JIMMY BURNS - Barca A Peoples Passion

Jimmy Burns is a prize-winning author and journalist. Among his previous books are The Land That Lost Its Heroes (Somerset Maugham non-fiction prize, 1987), Hand of God: The Life of Diego Maradona and Papa Spy. He lives in London.

The Land That Lost Its Heroes
Beyond the Silver River
Spain: A Literary Companion
Hand of God: the Life of Maradona
When Beckham Went to Spain
Papa Spy

A Peoples Passion

Jimmy Burns

To Julia and Miriam

First published in Great Britain in 1999
This electronic edition published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Copyright 1998 and 2009 by Jimmy Burns

The moral right of the author has been asserted

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 2771 0

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Only God knows how long we had to wait for that moment it was an exceptional night full of sentiment, emotion, feeling, and all without a second of rest.

Johan Cruyff, 10th March 1999,
the night of the testimonial match at the
Camp Nou for him and his dream team

On Wednesday we celebrated one of the most important, I dare say historic, occasions in the life of FC Barcelona: we said goodbye to a manager and remembered a group of players who were famous. But this belongs to the past; it is history now.

Josep Llus Nuez, president of FC Barcelona,
the day after the Cruyff testimonial

There are a great many men dominated by the passion to rule others. But for this passion to flourish in all its fullness there need to be some fortuitous social circumstances, which may not always be coincidental but which, on the rare occasions that they do occur, ensure that this passion comes into its own.

Gregorio Maran

Although this book is not, and does not pretend to be, an official history of FC Barcelona, I am indebted to the co-operation offered by the club throughout my research and writing prior to and during its centenary year. Bara past and present responded generously to my requests for archive material, access to the stadium and interviews.

I am particularly grateful to Nicolau Casaus and Jaume Pares; to Jaume Sobreques and the staff of the library; and to Ricardo Maixens, Domingo Garcia, their secretaries, and other members of the press and information department.

I count myself fortunate that two key participants in the history of the club over the last three decades Josep Llus Nuez and Johan Cruyff separately agreed to be interviewed for this book.

Alfons Godal, Joan Laporta and Armando Caraben of the Blue Elephant were equally helpful in making themselves available for an alternative perspective on some of the more contemporary issues.

The project sprang from my own experience of Catalonia, from my interest in the career of Diego Maradona subject of my last book and from an idea conceived by my London editors, Penny Phillips and David Reynolds, who returned hugely enthusiastic from their first visit to the Camp Nou! The research took wings in Barcelona thanks to the encouragement of Gloria Gutierrez of the Carmen Balcells literary agency, and my editors at Anagrama and Empuries.

In Barcelona, Madrid, Buenos Aires, London, Amsterdam and Manchester, there were numerous people who agreed to be interviewed. Some of their names appear in this book, while others preferred to adopt a lower profile. I would like to make special mention in no order of priority or seniority of Carlos Tusquets, Cuqui Sarrias, Ricardo Huguet, Angel Mur, Jos-Maria Minguella, Dionisio Gimenez, Jaume Llaurado, Jos Oriol Comas, Jaume Rosell, Dolores and Marti Anclada, Raimn Carrasco, Steve Archibald, Antonio Franco and Edwin Winkels (among others at El Peridico), the staff of Marca and Expansin, as also those of El Mundo Deportivo, Sport, El Pas and La Vanguardia. Eduard Boet and the team at TV3 were at all times a source of help and inspiration, despite their extremely heavy work schedule. My own memories were stimulated thanks to the good-humoured staff at Yorkshire TV who came up with the video.

Special thanks too to the Witty family and to Sue OConnell for sharing their family history, to Simon Kuper, Tom Burns, Carlos Oppe, Tono Masoliver and Patrick Buckley my unofficial advisory team for their criticisms and thoughts, and to Gary Lineker, Terry Venables, Bobby Robson, Jordi, Hugo, Henk, Leo and Consuelo for providing additional English, Dutch and Italian insights!

In London, David Snaddon, Peter Cheek, Bhavna Patel, Pedro Das Gupta and Neil McDonald of the Financial Times library and research department responded with patience and unflagging good cheer to my requests, as did my secretary Shah Chowdhury. Friends and colleagues who provided encouragement along the way were David and Samia Gardner, Maria Laura Avignolo, John Mason, Patrick Harverson, Nim Caswell, Charles Morris, David White, Richard Adams, Robert Graham and Alan Pike. Thanks again also to the editors and management of the FT Richard Lambert, Andrew Gowers, Lionel Barber, Nick Timmins and Robin Pauley for agreeing to give me the necessary time to write another book.

My London agent Caroline Dawnay was, as always, there to offer help and advice, as were Monica and the rest at Bloomsbury. To Kidge, and to Julia and Miriam, go my love and appreciation for their putting up with too many lost weekends, their companionship in between, and their helping me to recover at the end.

On the morning of Thursday 28 May 2009, my Bara scarf was still hanging by my bed. I had left it there a few hours earlier because I wanted to wake up and realise I hadnt dreamt that Bara had beaten Manchester United and won the Champions League, securing a major European cup for the third time in its history.

To look back on the evening, the morning after the night before, was to reflect on a performance that anyone who loves football could cherish for the rest of their lives. Of the many words said on the night, none sounded sweeter or more noble than those of Alex Ferguson: The best team won, the man with a long-established reputation as one of the most successful football managers in international football told the world simply. This was a match where there were few complaints about the referee, and managers, players and fans showed mutual respect for each other. It was a match attended by, among other VIPs, Jos Luis Zapatero, the first Spanish Prime Minister to declare himself a Bara fan. It was also a match that saw two popular royals King Juan Carlos and Prince William adopting scrupulous neutrality in public, and applauding both sides at the end even if the Spanish monarch had to suffer the indignity of being whistled by the more politicised Catalan fans Visca Bara y Visca Catalonia, they cried!