Remember that Barca are the only team that actually gives away money for charity (UNICEF) instead of hogging in from sponsors ! Mas en club truely ! Having no sponsors must be good these days, just think about ManU and thier sponsor AIG (American Investment Group) a company on thier knees, must have some effect on ManU !

Paul, I give you free rein (like you need it!) to take the P*** on this issue. To be honest I don't know the ins and outs of it all but what I've seen I do not like. I keep getting mental images of fat yanks in the stadium shouting FCB! USA! FCB! USA!...cringe.

There is no such thing as a worthwhile American. FACT.

Kirkabir,

No offence, but I wouldn't be making too much a fuss out of the UNICEF stuff if I were you. The whole 'Barca have no commercial' thing might be a kind gesture, but it is also, if not primarily, classic P.R trick with clear economic benefits. Nike pay 300 million$ to have their logo at the far corner of the shirt. The fact that the logo is not at the center but at the corner of shirt is of little consequence if any. With the UNICEF logo in the center, Barca as a brand are even more attractive (that is - worthy of greater sums from sponsors), seeing as they are strongly associated with world peace, joy and love - a radical change for Nike and Co. as opposed to being the usual suspects in the exploitation of 10 year old Chinese child labor and the like. Barca contribute 0.7% of their annual revenue to UNICEF, and that revenue is nowhere as near the sums they get from Nike if you consider the costs involved in running the club (I'm quite sure its net revenue and not income but even if I'm wrong the essential point remains).

What were the "the excessive expenditure of the SuperDepor days"? Not too sure about they got themselves in the mess they're in

Schmulik, you're quite right to say that Barça have just as strong a commercial outlook as other clubs. Wages for world class footballers have to come from somewhere and that's through all the traditional routes other than the shirt sponsor.

However your point regarding Unicef smacks of tall poppy syndrome. Barça publicise Unicef and donate money to them, quite a lot of money in real terms, even if it is only a small percentage of our income. That's a thoroughly good move and I resent accusations of ulterior motives. Of course the club look good, but that's because they're doing something good. If they wanted to make a quick buck they could have taken a corporate deal which would have paid through the nose to be Barça's first ever shirt sponsor.

Shmulik >>  They have to have shirts on thier backs in order to play football right ? The footballs that LFP (Or is it BBVA ?) use are also NIKE footballs because thay make quality gear just like Adidas and everyother major manufacturer, you must have the gear to play the game. Ask yourself the question is it better to give away something as "little" as 0.7% of the income (no clue where you found that figure), or hog in from sponsors like Bwin or Carlsberg that do very little do make a possitive difference in this planet. (And as a matter of fact do a lot of harm to people !!!)If you get publicity for something possitive like good intetions mixed with exciting football than all creds to you !

Hi again folks,

Your points are well taken but I must clarify my position: (1)I do not think that Barca are not worthy of praise for promoting UNICEF. far from it. I'm only saying that there's more to it then perhaps meets the eye at a superficial glimpse.

(2) As to Nike and football gear, this doesn't seem like a serious claim, to say the least. you can't say "they need gear" because Eleven Nike shirts can't cost 150m$....and Nike can do a whole host of advertising activity using Barca without the shirt itself. About the huge commercial value Nike attach to Barca, take a look at the press statement at:

www.eufootball.biz/.../311006-Barcelona-extends-Nike-sponsorship.html

Nike aren't any better than BWIN or any other commercial enterprise for that matter. and you can be sure that there'll be hell's bells, to borrow one of Tim's excellent phrases, if Barca consider taking another "hard" sponsor (yes, Nike is one...) not only from the membership but also from Nike itself.

As to my figures. 0.7% comes from Barca's own official (and somewhat pompous yet nonetheless impressive) declarations. See

www.fcbarcelona.com/.../mesqueunclub.html

If the club makes approximately 300$ a year in income, (not to mention if we're talking about net revenue)you get 2.1m$ dollars for UNICEF. a respectable sum, indeed, but how much do you think this shiny-happy-we-love-the-world attitude is worth for Nike - a whole lot more than that (I'm using the cynical language here not becuase of Barca but because of Nike), and they accordingly pay more than they would have paid without the philanthropic element contributing to their brand value. I'm sure NIKE's CEO is tremendously pleased to see his company's logo above UNICEF, about 50 times a year, for the entire world to see, and he's more than willing to pay even bigger bucks to Barca because of that.

Not only bad deeds have ulterior motives - good deeds can have hidden considerations behind them just as well. I'm not saying we should all be pissed at Laporta and Co. not because of this issue, at least). I'm only saying that the idea that barca have "no commercial shirt sponsor" is a P.R myth in any way you choose to look at it.

Super Depor must have spent far beyond their means during the 90's. Firstly, their means you'd expect would be quite small, having basically a localised supporter base and quite a small stadium (by Spanish standards). Sponsorsip can't have been the biggest revenue source either.

Throw on top of that signing players like Rivaldo, Bebeto, Pauleta, Sergio, Diego Tristan and the wages of the plus I imagine that Valeron and Makaay et al would have been on pretty high wages, it all adds up.

Look what happened to Leeds, and they didn't even win the league. It happened to Lazio - getting promoted in 92, spending boat loads of money for  a few years to win the title and then it just isn't sustainable.

2 million for Barca to give to Unicef is peanuts, and like others have said is a very crafty (or not if you have a brain) PR trick. But still, the charity itself benefits so thats all that reall matters in the grand scheme of things.

It's an interesting take on things Shmulik and Nike have always given FCB an improved deal because theirs is the only logo on the shirt. However it was the same with Kappa, Meyba etc beforehand. All clubs at the top end of the sport need the income that shirt suppliers provide and I've always interpreted Barca's desire to not take on a primary shirt sponsor as a more aesthetic principle because the rest of the club is sponsored in every conceivable manner....we even have an official cheese *rolls eyes* unfortunately for Babybel Pep has since banned all dairy products from team meals.

Official cheese? Goodness me. I'll roll my eyes to that again.

Shmulik- Absolutely spot on mate. You forgot to mention the tax benefits they get by doing this.

Barça have more Nike logos on Their kit than any other team

Barça only do things that benefit Barça. SAME AS 99% of all football clubs.Espanyol included.

Babybel- I mentioned this last year but then again it's also the Official cheese of Real Madrid, Go Figure.

Adam-doesn't need me to take the piss the whole thing does it by itself.Though that won't stop me. The Miami Moaners or The Miami "Just keep playing till we score Ref" ers. The Florida Flares was another i heard.

Miami Poppins is my personal choice. casual readers will need to check posts from last week to get this one.

I think the main reason for no sponsor is they can't find a Catalan company big enough. If it was "La Caixa" i and many others would go and close our bank accounts Tomorrow. Thank god for Jordi Nike eh Adam ?

FCB don't need to carry the La Caixa logo on their shirt, the bank already sponsors FCB and assists the club massively in its financial matters.

I'm not too sure what the Jordi Nike comment is all about, it's of no concern to me that they're not a Catalan company. The important thing is that they keep paying! Also, there are no more Nike logos on FCB's kit than there are on Man Utd's kit. Two on the shirt (one being an authenticity label), one on the shorts and one on the socks.  

Nothing personal Adam but this is why i hate Barça. You give out stick non-stop about Real Madrid getting Financial help but it's all right for you to do it.

Don't use the government as an excuse or i'll mention the planning permission scam on the Mini- Stadium.

Barça's debt was bigger during The Mr Burns era.

Your comment about not caring where the money comes from was interesting. Everything Catalan until it suits them not to be. (Not you, the club).

It's the Hypocrisy that gets me.

I've noticed you've recently been admiting that not everything the club does smells of roses.  All i do is point people in the direction of the smell. Barça have a fantastic PR man but i think people need to scratch the surface a bit more.

Jordi Nike was the Catalan founder of the sportswear company.

Think Joan Gamper,everybody's favourite Catalan.

"There is no such thing as a worthwhile American. FACT."

And those who live by predjudice and stereotypes are AWESOME! Despite (alledgedly) being a cule, Adam, I think you'd have gotten along swimingly with Franco.

Go Getafe, you'll notice if you look carefully that I didn't make the comment in question, nor do I agree with it.

Paul, I haven't said anything about madrid getting financial help on these boards. I mentioned Atleti being in debt to the Spanish taxpayer, that's it. Barça are fully entitled to have accounts with private financial institutions such as La Caixa, there's nothing wrong with that and the current board are working towards eliminating the mess that Gaspart created.

Re: my Nike comment. I said that I don't care whether Nike is a Catalan company or not, I do care where Barça's money comes from but not to the point of worrying about nationality. Barça is a proudly Catalan club but we've never limited ourselves to purely Catalan sponsors or players or staff. It wasn't Barça which was founded on the grounds of xenophobia and exclusion, that was Español, founded to "compete against the foreigners of FC Barcelona".

Where I see fit to criticise my club I do so. It's my duty as a fan and a soci but obviuously I remain a supporter so the exaggerations and the half truths you portray on here won't always be accepted by me.

Ooops. Sorry Adam. I really missed the mark there.