Author: Kevin Williams

The new pre-season sport is speculating about the finances of FC Barcelona. There are endless arguments, pooh-poohing of other people, even those not named Winnie. Lines are drawn, battlements mounted and at the end of it all, the essential reality is that everybody is right. Why? Because nobody knows the truth. Well, except Laporta and… Continue reading Barcelona, finances and everybody’s right

The FC Barcelona money gr … pre-season was a rousing success. The club stuffed dosh into its coffers, players got a chance to tour the U.S., act like and meet celebrities, and have public, televised training sessions against other teams. And most crucially, no injuries. As we enter the prelude to the regular season, with… Continue reading Barça pre-seaon is over, but questions remain

The only people not surprised by how FC Barcelona is managing the Frenkie De Jong situation are people not familiar with the club and how it operates. Board after board is the same way when it comes to money and how the club treats players that it wants to leave, even as the situations vary.… Continue reading Frenkie De Jong vs FC Human relations

It’s been fascinating to watch the feeding frenzy resulting in a Tweet from New York Times journalist Tariq Panja about the FC Barcelona governance model. In that Tweet, Panja said “Under this model successive presidents are able to make financial decisions without any personal consequences.” This isn’t wrong. What happened is that wagons were circled,… Continue reading Barça, tribalism, ‘truth’ and reality

We’re a week away from being rid of a complex, frustrating talent amid a complex, frustrating debate about a complex, frustrating time at a complex, frustrating football club. And it’s hard not to count the days. Two very interesting tidbits have come out that both make perfect sense, in recent days. In the first, a… Continue reading Ousmane Dembele and common sense

Just as with most of the season, Barça wasn’t good enough against Villarreal, who strolled to a win thanks to the exact same things that have plagued this blaugrana side for the entirety of the season — well thing, to be more precise: It isn’t good enough. Truth is that the team hasn’t been good… Continue reading Barça 0, Villarreal 2, aka ‘Kicking the corpse’

The symmetry is odd. This very weekend, the one where many culers will be winding themselves into knots over the Frenkie De Jong sale rumors, my suburb is having its annual Trash Day. No, De Jong isn’t trash, but this weekend makes you consider the possessions that you have and their usefulness to you. If… Continue reading Players come, players go …

In the 73rd minute of a fraught affair at a rocking Benito Villamarin, something very interesting, and potentially illustrative, happened. At the end of a beautiful move, Ferran Torres found himself in the Betis box, ball at his feet, in close. It was a moment. Torres struck the ball cleanly, and with excellent physical technique.… Continue reading Betis 1, Barça 2, aka “Moments matter”

One year, some friends and I decided to do a fun ride, a century. A hundred miles, just for giggles. At about mile 65 or so, we bonked. No energy in the legs. At mile 66, we came across a bakery. About 30 bucks worth of Pepsi and pastries later, we hit the road like… Continue reading Barça 0, Rayo Vallecano 1, aka ‘Hey, they set a record!’

Cliches are sometimes rooted in truth, and the overused word mentality is one of those. On the weekend, Real Madrid came from 0-2 down to win, 3-2 against Sevilla. People will point to various conspiracies, etc, say that Camavinga should have been sent off, etc, but does anyone really think that even a man down,… Continue reading Barça 0, Cadiz 1, aka ‘Mentality matters’