Discussion: Txiki Begiristain (2014/15)

[Didsbury Dave]

I like the fact that we're trying to get our targets early. Hopefully we will set the bar early in the market, get high bids on the players we want and then blow the others out of the market. If we land our reported targets then Txiki will have done a fantastic job, if we miss one or two I hope our plan B targets are of a similar quality.

Agreed, mate. If we get the top drawer signings we are chasing, it will help season ticket sales at a time we need them the most. It will help our pre-season after a bad one last year.

But I think a lot of this, and the way we are clearly purposely leaking details, is making statements to rivals that they are wasting their time. It's actually clever manoeuvring to keep the price down. We keep letting the world know that we will pay £100m for Pogba, and we actually get him for £60m because we are the only bidder.

I strongly suspect we are giving aggressive sales pitches to these players, too. "Now FFP is gone it is a question of when, not if, we win the Chapions League. The Sheikh will now do whatever it takes to win it in the next few years. You join us and you will win it, and play with the nest players in the world, and get looked after properly,by the club".

 

[City_Sean]

Agreed, mate. If we get the top drawer signings we are chasing, it will help season ticket sales at a time we need them the most. It will help our pre-season after a bad one last year.

But I think a lot of this, and the way we are clearly purposely leaking details, is making statements to rivals that they are wasting their time. It's actually clever manoeuvring to keep the price down. We keep letting the world know that we will pay £100m for Pogba, and we actually get him for £60m because we are the only bidder.

I strongly suspect we are giving aggressive sales pitches to these players, too. "Now FFP is gone it is a question of when, not if, we win the Chapions League. The Sheikh will now do whatever it takes to win it in the next few years. You join us and you will win it, and play with the nest players in the world, and get looked after properly,by the club".

Spot on mate, agree with every single word. I also firmly believe it's important to get these targets in early to integrate them into the squad as early as possible, last year we had the world cup, meaning players arrived late, this year hopefully the players will be in nice and early, will be used to our system, and will also send a message to the rest of the league that we mean business.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Agreed, mate. If we get the top drawer signings we are chasing, it will help season ticket sales at a time we need them the most. It will help our pre-season after a bad one last year.

But I think a lot of this, and the way we are clearly purposely leaking details, is making statements to rivals that they are wasting their time. It's actually clever manoeuvring to keep the price down. We keep letting the world know that we will pay £100m for Pogba, and we actually get him for £60m because we are the only bidder.

I strongly suspect we are giving aggressive sales pitches to these players, too. "Now FFP is gone it is a question of when, not if, we win the Chapions League. The Sheikh will now do whatever it takes to win it in the next few years. You join us and you will win it, and play with the nest players in the world, and get looked after properly,by the club".

Yeah, I don't think the Sheikh would be brought into a pitch much though, I think it would be more along the lines of "Ferran & Txiki at Barca created 2 Champions League winning teams, and are putting all the pieces to do the same here. They run the club, and they know exactly what's needed and you're part of that". I think we'll pitch the management structure at the club and their successes.

All semantics.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Yeah, I don't think the Sheikh would be brought into a pitch much though, I think it would be more along the lines of "Ferran & Txiki at Barca created 2 Champions League winning teams, and are putting all the pieces to do the same here. They run the club, and they know exactly what's needed and you're part of that". I think we'll pitch the management structure at the club and their successes.

All semantics.

We would of course mate. But The Sheikh would surely be the most important part of any sales pitch because it's his money and ambition that drives it all. Txiki and Feran can't do anything without his hard cash, which is clearly now unrestricted.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

We would of course mate. But The Sheikh would surely be the most important part of any sales pitch because it's his money and ambition that drives it all. Txiki and Feran can't do anything without his hard cash, which is clearly now unrestricted.

I'm just not of the belief that Sheikh Mansour is going to throw more money at us, particularly for transfers. I think we will spend off of our revenues, and become self-sufficient. Thus, I don't think we'll be making promises using the Sheikh and his undoubted wealth, it will be based a lot more around having a sustainable and long-term model, now being an elite club in all other aspects, and still having our own wealth, alongside a proven management team, to drive the team to the on-pitch success.

Some people, not saying you are, are suggesting that now we've passed FFP that the Sheikh is just going to come back in and bankroll us. I don't think this is true, or will ever be true again, and if it were to be true, then we wouldn't be buying the likes of De Bruyne, we'd be buying Messi, and sticking two fingers up.

So I don't think the Sheikh would actually be the biggest part of the pitch. It will be about us investing our money to achieve greater success on the pitch, which is all the player will care about.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I'm just not of the belief that Sheikh Mansour is going to throw more money at us, particularly for transfers. I think we will spend off of our revenues, and become self-sufficient. Thus, I don't think we'll be making promises using the Sheikh and his undoubted wealth, it will be based a lot more around having a sustainable and long-term model, now being an elite club in all other aspects, and still having our own wealth, alongside a proven management team, to drive the team to the on-pitch success.

Some people, not saying you are, are suggesting that now we've passed FFP that the Sheikh is just going to come back in and bankroll us. I don't think this is true, or will ever be true again, and if it were to be true, then we wouldn't be buying the likes of De Bruyne, we'd be buying Messi, and sticking two fingers up.

So I don't think the Sheikh would actually be the biggest part of the pitch. It will be about us investing our money to achieve greater success on the pitch, which is all the player will care about.

Of course the ultimate aim is to make the club self sustainable. But ultimately if you have an owner prepared to invest heavily whenever necessary, to achieve that aim, then you are In the strongest of all positions. This summer's transfers represent him splashing his cash to take us up a level, no doubt.

The Sheikh is the biggest asset this club has by a county mile and any pitch to any player would surely have this is as point number one.

We are making the same point in a slightly different way I suppose. Ultimately we have the cash to achieve our ambitions and hence any player's ambitions.

 

[Brendan110_0]

I'm just not of the belief that Sheikh Mansour is going to throw more money at us, particularly for transfers. I think we will spend off of our revenues, and become self-sufficient. Thus, I don't think we'll be making promises using the Sheikh and his undoubted wealth, it will be based a lot more around having a sustainable and long-term model, now being an elite club in all other aspects, and still having our own wealth, alongside a proven management team, to drive the team to the on-pitch success.

Some people, not saying you are, are suggesting that now we've passed FFP that the Sheikh is just going to come back in and bankroll us. I don't think this is true, or will ever be true again, and if it were to be true, then we wouldn't be buying the likes of De Bruyne, we'd be buying Messi, and sticking two fingers up.

So I don't think the Sheikh would actually be the biggest part of the pitch. It will be about us investing our money to achieve greater success on the pitch, which is all the player will care about.

Last I heard from the Sheikh was we were going to be the best team in the land and all the world.........still a way to go yet!

 

[AntonDonJuan]

I'm just not of the belief that Sheikh Mansour is going to throw more money at us, particularly for transfers. I think we will spend off of our revenues, and become self-sufficient. Thus, I don't think we'll be making promises using the Sheikh and his undoubted wealth, it will be based a lot more around having a sustainable and long-term model, now being an elite club in all other aspects, and still having our own wealth, alongside a proven management team, to drive the team to the on-pitch success.

Some people, not saying you are, are suggesting that now we've passed FFP that the Sheikh is just going to come back in and bankroll us. I don't think this is true, or will ever be true again, and if it were to be true, then we wouldn't be buying the likes of De Bruyne, we'd be buying Messi, and sticking two fingers up.

So I don't think the Sheikh would actually be the biggest part of the pitch. It will be about us investing our money to achieve greater success on the pitch, which is all the player will care about.

I'm not so sure. Khaldoon mentions the sheik a fair bit in his post season interviews, and everyone who knows about football knows who bankrolls us. I think he would pop up in the sales pitch a fair bit. Imagine being say Pogba and hearing "The Sheik wasn't happy with last season and told us to get him Pogba to help win the Champions League, so here we are, and we aren't going back to him saying we failed" you would feel the dog's bollocks regardless of it being true or not

 

[hgblue]

I'm not so sure. Khaldoon mentions the sheik a fair bit in his post season interviews, and everyone who knows about football knows who bankrolls us. I think he would pop up in the sales pitch a fair bit. Imagine being say Pogba and hearing "The Sheik wasn't happy with last season and told us to get him Pogba to help win the Champions League, so here we are, and we aren't going back to him saying we failed" you would feel the dog's bollocks regardless of it being true or not

When you're as rich and have such a good reputation as our owner it's almost impossible for his involvement not to have an impact. Investors, or in this case footballers, know that any investment he makes is underwritten by a trustworthy person with the resources to ensure that any business he gets involved in won't be allowed to be anything other than successful. This then means that other people want to be associated with such a person, partly out of self interest, but also out of respect. This is a huge asset for our football club and long may it continue,

 

[moomba]

From Laporta's election presentation

“For me, Barca are more than a club, based on [Johan] Cruyff, [La] Masia, Catalonia and Unicef. These are the pillars of the club and our proposal.

“[Cruyff] changed the philosophy of the club, created a winning mentality and a philosophy that is admired worldwide.

“This philosophy has allowed us to win all the titles we could win. We did it with Txiki Begiristain, Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola and it’s continued with Luis Enrique.