THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING

This is what the song of Bob Dylan said, referring to all political and social changes of the 60s. If you look at the world of football, is also applicable. A few years ago, most of the clubs revenue were by membership fees and the sale of players. This has changed. Today the Clubs receive large amounts of television rights, selling T-shirts and other things.

Some of those listed as possible candidates for future elections to the presidency of Barça (it should be 2016) have said, in social networks, that the Club needs a renovation as it relates to marketing strategies and similar. That is needed a renewal of their management structures. It's not me, that I have no idea about these issues, who will tell you about the direction of this kind of stuff. If it is more important 3vminutes on TV or send a player to advertise anywhere in the world. If there must  be 1 General Manager and 25 Working Areas or only 18.

Something very important is the club model. Few weeks, at one of the presentations for the Reform of Camp Nou, Vice-President Javier Faus spoke of hospitality revenue in different clubs around the world. Compared with Madrid, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United in terms of number of seats and revenue. City, United or Arsenal are clubs that have a single owner and are in football for many different reasons. The day they get tired, they will leave. It's that simple. Bayern is a mixed model and Madrid, despite being a club like Barça, operates in a more presidential manner here . But they want to be like them, and to have the same as them , forgetting that we are different. It seems that the economic remedy is hospitality (representing less than 10% of the total budget Club). Hospitality, Marketing, Ticketing, etc. Remember all one thing: the owners of the Club are the "socis", not the Board.

Barça is special. There is no, as we said before, an owner with more or less millions into the pocket. Here there are 130,000 owners. And those who run the Club (The Official we were talking a bit ago), are not professionals. As itself, this is not a problem. The problem is that they have no idea. They speak about "market prices" to refer to those and other questions when the only market they know is the store in the neighborhood where they buy the newspaper and the baguette. And of course, these have fixed prices. They are not debatable. Pay and return home.

This leads to one thing that has not changed for many years and has to. Historically, the club has been a buyer Club. But we have not yet learned to buy. To sell, we still do worse. We pay what it's needed for a player for the simple fact that the seller Club is waiting for us ("it's Barça and, as they like the player, they'll pay what we say"). It has worked in many cases and it appears that still works. To sell, reverse option ("we are not interested, therefore, whoever comes will be able to take him").

It is not, of course, to turn the club into a Corporation and make the Directors professionals. No, although I am sure that is their dream, for many of which there are now. It's about these executives know about football. And they do not know. Today, they like the player scoring three goals; tomorrow the defender that cuts two key plays and, after tomorrow, however the goalie that saves 5 occasions playing against Barça. It seems that, if there are 60M€ to sign, these have to spend, no matter how.

And this is related to the subject of the Technical Secretariat that I have said more than once. A club like Barça can not go around without all the player data, both technical and personal, including salary, hobbies, etc. Today for today, it  seems there is nothing. I spoke in a previous post (It is not that (II)), about the need of having a Scouting system much more useful.

Previously, there was no resources as now. Having footage of players was quite difficult and one should trust what  a friend who was in that country where there was an interesting player or player's agent in turn. And you had to pay what you were told, without knowing for sure if you had bought a Ferrari or a second hand 600 (NA: Spanish equivalent to Fiat 500). Today, it is not. There are images of almost all leagues in the world and, the most important show all the games on TV. When you buy, you know what you're buying and, theoretically, you should know the price. But it does not.

Everything I've said so far, goes around the so spoken as "renewal" at Barça. It seems that it will take I don't know how many players. And, as needed, we will pay what we will be told (or more, if we add Foundations of players, contracts of Scouting and other miscellaneous expenses. Said that is the new model of contracts made ​​in the world. That is, to sign a player, we need to hire, one way or another, all the family and friends). I can understand that there are incentives for this or that player to come. What I don't understand are thee 400k€/year for Scouting as "market price". By the way, have there been reports to justify this amount?

As I can not understand that a reserve player in a team and, which will not go to the World Cup because "competition is very tough (NA: With teammates)" according to what a reporter said today, with only 20 years old and that has not won anything yet, worth 35M€. And in this operation a player of the same nationality, who is a starter at Barça and will go to the World is included. And like this, the examples that you want. And the opposite. Players who go out for 4$ hard "because we will save very high wages".

There is a second part. La Masia. Do you remember this about "La Masia is not to be touched"? Well it seems. Except Masip, no other player will be promoted to the 1st team this year. And I wonder if, with so many people filling their mouth with this about  Barca "B" is 3rd in the 2nd Division, or that the U-19 is the Champion of UEFA Youth Champions League, isn't it strange that no player can go to the 1st team?

But as we have to sell illusion after a bad season where, for the first time in many years we have not won any of the major titles, we will pay whatever. And giving away players "to lighten the wage bill", as I said before, players that the media have been said that they are not useful. All obviously to prevent people stop looking at the pitch and look at the VIP Box. And they will go into discrepancies about if the one that has to sign is this or that one. I explained also in the same mentioned entry, how this part should run.

The times they are a changing, but it seems that many have not seen it yet. Or worse, they have only seen one part: the business. And increasingly, it seems that only the business they can do with the money of others. They have not understood that this is neither the NBA nor the MLS. There, they do sport starting in business. A League is created and franchises are spread. If you lose, you don't go down to 2nd Division. And, if the business fails, the owner sells the Team and it is moved to a different city, looking for business. Leagues here have a different starting point: from sport, they try to do business. Originally, business for the club, to sign players or build new facilities. Now, it seems that business for the pockets of some, whether or not owners.

The times they are a changing. Let's see if we change the ways of proceeding.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

AND YOU, WHAT DO YOU PLAY?

In the modern game specialist are just ending. Except the only real specialist there (by force or by circumstances), which is the goalkeeper, nowadays there is almost no player that can only play in one position. That about "I'm right Full-Back, left Midfielder or Striker" is over. Today demands versatility, the player who, depending of the game and/or circumstances can make different functions: the Full-Back that makes 6 or 8 goals per season or the Winger that recover 3 or 4 balls per game. This, as examples, is the most important today.  Or maybe not? Is it possible that it is more interesting for us a striker that recovers balls and gives options for second-line players than a striker with little ability to work? Is it possible to want a Central Defender that can play as Full-back or Defensive Midfielder because he is fast and has good placement on the pitch, but has no height? Is it possible to prefer a winger that plays “wrong-footed” than a "classic" one?

I say yes. That EVERYTHING is possible.  ALL is useful.  But ALL means ALL. That is, it can be good "business as usual" as "news". Anything can be useful, if we use it correctly and appropriately. The first job of a Full-back is to defend his flank. The first job of a Winger is to cross balls and, the first job of a Striker is to score goals. And all this, go through the usual: to know the characteristics of the players we have, be clear about how the team plays, and be clear about the type of player that is needed or that can improve our team. Let us be clear, too, that any team in the World wants Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robben or Rooney. But we're not talking about these players. We are talking about those, considered good or very good players who do not have that "status". Players who stand out enough, but when you get to a certain role, they lose much of their meaning. Or players who do nothing spectacular, but don’t do anything wrong.

It can be that, for that about trying to make as few mistakes as possible, since more and more games are decided by small details (or small errors), is much sought this type of player. As not everyone has the ability to acquire great "cracks", they seek the easiest. And not always it is. You have to know very well to see the potential of a player to guess that he can play several positions and in none of them, he will do badly. Maybe at none he will be a consummate specialist, but, as he has what they call "reliability", he can solve problems that may arise.

Now, we go to the opposite side. And what if we are able to produce a stopper that is a stopper? Or a winger that is a winger? Aren’t we interested on it? I think that, many times, we train the players without thinking about what they could do. Do not confuse "what they do" with "what they could do." Not the same. A player can be very good finishing on goal, but he is unable to create a play. It, therefore, seems logical to play Striker. Now, what kind of striker? Because not all Strikers are the same. Neither all the Wingers. There are some of them very good at crossing when running; others do it better in a static position. And, like this, any type of player you want. Even the Goalkeeper, that we said he was a specialist, can be of many types: the one that saves very well, the ones with strengths on aerials balls. Others are very good with feet, others are very good at 1v1, etc..

Therefore, I think it's a basic job of the coaches to discover, as soon as possible, the strengths and weaknesses of the players, to enhance ones and to correct others. Then, we will have players who are very good at many things. If you only do one good thing, you have to do it in an amazing way, because if not, unlikely you’ll triumph. The more records you master, more options, and this is learned when you are a child, when you start to play football. It is essential to learn the "Principles of the Game" young, to know how to orientate a mark or how to put the foot to send a ball across the field or, what it is a cover or a delay. The best players are the ones with more knowledge about these things.

By the way, and you, what do you play?

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP