Futbol Club Barcelona - Staying Strong

[CaptainCrazy]

It's summer in Barcelona, it's summer but cold. The top sports team in the city, The Blaugrana, have been crowned champions of the league.
Still it's cold.
They are champions but in the eyes of the world this was a season filled with loss.
The loss of Tito Vilanova who retired from the manager post, struggling with cancer.
The loss of the dominance and football that had been admired by many, and hated by the rest.
They managed to win the league at home, while struggling for a long while in Champions League until it came to a halt in two terrible games against the crushing force that is Bayern Munchen.
People all over speculated that this was the end of era.
The era that Josep Guardiola had brought to the team, and how symbolic that the man who were in charge when Barcelona had their strongest period, perhaps ever, is holding a press conference at this very moment where he is officially presented as the new manager of the team who humiliated the Blaugrana, Bayern Munchen.

There has been much talk the last few years, about the "Barca DNA" and the philosophy that the club embraced. Possession football, passing oriented, tiki-taka.
Now the song went "They have no plan-B" instead, and that once the other teams had figured Barcelona out, they weren't that hard to beat. Sure they were still seen as one of the best teams in the world, but the fear, the feeling of their invincibility was now long gone.

Vicent Fidel has been chosen as the man to carry them forward in this time of rebirth.
Victor Valdes has decided to leave after the season, Xavi isn't getting younger, neither is Puyol who's been struggling with injury problems of late.
La Masia doesn't seem to have produced any players close to the talents of the stars. There's no new Pique so commandeer the defence, there's no new Iniesta to place those inch perfect passes, and definitely no Messi to rule the world after him.
This lead to Barcelona spending big just before Fidel joined, buying one of the most shining talents in the world, Neymar Junior.
Together Neymar Jr. and Vicent Fidel will try to turn things around, to make sure Barcelona does not fall from the absolute top, to start winning again.




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[CaptainCrazy]

The Beginnings

It took some time until I had settled in as everyone knew eachother very well before I got here.
I only knewthe players who had recently played in the "B" team and youth system of the club, where I had done some coaching work.
But I believe that there is supposed to be some authority in the position of manager, I'm not aiming to only be their friend, but I'm their boss as well and they have to do what I say.
I won't have any players setting their own rules.

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The Squad

It might sound weird considering what kind of players we have up front, but I'm a bit annoyed with the fact that the team had decided to let David Villa go before I got here. I would've wanted a player with his eye for goal and experience, to rotate with.
I feel like we have a really strong starting eleven, while the players behind them just doesn't measure up. They might one day, but that's not what we're aiming for now. To be good enough one day.
I sat down and had a talk with Jonathan dos Santos where we discussed his future in the team under my lead. He didn't really want to leave, but to prove himself, and as I couldn't promise him regular play, we decided that a loan would be in both of our best interests. Perhaps he'll come back a better player, ready to fight for a starting spot with Xavi getting older.
Many clubs were interested but he settled on Atletico Mineiro in the end, where he was promised lot's of time on the field. He stated that what made his decision in the end was the fact that he got to play with former Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho

Another easy decision was letting go of Adriano. Sure he is a very versatile player, but I don't feel like he's got any star quality. When PSG made a 20 million euro offer, I couldn't say no.

At the time I'm writing this, we've only made a single signing so far this season. It's a familiar face for many, as former Barcelona player Martin Caceres joins from the Italian champions.
I'm not sure that Marc Barta is completely up for the task just yet, and with Puyol having injury problems, I felt we needed some more depth. He is an aggresive centre back that does not back out from a challenge, with good speed and physique I think he will serve perfectly as back-up for Pique and Mascherano.


Martin Caceres returns to Barcelona for another try

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The Staff

I won't get to drawn out when it comes to staff, since you'll be seeing whats happening on the pitch, and let us worry about what happens when it's not game time. I decided to let many of the former staff go, to get some more change in after the whole sad situation with Tito Vilanova.
I've loosened it up a bit with the whole "completely spanish" thing, and brought in some international help from some of the best in the business. Of course I also have some spanish coaches joining us as we don't want to get too far away from our roots.
Former "Head of Youth Development" Guillermo Amor will be sitting next to me on the bench, as my assistant manager, while Rodolfo Borrell comes back from Liverpool to fill that spot.


Guillermo Amor - 37 games for Spain, 311 games for Barcelona - Steps up to the task of assistant manager to Vicent Fidel

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[Bigbadtone78]

Marc Bartra has been amazing for me along side Piqu? in the first season