones. As far as i remember Barca has always been trying to compete with Real in signing superstars. Its not like in 90s and 00s we had random noones on team. We brought top quality players. Just in recent 10 years the growth for football has been massive. Look at the money in the business. If it just not possible to remain competitive if you do not use all the means.
It is a tradeoff - do you want success or do you want to live in the past.

 

[Barcaman]

I don't give a toss about "MSN". We could have had Suarez regardless as he wanted to come here for years and took a pay-cut. Earlier when he was in Ajax or a year later with Liverpool.

As for other transfers, I don't really see how recent commercialization made us any better than when we played with 8 home-growns regularly. Turan, Vidal, Gomes, Paco... only made us worse.