The paradigm of the commission, by Sergi Pàmies

One of the meanings of the word paradigm says: “research model of a dominant scientific discipline in a certain period.” Applied to the current mandate of Joan Laporta, the paradigm is a boldness that can degenerate into recklessness and that propels the board’s decisions to infinity and beyond. It’s a shame that the results don’t work out and that, even playing well like they did on Saturday, the team loses. In another era three defeats would have poisoned the Christmas spirit. But in spite of the paradigm, the coach can affirm that he feels proud of the team and disappointed with the result (if November seemed like “a shitty month” to him, I don’t know what he thinks of December).

It must be admitted that the situation has improved. Against Las Palmas and Leganés we did not feel proud and, furthermore, we lost. Hansi Flick’s argument is so countercultural that it ends up convincing you. After all, Barcelona fans have often been structured around a succession of acts of faith, generally at a loss. At the top of the institution, the president is in charge of acts of faith, who closed the contract with Nike, calling it the most important in history. On the pitch, we must trust in the charm of the expats – Joan Gamper also started out as an expat until the country made him one of ours – whom we already know we tolerate many more things than the indigenous people.

Darren Dein has the name of a secret agent at the service of confidentiality

If we could shake off the glitter of complacency, we should accept a truth that Messi defined like this: “It’s not enough for us.” Koeman added, with the eloquence of a Protestant: “It is what it is.” The novelty is that Koeman and Messi confirmed the reality from a resigned melancholy. Flick, on the other hand, proposes that, based on similar evidence, we project ourselves towards a future that is proud, hopeful and renaixença . Someone said that pride is the consolation of the poor, but the bond we have with the shield admits this sentimental license. What’s more: we should cultivate it like Atlético de Madrid does. The centenary anthem that Joaquín Sabina wrote makes an inventory of attitudes (enduring, growing, feeling, dreaming, learning, suffering, palming, winning and dying) that I don’t know if a culé would adopt. If a culé had written this anthem, he would have added “flagellate” and “innovate” with experiments like (dramatic pause) Darren Dein.

Darren Dein has the name of a double secret agent in the service of a fundamental concept of capitalism: confidentiality. It should not be confused with discretion, essential in any negotiation. For years, directives have used confidentiality as a fuse that, by definition, sabotages the utopian aspiration of transparency. It is not, for the record, only a problem of Barça but of a system that promotes contractual labyrinths that, even if just in case, we have the right to describe as, at best, suspicious. The solution to this story is the word that opens all doors: commissions. In many business schools, commissions are praised as a lubricant for meritocracy. In the world of football, on the other hand, they star in episodes that are at the same time grotesque, incredible and, above all, confidentially unspeakable.