squaring the circle: from the 'Dream Team' to the 'Pep Team'

I'm not a big fan of forced narratives in sport. Often they require material facts to be ignored and result in faulty conclusions. This is possibly an oddity for a Cule - after all, Barcelona have built their identity on a strong sense of narrative, casting themselves in the same role in every story. All the more reason to be skeptical, I'd argue.

Having said all that, sometimes the stars align, and the narrative is absolutely irresistible. Unsurprisingly, they did so under the leadership of Guardiola, a man with a perfect sense of his place in the story, determined to write his own fairytale.

I've gone on about Guardiola as a creation of Barca before, so I won't do it again. The crucial point for the purposes of the story before us is his place as the most important connection between the 'Dream Team' of Cruyff and the Barca of today, a story nineteen years in the making, and one of such perfect symmetry that you wouldn't believe it if I made it up.

the steps of old Wembley and a jersey in green

As Zubizarreta recalls, Barça's so-called Dream Team (whose label was surely seized last night) were loosening up the day before the 1992 final when he heard his most gregarious colleague, the striker Julio Salinas, chatting to the most studious, the midfielder Pep Guardiola. "They were arguing about how many steps there were up to the trophy gantry, 31? Or 32? Or maybe 33?" remembered Zubizarreta. "I walked past and said to them, 'Why don't we just go and win the cup and then we'll find out more quickly'." - Ian Hawkey, the Sunday Times

Win the cup? It was easier said than done. Barca's history up until 1992 had been marked by its painful failures to capture Europe's most glittering prize, failures that had inspired a narrative of pessimism and victimisation, a sense that something was bound to go wrong. The words of legendary goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta reflected the hopes Cules had placed in Johan Cruyff's team.

We all know what happened that night. As Guardiola has been at pains to point out the past week, Barca's sense of its own identity changed with that victory, and with it the club's history shifted course towards an era of unprecedented success.

Zubizarreta's own Barca career was ended by the game that destroyed the Dream Team: their hubris and exhaustion-inspired 4-0 defeat to AC Milan in the 1994 Champions League final. But his connection with Barca could not be severed so easily, and his figure loomed large over all attempts by Barca to replace him in the subsequent years, at least until a scruffy kid named Victor Valdes came along.

Valdes had often cited Zubi as one of his childhood idols. As the years wore on, he grew into the jersey of his finest predecessor. In Rome and Abu Dhabi, at the site of the greatest recent triumphs of Pep's team, Zubi had been a member of the press, transformed at the moment of victory into a fan again, with tears streaming down his face.

At new Wembley, Zubi sat in the stands as Barca's sporting director while his heir defended Barca's goal with distinction. After the game, he was seen being given Valdes' shirt - the same green as he had sported all those years ago.

"I see the space and pass. That's what I do."

Despite appearances, the comparison between Guardiola and Xavi isn't as easy to make. Positionally, Xavi has developed into a very different player, Guardiola would say a better one, with a greater range of passing. But the similarities in their roles in the Barca teams of the 90s and the 00-10s respectively extend beyond an affinity for dictating play to their function as the club's chief ideologue and evangelist.

Both men put their own unique spin on the job. Guardiola interpreted his role as the Catalan heart of Cruyff's Dream Team broadly, applying himself to the political and sporting aspects with equal gusto from a very young age. Xavi is less political, but he is even more of a fundamentalist when it comes to Cruyffismo, even more of an ideologue of football.

Just as Guardiola had been an extension of Cruyff on the pitch, so Xavi is now an extension of Guardiola, implementing the ideas of the manager through his prodigious speed of thought and the magic in his boots. But it hasn't always been so easy.

The transition between the two, which began a few years before Guardiola left Barca as a player, was not smooth. Xavi's first few seasons in Van Gaal's team were spent being buffeted around by the vicious politics of the club, which reached deep into the first team. One side faulted him for being Guardiola's replacement, and the other for not being not enough of one. Even after Pep departed, it wasn't until the arrival of Frank Rijkaard that Xavi finally freed himself from the shadows.

Ironically, it was Guardiola's return which precipitated Xavi's final elevation into the sort of status Guardiola himself had held in his heyday: chief spokesman, dressing room heavyweight, and the mind behind everything Barca do on the pitch.

'the first great player to come out of the Barcelona system with the Cruyff philosophy wired into his boots'



More importantly, Guardiola had the Cruyff philsophy wired into his brain. As a curious, studious young man, he was also interested in other ways of thinking about football. Therefore, it is possible overstate the similarities between the Dream Team of nineteen years ago and Pep's team of today. The latter is far more vigorously systematic, both in attack and in defence, leading to a more complete domination of gameplay. Nevertheless, they are still intrinsically linked. Pep's team has modified and built on a core idea, installed by Cruyff at all levels from the Under-11s to the first team.

The agenda of the club is dominated now by the manager's persona, just as it was then. Pep has traded Cruyff's maverick streak for a touch more tact, but the cult of personality around him now is almost as strong as the one around Cruyff, and his less abrasive manner has helped him stay on generally better terms with players and with the media. All the same, having witnessed Cruyff's own fall, he knows it can't last, and this awareness has made him cautious.

Guardiola will walk away on his own terms rather than let his work be destroyed or his name be besmirched. Cules have lived with this knowledge ever since his appointment, with or without the one year contract extensions. We can only hope he can keep the magic going a little longer and build a dynasty to surpass what came before.

Dream teams don't come along very often. Barca are fortunate enough to have had two worthy of the name in its modern history. When Cruyff, Alexanko, Zubizarreta, Koeman and Guardiola climbed the 39 steps of old Wembley, they set in motion the series of events which led to Guardiola leading his team up the 107 steps of new Wembley nineteen years later. With Barca's victory, the circle was closed. Whatever Pep's team achieve next, they do on new territory. I for one can't wait.

in defence of el clasico

Contrary to the impression you may have acquired from the hyperbole feast that masqueraded as media coverage of this game, Wednesday was not the first time a football game got a bit nasty. In fact, compared to some of the glorious madness that has decorated El Clasico in the past we could argue that Mourinho gave the fixture a much-needed boost. Since the Guardiola era began we've had some great games, but there's been for the most part a conspicuous lack of morbo. For all the wringing of hands since Wednesday's game you'd think Real and Barca had stepped on the pitch and spent the entire game kicking anything that moved and falling down respectively.

But that's not what happened. Contrary to popular opinion, what did happen was not all that unusual. Exaggerated, perhaps, but not unprecedented. Nor was it unexpected, given the heights of tension this fixture had reached. Perhaps what turned the stomach of those watching was the suspicion that the unsavoury behaviour was systematic and tactical. Perhaps it's easy at this point for the relatively neutral observer to condemn both sides for ruining what could have been a glorious occasion.

The last three Clasicos have been hugely frustrating, I agree. But at the risk of pushing my contrarian tendencies too far, I would like to invite you, dear reader, to consider my defence of Wednesday's events.

#1. Be honest, we like a bit of drama with our football.

Would the magnificent first Clasico of this season in November 2010 have been quite as exciting without the niggly edge? I don't think so. Without the morbo it would have been yet another Barcelona procession, and I know how sick some neutrals are of those.

As I've discussed elsewhere, a stylish football team struggling along gets pity and admiration. Or as I think of it, Arsenal Media syndrome. A team playing open, attacking football, getting results and being smug about it inspires resentment and admiration in equal measure. Maybe more resentment and less admiration as time goes on. Nobody likes the appearance of effortless success, no matter how much effort actually goes into the process, and especially when you keep harping on about it.

[There's an argument to be made about the perception of smugness and how much of it is created by the actual words of actual people representing the club, but I've digressed enough and you can read about the fake quotes fiasco - just an example of the inadequacy of coverage outside the broadsheets - yourself. Certainly, sometimes Barca doesn't help itself. But there's more to it than that.]

#2. Jose Mourinho doesn't care about your eyeballs.

I hear people scoff all the time that Barca have it easy because teams let them play. Which is patently untrue, by the way. Managers aren't stupid. Barca only ever produce fantastic passages of play because they've worked to make them happen against teams doing their damnest to stop them.

Mourinho is fantastic at counter-strategies. He doesn't care what the crowd or Cristiano Ronaldo or even Alfredo di Stefano thinks. He has thoroughly evaluated Barca's approach to the game and devised the best strategy to counter it. If it had worked, precious few would quibble about the lack of flash. After all, there are other ways to enjoy football. I might not agree with them, but even puritan-in-chief Xavi agrees that other styles (or anti-styles) are equally valid. It's a matter of preference.

As the ever astute Jonathan Wilson wrote:

A good tactic is not necessarily a winning tactic, but one that manipulates the percentages...over the course of the season [Mourinho] has reduced the gulf between the sides, if not by imbuing Madrid with greater quality, then by making it harder for Barcelona to show its own.

Having proven in the first Clasico this season that he could not fight fire with fire and win, Mourinho turned to other methods. That is his right as a manager, so long as he stays within the confines of the rules of the game. I happen to think he made a mistake at the Bernabeu because Barca were there for the taking, but his general record speaks for itself.

#3. That said, his post-game ranting is irrelevant.

Discussing it would only serve to give his borderline libellous comments more publicity. So I won't, other than to say that phrasing defamatory statements as questions is a common enough technique - for unhinged political shouting heads looking to smear the opposition. His systematic attempts to discredit the success of Guardiola's team should be recognised as such, and no more.

Let's not be distracted from the game itself.

#4. Barca does not having a diving problem.

I suspect here's where I lose a number of you. If you agreed with the supremely hypocritical post-match comments of Adebayor, we're probably never going to see eye to eye. But hear me out.

The charge against Barca is that they were guilty of systematic cheating via simulation against Real. I'll start here, and go on to deal with the wider charge which has suddenly gained great popularity - that the team has a chronic diving problem.

We could start with Real's tactical aggression in all three Clasicos this month. Some Cules believe that systematic simulation is a legitimate (or at least reasonable) response to systematic aggression. Their reasoning goes like this: if referees are slow to punish dangerous play, leading to an unfair disadvantage for the less physical team, then the victim team should not be expected to lay down and die. They have the right to fight back, meeting illegality with illegality. It's all very well to be praised for fair play but a few pitying plaudits are no substitute for victory.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for that argument. We should be able to rely on match officials to police games so that a team playing on the edge of the rules doesn't step over the line. Unpunished fouls during the second league Clasico and the Copa del Rey final made me fume too. But inventing fouls where there were none only makes the job of the match officials harder.

I don't think Pep Guardiola told his players to go out there and get Real players sent off. If you can rely on anything, it's his desire to prove the value of Barca's playing style through winning. So what happened?

Barca went out there and tried to play their game in the face of expertly designed counter-measures aimed at stopping them. They were almost certainly emotionally affected by the memory of what had happened in the previous two Clasicos. For some, this did not manifest itself in any change of behaviour. Xavi was Xavi, Messi was Messi.

A few others failed to change their behaviour too, but in a less positive way. I'm not going to mince words: Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets are repeat offenders. Whatever their other virtues - they're both fine players and by all accounts interesting people - they both go down far too easily. For Alves it's long been one of the few blots on the copybook of a fantastic player, a habit he has made no move to correct. I have some (possibly misguided) hope for Sergio. He's young and it's only his third season as a professional - plenty of time to realize that his flopping is starting to work against him. Either way, it was embarrassing to see their antics on such a big night.

[A quick pause here to clarify an important subsidiary issue: Alves did not get Pepe sent off. Pepe got himself sent off for a dangerous challenge in a game where he'd spent much of his time running around making borderline challenges. Let's not get cause and effect mixed up here.]

Then there's Pedro Rodriguez, who let himself down with some uncharacteristic amateur theatrics, the effect of which is that the actual rough treatment he received is being overlooked. All of which will hopefully be a lesson to him (a relative newcomer to this Clasico business) to keep his head better next time.

And...that's it. There were individual cases of bad behaviour, not a pattern, and if individual cases constitute proof of a diving culture within a team then every single top-flight team around Europe (including the ever sanctimonious EPL) is guilty of one. Barca happens to be a team of mostly physically unimposing, technically gifted players. If Adebayor and Sergio Ramos really are confused about why they were booked, as their post-match comments suggest, perhaps they'd like to 1) consult the rules, and 2) consider what happens when a bigger guy shoves a smaller guy in the face. Or when the bigger guy bodychecks a much smaller guy while he's running.

So there you have it. Given the talent on both sides, high expectations for this fixture were inevitable. We got a goal for the ages, a supersub making his reputation, and enough drama to fuel a week's worth of talking points. All the essential ingredients for a memorable Clasico were present and correct. Just add a bit more actual football and we'd be all set.


Linda thinks five Clasicos a season is far too many for our collective sanity and would like to extend her sympathy to the English-speaking Spain-based journalists covering these fixtures. Your valiant efforts are much appreciated.

how to die with your boots on: Pep Guardiola's very bad year

"I remember when I received [Guardiola's] call and...I pick up and tease him a bit, but notice in his voice a serious tone. And then he says: 'I need a lawyer.'" - Manel Estiarte, translated by Total Barca

In the glittering, storybook career of Pep Guardiola, one bleak episode stands out from amongst the triumphs. I am referring to the competitive ban and suspended prison sentence he received due to two positive tests for the banned substance nandrolone. Years later, even this unhappy event became part of the Guardiola mythology, an illustration of his legendary obstinacy. But it wasn't always like that.

"I've been in front of the press many times but this is the first time that I've convened a press conference. After a meeting with President Gaspart, who can't be here today due to travel, I decided I have to announce something."

"I came to Barcelona without a penny and I'm leaving as a father, I'm proud of having grown up here but on balance I want to leave to get to know a new league, another culture, new friends and new rivals."

Pep Guardiola announced his departure from FC Barcelona at an explosive press conference on 11 April 2001. He had chosen not to renew his contract, thus ending a 17-year association with Barca. The club captain and figurehead, loved, respected - some would say feared by members of the club hierarchy who did not like the extent of his power - appeared alone. He had been diminished by a series of devastating injuries and equally devastating departures of key allies from what had been a great team.

In an emotional announcement, he informed the more than 100 journalists present of his intention to walk away, insisting that he had no particular destination in mind. Some were convinced that he was jumping before he could be pushed, a casualty of the the vicious power struggle at a dysfunctional Barca.



Five months later, to the surprise of many, Guardiola turned up at Brescia, in northern Italy. He spoke decent Italian at his first press conference and appeared excited by this new adventure, keen to leave his unseemingly departure from Barca behind.

Guardiola's new team mates included the great Roberto Baggio, with whom he formed a warm friendship, as well as a young Luca Toni, who still has great things to say about him. His manager was one of the great old figures of Italian football, Carlo Mazzone, who Guardiola eventually came to call his Italian father.


[Eight years later, at his most glorious hour yet, Guardiola remembered Mazzone. Facing the Italian press after the final whistle in Rome, he dedicated the victory to Mazzone, as well as the recently retired Paolo Maldini.]

The future looked bright. Then came the failed drug test.

"Thank you for being here. My name is Pep Guardiola Sala. I'm a football player. A machine says that I have taken nandrolone. Next to this machine there is a man who says it's not true."

Manel Estiarte, the man Guardiola refers to as his 'guardian angel', current Barca team liaison and retired waterpolo great, had been based in Italy for most of his professional playing career and knew the country far better than his old friend, who called him for advice in his time of need.

And Guardiola was definitely in need. He had tested postive for the banned substance nandrolone after a league match against Piacenza on October 21, becoming yet another entry in the rash of nandrolone positives returned by prominent players in Italy during and after the turn of the century.

In Spain, the news was greeted with incredulity. Old friends and rivals rushed to his defence, Real Madrid captain Fernando Hierro stating: "I believe in his innocence and his honesty as a sportsman." Former team mate Miguel Angel Nadal said that he would hold his hand in the fire to vouch for Pep's innocence.

Similar statements came from Mazzone and his new team mates. Nevertheless, the positive test led to Guardiola's suspension by the disciplinary commission of the Italian league.

A second positive test in November confirmed his sentence - a four month suspension from football and a fine of 50,000 Euros. Guardiola despaired and even thought of leaving football, but his path was always clear. It wasn't for him to protest his innocence, serve the ban and then get on with his life. As he told Estiarte, he was willing to spend every last Euro proving his innocence.

"If I am guilty, the punishment should have been four years. If I am innocent, as I will prove someday, then I didn't deserve a single day."

In May 2005, a Brescia court examined Guardiola's appeal. Far from exonerating him, the court affirmed his sporting sentence, added a seven month suspended jail term and fined him an additional 2,000 Euros under new anti-doping legislation.

But this outcome did not deter Guardiola. Over the next six years, as his career took him to Rome, the Middle East, Mexico, and back to Spain, he never stopped putting time and resources into the legal battle, vowing to take the case up to the highest levels of European justice if necessary. The ban may have been ancient history by then, but Guardiola would not rest until he had cleared the blot on his name.

In the meantime, his old friend Manel Estiarte had informed him of changes made by the World Anti-Doping Agency to their regulatory guidelines. New scientific findings had proven that some athletes' bodies naturally generated a certain amount of nandrolone, as Guardiola's legal team had maintained all along.

23 October 2007. The Brescia Court of Appeal clears Guardiola of all charges.* Pep tells the press that he feels liberated, as if a weight had been taken off him. He talks about his happiness in an interview with El Pais, while recognising that his relative wealth had enabled him to carry on an expensive legal process where other wrongly convicted people might have had to give in because of lack of funds.

Even out of the ranks of professional sportspeople with ample resources, Guardiola's persistence is remarkable. The announcement of his innocence came as he was embarking on his coaching career with Barcelona B, six years after the first positive drug test and a year after he retired from the game as a player.

That's the kind of person he is - a man obstinate enough to match his famously intractable mentor Johan Cruyff. This bloody-minded-ness has, I would argue, served him well in his current high pressure post, and will continue to mark his decision-making in the future.



[*The Italian National Olympic Committee attempted to reopen the case in 2009, but their appeal was rejected by the National Anti-Doping Tribunal.]


(On a different note, I now contribute regularly to Barcelona Football Blog, and recently wrote a piece on - topically enough - youth transfers for In Bed With Maradona.)

If Pep Guardiola didn't exist, we'd have to invent him

In a way, that's exactly what Barca have done. As ball boy, trainee, player, captain and now coach, they've shaped the skinny kid from a small town into the charming, well-spoken man in a sharp suit he is today.

In recent years, everyone from players, club management, Catalan politicians, entertainers of all stripes and Jose Mourinho have called him the perfect manager for Barca. And he is. 99 percent of the time, he reflects the way Barca and Barcelonistas would like to be perceived. (And the remaining 1 percent - well, the post of Barca manager is enough to drive anyone a little dotty.)

As Simon Kuper pointed out in one of his ever-perceptive FT.com columns:

The key point about Guardiola is that he has been identified with Barcelona almost from birth. He comes from a Catalan village and has spent most of his life in the square kilometre of the Nou Camp. As Jimmy Burns writes in Barça: A People's Passion , locals still remember Guardiola as a skinny 15-year-old ballboy illegally running on to the pitch and hugging a player during a European semi-final in 1986. They remember him as a skinny playmaker, standing on the balcony of the Generalitat building in 1992, holding aloft the European Cup, and saying in Catalan, " Ja la teniu aquí " ("Here you have it"). The phrase gave many in the crowd goosebumps, because it deliberately echoed the legendary " Ja soc aquí " ("Here I am") of Josep Tarradellas, the Catalan president, when he returned from French exile after General Franco died.

In other words, Guardiola, a reader of Catalan poetry, is such a perfect Catalan hero that he is practically a character from a 19th-century poem himself.

The story goes that when Guardiola was scouted for La Masia one of the coaches, having witnessed his less-than-impressive speed, tackling and dribbling ability commented that the only outwardly remarkable thing about the boy was that he had a very large head for such a skinny, frail-looking body. And that's precisely the point - it was what went on inside that big head that was so valuable, even as a young player.

Johan Cruyff is said to have once compared Guardiola's speed on the pitch to his grandmother (unfavourably, if you're wondering). Nevertheless, he too saw something in the young Guardiola that pointed to the capacity for tactical intelligence and evolution necessary to become the midfield fulcrum of the team he was building. Years later, it was Cruyff's endorsement once again that proved crucial in (now ex-) president Joan Laporta's unexpected - some would say reckless - decision to appoint Guardiola as first team manager at a time when Barca desperately needed direction.

Off the pitch, Guardiola has an equal reputation for intelligence and introspection. As the late, great Sir Bobby Robson once wrote:

"He knew the game and knew how to conduct himself. Some footballers wouldn't stand for anything. They can't see beyond themselves. You'd have no chance of engaging them in any kind of sensible debate, but Pep had class. He had bearing."

This reputation as a sensitive intellectual makes his many touchline antics - up to and including the red card inducing ones - all the more amusing. Guardiola can come across as somewhat long-suffering and infuriatingly non-committal, especially when placed next to his old associate Jose Mourinho, but it would be a grave mistake to regard him as the blandly polite angel to Mourinho's entertainingly incendiary devil.

While it is true that Guardiola's default setting seems to be Diplomatic (and he seems to feel that it would be unseemingly to complain outright about perceived injustices), he is also not one to shrink from a little controversy - witness the incident preceding the away match against Dynamo Kiev last season, when he spoke frankly about his prominent use of Catalan in press conferences in response to a question from an Ukrainian journalist - or from using the aftementioned press conferences as a bully pulpit, against his own club president if need be. He is admired partly because his actions embody the signature Catalan concept of seny (wisdom/sensibleness). In some ways he and Mourinho are more similar than they are different. One is simply more of a showman than the other.

Pete Jenson writes that Jose and Pep went for canapes together after the recent FIFA World Player Gala. I wonder if the over-the-top, almost cartoonish devotion they inspire from their players came up as a subject for discussion. The Mourinho Effect is well known. His players - Drogba being the chief example, but there are many - tend to look upon him as an almost omnipotent figure. Tributes to Guardiola from his players run along curiously similar lines. My favourites, though, don't speak to omnipotence so much as persuasiveness:

"He's a passionate perfectionist. So if he believes something is white and you think it is black, you will end up believing that it is white." - Xavi

If Pep told me to throw myself off the 3rd tier of Camp Nou, I’d think ‘there must be something good down there'. - Dani Alves

This bond with his players suggests that behind the demanding disciplinarian lies a brother/father figure to whom the players can relate, in some cases very closely. Again, is this starting to sound familiar? All of the above was dramatically illustrated in that comical episode during the latest Clasico, when Cristiano Ronaldo sparked a 23-man brawl by pushing Guardiola in the chest under extreme provocation. Well, a little provocation, but with the backdrop of everything else that was happening Ronaldo's annoyance was understandable. And you can't deny that seeing mild little Andres Iniesta lose his rag is hilarious.

Reading about or watching Mourinho's antics, one often gets the feeling that we're watching mythology being created - there's a certain unreality about the media character of Jose Mourinho, genius manager. Equally, I'd argue the same applies to Guardiola, the man they called 'the myth' (as in too good to be true). If he's a myth, he's an engrossing one, dreamed up and produced by Barcelona. Long may his reign continue.



[Written on the occasion of Pep Guardiola's 40th birthday.]

on Barca and shirt sponsorship

On the day the news broke, I was filled with unreasoning anger. If you asked me to articulate why I was so mad, I would have had trouble, which is really not very good going for someone trained to make well reasoned arguments.

There's been a lot of link spilled on the topic already, whether in support of the Qatar Foundation deal or in opposition to it. I read with interest the results of polls in both El Mundo Deportivo and Sport which were evenly split between those who agreed with the decision of the board and those who didn't. It's clear that this issue is just as divisive amongst Cules as Rosell's membership policies, and for good reason.

I wanted to set out the reasoning behind my opposition in part to set this issue to rest in my own mind and in part because for all the excellent articles I've read voicing opposition - including that of Our Spiritual Godfather (TM) Johan Cruyff - I venture that I can still contribute something to the debate.

Let me begin with the Cruyff column which has been so widely excerpted:

This club is unique in the world. Nobody has kept its shirt intact over its history and at the same time still be competitive as anyone else. Will you sell this uniqueness for 6 or 7 % of your budget? It is what Barca stands for and what differentiates it in this world; are there no other avenues that can be used to increase the club’s income? Have the new executive board thought this thing through? Do they think the previous board is so empty-headed [not to have thought about this]?

[With thanks to Total Barca for the translation. The whole column is very interesting and worth a read.]

Normally I tend to agree with Cruyff despite myself. This time I disagree with him despite myself. It seems to me that an argument constructed upon the supposed uniqueness of Barca amongst football clubs is a difficult proposition. The moral high ground is a perilous place for any club with an eye on having their name in lights, particularly under the conditions of modern football. The higher you put yourself, the easier it is for others to knock you down. And us Cules know better than anyone else how shaky any claims of moral supremacy are, because we're the ones staring the rotten bits in the face day after day. Furthermore, the whole we're so special routine carries a certain sanctimoniousness that I - and a lot of neutrals, at a guess - find off-putting on general principle.

So, then, if I don't think Barca are too special for shirt sponsorship, why do I oppose it? We might as well recast the question: why do we - generic we, as in football fans - cherish the traditions of our clubs? They don't have to make the club special - as in better than other clubs - but they are part of the DNA of the institution. Maybe some particular trait of your club is a major reason for your support. The reason doesn't even have to make sense. (These things often don't.) It's probably been in place for so long that it's become part of your life as a supporter.

The particular culture and tradition of a club doesn't make it better or worse than any other club. That's not the point. But what is a football club if it can't depend upon its own painstakingly constructed identity, its colours, quirks, the things that make up its personality? It might as well not exist.

The lack of shirt sponsorship was part of Barca's longstanding identity. Personally, I always liked that the front of the shirt was bare. It was another mark of identification, just like the blaugrana and the hideous away kits of [insert highlighter colour here]. The introduction of the UNICEF logo was acceptable because it at least meant some money going towards an organisation that needs it, however small the amount. (Your mileage may vary, depending upon whether you believe incremental good matters when done under the backdrop of other dubious deeds. Which is actually perfectly illustrated by the whole UNICEF logo being right under the Nike logo on the current shirt. But that's a discussion for another day.)

The Qatar Foundation deal, on the other hand, helps the club pay for approximately 6% of its budget. That's it. The current board will point to the economic necessity of such a move, to sustain other aspects of the club's existence. Some of us have serious doubts about their maths. By which I don't just mean their accounting, but the maths which led to them weighing up the money to be gained via the deal against the intangible, long-term loss represented by the introduction of shirt sponsorship and deciding that it would be worth it.

Or, putting it into terms that businessmen like Rosell and co. understand: the blow to brand identity caused by this deal over the long term seems like a triumph of damaging short-termism to me. (And now I have to wash my mouth out for talking about brand identity and football in the same sentence. Excuse me.)

On a final note, I'd like to ask for your pardon in two respects: 1) it was perhaps a mistake to attempt to rationalize an intensely emotional reaction, but I felt that the attempt might be worthwhile given the intensity of the debate, and 2) this is too much sentimental mush for these cynical times, I know. It's not cool to be this eye-bleedingly sincere about football these days.

It won't happen again for at least another two weeks, I promise you that.

barca 09/10: the review

Some incredibly disorganised thoughts about the past season:

horse race

I think Guardiola is absolutely correct when he says that Barca would not have reached the highs they hit this season without being pushed so hard by Real. In fact, Perez's spending spree was probably the most effective form of motivation money could buy for the Barca players, who'd won every single trophy they competed for by the end of 2009.

Winning the league this season was particularly satisfying for this Cule because I was so fearful at the beginning of the season that Real's spending (and hitting upon a good coach, seemingly by accident) would take them past Barca, who could never live up to the glories of the season just gone and would falter under the strain of trying. Once again, I'm eating my words and loving every bite. It certainly wasn't easy, and in patches I thought Real were the more likely champions, but in the end Barca's consistency (both collective and individual) and defensive solidarity won out.

elections

I've never hidden my dislike for Joan Laporta. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner the man stops speaking for the club, the better. However, to give the guy his due, he definitely left Barca in much better shape than he found it in, institutionally, financially, and on the sporting front. (Not difficult, given how the Gaspart era ended, but Barca have had very good years under Laporta.)

For now, the trend of me disliking the president looks set to continue, as Sandro Rosell is currently the presumed front-runner. My dislike of Rosell began long before this election season and has its roots in some of the proposals he put forward as vice president during Laporta's first term. It was cemented by his recent comments on the question of membership. On this issue, I highly recommend Ramzi's post, which lays it out better than I could. I'll just say that to limit membership goes against everything I believe Barca should stand for.

signings

How you can recognise a geeky Barca fanatic: when they're more excited by the kids graduating from the youth system than they are by big name signings. This has been me for the past 3 or 4 seasons. I'll just quickly mention a few names I'm looking forward to seeing more of next season: midfielders Jonathan Dos Santos and Thiago Alcantara (both born of Brazilian parents, but Jono plays for Mexico and Thiago plays for Spain at youth level), as well as defenders Marc Muniesa and Martin Montoya (both Spanish).

Moving on to signings, of course Villa is a fantastic striker who will score tons of goals, but he's 28. I can't help feeling Barca brought him a season later than they should have. Still, more than glad to have such a reliable goalscorer who will fit easily into the Barca system.

As for the midfield, if Yaya Toure leaves it will be a very sad day indeed, but I do understand his desire for more playing time. He'll need to be replaced, and my preference is for someone versatile like Keita who can play as a central or defensive midfielder. Lord knows who that will end up being at this point.

Ideally, I would also like one more defender. Alves, Puyol, Pique, Milito, Abidal and Maxwell are all fine, but from there things get a little dicey, and that's not good enough.

standout performers

Leo Messi: 47 goals and 14 assists in 53 appearances. The (ridiculous) stats say it all. Except they don't. He makes everybody else play better, not only because of the passes and runs he makes, but because he attracts defenders like few other players on the planet. Rightly so, because - and it's been this way since 06-07, really - when nobody else has anything, and the game looks like petering out, he's the one who makes it happen.

Xavi: As Guardiola said, best midfielder in the history of Barca. Insanely consistent, absolutely tireless, and the best passer of the ball in Europe.

Puyol: At the beginning of the season, people thought his career was over. Please. A tremendous competitor with the work ethic of a true pro and the physical conditioning of a man ten years younger. He'll be around for a while yet.

Pique: Has good enough feet to play striker, can pass like a midfield general, and somehow keeps up with CRon in full flight when in defence. I don't get him. Whip-smart, too, underneath the bluster.

Pedro: I had no idea he could play like that. Fortunately, I'm in some pretty good company there, as nobody but Guardiola seemed to have any clue. Pedro Rodriguez was about to be shipped out when Guardiola came on the scene at what was then Barca B 3 years ago. And now he's scored 23 goals for Barca in his first full season. Could maybe use a little more composure at times when being harried, but that's just a nitpick. Good with both feet, tactically disciplined, tracks back like his life depends on it, no ego to speak of. What else can you ask for?

guardiola's bias

Guardiola's pro-La Masia agenda is obvious. I think he might even admit it if you bought it up. As much as I approve of the idea of a team mostly made up of youth team grads, I was initially very skeptical of the practicalities involved. Well, surprise surprise, I was wrong and he was right. Players like Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez made the step up seamlessly, and of course Guardiola was lucky enough to inherit the likes of Xavi, Puyol and Messi. Would a team with 8 home-grown starters be possible without the tremendous luck of inheriting such a golden generation of players? Probably not. But equally, the explosive development of Pedro and Busquets would not have been possible without Guardiola's championing.

(Hey, look at that, all the standouts I named above are La Masia grads. Hm.)

a longer view

I hadn't actually thought about this until El Pais reminded me - Barca have won 10 league titles in the past two decades (1990-94, 97-99, 04-06, 08-10) to Real's 6 (94/95, 96/97, 00/01, 02/03, 06-08). Barca only have 20 league titles in total. I think if any statistic illustrates the way Johan Cruyff the coach (and the 'Godfather'/mentor) changed Barca for the better, it's probably that one. Cruyff's an infuriating man at times, but he deserves every accolade for his vision and achievements.

argentina's preliminary squad: dear diego

Without going into shadowy conspiracy theories (I'll just say that I broadly agree with the thoughts of Sam over at Hasta El Gol Siempre and move on for now), a few thoughts below.

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Mariano Andujar (Catania, Italy), Diego Pozo (Colon, Argentina)


Romero has been really impressive everytime I've seen him play (since his days in the youth/Olympic teams), although neither he or Andujar are what you'd call hugely experienced at international level. No bone to pick here.


Defenders: Walter Samuel (Internazionale, Italy), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich, Germany), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille, France), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield, Argentina), Nicolas Burdisso (Roma, Italy), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes, Argentina), Ariel Garce (Colon, Argentina), Juan Manuel Insaurralde (Newell’s Old Boys, Argentina), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United, England)


I got two words for you: Gabi Milito. I know, my Cule bias is showing, but is anyone seriously going to argue that Coloccini and/or Burdisso are better options? Also a little worried about Micho, who's had an injury-plagued season.


Midfielders: Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes, Argentina), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United, England), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina, Italy), Juan Mercier (Argentinos Juniors, Argentina), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool, England), Angel Di Maria (Benfica, Portugal), Javier Pastore (Palermo, Italy), Jose Sosa (Estudiantes, Argentina), Jesus Datolo (Olympiakos, Greece, Sebastian Blanco (Lanus, Argentina)


I've had mixed feelings about Veron in the NT for sometime. Won't go over them again here, but suffice to say that at least he'll be a staunch ally for Messi in the squad should the need arise. Great to see Di Maria and Pastore on there - I hope they both make the final list. Would have liked Aimar as well, but at least with him I do get why you'd exclude such an injury-prone player. On the other hand, Bolatti instead of, say, Banega (who's had a pretty good season) or Cambiasso (ditto) is far more questionable. And don't even get me started on the eternally scorned Lucho Gonzalez.


Forwards:
Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, Spain), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, England), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Diego Milito (Internazionale, Italy), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Italy)


Great to see Lavezzi on there, even though he's unlikely to make the final list. We all know by now that it's probably going to be Messi-Higuain up there when the first game rolls around, so in terms of alternative attacking options I can sort of understand the inclusion of Palermo. If I squint really hard. Maybe. But if it came down to a choice between him and Diego Milito, there's no question which I'd prefer. (And I swear to you this has nothing to do with my longstanding Riquelme fandom. Really.)



You can follow me on Twitter @blackwhitengrey if you want to see my less rational reactions. Oh Diego, why are you doing this to us?