Bartomeu has managed to desecrate all that was pure at Barcelona
I have never been to Barcelona, but I have been told that it is a beautiful city. I close my eyes and try to visualise how it could be. You see, the body is very limited; it can only stay at one place at a time. But the mind… it travels afar.
There’s no leash on it, just like the wind… free in its movements and careless in its grace. So, I close my eyes and see people walking around posh streets with the yellow-red flags of Catalonia waving on the pavement every 500 meters.
I see couples holding each other and laughing whilst walking on the streets; the elderly on the park benches reading newspapers while the birds chirp on the trees around. The children… the children, they are just in the moment, focused and yet so restless in their meditation.
So many people, so many different lives, but there’s something that connects them. The look in their eyes, it exudes the same hope. They say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul - and I could see in each and every one of their souls that they are connected to something.
Is it God? No, no, okay… maybe… yes. It could be. You could say so. I mean, is there a fixed definition for the Almighty? God is a feeling, so in that sense, I guess one could say that most of these Catalans are linked to a feeling…
F.C. Barcelona. Mes que un club. More than just a club. Or at least that’s what it used to be… or, perhaps, still is.
Mes que un club
For the Catalans, Barcelona are not just a football club. They mean a lot more. The years of oppression they faced under the regime of General Franco forced them to turn to something that would help them forget their problems for a while at least.
Their years of striving for independence – and subsequent failure – made them crave for freedom even more. A place where they could feel belonged and rejoice with their own people; Camp Nou became that place and is still a source of freedom for them.
Every Barcelona win was like a win against Franco, a win against oppression, a win for their hopes and a win for Catalonia. They might still be a part of Spain, but they identify more with the club than the country.
For them, Barcelona are life – and life was beautiful when Pep Guardiola and his band of brothers were winning every battle that fell in their path.
The feeling of superiority was something the Catalans cherished; they could say that they were better than their eternal rivals – that they were the best in Spain and in Europe. That alone was like independence, a freedom from the oppression.
But now, Barcelona are a laughing stock. And Josep Maria Bartomeu is the primary reason for it.
Bartomeu's incompetence is suffocating
Barcelona, despite being a big club, were bullied and slapped around by various European clubs this summer – mainly Paris Saint-Germain.
They went in for Marco Verratti, but saw their second-best asset robbed off them by the Parisians. Before Neymar’s move, the board insisted that he is “200% staying with us.” After his departure, they tried their best to take Coutinho off Liverpool with a progressively aggressive nature, but the Merseyside outfit didn’t budge.
And then there is the signing of Ousmane Dembele. As talented as he might be, he cost Barcelona an initial €105 million and might cost a further €45 million in performance-related incentives. It is actually not the price, but the controversy that the move created that further hampered the Blaugrana's name.
The respect that the Azulgranas earned through their dominance on the playing field has all been lost by their off-field antics this summer. Forget the other teams; their own fans now want Bartomeu out with something once-unfathomable being whispered in the air: Lionel Messi might just leave the Camp Nou as a free-agent next year.
Despite Bartomeu claiming that Messi has signed an extension that keeps him at the club for four more years at least, fans aren’t sure whether to believe him or not. Why would they?
After the signing of the Frenchman Dembele, the board suggested that Barca would sign “two or three more players,” but ended up signing no one. Apart from Coutinho, they targeted Angel di Maria, Jean Seri and Dani Parejo, but couldn’t get any deals over the line – leaving them seriously short in midfield.
As I close my eyes now to imagine Barcelona, I no longer see hope in their eyes. Instead, there is a sense of fear that comes from inferiority. This used to be prevalent before the Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff days, but both these men drew strokes of glory on the canvas of the club’s history using their magnificent paintbrushes.
That sense of suffocation that comes from being caged can be felt in their breaths now. As Madrid grow from strength to strength, their burgeoning presence will continue smothering the Cules even more.
But what’s truly asphyxiating for them is the poisoning leadership of Josep Maria Bartomeu – the man behind the desecration of Barcelona’s purity.