FC Barcelona - That's not my club anymore!

FC Barcelona - That's not my Team anymore!

After Pep Guardiola left and Tito Villanova had to step aside and he passed away, new Managers had been in Charge.
Tata Martino and Luis Enrique both weren't able to win any competition and Barcelona is therefore 2 years without any title.
After the last Elections Josep Maria Bartomeu had to leave his post and a Barcelona Legend took over as the President!



Former Barcelona player Johann Cruyff won the Election against an unknown Financial Manager from Barcelona, Paco Lopez, with over 98% of the voices.
Johann Cruyff was the man who told former Barcelona Managers to give Frank Rjikaard and Josep 'Pep' Guardiola the job as the Barcelona Manager.
Cruyff does know what makes a good manager and it will be quite interesting to see, if Luis Enrique will remain in his position.

Enrique hadn't gave some Barcelona talents the playing time they wanted to. Players like Bartra, Rafinha, Montoya or Roberto where most of the time on the bench or not even in the matchday squad.
Therefore players like Rakitic, Mathieu, Suarez or Vermaelen played. Players who where bought for a very hugh fee. This 4 players cost Barcelona over 137 mio € at the start of the Season.

Barcelonas Philosophy was always to bring in players from their own B squad. Players like Puyol, Fabregas, Messi, Guardiola, Zubizaretta, Iniesta or Victor Valdes.
All of these players became great icons in Barcelona, but since the days of Sandro Rosell at the Barcelona Chairman a couple of years ago this philosophie had changed.
Barcelona also had a Kit sponsor for the first time in over 100 years and the club lost a bit of the "Mes que un club" philosophy!

How will this change with Cruyff in charge now? Can Barcelona regain their reputation as the best club in the World?

Looks promising

Good luck mate! Nice to see another Barca story here at the site!

@basham and Jonte, thanks! I hope this story will entertain you!

Luis Enrique had been thrown out!

The first action of new Chairman Johann Cruyff was to bag the current manager Luis Enrique and he said that the next Manager will be a former player who respects our philosophy and will bring our team back where it belongs.
I will bring in a Former Barcelona Legend, I'm in interesting talks with a few of them, to see if they can fulfill the fans expactations! It is our duty to give the fans a show and Luis hadn't done that. He truly is a fan favourite, but his style of managing wasn't accaptable for the club.
Luis had some problems with the man managment and held some players like Montoya or Roberto down in order to show some strength for the public.

Now is the question, who will be the new Manager?
A few players name are rumored around the Camp Nou, like

• Carles Puyol
The former Barcelona captain is a scout for the club and would be a player, who was a true inspiration for almost every single player on the squad right now!
Puyol said a few years ago, that he would love to be the manager of this team. Is now the time to take over?

• Hristo Stoichkov
A player who was part of the Dream Team which Johann Cruyff managed in the middle of the 90's. Stoichkov was one of the players who inherited Cruyffs ideal of football, like Guardiola did.

• Pep Guardiola
He was the right hand of Johann Cruyff and he stepped back as the Barcelona Manager a few years ago, after he had some issues with former Chairman Sandro Rosell and other board members. Guardiola was the most succesful Barcelona Manager of all time and he created the best team in the History, a team who had won 6 titles in a single Season

• Eric Abidal
The french full back only retired a few days ago and is rumored to become the new Manager. Abidal is one hell of a man, as he fought cancer and came back to win the Champions League for Barcelona and got the honor of to raise the trophy as the captain, back in the days

• Xavi
Xavi was Guardiolas right hand in the time from 2008-2012 and both share the same philosophy, which was inspired by the total vooetball thought of Cruyff. Xavi is suffering from a broken leg and it is not sure, that he will recover from this bad injury.

(In Andy Tate's voice) "I would go with Pep Guardiola. At least he would bring a Barca style of play".Good start

Guardiola says No!

Josep Guardiola has stated, that he won't be available for the Barcelona Manager spot. Guardiola who recently won the german Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League - in the Final against Barcelona - wants to remain in Germany and that he respects Bayern Munich so much, that he would not want to leave before his contract expires.

"I heard about the interest from Barcelona and Johann and I are good friends, but we only meet to have a nice little chat, drink some tee and talk about football. This talks don't include contract negotiations!
I'm happy to see what is going on in Barcelona right now, because that is the right think to do! Barcelona is a special club, everyone knows that and they should relay on that and build on that!"

That was Guardiolas statement about the changes in Barcelona. Rumors say that It is likely that Carles Puyol will now take over and after the end of the Season, when Guardiolas contract expires, he would return to the Camp Nou, if the club is back on his way to be the club it was a few years ago!

New Manager found!

After we had some talks with a few former Barcelona players, we came to the conclusion that there is only one solution to this problem!
Luis Enrique sure is a good manager, otherwise he wouldn't have led the team to the UEFA Champions League final and the team wouldn't be only be one point short in the League.
His only proble was, that he hadn't thought about the cules and hadn't pleased them.

New Chairman Johan Cruyff said that it is the main duty, to come back to the philosophy that made this team so special and unique.
And a unique team and philosophy needs a unique Manager!
Barcelona today announced this unique Person to take over.

The new Manager is...

...Eric Abidal!

"I think we don't need to invite him to all of you! Eric is a special Person for the Fans and for the club. The fact that he had to leave a two years ago, despite his comitment and passion for the club was a disgrace. Abi is a inspiration for every professional athlet and every single Person in this club, as hugh respect for his achievements and how he dealt with his illness.

The press note was released only a couple of minutes ago and because Abidal has only a few days left in the Pre-Season the team only will have two games to prepare for the Season!

Despite some rumors, Carles Puyol will remain in his position as a scout and won't be the assistant Manager from Eric Abidal. Abidal will take over every single one of Enriques Personal, if everyone would want to stay and he won't throw anyone out!

First Actions from Abidal!

Eric Abidal made first steps in the transfer market. Abidal is keen to give the la masia talents more chances to bring themselves into the first team.

To ensure that, Abidal sold Jeremy Mathieu and Alexandre Song. Both players had no chance to become first eleven regulars, because the other players are way to strong for them.
Mathieu was only the 4th or 5th option for the centre back position. Another player who always is blocking the talents is belgium international Thomas Vermaelen, but not a single club made an offer for the centre back. Vermaelen is at least some times a rotation option, when Mascherano replaces Busquets in the defensive midfield.

Speaking of the defensive midfield, Alex Song was the only option to Sergio Busquets, but the former Arsenal player was not able to make a good impression and already had been loaned out to West Ham last Season.
Alex Song will be replaced by Sergi Samper, a player who is labled to be the next Sergio Busquets and he will become a very important in the near future, when players like Xavi and Andres Iniesta will step aside.



Dani Alves contract expired and he already had signed a contract at Aston Villa, before the elections had been held.
Alves would've loved to be part of Abidals new Barcelona, as both share a great friendship.
Dani Alves once offered to donate his organ for Abidal and only hadn't done it, because he failed a test and his organ wasn't suitable.
Alves took over Abidals jersey number, after he had left the club.

First League games

The Pre-Season was very short, with only 2 friendly games had been played. The games where really succesful, as the team really fast learned the new tactics, which I think was the most suitable for them.

Wins against Ulsan Hyundai (6:1) and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (5:0) were really pleasing to see.
The team played really good with some lovely team moves. The ball was passed really quick trough our rows and we looked really strong in the defence.
A few player players impressed a lot in the two games. Gerard Deulofeu showed that he could really be a option for the front row, as he scored 2 and assistet 2 goals. Marc Bartra showed, that he could be a rock in the defence. Also Sergi Roberto showed, why he is on the squad. He played some lovely passes in the two games.

Liga BBVA

vs. Valencia

What a way to start my Job here! Never ever would I've expected this. 11:1! In words ELEVEN to One! A new Barcelona record in my first game, not even Guardiola can say that about himself. A really good offense had we shown our fans and everyone relate to the club will remember that day for a long, long time! And I would guess, that could be the highest win of the Season.
Mascherano and Suarez scored a hat-trick, Deulofeu scored 2. Messi got 5 assists! Unbelieveble!

vs. Rayo Vallecano

Another good match! Our defense looks really good. Not a single shoot had Rayo in the whole game. Messi was again a assist monster and he has 7 assists after only 2 games and was able to score 3 goals in that time, which leads him to have 10 scorer points on his stat sheet after 2 games!

vs. Elche CF

That was harder then we expacted. Elche where about to push hard to score the 2:2, but it was Pedro who secured the win in the last minute after a counter attack.
Elche really forced us to give everything we have to give.

vs. Deportivo La Coruna

A few young players got the chance to show what they could offer to the team. Alex Grimaldo, Edgar Ie, Alen Halilovic and Sergi Samper all had been in the starting eleven. And all of them put in some good performances. Samper espacially showed, that he could already be a leading defensive midfielder for almost every Liga BBVA team.

vs. Sevilla

Sevilla had won every game by now. Now they had to come to the Camp Nou and what a first half that had been. Neymar jr. only needed 7 minutes to score a hat-trick. The fastet hat-trick in Barcelona history and Sevilla were lucky, that Suarez and Neymar had been subbed out in the half-time, otherwise they would probably have faced the fact, that they would've received more goals.


28 goals in only 5 games! What a record until now! Loads of teams won't have a goal difference of +26 in the whole Season and we got it after only 5 games. Real Madrid otherwise had been impressive too. Their Season start would've been the best in history, if it wasn't for my Barcelona Team!

Looking good on the pitch!

10 games had Eric Abidal now been in charge and what he made with the Team is outstanding!
Sadly we suffered a defeat by now and are 3 points short in comparison to Real Madrid, who look unbeatable right now.
A few player really impresses me, like Neymar jr. or Martin Montoya!
There clearly is a change in managment and you can see, that the fans start to enjoy it more and more to be in the Camp Nou.
Regional players like Martin Montoya, Sergi Roberto, Sergi Samper or Gerard Deulofeu are having more playing time under Abidals reign. Montoya and Roberto are looking to become regular eleven starters.



"Abidal is clearly bringing in that special spirit. Everyone can really see the change Abidal had brought to us in that short time and I'm not talking about the change in the playing style. I'm talking about the familiar feeling in the team and it is a team again, not a bunch of individuals who are relaying on Lio!" - Johan Cruyff


vs. Celra Vigo

The Team were hyped up and it was a special day from Neymar jr. what made this day so special! Neymar jr. broke the record of "most goals in a game" with his six goals of today and he didn't even needed 50 minutes for that record.

vs. Malaga

First lost in the 7th game. And Malaga were really efficient! 3 shoots = 3 goals for Malaga and 27 shoots = 2 goals for Barca. That is really the important point for the game. Malaga played some amazing counter attacks and found a way to beat us!

vs. Granada CF

Not a great game for us. Our shoots didn't went on target today and the first two luckily directly went in! After the second goal not a single shoot hit the target. We really need to step up in the next game!

vs. Espanyol

First Derby for Abidal. And it needed only 20 minutes to decide it. The first 20 minutes where a really boring to see, but Suarez' first goal changed everything and we played our game from that on and it was good to see that Munir made a impact after he was subbed in.

all i can say is holy bonanza! 11-1 vs valenica, mascherano getting a hat-trick. valencia didnt play their reserve side by any chance?

@ Patrick1 no they weren't they had a real bad day, almost every shot went inside of the net! Mascherano headed two corners inside and a penalty

First el Clasico for Abidal & Cruyff!

Almost the first half of the Season had passed and almost coming to an end of it, we had to play Real Madrid!
It was a very close encounter, but we were able to get a clean sheet, after Marc-Andre played magnificantly and that was one of the best goalkeeping performances, we've ever witnessed!


vs. Levante UD

Really lucky result for us. We really played bad, but we were able to get the win. If we win the League this 3 points will be a hugh step for success. And it was a great play from Martin Montoya - who plays an amazing Season so far - which got us the 3 points!

vs. Real Zaragoza

It doesn't really matter who is playing in the front row! Suarez, Neymar jr., Deulofeu or Pedro! Everyone scores, if he is on the pitch. We really struggle right now in our performance level. The second poor game in a row, but again 3 lucky points.

vs. Real Madrid

Suarez and Neymar are two amazing strikers! Suarez scored two goals in a game, which could probably one of the most important ones of the Season and Neymar played two amazing passes to create these goals! Marc-Andre ter Stegen showed, why he is one of the best goalkeepers of the World, as he saved severel times against Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema, who had passed the defensive lines.

vs. Real Betis

Great game again, we seem to step up again in our performances and the el clasico win really brought momentum to our side.
It was again one of our strikers who played magical this night! And again it was Suarez, with a beautiful free-kick from around 30m!

vs. Athletic Club

Athletic had been a long time in front and played better than we did. It was the first time, that a team had more possesion after the first 45 minutes and they really deserved the lead until then. The second half really was a total different game, as we created chances every 2-3 minutes and we turned around this match!

vs. Cordoba

Again a game with half a dozen goals and we already scored 69 goals in 16 games! After Mascherano, Marc Bartra is the second central defender to score a hat-trick this Season, which shows that our set pieces are really succesful!



"I wouldn't have scored 27 goals so far this Season, if it wasn't for this Team! Everyone gives everything for the group and no one cares if he shines bright or not. Everyone thinks about the team first, that is our secret! One player should shine bright, Lio doesn't score that many goals, but what he does to creat the room for us and what kind of passes he plays, should be honored with the FIFA Ballon D'Or! - Neymar jr."

Some nice updates!