The End of an Era

Once upon a time there was a football team that had been the best in the world. They had won all the titles they had contested, and not just once-they had dominated Europe for years. Then one day it changed.  The team became weaker and weaker, until, although they still had the same players, whose quality and strength had brought the team to the top, they were not the best anymore.

This is what happened to Barça, and although the focus of most of people (including Barça supporters) has been on the World Cup, we are aware that winds of change are swirling around the club, and a lot of tough decisions have to be taken, in order to provide the team with the quality needed.

I can say with confidence that most Barça fans agree that this is an end of an era.  It means that a lot of people from Barça should think about their futures, not only the players but also the managers. It looks as if the main board has decided that the problem is solely on the pitch. The managers and the President do not want to look in the mirror and accept that since they arrived at the Club, its progress has not only stalled, but gone into reverse. Moreover, whilst some are quick to forget, the main responsibility for this disaster lies with someone who ran away six months ago without giving any reason. This is unacceptable especially for the members of Barça.

Therefore, the Club needs to refresh and rejuvenate the main board; although there are new players on the pitch, and a new coach, the members of Barça want to see new faces when they glance at the executive box at Camp Nou. The current inhabitants have already shown that they are incapable of managing the situation.

Barça have said that they want to build the new team around Messi; I hope that they will also include players such as Iniesta in their plans; each needs the other in order to perform at their fullest capacity.

Let’s see what happens this coming season, let’s see how Luis Enrique manages the team and if he is able to make the most of each player, and build the new team with the new faces that have just arrived, and also the ones that are coming soon. Hopefully most of the players will be feeling wounded at not securing the World Cup and will be hungry to win titles with Barça.  We hope that they will be resolute in their pursuit of success, until Barça are champions without peer once again.

Article publicat a WELOBA (We Love Barça - La transmissió d'en Puyal)

Mourinho, the party is over

Yesterday Florentino Perez, the President of Real Madrid, announced in front of the Media that Jose Mourinho will not be the coach of Madrid next season. Even the attention was focused on Mr. Perez yesterday at 8 pm this new did not surprise anybody, or at least to the ones that we had followed the previous months of the Spanish football.

Jose Mourinho came to Madrid to beat Barça and win the Champions league, or this was what Madrid’s supporters expected or thought. Unfortunately it did not happened cause Mourinho has won only one league in 3 years, and what is more, he has not been able to win the tenth Champions League of Real Madrid (at this is the major problem that he has had).

Since Jose arrived in Madrid he has been trying to beat Barcelona through the Media weapon because he realized that although he had great football players he could not win Barça on the pitch. An example is that he said that Barça won cause he had the referees on his side.

The last thing that has happened (and according the supporters of Barcelona the most hilarious one) is that Jose has been punishing all the players that faced up him and this lead into sitting Iker Casillas on the bench (one of the symbols of Real Madrid). The President and Madrid’s supporters have allowed all these actions because they really thought that if this was the way to success they had to accept it. We have already got the result of these three years, and even Florentino Perez said that overall the result was positive, no one can believe it, Jose Mourinho has damaged Real Madrid during these three years; he and the institution has gained more enemies and he has not taken the most of his players.

The most interesting thing is that the real problem of Real Madrid is not Mourinho but is Florentino. He has a lot of money but not idea how to manage a Club and who has to take the decisions, and although the Institution has elections in a couple of weeks probably he will be the president again, and this will not be convenient for Real at all.

On the other hand Chelsea supporters and UK media are very excited because Mourinho is leaving the Spanish League as it seems that he will come back to Chelsea. I really do not understand why they love him (maybe they expect that he will bring Chelsea to the top again) but what really surprises me is that they like the way he acts and his rudeness.

English people and Chelsea supporters know that they will not be able to find such a rude and a comic guy among the English coaches so they want him as an actor that not only is good at football but also he performs like the bad character, and they love it.

Long walk home

This is the first time that I am living abroad when there are elections for the government of my Country. I am from Catalonia, a small country between Spain and France, a Nation without a formal state. We have an own language and culture, and we want to be able to decide our future

Last 11^th of September 1.5 million of people occupied the streets of Barcelona asking for the freedom of Catalonia, requesting Catalonia as the next state in Europe. After this manifesto from Catalan population and the negative of the Spanish Government to satisfy the economic requests of the Catalan Government (we only asked for keeping our own money and our own taxes that we generate due to our GDP, not very weird overall), he decided to dissolve the parliament and call the citizens to vote again (last elections took place 2 years ago, and we have elections every four years).

During the election campaign, the main political party of Catalonia and the other parties that support the independence of Catalonia, have announced that their main goal for the next two years is to ask for a referendum in order to all the Catalan citizens can vote whether they want to continue be part of the Spanish Kingdom or they want that Catalonia becomes an own State, the next State in Europe. Obviously the Spanish Government has already manifested his position related to this democratic act, as they think that it is pointless and useless to ask to the people of Catalonia what they want to become and be in the future, in fact they do not care what Catalonia wants and what their citizens decide. They said that this referendum is not legal and in case we organize, it will not have any effect on the future of Catalonia. Moreover, they think that all the citizens of the Spanish Kingdom should be able to vote it. It would be the same that the citizens of England and North of Ireland vote whether Scotland has to become an own state, kind of a joke.

This Sunday people from Catalonia will go to vote and they will choose the next government, and in some way they will choose if it is fine that Catalonia becomes the next state of Europe or at least if it is fine that we organize a referendum in the next two years to choose our path. I do not expect that Spain will help us in this way, but at least I hope that Europe will be comprehensive with the willingness of Catalonia and what they citizens decide, cause there is not point to reject what a nation wants to be, and even fewer that Europe ignores it.

This weekend we will decide our government and the people that we want that guides us to our goal. We only ask for a referendum, that citizens being able to decide the future of the nation, we do not ask for more. 

"It's gonna be a long walk home, hey pretty darling don´t wait up for me, gonna be a long walk home"

Long walk home – Bruce Springsteen

El gusto es mío

Después de unos tres años desde que empecé este Blog, hoy me dispongo a escribir mi primer artículo en la lengua de Cervantes. Alguno podría pensar que es un intento de demostrar que algunos catalanes, aunque siendo nacionalistas, podemos utilizar el idioma de Castilla sin ningún tipo de problema, e incluso, aunque pueda parecer mentira, podemos llegar a pensar en Castellano (esto es lo que supongo que intenta conseguir el Ministro Wert) y que lo hablamos más a menudo que lo que por ejemplo hacia el expresidente Jose María Aznar con el Catalán, que lo hablaba en la intimidad. Yo sinceramente lo he hecho ya que este artículo va dirigido especialmente a mis amigos de la Península que conocí a Bristol hace apenas un mes.

Recuerdo que cuando llegué a la residencia donde actualmente me alojo (bautizado como “Birdin” por alguno de sus inquilinos), entré a la cocina y me encontré a los que iban a ser mis compañeros. La segunda pregunta que me hicieron fue si era independentista (la primera fue obviamente “Where are you from?”), y antes de contestar ya pensé que la cosa no iba a acabar a muy buen puerto. Esta pregunta sería la equivalente a ir al casino y preguntar al croupier si la ruleta está trucada. Intenté irme por las ramas pero mis esfuerzos fueron en vano, nos pasamos más de una hora hablando del tema. Apenas había llegado a Bristol que les estaba contando a unos españoles (que supuestamente no conocía) mis ideas políticas (bastante en contra de mi voluntad, al menos hacerlo el primer día), y debo decir que no acabamos a puñetazos, de hecho todo lo contrario, creo que les caí bien y viceversa.

Una vez nos hemos ido conociendo, hemos hablado más del tema y debo decir que me han sorprendido muy positivamente, ya que a pesar de nuestros distintos puntos de vista y sabiendo que en ciertas cosas quizás no nos podremos poner nunca de acuerdo, creo que nos hemos aceptado nuestras ideas políticas y por su parte han entendido bastante el sentimiento Catalán y el derecho a la autodeterminación, y sobretodo, respeto ya que en nuestros debates la persona siempre estaba a primera línea, y detrás, las ideas. Por cierto, hay un partido en Catalunya que empieza por C y acaba con S que también dice de poner las personas por delante, pero no se confundan, mienten.

Otra cosa que he hecho en Bristol es preguntar a algunos de los ingleses que he conocido que piensan del referéndum que se va a hacer a Escocia, y bien, creo que en eso llevan bastantes años de ventaja a muchos políticos españoles. Algunos de los que mandan en la Península podrían venir a Bristol unas semanas; así aprenderían un poco de inglés y de paso, tolerancia. Los ingleses se limitan a decir que los escoceses son libres de escoger su camino. Es cierto que esta no es mi primera experiencia en el extranjero, ya que he conocido a españoles por ahí que respetan a Catalunya de una manera envidiable, y es que siempre da gusto toparse con gente así, es un placer.

Acabo con una anécdota: Cuando Santiago Ramón y Cajal ganó el Premio Nobel de Medicina en 1906, hacia justo un año que Noruega se había separado de Suecia para pasar a ser un estado independiente. Cuando el Médico fue a Estocolmo para recoger el premio, preguntó a unos miembros de la Academia porqué Noruega se había emancipado, y los suecos le respondieron “porqué los noruegos así lo quisieron”.

Sooner or later – Mat Kearney

El primer dia

Tot d’una sembla que l’avió comença el descens. Malgrat les meves pors a aquestes naus, intento oblidar per un moment els perills que hi pugui haver tot mirant per la finestra. La vista és espectacular; per una banda puc veure la ciutat de Bristol amb el seu famós pont de Clifton, i més enllà el mar que separa aquesta ciutat amb Cardiff.

Costa de creure però avui a Bristol fa sol, no em puc queixar de la rebuda que m’han preparat aquestes terres Anglosaxones. Un cop hem tocat terra i ha sonat la famosa musiqueta de Ryanair tot informan-nos que hem arribat a l’hora prevista, em preparo per posar els peus a un terra de la qual em vaig acomiadar fas escassos dos mesos i que llavors no em pensava pas que hi tornaria tant d’hora. Les sensacions que em vénen tot agafat l’autobús cap a la ciutat són molt singulars, ja que per un banda reconec molts dels paisatges i llocs que vaig veient, mentre penso que aquesta vegada no vinc aquí per un temps limitat sinó caràcter indefinit.

Un cop arribo a Bristol baixo a la parada de St Mary Redcliffe i m’adono que les coses estan exactament igual que el dia que vaig marxar, amb la diferència que quan arribo a la oficina hi ha algunes cares noves i d’altres que ja no hi són. Haig de reconèixer que el retrobament amb els meus antics companys és molt emocionant, ja que tot d’una entro on va ser durant dos mesos el meu lloc de treball i em trobo amb la gent que vaig treballar durant els mesos d’estiu que vaig estar allà.

El meu primer dia a Bristol va ser bastant nostàlgic, una mica com aquell que retroba un vell amic. Arriba la nit i mentre vaig a dormir penso com serà aquesta vegada, si per una banda em van anar bé el parell de mesos que vaig estar aquí, em pregunto si aquest cop l’experiència serà igual o millor, què faré i a quanta gent coneixeré, en fi, almenys jo crec que anirà bé.

To the Sky - Owl City