Laporta’s Legacy of Growth

Joan Laporta’s tenure at Barçelona is ending with the election of new club President Sandro Rosell. Notably, Rosell resigned from the club’s board five years ago amidst a falling out with Laporta. Rosell has blasted Laporta for being heavy handed, undemocratic, and megalomaniacal. Laporta, who harbors aspirations of political grandeur in Catalunya, may be all of those things. But as a Barça fan, they aren’t of particular importance to me because Laporta laid the groundwork for Barçelona to have the most successful year in footballing history and turned a big Spanish club into an international icon.

When Laporta took the reins in 2002, Barçelona were second-fiddle to Real Madrid. Los Merengues had won Champions league for the third time in five years and Barça were trophy-less since 1999. Los Galacticos drew the attention of the world, while Barçelona piled up debts. Enter Laporta, who focused on paying debts while emphasizing the youth academy, La Masia. The youth squad produced Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, and Pedro Rodriguez. Laporta added Ronaldinho via transfer and Frank Rijkaard as manager. When Rijkaard lost control of the team and results sagged, Laporta promoted Pep Guardiola as first team manager and Luis Enrique as Atletic’s head man. Pep led the senior squad to the greatest year in footballing history and “Lucho 21” has the youth squad on the verge of promotion.

Barçelona have long been an extremely important club, but the reach extended mainly to Spain with a smattering of European and extra-continental supporters. Now, Barçelona has almost 2000 peñas around the globe. Some criticized Laporta for his overtly nationalist sentiments on the question of Catalan autonomy. Laporta is a vocal supporter of a separate national selection for Catalunya (an idea that I have serious qualms with). Yet, it was Laporta who extended the club’s reach like never before. A 2007 survey put Barça’s popularity at 25.7% in Spain (after Marid’s 32%). Another survey listed Barçelona as Europe’s most popular club, with 44.2 million sympathizers on the continent (Real Madrid were second at 41 million!). Laporta’s Catalanism is not the reason for Rosell’s victory. While such sentiments may alienate a significant portion of the fan base, Rosell is also fervently supportive of the club’s Catalan identity, and illustrates it in a rather disturbing manner. He actually wishes to restrict club membership outside of Catalunya on the grounds that an increasingly geographically diverse membership is diluting the “Catalan identity” of the club. This is a move that I consider unforgivably stupid and antithetical to the ethos of FC Barçelona and the city itself, which has long welcomed migrants from Spain and immigrants from abroad. If one embraces Catalan culture, he has been able to integrate into society and find acceptance. Laporta seemed to share this sentiment; perhaps it is not good enough for Rosell. I have serious reservations about Catalan nationalism and the politics of identity more generally, but those feelings will be expressed in future posts.

Barçelona is a Catalan club, a Spanish club, a European club, and a global club. Much of the credit for its growth must go to Laporta’s management over the last eight years.