Unfortunately, despite the club, Barça could not adopt Liverpool’s motto. You’ll never walk alone, which gives mysticism to the Anfield entity, cannot be applied to Barcelona fans, at least as far as its subscribers are concerned. In the vast majority they have left the team orphaned of its breath throughout this season. If the level of loyalty had to be measured by the temporary transfer of the first team’s matches to the Estadi Olímpic, while the Camp Nou reconstruction works last, it would have to be said without half measures that the subscriber is being unfaithful to all of his loves. . Just over 17,000 subscribers of the more than 80,000 that the entity has decided to take the step of going hand in hand with the team to suffer or enjoy together, depending on how you look at it, in Montjuïc.
The rest decided to take advantage of the leave allowed by the club for this season. 17,000 resisters were scratched after a seduction campaign by the board that was erratic. Namely, first prices were presented that represented an increase in the subscription of an average of 25% compared to the last season at the Camp Nou. The mass of society cried out and weeks later the board rectified and presented a 50% reduction with respect to the first proposal, making prices 25% cheaper than at the Camp Nou. But even so, it was not possible to attract the bulk of the fans or even come close to reaching the goal of gathering 27,000 subscribers.
The contrast has been shocking since last season magnificent entries were recorded at the Barcelona venue, to complete the highest average attendance in Europe and the highest at the Blaugrana stadium in the 21st century (more than 83,000 spectators). In the current campaign in Montjuïc the average is just over 40,000, which is not bad considering that the capacity is 49,972.
But what is striking is that less than half of the followers are subscribers. Some subscribers who do not have a fixed site. They pay for an area but in each match their seats are moved. They must also confirm their attendance six days before the meeting. These circumstances must be taken into account and also that access to and exit from the Olímpic would not be the most comfortable in the world. But going up to Montjuïc is not going up to Golgotha ??and not going there requires more reasons than logistics.
What results in a notorious detachment in Barcelona fans for their team. The lack of more top-level stars and the often deficient game have also generated a lack of progress along with the general situation of the club, still immersed in a kind of perfect storm that subsides or worsens depending on the weekly situation.
Any journalist or spectator who has been present at the Camp Nou for years will have noticed that in recent seasons the appearance of the public that attends the matches has been very different, a fact that has been accentuated with the move to the Lluís Companys. There are hardly any reactions from the stands, even in the most critical moments. What in the past would have generated a wave of protests and various protests ended with just four discontinuous whistles. In the match following Xavi’s decision to leave at the end of the season (Osasuna), the stands barely remembered the coach, neither for nor against, until well into the second half. The classical public has stayed at home.
