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

MORE SHOPPING

The majority of European seasons, except for the Nordics, Russia, Ireland and some more are coming to the end. We are knowing the champions, the teams that will play in Europe, the ones that will lose the category, the ones that will be promoted, etc. It's the moment the big dance of each year begins, with players and coaches packing to leave a place and go to another.

Now it is the time where you will see the work done by the various Technical Secretariats. It's not an easy job. You have to work many months to provide the coach (a new one or the same one, it’s the same), a number of players that can be used to improve the current squad. Clubs that will be forced to sell to balance their budgets. Clubs that will be able to pay anything for that desired player. Clubs that will miss 2, 3, 4 or 8 players, for whatever reason, and must make a new squad.

Although it is not an easy task, the work of the Technical Secretariat is much better than a few years ago. Today it is possible to watch on TV the majority of the Leagues in the World. In one place or another, you can watch every week hundreds of games and thousands of players. Clubs with less budget may only have 1 person for this job and, in the most modest, is the same coach who does all the functions at once.

And, this is where I start to wonder. How big clubs may not sign virtually unknown players, and later they will pay the price of gold when they start to show up in an average team? How can you have Serbs, Poles or Greeks (to give some examples), which are in some average teams without that great teams know anything about them? How is this possible that often see very good level players in regional categories, which could be much higher? It is true that it is not possible to see all the players in the World but sometimes you understand nothin. Because, of course, to sign Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (today), my nephew, who is 11, can do it, and he only  watches Barça’s matches. To sign them with 15-16 years you have to work more. Or, to sign a 19-year young Swede playing in the first division of his country and bring it to a Top-Ten, you have also to work. May be is this, not work hard enough or, maybe they do not know, many of them, what they have to look for in a player or, what kind of player the Club searches or, any other reason.

You look for a full-back and you finish signing an "adaptable" winger, you looking for a play-maker and you take a defensive midfielder. You are looking for a striker and you take a quick forward that can open spaces on the side. You are looking for a goalkeeper good on aerial ball and you take one that plays well with his feet. And so, whatever you want. And, when the player is "perfect" for the needs of the team, this is worth a lot of money unreachable. Should not the Clubs have a list of players (4-5 for the more modest, 15 to 20 for those with more resources) for each position? And should not be all its features (technical, tactical, economical, personal, etc.), included in the file? Sometimes it seems that the one that signs has done it because the player is highly regarded in any of the simulation games that are about football, because if not, often you don’t understand things.

And, not all players are good to play in any team. Each team plays one way and the players that go well for it are not the same that go well for another team, which plays differently. A typical question is: And why was this one playing so well on that team and he does not in this one? Simple, because the team plays differently and functions to do by the player are different, and his characteristics are not good for this style of play. And you see that working and watching players and games and, more players and more games. And, also, knowing exactly how your team plays and which player is the one that really serves. And it is hard work and often not done. May also be one of the problems.

And, forgive me, but I don’t understand that, with so many people in the Technical Secretariats you finish asking a player to the “Agent on duty”. I'll take the one he represents, and he will charge the corresponding commission. The fault lies not with the agents, it is clear. Blame it on those who didn’t do the job they had to do. When you go shopping, you have to know what you want to buy, because if not, you’ll pay for a 600 (Fiat 500), the price of a Porsche.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

SHOPPING

I think that in the coming weeks and months there will be a noticeable increase of flights to Germany, mainly to Munich and Dortmund. Football runs on "fashion" and now, after the Champions League semifinals, the Germans are "fashionable", the new trend to follow. Everyone will want to do like them, in all aspects.

If, until yesterday, the working model were Spanish teams (and in particular Barça, with the entire collection of titles in recent years), starting today this is over, and we'l hear, among other things that:

1. The "tiki-taka" is not longer useful.

2. The possession game has expired.

3. Smaller players are useless for this type of matches.

4. The game should be based more on playing against what the opponents are doing, and not, to apply what we work.

Really? Are you sure? Do we have it clear?

Step by step. The first two statements go together. Believe in what I just put is not knowing what is football based on "possession", or how it works, and how to train it (beyond that like it or not this model: each one plays as he likes, make it clear ). This kind of football - like any other - is about principles at all levels and you have to follow them. I talked about this in the previous post, and now I will not return to it. What should be clear is that, like any recipe or chemical formula, if you don't have the right ingredients in the right order and with the right timing, the final "product" is not adequate. And for me, that, as I said, is what happens now.

More. It has been given the example of small players to understand this model football. Why? Very simple: as the big players are to defend, small are to attack. This I think is also wrong. It's true that having players with 1.90 m. help defend corners and faults but, as Cruyff said, if we have problems defending corners, what we have to do is not to concede corners. What does this mean? Well, we have to play the way we have the greatest choices to maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. On the other hand, I've never been clear that the big players can not be players of high technical quality. I just think that in general, the training of these players has been directed to destroy and not to create play and, therefore, this is what we see happening today in football fields. And, conversely, as only small players are taught to touch and touch and not taught to fight splitted balls, when they find with it, they have problems.

Finally, now you have to be reactive. Everyone says that you have to be proactive, but what we see is more and more to play according to opponents. I disagree. I think the ideas are confused. One thing is to have a model/style of play and make the necessary adjustments based on the opponent that we facing. One day, we will play with the higher defensive line. Another day players at the flanks will be wider; another day, we'll do something else, but we always have to respect our game idea. And this has nothing to do depending on the opponent's play: if the opponent is offensive, we play counters, if the opponent is defensive, we'll play the attack, if ... what you want. Changing of scheme/system means changing mechanisms, and if this has not been worked well in practice, we will not see it at matches. In football there are no miracles. There is much work. Professional teams, may be they do have so many hours that allow them to do things completely different from one day to another but, even that, they have a basic idea of ​​how they play. For the rest, which work grassroots or amateur teams, things are very different. Not better, not worse, but different.

We have to think about all this when we go shopping in Germany. It is not the same a BMW than a Mercedes or a Porsche, even all them are manufactured in the same country. And, may be we are more interested in having an Opel or and Audi made around here.