City

Quoted from mimma

He's the best of the best when it comes to coaching.
Just hope he stays put and doesn't decide to coach the Spanish national team!

There’s more chance of him managing Grimsby Town than the Spanish National Team.

It’s an open secret he’s a proud Catalan and has been fined for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians. A lot has changed since his playing career.

The 2 most likely countries for him to manage are Brazil & England.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Real have also had close links with the Spanish royal family (as well as Franco's regime but we'll gloss over that..) so they've always had a get out of jail card financially. They're seen in Spain as a business that's too important to Spain to get into financial trouble.

Prices in the club shop are amplified by the tourists. Visiting the club and doing the tour is a very popular tourist destination, especially with the Japanese and Koreans and they will pay whatever they have to to say they bought their shirt at The Bernabeu.

Yes. Read a few books on the subject on this eg Real Madrid was often used by Franco as a way of showcasing the best of what Spain had to offer thereby strengthening his regime. Having said that those close to the club in the era of Franco ,players and directors I recollect   have expressed although the club was used politically they wanted to keep politics out of football as much as possible. For them the glory of winning overrided any political tendencies.  

On the subject of business and Real very much so. I know within the last 10 years a few were upset when Real Madrid dropped the Christian cross on  it's emblem in its sporting merchandise in the middle east for fear of causing financial damage in the Arab world.    

A football club, owned by a nation state worth Trillions. Continuously breaks FFP rules but always manages to wriggle out of the charges. Now they are complaining that the QC appointed by the FA to investigate is an Arsenal fan.

They don't mention that their own QC is ALSO and Arsenal fan.

meanwhile, a footballer with a gambling problem gets banned and is unable to attend his club which is the very group that has pledged to support him.

Football in this country needs a serious overhaul. Banning all gambling sponsorship would be a start.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

There’s more chance of him managing Grimsby Town than the Spanish National Team.

It’s an open secret he’s a proud Catalan and has been fined for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians. A lot has changed since his playing career.

The 2 most likely countries for him to manage are Brazil & England.

If only....

Quoted from Rick12

Yes. Read a few books on the subject on this eg Real Madrid was often used by Franco as a way of showcasing the best of what Spain had to offer thereby strengthening his regime. Having said that those close to the club in the era of Franco ,players and directors I recollect   have expressed although the club was used politically they wanted to keep politics out of football as much as possible. For them the glory of winning overrided any political tendencies.  

On the subject of business and Real very much so. I know within the last 10 years a few were upset when Real Madrid dropped the Christian cross on  it's emblem in its sporting merchandise in the middle east for fear of causing financial damage in the Arab world.    

And it's one of the roots of the Barca/Real (well Madrid in general) hatred. The Catalan language was illegal under Franco and the Camp Nou was one of the few places Catalans felt safe to speak it. Catalonia has always leaned to the left and so was a focus of anti Franco feeling. Barca represent much more than just the city of Barcelona, they represent Catalonia.

I briefly dated a woman from Madrid who supported Atleti and I assumed that she would be reasonably pro Barca based on 'the enemy of my enemy etc' but she absolutely hated them, just slightly les than she hated Real.

I didn't know about the cross on the RM badge, thanks for that snippet.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

And it's one of the roots of the Barca/Real (well Madrid in general) hatred. The Catalan language was illegal under Franco and the Camp Nou was one of the few places Catalans felt safe to speak it. Catalonia has always leaned to the left and so was a focus of anti Franco feeling. Barca represent much more than just the city of Barcelona, they represent Catalonia.

I have links to Spain via people I know who live out there so it's a subject thats close to my heart .I know the issue of independence is a divided one  in Catalonia. From recent reports there seems to be a bias there now to be part of Spain rather than be independent. Certainly though Francos regime was tough on Catalonia and Barcelona football club indeed Francos troops killing  Josep Sunyol i Garriga the president of Barcelona amongst other things. Interestingly though in a article done at the time of Spain winning the world cup and the wave of temporary euphoria amongst a fair few independent supporters from another angle overseas immigrants  to Catalonia were not really bothered about the Catalonian independence movement and only interested in providing for their families.  I can see this being the way forward for Spain. In the illegal referendum for Catalonia independence  in 2017 for one major banks  were threatening to pull out of the region of Catalonia due to the financial risks if Catalonia was to become free from Spain  .

Quoted from Rick12

I have links to Spain via people I know who live out there so it's a subject thats close to my heart .I know the issue of independence is a divided one  in Catalonia. From recent reports there seems to be a bias there now to be part of Spain rather than be independent. Certainly though Francos regime was tough on Catalonia and Barcelona football club indeed Francos troops killing  Josep Sunyol i Garriga the president of Barcelona amongst other things. Interestingly though in a article done at the time of Spain winning the world cup and the wave of temporary euphoria amongst a fair few independent supporters from another angle overseas immigrants  to Catalonia were not really bothered about the Catalonian independence movement and only interested in providing for their families.  I can see this being the way forward for Spain. In the illegal referendum for Catalonia independence  in 2017 for one major banks  were threatening to pull out of the region of Catalonia due to the financial risks if Catalonia was to become free from Spain  .

I have to say I have limited knowledge of Spanish football apart from Barca or Real win it most years + I went to watch Barca once years ago and to my suprise they loved Yaya Toure more than Messi 'Yaya Yaya ' was a consistent chant in a half empty Nou Camp against a minnow that took a  heavy beating in La Liga .

Nice to read a bit more about it here .

Quoted from Mappers

I have to say I have limited knowledge of Spanish football apart from Barca or Real win it most years + I went to watch Barca once years ago and to my suprise they loved Yaya Toure more than Messi 'Yaya Yaya ' was a consistent chant in a half empty Nou Camp against a minnow that took a  heavy beating in La Liga .

Nice to read a bit more about it here .

I actually have had more love  to Barcelona than Real Madrid in recent years ( things maybe changing again  though ) due to the way Barca have developed their youth players and given them more opportunities in the first team. Indeed Barcelona have provided more players than Real Madrid to the Spanish team. I always go back to what I read in 2010. Grown men crying tears of joy when Spain won the world cup as it was a day many thought they would never see after years of choking on the world stage. Hence football as in the words of the ex Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque reflects life .

I understand the need and value in understanding the back story and the likes, I agree that football needs a huge overhaul and recognise that flipping about with VAR means the attention stays there than the real issues…

However, sometimes I just try and watch in isolation…and as a football fan, City are phenomenal. They blew a side that wins the European cup for fun, to the side. The way they play at times is like art, physical poetry…

Quoted from Mappers

I have to say I have limited knowledge of Spanish football apart from Barca or Real win it most years + I went to watch Barca once years ago and to my suprise they loved Yaya Toure more than Messi 'Yaya Yaya ' was a consistent chant in a half empty Nou Camp against a minnow that took a  heavy beating in La Liga .

Nice to read a bit more about it here .

There is a town fan - Phil Ball - who has written some excellent books on Spanish football, highly recommended.

I don't have much time for either of Real or Barcelona. There's no denying their achievements but they leave me cold. I did a tour of the Bernabeu a long while back, its sole purpose seemed to be to flog stuff at every turn (the 'chairmans cocktail', as an example) to hordes of tourists. Tacky. Real just seems to operate as some sort of national vanity project.

In contrast, when in Bilbao a few years later I chanced a visit to the club shop when the daily ground tour was due. I got a 1-on-1 tour of the old San Mames ground by a club employee, all about the history, famous matches...bit of chat about town too. It was great.