More than a club

Anyone who has ever visited FC Barcelona’s magnificent Nou Camp stadium will be familiar with the phrase “mes que un club” or “more than a club”.

It features on match tickets, the team’s shirts and is spelled out in huge yellow letters on the stadium’s seats – exactly where the logo of beer companies, gambling websites and other corporate sponsors would usually be at less principled clubs. For Barcelona really is more than a club, and they will not let anyone forget it.

During Francisco Franco’s reign, the Catalan (and insignia of other regions such as the Basque country) flag and language was banned from public use. Football teams were forced to adopt the Spanish spelling of their names and remove any reference, signage or hint of regional identity.

The Nou Camp was a haven for anti-Franco Catalans during this time. Within the walls of the stadium was the one place people could express their true opinions, and in their native tongue. The club represented the Left’s struggle against the fascist regime, and Spaniards, Catalan or otherwise, became club members as a way of conveying their political allegiance without the danger attached to joining groups such as the Communist party. Barcelona was more than a club.

Today, those political ideals remain and are a major driving force behind the famous rivalry with Real Madrid – the team of Franco, the Royal Family and with a history of connections to the Spanish establishment. It’s a rivalry far more complex than anything English football has to offer, and demonstrates the importance football plays in the lives of Catalans and football fans across Spain.

When Pep Guardiola’s team beat Real Madrid, they are not just defeating their deadly rivals, but the country’s establishment. The people that have oppressed the city and the whole Catalan region – who attempted to strangle their culture.

That my club stands for playing attractive football and developing young players seems hopelessly insignificant compared to one that represents the spirit of a region and the country’s political left, and is often referenced in Spanish Civil War books.

But my club is still more than a club to me. It may not be connected to any romantic political ideology, but it still offers me absorbing escapism similar to that enjoyed by season ticket holders at the Nou Camp.

Supporting a football club properly is a thankless task that defies logic entirely. Fans put so much into something that they have absolutely no control over.

Like masochists, we hand over good money to watch games we know our teams will lose. We cheer players who kiss our shirt, only to be dumbfounded when they move across the city to our rivals. And we call radio stations to complain about the service we are getting, knowing full well there is no-one on the end of the line that can make the slightest bit of difference.

But just as we are now itching for the new season to start however dismally our teams performed last season, we will always go back. We are glutton for punishment, and have an addiction that Betty Ford and the Priory couldn’t begin to treat.

The love we have for our clubs is often unrequited, but always unconditional. It could not be offered to just a “club”. To the real fan, his or her football team is more than a club – whether that team is Barcelona or Blyth Spartans.

Owen odds on for success

Michael Owen’s surprise move to Manchester United has been seen by many as something of a gamble from Sir Alex Ferguson.

But on closer inspection, it would appear the only losers from this punt may well be the premier league clubs who declined the chance to sign England’s fourth highest goal scorer of all time.

It’s fair to say that United have lost arguably their two best players in the last month in Ronaldo and Tevez, and have replaced them with a 29 year-old from a relegated club, who many feel has seen the best of his career already.

Even Owen himself is unlikely to view his time on Tyneside as a success. Despite maintaining a decent scoring record when he played regularly, anyone watching Newcastle’s last month of the season (perhaps from behind the sofa) will have seen that Owen was rendered as impotent as anyone else by the gloom and uncertainty that guided the Magpies to the Championship.

These less than impressive performances, a lengthy history of injuries and the expectation of £100k plus a week wages meant Owen found himself frantically searching for new employers when his contract expired at the end of June.

So much so that his management company famously compiled a 32 brochure that aimed to entice clubs home and abroad into signing Owen for the coming season. That until Ferguson’s surprise intervention the brochure only attracted Hull City is akin to McDonalds marketing their burgers to middle class fitness fanatics, only to attract the class fat kid to the golden arches.

But Owen has been spared the ordeal of having to wear Hull’s garish amber and black strip, and will instead compete with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov for a place in the starting 11 of the English and world champions.

Is it a gamble by Ferguson? Considering it has cost United nothing, the club will be paying Owen substantially less than he was getting at Newcastle and he is seemingly fit again, if it is a gamble it would appear to be one where the odds are stacked firmly in United’s favour.

Owen may well not be able to play 40-50 games a season, but at United he won’t have to. Like all big clubs, they enjoy the luxury of being able to rotate their teams at will – calling on a squad of international class. Just as Ferguson did with Teddy Sherringham ten years ago, he will make sure Owen rests when he needs it and is not rushed back from injury – taking the mental and physical pressure from him.

At Newcastle, Owen was expected to play, score and captain the side in every single game. He was seen as the man to end their long wait for silverware, and bring the good times back to the North East. But as is usually the case at Newcastle, things didn’t go as planned.

At United, Owen will still feel the weight of expectation on his shoulders, but he will have stars like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs (and perhaps others by the end of the summer) to help him carry that burden. It could give him the freedom to enjoy his football again, and maybe score the goals to turn the head of Fabio Capello.

And if it doesn’t work out? United have not lost a penny in transfer fees, will be saving money on the wages paid to Ronaldo and Tevez and will still have a more than competent forward line to help maintain their place at the top.

If this is a gamble, I like the look of the odds.

Due to holiday, the next blog will be posted on Monday 27 July.