The Inevitable Death of Barcelolna

[John Arne]

Probably deserves it's own thread now.

I genuinely think we are watching the slow death of a giant club.

A quick refresher;

- $1.4biliion in debt

- Way over their salary cap so unable to register new signing:
Robert Lewandowski
Raphinha
Franck Kessie
Andreas Christensen
Jules Kounde

- Or register players who have signed new contracts:
Ousmane Dembele
Sergi Roberto

- Accused $400,000-a-week Frenkie de Jong of having a dodgy contract

All of that pales to what I think is the real issue... they have sold off future revenue;
- 25% of their domestic television rights for 25 years - Lever 1 & Lever 2
- 24.5% stake in Barca Studios (merchandise) - Lever 3
- Tried to fiddle an extra $150m by investing in a company they set up, ended up with a $37m tax bill
- Sold a further 24.5% of Barca Studios - Lever 4

Now, Barca are probably going to end up selling some deadwood and managing to register most of the players above - however, the issues are going to be in the next few years...

Whilst Real and the other La Liga teams (most of them) receive 100% of TV deals and 100% of merch, Barcelona are going to receive a lot less revenue in the next 20 years - not only have they kicked the can down the road, the can is now worth about 50% of what they usually receive.

Oh, and Camp Nou will be under construction 2023-24, so they'll be playing at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with a much reduced capacity... that said, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Nou Camp renovation cancelled.

So yeah, what a shit show - couldn't have happened to a nicer club. No más un club.

[John Arne]

Salaries of top earners (bold = not registered);

1. Frenkie de Jong – €560,962
2. Sergio Busquets – €423,077
3. Jordi Alba – €400,577
4. Robert Lewandowski – €360,577
5. Miralem Pjanic – €300,385
6. Ansu Fati – €268,269
7. Ousmane Dembele – €264,423
8. Franck Kessie– €260,385
9. Raphinha – €240,385
10. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – €220,385
=11. Gerard Pique – €200,385
=11. Andreas Christensen – €200,385
=11. Memphis Depay – €200,385
14. Jules Kounde – €182,692
15. Pedri – €180,385
16. Marc-Andre ter Stegen – €173,077
17. Ronaldo Araujo – €134,615
=18. Ferran Torres – €120,192
=18. Samuel Umtiti – €120,192
=20. Martin Braithwaite – €115,385

[Shindig]

Can they fix this by purging the first squad and just downsizing to what is effectively Barcelona B? Take relegation with that because that club's effectively non-league.

[John Arne]

Can they fix this by purging the first squad and just downsizing to what is effectively Barcelona B? Take relegation with that because that club's effectively non-league.

I guess so, but then with that comes hugely reduced sponsorship and commercial revenues - they certainly need to do some sort of significant downsizing.

[Ben]

Some of those salaries are obscene considering the names.

[Spikey M]

They will get out of it somehow. Too big to fail and all that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

On the too big to fail point, I remember a few FMs ago (probably quite a few by now), Manchester United under the Glazers had their finances set up so that over the course of the game, they would inevitably drift into debt-laden squalour and collapse unless there was a takeover.

Looking back, I'm not sure this has actually been miles from the truth? It maybe hasn't been quite so dramatic as what would happen in an FM game with them being £500 million in the red after 10 or 12 seasons, but it's basically the same dynamic at play whereby the owners are taking money out of it and it's slowly suffocating to death. So maybe for these guys, 'too big to fail' means yes they can't be shot down in a ball of flames, but they can bleed to death.

If I were running Barcelona, I would look to focus on the club's strengths (youth development, massive fanbase, commercial dominance - I was there for the first time last year and it's really noticeable that the club IS the city) and accept a few seasons of meh in return for building back up to a healthy position around the two significant, brilliant young stars (Pedri and Gavi) that they have. I don't know why they need to break themselves down the middle to buy in a legion of famous names immediately. I don't know why they need Robert Lewandowski. Why do they need to give Raphinha a million euros a month?

Instead there seems to be some kind of mental block where the ownership can't accept not winning everything now. My only conclusion is that they think they will be bailed out by the formation of a Super League before the chickens come home to roost.

[Yevrah]

Agree on the club being the city, well the football club plus Gaudi.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I was there for work so didn't even see the Camp Nou or do any kind of tourist stuff at all in fact, but from minute 1 when you arrive you're assaulted by Barça iconography and all the kids are wearing their gear. Can't think of a parallel, football-wise, in any other city I've visited. Even Manchester, which might be the closest.

[John Arne]

I was there for work so didn't even see the Camp Nou or do any kind of tourist stuff at all in fact, but from minute 1 when you arrive you're assaulted by Barça iconography and all the kids are wearing their gear. Can't think of a parallel, football-wise, in any other city I've visited. Even Manchester, which might be the closest.

You've clearly never been to Buriram. :)

[Mazuuurk]

On the topic of Barca, the city and Camp Nou - I was there once and went to a game (Henry was playing so maybe 15 years ago but still).

Anyway, the fans are all quite entitled. They were booing and waving white napkins that game (Barca were completely thrashing Valencia...) because they weren't winning the league. So there's that dynamic as well, where the fans put quite a lot of pressure on the President, which is essentially elected I think? So it's basically like any political system - where whoever is in power will look at short term gains to stay in power rather than do what's best in the long term.

So it's not that hard to see how they end up in this kind of position.

[Manc]

The fourth economic lever has been activated.

[Andy]

Why is De Jong on such a big contract? Even more insane that I assume United and Chelsea are going to offer him more.

[phonics]

They set up his original contract so it doubles every year to get around ffp.

[Spikey M]

:D Top tier sustainability.

[wullie]

https://i.imgur.com/dIklkyZ.png

Mes que un node/validator

[Lewis]

Barcelona were always a basket case, it's just that the sums involved were never this potentially ruinous, and they could always keep up through crowd numbers. Even during their recent 'Golden Era' they did everything they could to sabotage it by spending money on all sorts of shit and pissing around with a winning system.

[Spikey M]

https://i.imgur.com/dIklkyZ.png

Mes que un node/validator

How very 2021.

[randomlegend]

Why is De Jong on such a big contract? Even more insane that I assume United and Chelsea are going to offer him more.

He agreed to defer his wages, by reducing them in the early part of his contract and then being paid what he missed out on in the later part of his contract.

Barca are trying to sell him before his wage goes up to get out of paying him back what he's owed.

[Lewis]

I think he still walked into the club on about £350000, which is mental coming from Holland when realistically nobody else was in for him. Didn't City tell him to forget it?

[Jimmy Floyd]

If I were Frenkie I'd just stay put, Winston Bogarde style if necessary, and rinse them dry.

[Mazuuurk]

They set up his original contract so it doubles every year to get around ffp.

Someone didn't teach them the chessboard lesson about exponentiality.

[Pepe]

They should buy Riquelme again.

[SincereTheRebel]

If I were Frenkie I'd just stay put, Winston Bogarde style if necessary, and rinse them dry.

100%

[7om]

The part I don’t understand is why they have been buying new players over the summer when they knew full well they wouldn’t be able to register them?

Oh and lol at Braithwaite on over 100k a week. They’re basically an ATM for bang average players at this point.

[Spikey M]

If I were Frenkie I'd just stay put, Winston Bogarde style if necessary, and rinse them dry.

I would be announcing my intention to retire at the end of my current deal right now.

[Shindig]

They should buy Riquelme again.

I was going to ask what Maxi Lopez is up to these days but he retired last year.

[Giggles]

They’ve got them all registered now haven’t they?

[7om]

I was going to ask what Maxi Lopez is up to these days but he retired last year.

Trying to buy Birmingham City, that’s what he’s doing.

[Shindig]

Oooh, some of his interviews have looked a little suss. "So, what's your interest in the club?" <immediately looks to Paul Richardson for help> :D

[randomlegend]

They’ve got them all registered now haven’t they?

Except Kounde.

[7om]

Oooh, some of his interviews have looked a little suss. "So, what's your interest in the club?" <immediately looks to Paul Richardson for help> :D

Ownership wise, we’ve been a complete shambles for 15 years now so another clown trying to take over is run of the mill at this point.

[Shindig]

Aye, it looks a mess. I didn't even know St. Andrews was condemned. The pictures from under the stands look pretty grim.