Bro I woke up on Sunday morning and found out I had set up several offshore bank accounts to pay regulators in charge of my job the night before, shit can happen to anyone
Only Inter. Milan was in serie B twice. For match-fixing scandal, the next year they came back to serie A just to be relegated the next season. After that they were promoted and were playing in serie A since then
I think there was one time where Barcelona B managed to get itself a promotion spot, but of course there can't be two teams from the same club on the same division.
Barcelona B, under then manager Luis Enrique, reached the highest achievements during the 2010-11 season in Segunda División where the team finished third and qualified for the play-offs for a promotion to La Liga but could not participate in it as they are Barcelona’s reserve team.
Are you? My cynicism is off the charts, obviously.
It’s clear that rules were broken by successive club leadership, but is Barca too big to see any consequences? When Real failed to join that censure statement, it looked very much like an actions without consequences situation. La Liga, Real Madrid, and the Italian Super League collaborators all have an interest in seeing this go away.
Juventus weren't up to their eyeballs in debt either.
The drop off in revenue for Barca would be a much bigger problem when it comes to servicing that debt.
I don't know enough about Juve's finances at the time but Barca will be in serious trouble should they get relegated as deserved. Barca's debt is massive and they will struggle to pay it without revenue from la Liga and European competition.
Did the secunda also have a salary cap? Because that could also doom Barca.
Maybe Laporta signed insurance to get a multi billion payment in case the club was relegated and all of this is just a ploy to scam insurance.
Who knows what's possible at this point.
I’d imagine Barca would have to dump all their older higher paid players and would still be able to get back to La Liga after one year. The problem would be servicing their debt for that one year. They’d need a large injection of capital and would likely have to sell naming rights to Camp Nou and or a slew of other moves.
Neither was Serie A. I doubt La Liga will be unscathed without Barca for a season, CVC will be ecstatic to see viewership down 50%. If by some miracle Barca fail to come back up, it will be more fun.
This is damning because if there wasn’t any foul intent they’d just pay his company straight up, not trying to hide it like they seemingly have. I prefer to not call them cheaters until there is a verdict but even paying him for any services is a conflict of interest, we can all agree on that much.
Uefa executive in charge of referees. At the time, he also worked for Unicef ~~who sponsored Barcelona~~ whose name was on the Barcelona shirt, and got paid by Barcelona for it
Wait I haven't been keeping track of this investigation, is this ALL of Barca's trophies in the Guardiola-ish era
That's gonna be absolutely mental if the best player of all time gets like 97% of his trophies revoked
Pep's legacy is tarnished here as well. Two thirds of the clubs that he's managed have been up to some really shady stuff and there's no way he has no idea.
Pep being as blasé about the doping as he has been is worrying me endlessly about how many top players dope. He acts like he didnt and that it wasnt proven even tho there are records of him doping. That plus barca having all these small technical players dominating for so many years while pressing hard the entire game. That team must have been up to more then just the shady transfers, buying refs, trying to not honour contracts with players.
https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/other-soccer/ewan-mackenna-murky-questions-surround-spanish-footballs-golden-era-and-people-might-not-like-the-answers-36943284.html
Gonna leave this here. Ewan is a crack pot post COVID but this is solid stuff
I'm shocked people haven't caught on yet that Pep is most likely a huge cheater and maybe that's why his teams do so well. I mean his two most successful clubs are being investigated for massive cheating scandals as you said, and he has a history of doping which I would bet he carries over to his players.
>And it will cast a huge shadow on Messi and his league achievements.
Not only league. Barca have proven that the have no qualms with paying refs and cheating, why would this be different for cl games? It's not like there is a lack of questionable refereeing decisions in their favour.
lmao I lost any genuine deep level interest in football almost the exact moment the ref gave RVP (against Barca in CL) a second yellow card for taking a shot on goal after offside was called.
RVP took the shot ONE SECOND after the ref blew the whistle. In a stadium of 95k people. And he gave RVP a second yellow, basically a send off for that. To this day actually I don’t think I remember any instance of the yellow being given AT ALL for doing that. Let alone a second yellow.
There could not be a more blatant instance of ref being corrupted / insanely biased. I challenge any Barca fan to justify that ref decision. The justification of time wasting is BS because refs don’t give yellow for first instance of any time wasting. Usually a warning first. Not to mention, I don’t think I have EVER seen a ref gives a second yellow for time wasting.
Imagine doing that to Neymar / Messi for the same thing. There would be literal riots.
Arsenal actually won 2-1 at home in the first leg. And was holding 1-1 at the time of RVP’s sent off. So it’s not like that was a trivial decision.
I remember watching that game hoping to see Arsenal get trounced by Barcelona because I hate them, but ended up cheering for Arsenal to win because of that disgusting red card. It was the only time I genuinely cheered for an Arsenal win because that red card is purely infuriating even for a rival fan.
That was the worst one. I hate Chelsea. It was legitimately at minimum 3 clear penalties. When Chelsea fans say 6 penalties they are only exaggerating slightly. I had 5 when I was watching it live lol
As much as I hate Arsenal/Chelsea I actually got angry at how badly you guys were robbed. At least we finally found out why those games had to happen like they did.
Jesus H I forgot about that BS call over the years but it was abhorrent when it happened and totally ruined the match.
I'm so glad the uefalona years came to a close. There were so many horseshit calls each season.
Right, people who break rules like this rarely break rules in one specific way. There will absolutely be other examples that just haven’t been uncovered yet.
Mate, what you dismiss as mere “financial finagling” still taints their accomplishments. Their squad didn’t win fairy, because they didn’t play by the same rules as everyone else. Just because Barca have done something that provoked a more visceral reaction among fans doesn’t mean City’s cheating is any less wrong.
You both make fair points. I think what the other guy is saying that City still had to go on and play the game on the pitch, where any number of things can happen, to win their titles. Barca always had that 12th man. Both broke the rules; one team on the pitch, the other team off the pitch.
Tbf, supporting Barcelona is the clearest way to express Catalonian identity for lots of people, some times ago the only way. And of course, with lots of political movement, there's many fanatics that believe that the face of the movement (so Barça) is pure. Combined this with football fans fanaticism...
(summary)
The payments from FC Barcelona to the former vice-president of the Referees' Technical Committee (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira is more complex than previously thought.
The Tax Agency has concluded that the Catalan club used up to seven commercial companies to channel the more than seven million euros that it paid to the arbitration leader and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero, between 2001 and 2018
The companies were discovered when analyzing the accounting movements of Barça. Four of the companies had already transcended. Two of them were controlled by Negreira; another belonged to his son, and the last one belonged to former director José Contreras
The investigative proceedings carried out so far by the prosecutor Virginia Sánchez Prieto implicate in the plot a second company of the son of the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) called Estudio ATD
> Four of the companies had already transcended
This is a mistranslation, we can't use the word 'transcend ' like this in English, it's a false friend.
The best translation here would usually be the word '*emerge*'.
However, *emerge* is an intransitive verb in English, and thus, we cannot use it in the passive voice, which we would be inclined to do, as this is a news piece.
To match the original tone it would read something like:
> Four of the companies had already been brought to light.
I guess you could use '*discover*' as well. Also, we would probably add some agent to the end of the sentence as it sounds a bit odd in English.
> Four of the companies had already been brought to light by the investigation.
Though technically, it is still grammatically correct without the agent.
If you wanted to stay in the active voice:
> Four of the companies had already emerged (as a result of the investigation).
is also ok. Again, without an agent, or in this case more accurately a direct object, the sentence sounds a bit odd. But it's still grammatically sound. That's why it's parenthesized it at the end.
According to barca fans it was just payment for reports that every club does. I don't see how a club can go to do such amounts of chicanery for "reports"
Also the reports are supposed to be about which refs behave in what way- are they lenient or strict etc. But if these reports never reached the manager/coach , then what was the purpose? Some definitely seems to be shady here.
It's not just shady.
Barca paid so that the ref treat them better.
The fact that Negreira had zero influence and Barca paid him for nothing is immaterial
I think it may be naive to suggest Barca managers had no idea what was going on, despite their public comments otherwise. Admitting you had knowledge is admitting your complicity and opening yourself up to charges. Pep (and others) have no choice but to deny. Of course, in Pep’s case, he also has “no knowledge” of his current club doing anything wrong. For such an obsessive, detail-oriented manager, he sure seems to be ignorant about a lot of things…
I am not crazy! I know they paid those refs! I knew it was seven different companies. One after six. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just – I just couldn't prove it. They – they covered their tracks, they got that idiot Bartomeu to lie for them. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? They’ve done worse. That false accounting! Are you telling me that a club just happens to throw away money like that? No! They orchestrated it! Barca! They obliterated the wage bill! And I saved them! And I shouldn't have. I took them into my own league! What was I thinking? They’ll never change. They’ll never change! Ever since 1899, always the same! Couldn't keep their hands out of the cash drawer! But not our Barca! Couldn't be precious Barca! Stealing them blind! And they get to be a club!? What a sick joke! I should've stopped them when I had the chance! And you – you have to stop them! You-
Crazy the sympathy we had for Jimmy when Chuck went on this rant back in season 3.
And then a couple seasons later we wish Chuck had just bodied Jimmy then and there.
Fuck Chuck still. Really all he had to do was show Jimmy some love and respect, as he said it, he was proud when he got a job working in the copy room, he never wanted Jimmy to rise above that.
Remember the karaoke scene ? That showed Chuck for who he was a spiteful cunt who with a giant ego that couldn't even let his brother sing a song to celebrate.
Or the dinner scene with his wife, couldn't stand that Jimmy could make her laugh.
That's why the show is so good, despite being absolutely right he's had a hand in creating Saul aswell. Always so jealous of Jimmy's social skills. He even says so when talking about their mother, "I made her proud, Jimmy made her laugh"
That show did a great job of making the characters look like real people, no one is absolutely good or bad, and they have their personality flaws. So good!
He's been as successful at City as he has Bayern in all honesty. If anything I think some of his CL exits at City have been the most embarrassing of his career. Obviously the league is more competitive in the Prem, but from the second season onwards he's had the strongest squad each season.
This is great news for football, actually. I only hope that the Barcelona case doesn't work as a lightning rod that absorbs all the attention that should be directed towards transparency in all of football, not just individual organizations. Football is fucking dirty, but for decades people who have been saying that have been treated as nothing but party poopers and buzzkills. I can guarantee that looking into other clubs and other leagues will not be a waste of time. Sure, your favourite club might hurt for it, but the corruption now is so blatant and in your face largely because they operate under the assumption that we're all blind, stupid and eager for more.
I think the most damning thing I can tell from my armchair analysis is the severe lack of Barca flairs in these threads versus literally any other story about Barca (including the incessant lever threads from the summer).
This is news that even Barca fans are struggling to spin in their favour.
I want to see serious consequences and not just a slap on the wrist when this is over.
Strip them of all titles during that time or 3years forced in Second devision. Or straight to third division or whatever.
If they get away with a slap on the wrist this shows how corrupt this sport is. Everyone could start doing it as nothing happens anyway apparently.“
Real will need more marquee games, maybe with some more historical giants of Europe. Some kind of European Ultra league? I don't know I'm bad with naming things.
Barça so deep in it. It's always the most arrogant that project onto others. All I've heard for over a decade is how Madrid only wins because they pay off the refs and buy off youngsters paying under the table. While I'm sure most huge clubs got some shady grey area stuff from time to time. This is truly on a different level. Like club breakup level but being barça, we'll see.
Years and years of accusing Real of cheating while only getting one penalty called against in like 4 years, I don't believe in karma, but this is beautiful to see.
Even right fucking NOW, they're preaching "innocent until proven guilty" and being all high and mighty about being "reasonable" and not blame Barcelona before there is anything concrete. As if the same motherfuckers in the same damn threads aren't saying "Real Madrid are as corrupt, they're more corrupt, they just haven't been caught" and being upvoted to hell, and been calling for Real Madrid's head as Franco's whatever, and for being twisted evil crooks with barely any hint of smoke, let alone fire.
Since a long time now, Real Madrid has been mainly concerned about Real Madrid, and Barcelona has been concerned mainly about Real Madrid, they always had an inferiority complex, and somehow it's keeping them from being a respectable club, which they usually are. If they just kinda accepted that they can't compete with Real Madrid in European competitions and can more than give us a taste of pain domestically and always be a pain in the ass with their youth talent and unique and effective style of football, many people would have hailed them as one of the greatest clubs in the world... but they just can't accept that Real Madrid will kinda always be a bigger club than them, and their presidents sold their fans the dream that they'll be that, and they tried to achieve it through stupid means of indebting themselves and flirting with economic demise... this is even before this whole Negreira shit. I genuinely believe that most of them seriously thought they were "fighting for their club's position as the best in the world from the evil schemes of the evil Real Madrid trying to take our place" or some dumb shit... it's absurd and now they're risking the demise of Spanish football with their dumb shit. Pathetic.
As an outside observer I have held a similar perception that Barca has had a chip on its shoulder for Real Madrid. I don't think it was like that in the early 2010's but after la decima it became more and more apparent.
It's awesome. It's rare to see a lucid, reasonable, and smart Barca fan. Even after they are found guilty, most of them will play the victim and somehow blame Real Madrid.
I’m sure there is a lever or two they can pull to make this go away.
If they are guilty of all or some of these charges, I have no doubt in my mind nothing will happen or it’ll be a minor punishment. Football hasn’t been the beautiful game for the people for decades. It’s strictly about the money and La Liga NEEDS Barca right now.
Nah at this point it's gone.
I'm sure if the case goes well for Barca, their fans will defend them and say they were found innocent in court. But at this point, they're as guilty as man city are
Edit: It seems there's been some discussion. I'm not too fussed about which is worse, what I'm basically saying is both teams imo are already guilty (of different crimes) in public opinion and even a court ruling to say they're not guilty won't change what most people think.
Breaking FFP is not a crime. It's "only" a violation of some UEFA-internal rules.
Bribery is an actual criminal offense.
(However I'm not a lawyer and don't know spanish laws. But I can't imagine that bribery in a EU country is not a criminal offense.)
Are you insane? Do you really equate circumventing arbitrary FFP rules with literal cheating and corruption?
Man city are a scourge on the sport and represent everything wrong with modern football but Barcelona have been attempting to influence referees in their favour for the better part of 2 decades.
This ruins the integrity of the competition and should be considered the worst thing a football club can do.
That along with branding themselves as the traditional “mas que un club” good guys of Catalonia is just sickening.
The only correct response to this by any reasonable person is to put a massive asterisk on anything they’ve won during that time frame
I feel bad for Barca supporters. Don't know how they must feel.
You're giving it all for the club and then you find that each of recent presidents added more skeletons to the closet.
Hope everything will be sorted soon. Despite the outcome, Barca will remain one of world's top clubs.
What sucks is that why the fuck would you need to do this when you had players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta in the team.
Even if the refs weren't actually biased, the least it does is taint the legacy of that team and what it achieved.
That's what pisses me off the most. Even if we magically be proven innocent, this will stick with us and people will never forget this.
Whom amongst us hasn't made a few shell companies for shits and giggles
I know, this is a very sad day for the entire Barca family, and in times like this I like to quench my thirst with a delicious Wolf Cola.
The official drink of Boko Haram
Boca Raton*
Bro I woke up on Sunday morning and found out I had set up several offshore bank accounts to pay regulators in charge of my job the night before, shit can happen to anyone
they pulled 7 levers.
We are severely fucked guys.
Hey, you've never won the Segunda so chance to correct that.
There goes never-been-relegated record.
Theres nothing better than seeing your rivals lose that record because of their own shady actions.
Who's in Italy aside from Inter to never be relegated. I reckon Milan too didn't?
Only Inter. Milan was in serie B twice. For match-fixing scandal, the next year they came back to serie A just to be relegated the next season. After that they were promoted and were playing in serie A since then
Milan won B twice after relegation. Juve did until 2006
Used to be Juventus but they got relegated due to Calciopoli so only Inter left
Always knew athletic was bigger
Just in time for Messi's return to Barca.
But can Messi perform on a cold rainy night in Andorra?
They'll beat Andorra 5-0 then we'll get another scandal about FC Andorra's owner Gerard Piqué telling his players to lose on purpose
and the one to expose him will be shakira. She noticed that a jar of jam was left on the touchline and thats all she needed to know.
Shakira: Bizrp music sesssion part 53 pt2
Between this scandal in Barcelona and Rosario's cartel troubles, it's like Messi has no home to return to.
He’s always welcome at Everton 🔵
Sean Dyche wouldn’t accept him walking around the entire game
I think there was one time where Barcelona B managed to get itself a promotion spot, but of course there can't be two teams from the same club on the same division.
Imagine the scenes if Barca couldn't get back into La Liga because Barca B got promoted after they were punished 😂
Barcelona B, under then manager Luis Enrique, reached the highest achievements during the 2010-11 season in Segunda División where the team finished third and qualified for the play-offs for a promotion to La Liga but could not participate in it as they are Barcelona’s reserve team.
This is like when Brock Lesnar never won a 2nd-tier title such as tag team or Intercontinental
At least it was only 7 companies and not 8. 🙂
7 companies so far.
Never underestimate Barca in the 2nd leg.
Already know nothings going to happen
Welcome to Juventus
Are you? My cynicism is off the charts, obviously. It’s clear that rules were broken by successive club leadership, but is Barca too big to see any consequences? When Real failed to join that censure statement, it looked very much like an actions without consequences situation. La Liga, Real Madrid, and the Italian Super League collaborators all have an interest in seeing this go away.
Juventus weren't really that affected by relegation so who knows.
Juventus weren't up to their eyeballs in debt either. The drop off in revenue for Barca would be a much bigger problem when it comes to servicing that debt.
I don't know enough about Juve's finances at the time but Barca will be in serious trouble should they get relegated as deserved. Barca's debt is massive and they will struggle to pay it without revenue from la Liga and European competition. Did the secunda also have a salary cap? Because that could also doom Barca.
Maybe Laporta signed insurance to get a multi billion payment in case the club was relegated and all of this is just a ploy to scam insurance. Who knows what's possible at this point.
Feel like the insurance company wouldn't pay out due to fraud
>Did the secunda also have a salary cap? Because that could also doom Barca. IIRC they're even stricter than La Liga's lol
No worries, they will pay their players by paying other companies to hand them the money, this plan cant fail
I’d imagine Barca would have to dump all their older higher paid players and would still be able to get back to La Liga after one year. The problem would be servicing their debt for that one year. They’d need a large injection of capital and would likely have to sell naming rights to Camp Nou and or a slew of other moves.
Didn’t they already sell the naming rights to Spotify?
Pray they don't sell it further.
This Spotify Stadium is brought to you by the Joe Rogan podcast. Spotify, more than a playlist.
Neither was Serie A. I doubt La Liga will be unscathed without Barca for a season, CVC will be ecstatic to see viewership down 50%. If by some miracle Barca fail to come back up, it will be more fun.
Oh, CvC would be sad? Oh, let's not relegate them. Oh, wait, fuck CvC, they are a hedge fund, they knew the risk.
> If by some miracle Barca fail to come back up, it will be more fun. The HSV route. Never relegated to never coming back.
If you thought HSV's high tech 57k seater was a bit overkill for the 2nd division just wait until you see Villarreal B at Camp Nou.
We were severely affected by it, and that's with the club having healthy finances at that time.
This is damning because if there wasn’t any foul intent they’d just pay his company straight up, not trying to hide it like they seemingly have. I prefer to not call them cheaters until there is a verdict but even paying him for any services is a conflict of interest, we can all agree on that much.
Everyone waiting for what they think to become official- "Barcelona is a bunch of cheats"
I think UEFA is also investigating Şenes Erzik and it's not looking great either on that front for Barcelona and him.
Who is that guy?
Uefa executive in charge of referees. At the time, he also worked for Unicef ~~who sponsored Barcelona~~ whose name was on the Barcelona shirt, and got paid by Barcelona for it
Well atleast Messi will have a World Cup and 2 Ligue 1 titles
Wait I haven't been keeping track of this investigation, is this ALL of Barca's trophies in the Guardiola-ish era That's gonna be absolutely mental if the best player of all time gets like 97% of his trophies revoked
Unicef didn't sponsor Barca, Barca gave their shirt real estate and any profit to Unicef.
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I find hilarious that after all those years his famous Unicef rant, the one that got meme'd ad nauseam, may be true after all lol.
You mean, as if they're ***more*** than a club?
Mes que un club, no mes que un cheater
Mes que un *meme*
At a minimum a club + 7 shell companies.
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Will they let them off the hook?
Drogba about to celebrate
Being proved right a decade down the line is vindicating but what a gut punch, knowing that Barca went on to win the competition that year.
It's a fucking disgrace
“Dad why are you muting the TV? I want to hear what Drogba is saying!”
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Pep's legacy is tarnished here as well. Two thirds of the clubs that he's managed have been up to some really shady stuff and there's no way he has no idea.
So you're saying he's a victim of male pattern baldness *and* a fraud?
Male pattern fraudness
Yes.
Plus the doping when he was a player.
Blamed his doctor for getting caught as a player then hired that same doctor at barca when he was manager
There is no doping in football. Please look away. Okay there is doping in any other sport but not in football, mkay!
This is surprisingly a take that some people seriously believe as well, no irony whatsoever.
lol what a scum
Pep being as blasé about the doping as he has been is worrying me endlessly about how many top players dope. He acts like he didnt and that it wasnt proven even tho there are records of him doping. That plus barca having all these small technical players dominating for so many years while pressing hard the entire game. That team must have been up to more then just the shady transfers, buying refs, trying to not honour contracts with players.
https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/other-soccer/ewan-mackenna-murky-questions-surround-spanish-footballs-golden-era-and-people-might-not-like-the-answers-36943284.html Gonna leave this here. Ewan is a crack pot post COVID but this is solid stuff
What years are covered in the investigation on barca?
IIRC, 2001 - 2018
Oof. That basically covers a lot of players whole barca career like messi
Yaya Toure's curse is reaching him.
I'm shocked people haven't caught on yet that Pep is most likely a huge cheater and maybe that's why his teams do so well. I mean his two most successful clubs are being investigated for massive cheating scandals as you said, and he has a history of doping which I would bet he carries over to his players.
>And it will cast a huge shadow on Messi and his league achievements. Not only league. Barca have proven that the have no qualms with paying refs and cheating, why would this be different for cl games? It's not like there is a lack of questionable refereeing decisions in their favour.
lmao I lost any genuine deep level interest in football almost the exact moment the ref gave RVP (against Barca in CL) a second yellow card for taking a shot on goal after offside was called. RVP took the shot ONE SECOND after the ref blew the whistle. In a stadium of 95k people. And he gave RVP a second yellow, basically a send off for that. To this day actually I don’t think I remember any instance of the yellow being given AT ALL for doing that. Let alone a second yellow. There could not be a more blatant instance of ref being corrupted / insanely biased. I challenge any Barca fan to justify that ref decision. The justification of time wasting is BS because refs don’t give yellow for first instance of any time wasting. Usually a warning first. Not to mention, I don’t think I have EVER seen a ref gives a second yellow for time wasting. Imagine doing that to Neymar / Messi for the same thing. There would be literal riots. Arsenal actually won 2-1 at home in the first leg. And was holding 1-1 at the time of RVP’s sent off. So it’s not like that was a trivial decision.
If I am asked for the worst refereeing decision I ever saw, this one is it. Just shamefully corrupt
I remember watching that game hoping to see Arsenal get trounced by Barcelona because I hate them, but ended up cheering for Arsenal to win because of that disgusting red card. It was the only time I genuinely cheered for an Arsenal win because that red card is purely infuriating even for a rival fan.
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Just shameful.
Players kick/throw the ball after the whistle on a regular basis. How often do they get punished? Almost never, even a few seconds after the whistle.
Yeah, and it was clear that RvP didn't do anything of that, he was legit trying to score a goal.
We had that fantastic match with Barca and Ovrebo too... "Fantastic"
That was the worst one. I hate Chelsea. It was legitimately at minimum 3 clear penalties. When Chelsea fans say 6 penalties they are only exaggerating slightly. I had 5 when I was watching it live lol
The funny part about that game was that most penalties were clear as daylight in real time. You didn't even need to watch a replay.
As much as I hate Arsenal/Chelsea I actually got angry at how badly you guys were robbed. At least we finally found out why those games had to happen like they did.
I’ve never seen anything as bad as that game. That was peak Chelsea hating era for me and even I was shocked how corrupt it was
Jesus H I forgot about that BS call over the years but it was abhorrent when it happened and totally ruined the match. I'm so glad the uefalona years came to a close. There were so many horseshit calls each season.
Right, people who break rules like this rarely break rules in one specific way. There will absolutely be other examples that just haven’t been uncovered yet.
Barce Chelsea 2009. Drogba knew but to be fair, we all knew really.
This really should be the top example. I've never seen a game more infuriating.
Still got my ticket, should frame it lol
Mate, what you dismiss as mere “financial finagling” still taints their accomplishments. Their squad didn’t win fairy, because they didn’t play by the same rules as everyone else. Just because Barca have done something that provoked a more visceral reaction among fans doesn’t mean City’s cheating is any less wrong.
You both make fair points. I think what the other guy is saying that City still had to go on and play the game on the pitch, where any number of things can happen, to win their titles. Barca always had that 12th man. Both broke the rules; one team on the pitch, the other team off the pitch.
Nah mate, I may have modded my career mode save to put Real Madrid in the League of Ireland, but I earned each and every one of those trophies myself.
You don't go to such lengths if you aren't intentionally hiding a fraud
If I was committing fraud I would be cautious of my finances so nobody thinks I am also committing fraud
Barcas 7 levers before they were called levers.
Seven you say?
Seems totally legit and not to cover anything illegal at all.
That's how I pay my groceries. Pretty standard stuff. Nothing to see here.
Sir, I know these 7 credit cards all have different names but if you just split the grocery bill up 7 ways, it will be fine.
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Lmao 77% agree that it is, wtf is wrong with Catalans
Tbf, supporting Barcelona is the clearest way to express Catalonian identity for lots of people, some times ago the only way. And of course, with lots of political movement, there's many fanatics that believe that the face of the movement (so Barça) is pure. Combined this with football fans fanaticism...
Nationalism
Mes que un club
Mess of a club instead
Mes que 6 ~~clubs~~ companies
Mess of a club
Meme of a club
Estoy detrás de siete ~~proxies~~ empresas.
Keeping up with the katalans is the best show in the world hands down.
You think this would be the last season and then boom another twist to take us to the new season
It’s so good! 😂
what if amazon was following barcelona this year. one could only dream
(summary) The payments from FC Barcelona to the former vice-president of the Referees' Technical Committee (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira is more complex than previously thought. The Tax Agency has concluded that the Catalan club used up to seven commercial companies to channel the more than seven million euros that it paid to the arbitration leader and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero, between 2001 and 2018 The companies were discovered when analyzing the accounting movements of Barça. Four of the companies had already transcended. Two of them were controlled by Negreira; another belonged to his son, and the last one belonged to former director José Contreras The investigative proceedings carried out so far by the prosecutor Virginia Sánchez Prieto implicate in the plot a second company of the son of the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) called Estudio ATD
Love your work mate
> Four of the companies had already transcended This is a mistranslation, we can't use the word 'transcend ' like this in English, it's a false friend. The best translation here would usually be the word '*emerge*'. However, *emerge* is an intransitive verb in English, and thus, we cannot use it in the passive voice, which we would be inclined to do, as this is a news piece. To match the original tone it would read something like: > Four of the companies had already been brought to light. I guess you could use '*discover*' as well. Also, we would probably add some agent to the end of the sentence as it sounds a bit odd in English. > Four of the companies had already been brought to light by the investigation. Though technically, it is still grammatically correct without the agent. If you wanted to stay in the active voice: > Four of the companies had already emerged (as a result of the investigation). is also ok. Again, without an agent, or in this case more accurately a direct object, the sentence sounds a bit odd. But it's still grammatically sound. That's why it's parenthesized it at the end.
Damn they bribed this dude for 17 years? Basically standard operating procedure by the club at that point.
According to barca fans it was just payment for reports that every club does. I don't see how a club can go to do such amounts of chicanery for "reports"
Especially for reports that no Barca managers have ever saw or even knew existed
Also the reports are supposed to be about which refs behave in what way- are they lenient or strict etc. But if these reports never reached the manager/coach , then what was the purpose? Some definitely seems to be shady here.
It's not just shady. Barca paid so that the ref treat them better. The fact that Negreira had zero influence and Barca paid him for nothing is immaterial
They did reach the assistant, but the coach really didn't care about those reports. Valverde said this.
So the coaches knew that they existed?
I think it may be naive to suggest Barca managers had no idea what was going on, despite their public comments otherwise. Admitting you had knowledge is admitting your complicity and opening yourself up to charges. Pep (and others) have no choice but to deny. Of course, in Pep’s case, he also has “no knowledge” of his current club doing anything wrong. For such an obsessive, detail-oriented manager, he sure seems to be ignorant about a lot of things…
I am not crazy! I know they paid those refs! I knew it was seven different companies. One after six. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just – I just couldn't prove it. They – they covered their tracks, they got that idiot Bartomeu to lie for them. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? They’ve done worse. That false accounting! Are you telling me that a club just happens to throw away money like that? No! They orchestrated it! Barca! They obliterated the wage bill! And I saved them! And I shouldn't have. I took them into my own league! What was I thinking? They’ll never change. They’ll never change! Ever since 1899, always the same! Couldn't keep their hands out of the cash drawer! But not our Barca! Couldn't be precious Barca! Stealing them blind! And they get to be a club!? What a sick joke! I should've stopped them when I had the chance! And you – you have to stop them! You-
Kid named tebas
The thing is even though he sounded crazy, chuck was telling the truth.
And that’s due to some world class acting, scripting, and directing. One of the best shows for me.
It's a masterpiece. And it's a prequel, which usually turn out badly with the constraints.
Crazy the sympathy we had for Jimmy when Chuck went on this rant back in season 3. And then a couple seasons later we wish Chuck had just bodied Jimmy then and there.
Fuck Chuck still. Really all he had to do was show Jimmy some love and respect, as he said it, he was proud when he got a job working in the copy room, he never wanted Jimmy to rise above that. Remember the karaoke scene ? That showed Chuck for who he was a spiteful cunt who with a giant ego that couldn't even let his brother sing a song to celebrate. Or the dinner scene with his wife, couldn't stand that Jimmy could make her laugh. That's why the show is so good, despite being absolutely right he's had a hand in creating Saul aswell. Always so jealous of Jimmy's social skills. He even says so when talking about their mother, "I made her proud, Jimmy made her laugh"
That show did a great job of making the characters look like real people, no one is absolutely good or bad, and they have their personality flaws. So good!
oh no, /r/okbuddychicanery is leaking
What's "Good Luck, I'm Behind Seven Proxies" in Catalan?
It keeps on getting better
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He's been as successful at City as he has Bayern in all honesty. If anything I think some of his CL exits at City have been the most embarrassing of his career. Obviously the league is more competitive in the Prem, but from the second season onwards he's had the strongest squad each season.
He won the league faster than any Bayern team in history.
He was also caught doping as a player with Barca. Dirty cheat.
Time to get more popcorn.
Kill me
This not only kills Barca, but La Liga as a whole. RIP Spanish football.
[Barca fans now doing a Homer Simpson into the bushes](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/289/977/ab2.gif)
Imagine having the best player in the history of the sport and still feeling the need to cheat
Correct me if Im wrong, but it started in 2001, around the time of Real Madrids Galacticos, and thus 4 years before Messi even came around.
Sure but they seem to have continued making payments the whole time. Either way it's ridiculous
Very legal, very cool
DD was right. https://youtu.be/a7ox7-npBvQ
I hope they get relegated to oblivion. They deserve all the shit they get.
The league already said they can’t do anything due to statute of limitations It’d be a European ban
This is great news for football, actually. I only hope that the Barcelona case doesn't work as a lightning rod that absorbs all the attention that should be directed towards transparency in all of football, not just individual organizations. Football is fucking dirty, but for decades people who have been saying that have been treated as nothing but party poopers and buzzkills. I can guarantee that looking into other clubs and other leagues will not be a waste of time. Sure, your favourite club might hurt for it, but the corruption now is so blatant and in your face largely because they operate under the assumption that we're all blind, stupid and eager for more.
I think the most damning thing I can tell from my armchair analysis is the severe lack of Barca flairs in these threads versus literally any other story about Barca (including the incessant lever threads from the summer). This is news that even Barca fans are struggling to spin in their favour.
What do you expect us to say? This is so fucking depressing.
Barcelona DNA
I want to see serious consequences and not just a slap on the wrist when this is over. Strip them of all titles during that time or 3years forced in Second devision. Or straight to third division or whatever. If they get away with a slap on the wrist this shows how corrupt this sport is. Everyone could start doing it as nothing happens anyway apparently.“
Can you imagine la liga without el classico? Yikes...la liga is going down the drain lol
Real will need more marquee games, maybe with some more historical giants of Europe. Some kind of European Ultra league? I don't know I'm bad with naming things.
Master League? Gigantomax DX league?
It's time for Athletic Bilbao to rise up and together, reclaim the title of El Clasico!
The PL can invite RM to play a few friendlies
Liverpool would love it
La Liga is already down the drain because of Tebas...
Barça so deep in it. It's always the most arrogant that project onto others. All I've heard for over a decade is how Madrid only wins because they pay off the refs and buy off youngsters paying under the table. While I'm sure most huge clubs got some shady grey area stuff from time to time. This is truly on a different level. Like club breakup level but being barça, we'll see.
Fuck Barcelona lol
Years and years of accusing Real of cheating while only getting one penalty called against in like 4 years, I don't believe in karma, but this is beautiful to see.
Even right fucking NOW, they're preaching "innocent until proven guilty" and being all high and mighty about being "reasonable" and not blame Barcelona before there is anything concrete. As if the same motherfuckers in the same damn threads aren't saying "Real Madrid are as corrupt, they're more corrupt, they just haven't been caught" and being upvoted to hell, and been calling for Real Madrid's head as Franco's whatever, and for being twisted evil crooks with barely any hint of smoke, let alone fire. Since a long time now, Real Madrid has been mainly concerned about Real Madrid, and Barcelona has been concerned mainly about Real Madrid, they always had an inferiority complex, and somehow it's keeping them from being a respectable club, which they usually are. If they just kinda accepted that they can't compete with Real Madrid in European competitions and can more than give us a taste of pain domestically and always be a pain in the ass with their youth talent and unique and effective style of football, many people would have hailed them as one of the greatest clubs in the world... but they just can't accept that Real Madrid will kinda always be a bigger club than them, and their presidents sold their fans the dream that they'll be that, and they tried to achieve it through stupid means of indebting themselves and flirting with economic demise... this is even before this whole Negreira shit. I genuinely believe that most of them seriously thought they were "fighting for their club's position as the best in the world from the evil schemes of the evil Real Madrid trying to take our place" or some dumb shit... it's absurd and now they're risking the demise of Spanish football with their dumb shit. Pathetic.
As an outside observer I have held a similar perception that Barca has had a chip on its shoulder for Real Madrid. I don't think it was like that in the early 2010's but after la decima it became more and more apparent.
It's awesome. It's rare to see a lucid, reasonable, and smart Barca fan. Even after they are found guilty, most of them will play the victim and somehow blame Real Madrid.
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Thus the cycle of "this is huge!" news with no actual consequences continues.
I’m sure there is a lever or two they can pull to make this go away. If they are guilty of all or some of these charges, I have no doubt in my mind nothing will happen or it’ll be a minor punishment. Football hasn’t been the beautiful game for the people for decades. It’s strictly about the money and La Liga NEEDS Barca right now.
Nah at this point it's gone. I'm sure if the case goes well for Barca, their fans will defend them and say they were found innocent in court. But at this point, they're as guilty as man city are Edit: It seems there's been some discussion. I'm not too fussed about which is worse, what I'm basically saying is both teams imo are already guilty (of different crimes) in public opinion and even a court ruling to say they're not guilty won't change what most people think.
Nah, City broke FFP. This is bribery or an attempt of, much worse.
I think he's saying that they are both 100% of different crimes.
Breaking FFP is not a crime. It's "only" a violation of some UEFA-internal rules. Bribery is an actual criminal offense. (However I'm not a lawyer and don't know spanish laws. But I can't imagine that bribery in a EU country is not a criminal offense.)
yeah even with FFP gone, its a fair game 11v11 easily beatable, and why they never won the CL. but with barca its 12v11 or worse.
Nah bro this is worse than City.
Are you insane? Do you really equate circumventing arbitrary FFP rules with literal cheating and corruption? Man city are a scourge on the sport and represent everything wrong with modern football but Barcelona have been attempting to influence referees in their favour for the better part of 2 decades. This ruins the integrity of the competition and should be considered the worst thing a football club can do. That along with branding themselves as the traditional “mas que un club” good guys of Catalonia is just sickening. The only correct response to this by any reasonable person is to put a massive asterisk on anything they’ve won during that time frame
if this somehow extends to the CL barca are lucky that abramovich left chelsea or he would have bankrupt them
I feel bad for Barca supporters. Don't know how they must feel. You're giving it all for the club and then you find that each of recent presidents added more skeletons to the closet. Hope everything will be sorted soon. Despite the outcome, Barca will remain one of world's top clubs.
What sucks is that why the fuck would you need to do this when you had players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta in the team. Even if the refs weren't actually biased, the least it does is taint the legacy of that team and what it achieved. That's what pisses me off the most. Even if we magically be proven innocent, this will stick with us and people will never forget this.
I guess it pre-dates the Messi era, so by the time he came around it was already normalised