ELECTIONS AT BARÇA (II)

In this second post about the future of Barça, I want to talk about sports model. About football. About the Sections (other sports), I will discuss it in a forthcoming.

What has made Barça a great club in recent years, beyond the victories and titles, is the way to play. A work that begins in the late 70s with people like Oriol Tort or Laureano Ruiz, but it gets the final boost from the arrival of Cruyff as coach. Cruyff carries with it the working model at Ajax, it begins to be applied to all grassroots football. So, 25 years ago. Not 4 days.

This model (a way to play, a way to train) is a mainstay when we speak of being "More than a Club". A Club where all teams play the same way, from the lowest/youngest to the top/oldest. Obviously, there are variations from one team to another, for the simple reason that the players are not all equal. But the idea is one and only one.

Now, that is gone. The first team plays in a way that has little to do with that. Some people speak of evolution, revolution, even ... Forgive me, but now is another style of play. Beyond that you like it or not. In the meantime, the youngest at the Club continue to work as usual, and the closest to the first team (Barça B, Juvenil A) are in no man's land. Neither here, nor there.

This is what they have to say potential candidates: What model they want. And how it is applied. And this means to coach people that cas apply this model. And, look for players that are adaptable to the model. And, having an effective Technical Secretariat. No point having a fantastic program (as they say is the COR, with 20,000 players in its database) if we don't sign the type of player we need (when we have to sign). This is a second premise. We've been told plenty of times in recent times that if  we don't find outside here the player we need, we will look at home. Is this "Barça's Philosophy? Excuse me, but no. If you want to do things well, the first thing is to look at home. And, if you do not find what we seek at home, then you have to go outside. But not vice versa. The club invests around 20-25M€/year in Grassroots/Academy... to go signing outside? Sorry, but I'm lost.

The Club sports model, then, must have these 3 legs: Model of play, model of training and model of recruitment/training.

The model of play must be ours, we've had so far. That is based on positional play. For all Club teams. And if a candidate wants to change, he says. Not worth what we have now: Saying one thing (that the model is not discussed), and make a different, ie play another way. And, if they want to change, they have to tell us why. This about "the model is obsolete" is a lie. The problem is that many do not yet know how the model works, and as it is difficult, or very difficult, if solutions are not found, the better thing is to change.

Similarly, and linked with the above, how to train should be the same: everyone has to train the same way (obviously, with the differences based on age: it is not the same a 9 year old boy, one of 15, or an adult). And therefore, it is needed to have trained coaches who understand how Barça works. And, apparently, once we are out of Barça, there are no coaches in the world who know the functioning of positional play. It is not time for a global approach? Similarly we have exported the  brand "Barça" across the globe in terms of a number of things, why not do it at the level of methodology?

Finally, the third leg. The recruitment and training. As I have said many times, the current recruitmenr system does not work. At least the structure. There are many trips here and there that could be solved differently, just as there are many places where there is no presence of the Club. We need to do these processes more rationally, so that there is maximum presence and hence the maximum information. And also, we have to use all ways to obtain this information. And, there are many unused. As for training, as I said before, the current model of "La Masia" is to be used. First, always, from home. And to see well the needs of the first team and search at home. It can not be that Barca B let go, especially in recent years, a lot of players that are replaced by others, that the following year are leaving again. This, I understand, means that there is no clear policy regarding the type of players they are searched/needed. Furthermore, the way that happens mostly: those who go do it for free and those that come are costing us money.

Over these three legs I understand we have to build the Barça of the future. And if a candidate believes that the legs should be a different way, say it. But in concretion. What and how he will do it. It has to be clear to all. Barça is a football Club, and it is useless to have many benefits if then the performance on the pitch is not as expected.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP