Blue Is the Opposite of Blue said:
Well, it's corruption of the system from Barca but I don't think UEFA have directed it, if you get me?
I agree with you up to a point.
I don't think there's a conscious, collective arrangement in place either between UEFA and Barcelona, or alternatively any such understanding within the walls of UEFA alone.
Despite the fertile imaginings of some, this isn't how corruption most frequently manifests itself in the high-stakes world of big business. Instead, Barcelona will have 'bought' influence with UEFA through a complex conflation of carrot and stick comprising many, many elements.
In the carrot camp will be the long-standing relationships, reinforced at UEFA get togethers such as the CL draw next week, where Barcelona officials will be at great pains to remind UEFA dignitaries of their commercial value to European football and their place in the footballing food-chain: 'remember what we bring to the table'.
In the stick camp will be veiled, nebulous threats about 'protecting their position' and calculated comments about 'no-one wanting a long legal battle'.
Both these pincer movements will remind UEFA that this
isn't Leeds or Portsmouth they're dealing with and the sanctions need to reflect that.
Anyone who thinks UEFA won't genuflect, to some extent, to that posturing, albeit subconsciously, doesn't understand how the world of commerce operates, where compromise is always accommodated if it's in both parties' commercial interests, as is the case here.
Is that corruption? Well, it isn't fair and it isn't equitable, and such an arrangement is as a consequence of the financial might of the beneficiary (Barca) being consciously and successfully exercised to further their own commercial ends.
Sounds like corruption to me.
