Many Parisian fans still carry the name Neymar on their backs. The rush at the launch of Lionel Messi’s new jerseys on Wednesday was huge.
Photo: AFP / Bertrand Guay
“Més que un club” – a self-image as if carved in stone. In Catalan, FC Barcelona pretends to be “more than a club”: an attitude towards life for the Catalans in Spain, number one in the country, if not the whole world. For years, FC Barcelona was the measure of all things when its almost unbeatable team set the tone in top European football. Several world stars proudly wore the red-blue-striped jersey; Later top footballers emerged from the youth academy called “La Masia” (“The Farmhouse”), above all Lionel Messi, who became an icon in Barcelona. It has been clear since Sunday: The Argentine will no longer wear the Barca shirt after 21 years.
The self-image of the proud club suffered not only because of Messi’s move to Paris St. Germain. Because FC Barcelona is facing the ruins of its glorious past, the club’s liabilities now amount to more than one billion euros. The red numbers were no longer a secret. But you have to milk the cow as long as it gives milk, those responsible thought.
When Joan Laporta was elected club president in 2003, the situation was already precarious. At 220 million euros, the debts are – in contrast to today – manageable, but still threatening the existence of the company. With the new strong man at the helm, a lawyer, things should look better. Laporta uses the red pencil. The number of employees, including in the boardroom, will be reduced and salaries cut.
The new president also chooses a new motto, which the fans of FC Barcelona don’t like at all: You can’t always just take, you have to let yourself be given from time to time. And who is ready to give more for the club than their own supporters? Of course nobody. So the ticket prices will be increased by a whopping 40 percent. A slap in the face for the average Catalan, even if the increase in season tickets was still quite moderate. This inevitably leads to an exchange of viewers: Wealthy event tourists from Asia now make up an unmistakable percentage of the audience.
However, those who were willing to spend mostly three-digit sums for day tickets in the following years also got a lot on offer: Superstars like Xavi, Iniesta and of course Lionel Messi. As a result, FC Barcelona became a major customer for the local master carpenters. Because the trophy cabinet had to be expanded permanently, as many national and international titles were won by the Catalans. Since 2006 alone, Barca have won the Champions League four times and nine Spanish championships.
That is the end of it for the time being. An aging team that has not been adequately reinforced with fresh players who are appropriate to the required level no longer plays a leading role. The last victory in the Champions League came in 2015, the last Spanish championship title was celebrated in 2019. Last season Barca finished third. In addition, new signings fell short of expectations, but at the same time earned a generous salary. President Laporta now openly admits: “Our salaries correspond to 110 percent of our income.” Without Messi, the value falls to 95 percent, but according to Spanish financial fair play rules, only 70 are allowed. It is still unclear whether some of the players newly signed in the summer can even be used at the start of the season on Sunday.
The result of blatant mismanagement is now coming back like a boomerang. And that, although FC Barcelona was actually too big for such a drastic failure. If the corona pandemic hadn’t got in the way. Until then, at least the club’s economic system ran like clockwork with the spectators. At every tourist shop on the boulevard Las Ramblas you could buy tickets for the game days, tours through the stadium and of course all sorts of junk from the fan shop. But the tourists stayed away, there was no more event audience willing to pay who wanted to see Lionel Messi. At least in theory, because sitting in the top tier of the Camp Nou you need binoculars to spot Messi on the pitch.
The stadium, which normally has almost 100,000 spectators per match day, remained empty for a long time. And it is questionable how many consumers will make a pilgrimage to Camp Nou in the future, because the biggest attraction is gone: Messi is now wearing the Paris St. Germain jersey. And the future of FC Barcelona is uncertain. In contrast to 2003, upheaval will take longer and be more difficult to cope with. The ticket prices can hardly be increased. It is up to those responsible to get rid of high earners and to return to original values: youth work in La Masia. But even the greatest optimists will be clear: FC Barcelona will probably no longer be among the top Europeans for the time being.
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