<p style="text-align: justify;">Finally the deal goes through. FC Barcelona agrees to have a shirt sponsor. Just when <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmwM1_-wN7o" target="_blank"><em>Més que un club</em> and UNICEF</a> were about to become synonymous, the dissonance of a commercial deal shatters it. In its entire history, the <em>Catalan</em> Club has never had a full-time paying Shirt Sponsor (apart from a few matches in 1991). This is going to change. And with it the philanthropic side of the one of the biggest clubs in the world is going to transform as well. Without relenting to financial pragmatism for more than a century, FC Barcelona will now become just another club with a mammoth Shirt sponsorship deal.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Way back in 2006, the <em>Catalan</em> club got the UNICEF deal and contrary to what most clubs did (gain from shirt sponsorship), paid the organization an amount of €1.5 million per year. A very noble cause indeed. Purists were of the opinion that it’s a marketing ploy. They predicted that FC Barcelona would eventually have a shirt sponsor and having a tie-up with an international brand of the stature of UNICEF might just help their cause in commanding an astronomical sum. £125,000,000 is indeed an astronomical sum.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">€1.5 million per year wouldn’t have taken a toll on the club’s financial health. On the contrary, it would have helped them to sell a few million shirts more and subsequently added to the club coffers in the long run. IT DID! With their brand of football and UNICEF on their shirts, the <em>Catalan</em> club did wonders. FC Barcelona is indeed the <a href="http://www.football-marketing.com/2010/09/09/fc-barcelona-most-popular-football-club-in-europe/" target="_blank">most followed club</a> in Europe.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Looking at it from the marketing/financial point of view, this <a href="http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/club/temporada10-11/12/11/n101210114494.html" target="_blank">deal</a>, with the Qatar Foundation, is undoubtedly the best that there can ever be. A whopping €30 million each season for years, starting on July 1, 2011 running until June 30, 2016, plus bonuses for trophies won that could total €5 million. FC Barcelona’s apparent financial trouble might just get lighter. However, from the perspective of a <em>Culé /Soci</em>, this is nightmarish. A century old tradition of not bowing in front of any financial adversity has taken a hit.</p> <blockquote> <p style="text-align: justify;">“<em>For the first time in our more than 107 years of history, our main soccer team will wear an emblem on the front of its shirt. It will not be the brand name of a corporation. It will not be a commercial to promote some kind of business. It will be the logo of '<strong>Unicef</strong>'. Through Unicef, we, the people of FC Barcelona, the people of '<strong>Barça</strong>', are very proud to donate our shirt to the children of the world who are our present, but especially are our future,</em>” said Laporta, the then President.</p> </blockquote> <p style="text-align: justify;">Rosell seems to have other ideas.</p> [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"]<img style="border: 0pt none;" alt="May 30, 2010 - 05977430 date 30 05 2010 Copyright imago Eduard Bopp THW Leng FC Barcelona Final4 date 30 05 2010 President Joan Laporta FC Barcelona Handball men Champions League EC 1 2009 Final4 Final 4 Cologne Final Portrait Vdig 2010 Square premiumd o0 Barca." src="http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/8959750/sports-news-may-2010/sports-news-may-2010.jpg?size=500&imageId=8959750" width="400" height="411" border="0" /> Joan Laporta: Laid the foundation[/caption] <p style="text-align: justify;">The essence of being self-sufficient was gaining momentum. FC Barcelona won an unprecedented sextuple in 2008-09 and went on to substantiate Spain’s World Cup winning campaign with a core group of players graduating from their famed <em>La Masia</em>. The FCB-Qatar Foundation deal comes as a rude awakening. A wrong signal at a wrong time. The 170000 <em>Socis</em> and the uncountable <em>Culés </em>will not forgive the management for being iconoclastic towards their sanctimonious attitude and sooner or later Mr. Sandro Rosell will have to pay for it.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">There can be a number of theories as to why the management had to go ahead with the deal. What doesn’t change is the financial ‘turmoil’ that the club is going through. Not even the most <em>holier-than-thou Culé</em> could deny the debt which is gauged to be around £369.5 million. Ex-president Laporta claimed that the club was €11 million in the red at the end of June, but an audit carried out by Deloitte in Rosell’s regime unearthed a scenario which is far from comprehension. It showed that the club’s expenditure in 2009-10 rose to £400 million while the income remained at £341.7 million – an astounding shortage of £58.3 million. FC Barcelona had to procure an instant loan of £125 million in order to pay the players. In the midst of such financial doldrums an investment of €40 million in acquiring of star striker David Villa, might have hurt the club coffers all the more.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Going by the above financial debacle, a sponsorship deal was on the cards. And acquiring one for a club, which has one of the biggest fan following and which is undoubtedly ‘<em>everybody’s second favourite</em>’, wouldn't have been difficult, but a shirt deal, that too in the presence of UNICEF is unfathomable. The emotions attached with <em>Catalanisme</em> have a revered history. After the Second World War, Spain and <em>Cataluña</em> in particular faced severe financial crisis. General Franco’s acceptance of American aid offered by General Eisenhower in 1953 on the condition that Franco provides land for US air bases, was graciously accepted by the latter. In spite of abject financial, political and cultural repression, the <em>Catalan</em> identity wasn’t really obliterated. Barcelona continued to thrive and today FC Barcelona symbolizes the <em>Catalan</em> struggle. Unfortunately, the talisman has been sold.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">In the current financial scenario, a deal like the one in discussion isn't something which comes on a daily basis. The club (read Sandro Rosell & Co.) had to do this and they did. It should not come as a surprise because Rosell had already hinted on commercializing the shirt in his campaign. And ironically, Rosell’s crusade revolved around something which is a misnomer – <em>transparency</em>. In clubs like FC Barcelona, the management presents an idea before an <em>Assembly of Elected Socis</em>. They then decide what needs to be done next. Co-incidentally in 2006, Laporta presented the idea of shirt-sponsorship and got it approved. Thankfully, the club’s financial circumstances improved and instead of going for sponsorship FC Barcelona paid UNICEF. Rosell however bypassed the entire Assembly and by the virtue of their 4-year old verdict finalized the shirt deal. It needs no explanation as to why the <em>Socis</em> are exasperated. The final blow in the coffin was that Rosell does not intend to be present in the ceremony. This added insult to injury.</p> [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"]<a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/world-news-june-2010/image/9128142?term=FC+Barcelona" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0pt none;" alt="June 15, 2010 - Barcelona, Spain - BARCELONA, 15/06/2010.- FC Barcelona's elected president Sandro Rosell (L) and businessman Carles Vialrrubi (L), a member of Rosell's candidature, leave the club's headquarters in Barcelona, north-eastern Spain, on 15 June 2010, after Rosell had a meeting with FC Barcelona's outgoing president Joan Laporta, who will be succeed by Rosell on 01 July 2010." src="http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9128142/world-news-june-2010/world-news-june-2010.jpg?size=500&imageId=9128142" width="450" height="318" border="0" /></a> Sandro Rosell: Sold the soul[/caption] <p style="text-align: justify;">With the imminent possibility of UEFA’s introduction of the Financial Fair Play legislation, which will necessitate clubs playing the continental championships to manage their finance prudently, the deal might just be a blessing in disguise for the <em>Catalan</em> club. A popular saying goes that public memory is transient. And many are under the impression that in due course, the <em>Catalan</em> club will come out of this façade of ignominy, protests will wane and everything will be back to normal. Apparently, the club will gain financially too, but how can the management ever bring back the element of <em>Catalan</em> struggle, the symbolism of Barcelona’s unrelenting effort against political, financial & cultural adversity? The new deal might just relieve Rosell & Co. of the recurrent financial burden and can be termed as a financial victory too, but from a <em>Culé/Soci</em> standpoint it’s a pyrrhic victory.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Author’s notes:</strong> I, for one, have procured my last ‘<em>true</em>’ jersey. With this a little bit of FC Barcelona just died for me.</p>