The former vice-president and general manager of Barcelona, Ferran Soriano, has written a book entitled Goal the title of which is clearly designed to appeal to football fans, but the sub-title reveals its real intended market Management Ideas from the World of Football. Moreover, the book is published by Palgrave-Macmillan, the publishing house I primarily use, but we took The Transformation of European Football to Manchester University Press who are building up a list in the area.
The former vice-president and general manager of Barcelona, Ferran Soriano, has written a book entitled Goal the title of which is clearly designed to appeal to football fans, but the sub-title reveals its real intended market Management Ideas from the World of Football. Moreover, the book is published by Palgrave-Macmillan, the publishing house I primarily use, but we took The Transformation of European Football to Manchester University Press who are building up a list in the area.
When Seriano took over at Barca in 2003 they were heavily indebted and losing money and control of player wages. They had not won a trophy for four seasoins in a row. Since then the club has won La Liga for the past three seasons and the Champions League in two of the past three. Real Madrid are still ahead of them in the moneymaking stakes, however, and Barca is still in debt.
Under the presidency of Jean Laporta, Barca adopted a globalising strategy. They did not focus on the concerns of the local Catalan market but sought to become one of football’s biggest international brands. Ticket prices were put up by 40 per cent and they sought to find about how many of the club’s registered members had died (9,000 as it turns out). They also tried to beef up their market operation by copying Manchester United’s strategy.
The global strategy did not work as well as it has at United (or, arguably, Real Madrid). There has been a big breakthrough in Japan which kind of figures given the deeply conservative nature of the Japanse who like institutional stability. However, attempts to create franchises in other parts of the world have not worked.
The club tried to emphasise its ‘touchy feely’ values by putting the Unicef brand on its shirts. However, that gesture could not be afforded as debts mounted and the Qatari government is now paying €30m a year for shirt sponsorship.
Rather surprisingly, very little is said about the La Masia football academy which many see as a key ingredient in Barca’s success. Three key current players were there together as 13-year olds: Cesc Fabregas, Leo Messi and Gerard Pique.
Soriano left three years ago, but the successors to him and Lapora gave a grave assessment of the finnancial position they inherited. This book would be a chance for Soriano to give his answer but he does not really provide one.