You just look at state of the club when he arrived and state of the club right now
Simple stuff
Luck? Nice. We need lucky motherfuckers
Laporta inherited a debt of roughly 1.35 Billion (reduced by 211M) with a wage-to-revenue ratio that was at an impossible
103% (Now 54%). The cynics ignore that this 1.35 billion was old debt, inherited by the corporate whores who sought to sink the club. The short term debt in 2021 included an immediate need to come up with 730M which was restructured into a very manageable long-term deal predicated on a soon to be completed Espai Barça. Without the palancas and the drastic restructuring of massive contracts & squad deadweight Bartomeu sought to torpedo the club facing bankruptcy or conversion into a SAD.
Despite playing away from Camp Nou (which cost the club roughly €100M in lost matchday revenue per year), the board has managed to reduce the La Liga debt by 90M alone last year. Laporta has effectively shrunk the operational debt while simultaneously funding a billion-euro construction project with Espai Barça.
In 2021, the club was losing money on
every transaction. In the 2024/25 audit report, the club posted an ordinary profit of only 2M yet now expects to hit
1.1 billion for the 2025/26 season. This is the first time Barça has breached the billion-euro mark without using palancas or selling assets.
Barça is once again topping or nearing the top of Deloitte’s Money League despite having played in a temporary stadium in Montjuïc and some in a limited capacity Camp Nou that is still advancing. The club is only 14M short of the 1:1 La Liga FFP rule which is a monumental feat considering where we were. Once this is hit, the club can sign players normally without the "50% tax" on every Euro spent.
By trusting Flick and Masia, Laporta has (again) overseen the rise of stars like Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Pau, Fermin and Balde. Unlike the previous board's deals, this agreement on retaining the BLM allows Barça to keep control of its own retail and e-commerce. The club estimates this will generate an additional 200-300M in revenue by 2026/27.
Meanwhie, La Liga title was won as well as a SuperCopa during the peak of the financial crisis. The squad's average age has plummeted while its competitive ceiling has dramatically risen, evidenced by the dominant performances under Hansi where domestic treble was achieved, narrowly missing out on CL Final.
Cognitive dissonance is like a mental trap - admitting Laporta has done a good job would also mean admitting they were wrong for the last five years. For these dysfunctional fans, the pain of being wrong is greater than the joy of the club succeeding. The negativity bias hardwires them to remember a single "broken promise" (like Messi's exit) more than a hundred successful steps toward sustainability. Claiming that the palancas were obvious/easy, ignoring the fact that the club was hours away from total collapse when they were implemented. Pathetic really but shame most of these people can never admit they are wrong and instead double down on it
If we hit the 1:1 this summer and sign a marquee player while maintaining the Masia core, what would it take for you 'fans' to admit the plan worked or that Laporta succeeded? I suspect nothing which speaks to the myopic egos who would prefer Barça to fail under him than succeed - with friends like these, who needs enemies
