Roiling football blather

Wow this is pretty in-depth, thanks

So Xavi turned it down. Probably wise. Bit of a shit situation for Valverde though. From his point of view he can say that he is on course to win the league for the third time in a row and they are still in the Champions' League after topping their group. For most clubs that would be enough. Obviously Barcelona aren't most clubs but given they are dominant in the league it seems that there are two complaints that can be levelled at this side; they haven't won the CL and the way they are playing. Now, even Barcelona can't expect to completely dominate the CL because it's stuffed with all the teams who aren't most clubs, maybe a return of something like once every four years is reasonable, or maybe they are unhappy cos they have not made the final for a few years or maybe it's the manner in which they caved the last two times. Personally I think that that is the problem, the way they lost and the way they win when they do win - but partly the issue is spoilt fans, no-one can maintain the level they were at in 2012 or whatever it was forever, that can't be the normal. Same as Man Utd fans are finding out in the Prem. It's very hard to stay better than everyone else when there are about ten other clubs that are demanding the same and have the resources to make it just as realistic.
If I were Valverde I'd do my best to cling on until the end of the season, you never know, they might win the CL and suddenly he's a hero.

Valverde's gone.

Cat Radio : Bartomeu informed Valverde that he has been sacked.

Valverde's belongings have been packed at the Ciutat Esportiva. Tomorrow, he will say goodbye to the players and staff. [@moillorens]

The talking point on Reddit is that the loss in the Spanish Super Cup was the last straw as the board wanted a Madrid-Barca final.

Oops, spoke too soon.
Weird that they seem to care so much about that game cos I can't imagine many people do.

Obviously if your employers are wandering around offering other people your job you might feel that you're not gonna have it for long... and in this instance you'd be right.

IdleRich said:

Weird that they seem to care so much about that game cos I can't imagine many people do.

Click to expand...

Apparently they stood to make a lot of money as the final was in Saudi Arabia and they're mad for El Clasico over there. It was a big marketing opportunity.

Oh, well there you go then. How much money can it have been worth that they actually consider it as significant?
Anyway, strikes me that the board have run this really badly. You have a manager, you undermine him by very visibly tapping up a replacement, he refuses but you fire your actual manager anyway. What a mess.

If they were gonna bin him whatever Xavi said then maybe they should have done that first instead of leaving him sitting there like a cunt while they messed around behind his back but in plain view.

Allegri's supposedly in contact with the board now.

Barca's biggest problem's the board tbh. They're useless and too busy chasing the money to run the club properly.

How big a blow is Suarez's injury? A while back I read people saying he was old and slow and basically no good... since then every week I seem to see a video of a new kind of ridiculous goal he conjures up.

I'd say very big. He was just getting back into form, had been directly involved in their last ten goals, he's gonna be out for four months and they don't have any other strikers.

That was the impression (albeit uninformed) that i was getting.

Spanish Super Cup: We are in Saudi Arabia because of money, says Barcelona boss Valverde

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde says he preferred the old format of the Spanish Super Cup and that the competition is only being held in Saudi Arabia because of the money on offer.

The competition has been reformatted to include the two top in La Liga and the finalists in the Copa del Rey. It is normally played in August between the league and cup winners.

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income," Valverde said.

"That's the reason we are all here."

Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51042079

Perhaps he shouldn't have said that...

Yeah. He's right, but I imagine he embarrassed the board with that one and it contributed to his sacking.

I actually really like him, but he clearly isn't the right man for the job. He's too conservative in his approach and doesn't seem to understand their style.

Setién seems to be being talked about as his successor.

I read they wanted former player Mark Hughes