Barça & the Media – Lack of exposure in the US and Lack of action against false media stories.

As FC Barcelona ushers in a new era under President Sandro Rosell, it’s puzzling how the club has dealt with the media regarding its lack of exposure in the US via Barça TV and its nonexistent or unavailable online Barça TV service. Additionally, the club’s lack of action against other media outlets fabricating stories and painting the club and its players in a bad image is disheartening. Why do we have to rely on just Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter to stick up for the club and not threaten legal action itself against the Daily Express and Marca? This is a new era and this is a great time to usher in new changes and take advantage of promoting the club when it is considered one of the greatest in the world. Opportunity is knocking, so will the club answer?


I want to first emphasize that is not a direct attack at club president Sandro Rosell. Those who know me know I am not a big admirer of him but this is not an attack at the president as much as it is call for the club to address this problem that I feel many Barça fans are dealing with. I am upset that there is no US media outlet showing Barça TV and that the online version of Barça TV no longer exists. I am upset that the Daily Express can go ahead and print made up interviews with our players that depict them and the club in a negative light and yet the club fails to come out and denounce these interviews. I am disappointed that the club does not respond to Marca’s garbage cover depicting our manager Guardiola as refusing to shake Real Madrid’s hands. I really think that the club’s image is hampered by lack of exposure and its failure to fight back at the media outlets who try to make a mockery of our beloved club.


Barça TV first made its debut in 1999 as Canal Barça as the rights were held by Telefónica Sports. In 2004, the club regained total control of the channel and renamed it Barça TV. Over the years, Barça TV was used by the club to show exclusive coverage of player signings, interviews, highlights of former players, archived matches from the past and replays of current matches. To expand its appeal across the globe, Barça TV aired in Catalan, in Spanish and in English. We were fortunate enough to be able to catch some of what Barça TV offered when Fox Soccer Channel presented a Barça TV segment. That usually consisted of matches from years ago and replays of the most recent Champions League match with some highlights regarding past and present players. Fast forward to now, and I checked FSC and Barça TV was not listed and overall, it is not on the air in the US. In a day where we have Gol TV, FSC, ESPN Deportes and ESPN 3 providing us ton of football coverage, Barça TV is nowhere to be seen when they are
considered one of the best clubs in the world. It was nice that ESPN Deportes showed us the Joan Gamper Trofeo match while the Supercopa was never aired in the US and that is mostly the LFP’s fault for not trying to promote its league properly.


Barça TV Online was launched back in 2007 and allowed fans to subscribe to their service and enjoy the channel online. That was a great idea that would attract more fans to the club. However, have you checked it out lately and tried to access it? Pay a visit to the English Barça TV page on the official site where it asks you to choose either Canal TV or ON LINE and then click on ON LINE and see where it takes you. Surprised? I sure am. I expect that from a fan site but not from an official club’s website. Just recently, the club announced on its website that Barça TV underwent a new look with a new slogan – “Back to Normal People.” Well, here’s hoping that these issues get resolved so we can have Barça TV back in the US airwaves and thus better promote the club to a growing fan base here in the US.

This past summer transfer window saw the club painted in a negative light when its pursuit of Cesc was not warmly welcomed. Part of the problem was some of the club’s players such as Puyol and Xavi making some pretty blatant and tasteless comments that made them look like jerks. The Daily Express supposedly had an interview with Xavi in which he said that Cesc was basically on loan at Arsenal while The Sun published an interview with Puyol saying “He is having to stay at a club where he no longer wants to be for another year”. David Villa supposedly had an interview with The Sun and there was also a story about Messi tweeting “The Villa vs. West Ham match is really exciting – Ashley Young is having a blinder”. Here’s the thing though, these players never ever said those things. It appears to be common knowledge among Barcelona fans that these players never said it. Messi doesn’t even have a twitter page, that was a fake account. Puyol does have a personal blog and stated “Hola a todos, estos últimos días en aalgún medio de comunicación inglés han salido unas declaraciones supuestamente mías que son totalmente falsas, las acabo de ver ahora y puedo asegurar que no he dicho nada ni he hablado con nadie sobre este tema. Saludos.” ( translation courtesy of Totalbarca.com -“Hi everyone, these past days a British news media outlet has published some statements supposedly mine that are totally fasse, I just saw them and I can guarantee that I have not said anything nor talked to anybody about this subject. Cheers.”)

Pretty outrageous and we actually had Sid Lowe come to the rescue when asked about these interviews in his article about Zlatan’s transfer. Here was his reply - “I am absolutely bloody furious about this and it has become a constant this summer. The quotes are almost entirely concocted and I am pretty sure that I know how it is happening. Me and a couple of other journalists who actually try (yes, yes, don't always succeed) to do the job properly and who are here in Spain are trying to do something about it. But it's not easy.” It was great to see someone come out and explain it to everybody, especially the EPL fans, that the stories were bogus.

This is not just limited to the English press, but Madrid daily Marca resorted to its shameful procedure of creating something out o nothing when its cover page depicted our manager Pep Guardiol not wanting to shake Mourinho’s hand as he put his hand out What the poor excuse of a sport daily failed to do was show the hug between Guardiola and Mourinho.

Fortunately, Graham Hunter came to the rescue and said on his twitter account (have to scroll down to dig it up) – “Marca front page not cheeky, just false this am. Snatched pic from Pep, Mou & Platini CHAT. Mou making point. NOT Pep rejecting handshake.” As much as I was pleased to see some journalists out there actually doing a great honor to their profession and sticking up for the club, where was the club in all this?

It would have been nice for the club to come out and threaten legal against all those publication that published these fake interviews. The club recently stated that they were on good terms with Arsenal or rebuilding their relationship but I am sure denouncing those interviews help a lot more especially when it seems many bought those interviews hook, line and sinker. The club should always back its players and this was a situation where they dropped the ball. By remaining silent, they are allowing for further fake interviews to be released in the near future. As for Marca, the club perhaps doesn’t want to dignify Marca’s cover with a response but coming out with a polite but cheeky reply to make them look bad would have been nice. We know the Madrid sports daily will have their moments where we have to roll our eyes but perhaps the club should sometimes come out and denounce these types of covers solely created to generate more sales. The image of the club is very important and we cannot allow other to sully it with over the top generalizations or fake interviews.

Barça & Barça B – can we keep up with both?

This upcoming football season brings us a double dose of Blaugrana teams playing on the same weekend. Luis Enrique led the youthful Barça Atlètic, now known again as Barça B, to La Segunda for the first time since the late 90’s. The season, his side will face clubs that Guardiola and the first team know so well and can say were responsible for getting them relegated. With Barcelona focused on facing the likes of Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla and Real Madrid, Barça B will be facing the likes of Real Betis, Celta Vigo, and Numancia along with recently relegated Xerex and Tenerife. Can fans keep up with both teams in the upcoming season?

For the diehard fan in us, we cannot wait to see Pep Guardiola lead his team towards the quest for
the third consecutive league title. However, we also have Luis Enrique and Barça B to look forward
as the team returns to Barça B for the first time since 1998-1999 season. For the diehard fan is us,
getting to watch these guys on a regular basis will be tricky since there is no coverage for La
Segunda games in the US. Best bet will be through internet streams or satellite broadcast of Barça
TV or local Spanish channels that televise those games but it will be nice to get back to back games
of Barça B followed by FC Barcelona in one day.

We should keep an eye out on Barça B this season since we get to see our younger players take on
the toughest competition they have ever faced in their young careers. It was not too long ago that
Barcelona was facing stiff competition from the likes of Real Betis and Numancia and now it will be
Barça B’s turn to face those teams along with clubs that just returned back from La Primera after one
season such as Tenerife and Xerex. We get to see the likes of Jonathan, Thiago, Muniesa, Fontàs,
Barta, Romeu and Rochina as they strive to make the move to the first team. Luis Enrique will have
his hands full if Guardiola decides to call up some of Lucho’s players to be part of the first team to fill in at times during next season.

Our hands will be full too in trying to keep with both teams over the same weekend for most of the
season. Hopefully both teams have a great seasons and the players from Barça B continue mature
and slowly integrate to the first team while Barça B stays in La Segunda at the same time. Just hope
it’s possible for us Cules in America to watch it as it happens because I sure wouldn’t mind a nice
day to kick back and watch both of those teams on the same day.

8 teams left, 10 Barça players still in the World Cup.

With the World Cup Quarter-Finals just around the corner, we are now down to eight teams. From
those eight teams, FC Barcelona has 10 players left in this tournament. The tournament started with
14 Barça players, a big majority of them representing Spain, and although not all advanced to the
knockout stages, some left a positive and negative lasting impression. The 10 Barça players means
that FC Barcelona is the most represented club left in this tournament and some of those players
have even been selected as man of the match in this tournament.

For Spain, FC Barcelona has Victor Valdes, Pique, Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta and
the new addition to the club, David Villa representing “La Furia Roja.” The other two players are
Argentina’s Messi and Brazil’s Dani Alves. It is possible that all ten players will be participating in the Semi-Finals and it is also possible that all ten players can be returning home if they suffer a defeat in the Quarter-Finals. Fortunately, none of the teammates will be facing each other this round but there is a strong likelihood that Messi might face his fellow teammates in the Spanish squad in the Semi-Finals if both teams are victorious.

Additionally, four players thus far have been chosen as man of the match. Messi was chosen for his
performance in Argentina’s match against Greece. The other three were all for Spain with David Villa
being chosen in Spain’s match against Honduras, Iniesta against Chile and Xavi in Spain’s Round
of 16 against Portugal. The four players who are no longer in the competition are Rafa Marquez,
Touré Yaya, Abidal and Henry. Rafa Marquez was the only one eliminated from the knockout stages
while the other three were eliminated in the group stage. France’s Abidal and Henry had a
tournament to forget with France’s horrible performance and off the pitch controversies that made
them the least liked country in the competition. Abidal especially will want to forget the game against
fellow teammate Marquez after committing a foul inside the box that gave Mexico a penalty kick. Touré Yaya also could not participate in the knockout stages after the Ivory Coast finished third in their group. Rafa Marquez captained the team in their last two games of the group stage and the Round of 16 loss to Messi’ Argentina.

The World Cup also has had its fair share of Blaugrana players doing well in this competition with
Xavi completing the most passes in the tournament with 368 passes, with Sergio Busquets second
with 327, and Piqué fourth with 306 passes. New addition to FC Barcelona, David Villa is tied for
joint top scorer of the World Cup with 4 goals, together with Slovakia’s Vittek and Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain, Even though Messi has not scored any goals, he has the most shots and shots on target in the tournament with 23 shots, 13 of them on target. Yet, both Rafa Marquez and Touré Yaya did manage to score a goal in this tournament. Andres Iniesta also scored against Honduras in the
group stages and perhaps Messi will finally break that goalless streak against Germany in the
Quarter-Finals. Only 3 more wins ensures one of the remaining eight nations will be crowned as the
new World Cup champions, will one of the Barcelona players be hoisting that precious trophy?

A Week of FC Barcelona Football Not Seen On TV.

Three games for FC Barcelona this week with a trophy on the line should be great news for the fans, right? Sadly for us in the US, we will not be able to watch FC Barcelona try to lift their first trophy of the season this Sunday. The first leg of the Spanish Super Cup was this past Sunday in which our boys came from behind to grab an important away win. This Wednesday saw the debut of Ibrahimovic with Barcelona in the Camp Nou against Manchester City for the Joan Gamper Trophy. This weekend will have Barcelona hosting Athletic for the second leg of the Super Copa. Unfortunately, none of the games will be seen on TV for the fans here.

The Spanish League has always been one of the greatest leagues in the world but the way the
league markets itself, you wouldn’t know it. There were problems in airing Barcelona games two
years ago because of a TV row between Audiovisual Sport and Mediapro. Last second also had its
share of disappointments with the Copa Del Rey Final not being aired on GOL TV for some unknown reason. But now this week’s lack of coverage for the Super Copa and Gamper Trofeo is
mind boggling.

Just last year, Fox Soccer Channel aired the Super Copa between Real Madrid and Valencia while
ESPN Deportes aired the Gamper Trofeo. So what gives, why did those channels not air these
games this year. Even Fox Soccer Channel’s Friday of Barça TV seems to have been canceled.
Does La Liga not care that the Super Copa is not being viewed with the same media coverage as
the English Charity Shield?

The Spanish League has most of the biggest stars of the world this year, so would it hurt the league
to actually get on the ball and get the TV rights, here and the UK now that Sky’s deal expired, sorted
and not just treat the coverage as if only the locals care for it. Instead, we have to rely on internet
streams of the Spanish or Chinese channels to see these games and alienate fans who want to
follow the league but cannot.

Here’s hoping that this season won’t have the fans missing out on the club in another Copa Del Rey
Final. We already know the English League overkill channel Fox Soccer Channel will probably screw
us out of Barcelona when they play in the Champions League for Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and
Manchester United like what ESPN did most of the time this decade. Just wish someone from
Spanish Federation would get off their ass and promote the league the way it should be.

6 Point Gap But At A Cost.

Greetings fellow Barça fans. Winning sure does cure everything.

Crisis? What crisis? A draw and a win and all of a sudden the press is off Barcelona’s back and
saying they are back. Well they were never gone. They just hit a slump like every other team. The
players are human and Guardiola is still a rookie coach, so this club was never going to keep
winning every game. La Liga is never that easy or else it would not be La Liga. Barcelona got over that Atletico Madrid loss with a tough performance in Mallorca. The Copa Del Rey

Semi-Finals had been a nightmare for this team the last two years but Barcelona made sure they
would not fail this time thanks to Pinto. It what could be the most important penalty save since
Urruti’s penalty saves in 1985. We will find out in May if this will be remembered as much as Urruti’s penalty save against Real Valladolid where Barcelona won the league or more as Urruti’s penalty save in the semi-finals shootout against IFK Göteborg in the European Semi-Finals in which the team would lose in the final against Steaua Bucuresti.

Sure the game ended in a draw, but that draw had the euphoria of a win and that carried on to this
past weekend’s game against Bilbao. Many called it a Copa Del Rey Final but I never believe a
league game is the same as a cup game; just ask Celtic fans. Nevertheless, Barcelona came out
with their guns blazing and defeated Bilbao by a score of 2-0 that was never ever that close. With
Real Madrid not winning finally, the gap increased back to six points for Barcelona and all is well.
Barcelona will be hosting Lyon this Wednesday and many believe that the away goal basically
sealed this tie. I usually never believe anything is done but part of me thinks Lyon will just repeat
another quick exit in the elimination stages. I sure would be feeling more confident if Puyol was
playing. Sadly, the captain will be out for three weeks and thus we are forced to watch the non-
dynamic duo of Rafael Márquez and Pique as the centerbacks.

Guardiola has brought a lot of changes to this club, with health and conditioning being a blessing for
a team that had been haunted with long term injuries. However, for many who thought this club had
too many defenders, we now find ourselves wondering if it’s possible to get Henrique back from
Germany now. We have been accustomed to seeing forwards and midfielders getting injured, but not
so many defenders during this season and hopefully this won't lead to more wear and tear on the
defenders. The good news is that Oleguer is not the one to fill in this time.

So Wednesday will have a banged up Lyon against a slightly banged up Barcelona team and here’s
hoping for a great night of European football.

Until next time, here’s hoping for less injuries.

Visca Barça!

Qué Pasa Barça? – Time to Adjust, not panic!

Greetings fellow Barça fans and hope you all were able to put the club’s latest loss behind you and not let it stress you out just as I have. I want to first thank FC Barcelona Supporters Club Miami-Penya Barcelonista de Miami for allowing me to do this and look forward on doing more in the future. My name is Ibrahim Ayyub and I have been a Barça fan since 1994, when I was teenager in Lebanon, and have been following them ever since. Big reason was thanks to the 1994 World Cup where I fell in love with Romario and Stoichkov and then discovered they were teammates at FC Barcelona thanks to the World Cup Panini sticker album for allowing me to discover this bit of information.

Growing up in a war country pre-internet era made it tough to follow football and back then, I only cared for international football and only cared for, and still do, follow the Dutch national team, yet I couldn’t believe it that Romario, Stoichkov and Koeman were all on the same team. Back then, I had just missed out on the glory years of the Dream Team but these years of following Barcelona have rewarded me with great football, great players and great experience of being with the club when things are great and when things are disastrous.

From Lebanon to America, I still have been following Barça and the icing on the cake for me was this past summer when I went to Chicago to see my first FC Barcelona game against Chivas and then went to the team hotel and was fortunate to meet Dani Alves, Iniesta, coach Guardiola and club president, Joan Laporta. That day ranks up there with my wedding and graduation from law school.

Just in case you were wondering who is my all time favorite player, then that honor goes to Luis Enrique, who displayed great passion and leadership that I think is at times missing from this current club.

This season was supposed to be a season of change and adjustments. Gone was the era of Frank Rijkaard and a new era of Josep Guardiola was ushered in. Many thought the move was a bit risky since Guardiola had only one years’ worth of experience and that was with the Barça Atletic / Barça B team in the lower divisions. I actually welcomed having Pep as the coach and actually wanted him to replace Rijkaard before the Champions League encounter against Manchester United.Pep is a legend of the club and is a true Culé, so he know what the expectations were and what the club’s history and legacy is all about. Sadly the team started off slow and everyone was criticizing him.

However, the results started going his away and soon enough the club was off to one of the greatest starts in the club’s history. Come late December, they had defeated Real Madrid at home and had a 12 point lead, were comfortable in their Champions League pursuit and managed to stay alive in Copa Del Rey. Unfortunately, that 12 point lead has now shrunk to four points and questions and tempers have flared about what has happened to the club.

What happened to this club is that they are human. These guys have played more games than their direct rival Real Madrid and fatigue and wear and tear is starting to set in. That’s the cost of trying to win cups. Barcelona are still in the hunt for a treble while Real Madrid crashed out of Copa Del Rey back in October and might crash out of the Champions League next week. Barcelona players were bound to get tired and it seems that’s just the case.

The defense in the new year has allowed 14 goals already following that gut wrenching loss to Atletico Madrid that I was fortunate not to have seen. The offense has been a bit stagnant, midfield not providing service, and the keeper Valdes starting to resort to his old shaky self. They have been playing twice a week for a while now because of International friendlies along with Copa Del Rey and Champions League games. Injuries have forced some players to play more than usual and thus, fatigue is a becoming a big cause of concern. Rotations cannot be implemented when players are hurt and because of that, players are playing more than they should with less time to rest and recover.

The bottom line though is that should not be an excuse. To win titles, these are things a club must be ready to face and endure and the club captains should show the leadership to not allow the players to relax. Inter Milan and Manchester United are in the same situation and they still are hanging in there. I believe the lack of leadership is why this club has thrown away points. Some would say it’s injuries; some would say it’s players creating distractions by what they say through the media – Eto’o and Yaya’s agent’s comments to the media; or some would say it’s because of Victor Valdes, and I would like to throw in the curse of Kobe Bryant declaring he is a Barça fan thanks to that ESPN Magazine cover back in January. It’s not that farfetched when you look back at what happened in 06-07 season. He declared back then that he was a fan too during the California visit of the club’s USA preseason summer tour and then look at what happened next. Bad Karma repeating itself again?

Seriously, the club’s leaders need to make the players focus and not lose track of what is important.

Now is not the time to talk about contracts but time to think of the next game. All Pep should do is play last season’s 4-1 loss to Real Madrid to wake them up. Just the part where they welcome the Madrid players alone should let their blood boil. My life motto is “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.” This club started well but that means nothing if you blow it in the end.

Pep has a big task ahead of him and must adjust and not panic. I still have faith in him and think he tries his best to accommodate and appease everyone. Coaching is not just about tactics, but also about managing egos and keeping spirits up. Basically he is a manager, a father and a psychiatrist. He can get the job done but the players have to step it up. Eto’o, Xavi and Valdes need to play better. The defense needs to stop playing sloppy and the midfield needs to provide better service. Eto’o and Henry have eight and seven goals in this new year, with Henry scoring in six games while Eto’o has only scored in five games in this new year. Too many goals have been conceded from dead ball situations.


Time for now is to adjust and not panic. Maybe Pep needs to be a bit more considerate of protecting a lead and not expanding one. If you’re winning 2-0 or 3-0, then slow it down and control the game and be more counter attacking than continuing to look for more goals. I am not saying to become negative football and depart from the club’s beautiful football, just be smart in when to play beautiful and when to sit back and then go for the kill. Protect the lead with two defensive midfielders. Adjustments and not panic means maybe playing Pedro on the wing and giving Eto’o a breather and let Henry or Bojan start as the center forward. Now would be a good time to let Caceres play in place of the injured Abidal and not over use Puyol as a fullback. Maybe it also means time to bench Valdes for Pinto.

A long time ago, I defended Rijkaard’s decision in playing Valdes over the Turkish keeper Rustu. He was young and smart and benching him would only ruin his confidence and he repaid that opportunity by leading this club to two league titles and a Champions League trophy in that magical night in Paris. However, it now seems that no matter what, Valdes will never stop looking shaky. Four consecutive shaky performances where he has let down the team with his decisions have cost the club. He is 27 now and just don’t see him ever letting go of his cartoon Johnny Bravo image; the image of he looks good but is oblivious to what’s going on. Valdes is a good goal keeper but there are times where you just wonder what was he thinking. Pinto has been playing in Copa Del Rey games which are never short of pressure, experience in the Champions League with Celta Vigo and is a past winner of the Zamora for those who want the argument that Valdes is a past Zamora winner and should start this weekend in my opinion and go the rest of the way. By the way, Casillias just won his first Zamora award last season and don’t tell me he wasn’t the best until he won that award.

The fans need to support the players too and not jeer them when the going gets tough too. Jeering Valdes is not going to help his confidence at all. Mallorca semi-final leg away this Wednesday will be vital indeed and then have to get ready for Athletic de Bilbao at home this weekend. Good news for us fans is that these two games a week will be getting less. Advancing to the Copa final or being eliminated will mean more rest for the players and of course we all want them to advance. Additional good news is that Iniesta will be back soon too.

Finally, I would like to address one thing before I sign off. FC Barcelona updated their official site not too long ago and one of the new features that they added was a legends section. I think that was something that the old site lacked and was great to see this feature added. However, when looking through the listed names of the players, I could not get over the fact that there was a one glaring omission. José Mari Bakero.

The club has updated that page since its introduction but Bakero’s name still is not there. This man was a member of the “Dream Team” and won 13 titles in his time as a member of the blaugrana. His last second header goal against Kaiserslautern helped save the club from elimination through away goals rule in the Champions League (back then was the Champion’s Cup) which they would go on to win that year. Hopefully the club will add his name to that list soon and if anyone knows those in charge of that section, please mention it to them.

Well I hope you enjoyed this and please stay positive and remember that the season is not won or lost in February, but in May. Until next time, keep the faith Barcelona fans and don’t give up.

Visca Barça!