Barça will survive its happy 20s  

The happy 20s came to the West after the Great War. An economic prosperity that lasted until Black Thursday 1929. The Great Depression wiped the smiles off the faces of millions of speculators who ended up jumping off the skyscrapers of New York. The Hoover administration did not want to see the disaster that was coming until it was too late.   

It's funny how the human brain is programmed for certain things. One of them is not to think daily about death. The other is the ability not to accept serious problems. It happened to Zapatero when he denied the 2008 crisis, to Pedro Sánchez when the pandemic exploded in the middle of 8M... and it has happened to FC Barcelona with an economic crisis which is not appropriate for a centenary club supposedly managed by competent professionals and audited every year.   

Nobody warned of the fundless pit in which it was sinking. Of the million-dollar salaries. Of the drip-drip of the sections. Of the unnecessary player signings. Of the farce they tried to impose on us by signing Neymar. Of the expense after his sale. Of the million-dollar gifts to players like Iniesta who have left the club with a loyalty bonus of several million euros. Of the one they have signed Messi for around 65 million. Of the departure of a player who generates 300 million a year.   

Barça have fallen into technical bankruptcy little by little. Almost without realising it. Sandro Rosell started the journey and Bartomeu has smashed all records for economic blunders. A club of this level needs a financial department that is above the sporting, the institutional and even the political issues. Professionals who watch over the historical stability of the club. While LaLiga negotiated the debts of the football teams with the Treasury, Barça enjoyed special treatment. Barça's economy was protected by law. They accepted the salary cap because they had no other choice and because someone understood that any external control would be better than their own. In addition, the football employers' association controls salaries and payments to the tax authorities. Two reasons why, for example, Elche or Real Murcia have been relegated in recent years. The Catalan club owes the Treasury 22.5 million for the three-year period 2012-2015 and everything indicates that it will face the payment when it can refinance debt and eliminate wage bill. The rest will be history.   

One of the thousands of stories the pandemic will leave behind when we recover from this nightmare. We will tell that Barça were bankrupt but the 1,173 million euro debt was no big deal. The anecdote that the players were paid late and badly. Or the misfortune of the closure of all its loss-making sections. Spanish and European champion teams that contribute nothing to the coffers and that wait resignedly for the sword of Damocles to fall upon them with the new directive. There is already a justification. For Barça and for Florentino Pérez who never wanted anything more than football in white. He accepted basketball because of its track record and women's football because it was politically correct.   

Mediapro wants to renegotiate the TV rights contract downwards. Jaume Roures' company is going through the same ordeal as Barcelona. His bet on French football has gone wrong. So bad that the French press has described his departure as "the robbery of the century". If they do not reach an agreement in Spain, the path will be similar. The health crisis, the empty stadiums, the sponsors... everything is now a burden that will leave football at a minimum.   

Carles Tusquets, president of Barcelona's management board, commented weeks ago that selling Messi would have been a good economic solution for the club. Added to that sentence is the fact that, in the balance sheet that Barça has published, there is a lapidary line about its economy because "it calls into question the application of the going concern principle". By the way, the report has been published because transparency obliges and because it was impossible to disguise these accounts.   

And let no one doubt that FC Barcelona will survive. That they will not disappear. No Qatari funds will come to their rescue. They will not become a Public Limited Sporting Company. Nor will they be relegated. LaLiga has already leaked out that all this is an exaggeration. That there is debt, but it is assumable because the club will generate money to pay. It is laudable that Tebas and his team want to sustain their locomotive. Even if it goes another way and wants to get out of the way on the road to the Superliga. I remember that note in which LaLiga sided with Barça in the sale of Messi and demanded the payment of an impossible clause. If they don't want Messi to leave, they will certainly not let Barcelona fall.   

There will be tough years ahead. Most First and Second Division teams know what it's like to reset the counter of the happy years of profligacy. Deportivo de la Coruña grieve in 2ªB for what was the SuperDepor. Malaga dismiss players and do EREs in the light of what could have been a Champions League semi-final. Atlético have become a players' company. Gil Marín supports the economy and Simeone sustains the team. Barcelona will be in the same spiral in the next few years. Lean season. Little spending and fewer signings. The Atlético of Jesús Gil ended up in the second division when Justice intervened the club. The players were not focused and the lack of command was noticeable.   

The Catalan club is capable of regenerating itself better. To put the money machine to work. But it has to sell a lot of players. Messi breathed life into them, but he can take it away if they insist on keeping him. The youngsters are their future. Whatever they are able to do in Spain and in Europe while the money plugs holes. Valencia are another mirror in which they can look at themselves. Competing on a shoestring and with the shield in their hands. It is up to them to show that they are more than a club.