Barcelona’s board makes panicked decisions and has no long term plan

Photo by JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images

It’s become painfully clear.

Media reports about the decision-making process under the current presidency of Josep Maria Bartomeu reveal a panicked administration which reacts in the moment only, with no clear long-term vision.

We see it again in the rumored appointment of Ronald Koeman. Now, the Dutchman has his successes and his failures, and no one can know with certainty whether this will be another hit or another miss. But the way he was appointed, going by media reports, point to this jittery, slap-dash way of running a club.

It was reported that Bartomeu was keen on announcing Mauricio Pochettino as manager until the 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich. After that, he changed course, and ended up picking Koeman. Why? Perhaps because they no longer felt confident appointing Pochettino, a former Espanyol player and manager who had previously said he would never coach Barcelona, due to the fan backlash it could generate.

Again, it’s not about whether Pochettino or Koeman is the better manager, but about how unclear the vision is. If Pochettino was the best choice, is he no longer, just because the president is now too cowardly to risk fan reaction?

This isn’t the first time we hear something like this. There was the Jean Michaël Seri case. It was reported that the club only started following him because the fans asked for him on Twitter. The board apparently had the signing all wrapped up but then backed out at the last minute. Again, whether he would have been a good signing or not, how can anyone have any confidence at all when there’s clearly no planning?

The fact that the team badly overpaid for Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé after the departure of Neymar speaks to the same problem. They don’t know what they’re doing. It seems their #1 priority is simply to placate people and get through the latest crisis. They mortgage everything to just get through the day, and the crisis comes back harder. The latest UEFA Champions League exit is when they could no longer hide it from anyone. They kept trying to sweep it under the rug, and at first it may have worked. Then it became too obvious, and yet they kept trying to sweep it under the rug - until we practically had Chernobyl under a rug.

This was a long time coming, and we all knew it. It’s time for Bartomeu to resign.

Source: barcablaugranes.com