There is an unquestionable reality in Catalan football and that is that the two most historically important institutions are going through a very important crisis. Fortunately we have a team, Girona, that is having an extraordinary season both in points and in play. I like to highlight that it is almost the only Premier format team that is in the Spanish league. But Barcelona and Espanyol are at minimum levels. And these minimums are very pressing, because it brings them closer to a situation, if they do not reverse it, of sporting and economic misery, which would generate an uninspiring future.
We should analyze what the leaders' behavior should be in order to overcome those situations that are negative from the start. At Barcelona we could take as a starting point the departure of Messi and the players who accompanied him in the creation of the entity's most glorious team. At Espanyol they would be the seasons in which they flirted with relegation until it happened and that pitiful wandering through Second. While this trajectory has led Barcelona to almost criminalize two club legends like Koeman and Xavi, at Espanyol they have been able to hire 12 coaches in 8 years. So, are the coaches really responsible for the current situation of these entities? It was curious to see how, comparing Klopp's career in Liverpool and that of Xavi in Barcelona, the Catalan had achieved more points per game. It is true that it is nothing more than a statistic and that many factors come into play.
But it is also curious to note that Luis García got 24 points in 14 games and Ramis got 14 points in 10 games.
We could conclude that both the leaders and the players are largely to blame. And that coaches are often the victims of the environment generated. Among other things because they tend to be the scapegoats of the leaders to avoid their responsibility and on the other hand it is the cheapest change to redirect the situation.
And what surprises me most is the constant inability of many leaders to protect their leader. Because the moment you choose a coach, it is assumed that he is the person who will lead your project. And something very important is that you always have to protect the leader. The leaders are obliged to do this and the players should also be obliged to do so. Leaders, knowing the complex decisions that a coach must make, knowing the levels of stress and exhaustion that a position like this generates, should constantly be a support for their leader. And the truth is that in both entities I see no guarantee that this can happen.
