The demise of Barcelona has been coming for the guts of a decade, and poor leadership at the very top of the club in that time has culminated in Lionel Messi's impending departure.
The Argentinian striker has informed the club of his desire to leave, with his last game the 8-2 Champions League drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich a couple of weeks ago.
Andy West, sports writer and author of 'Lionel Messi and the Art of Living', spoke on OTB AM earlier about how the Catalans' current predicament can be traced back to poor decision-making from two club presidents in particular.
"It is madness, and it's a series of bad decisions dating back I'd say ten years since Sandro Rosell took over as president. Back then if we think back to not just the football they played under Pep Guardiola, but the image the whole club had as 'Mes Que Un Club.'
"They didn't have a shirt sponsor, they gave it to Unicef, they were that kind of club. Everyone admired them for their values, as well as their football. But all of that has been eroded.
"Everything has been destroyed really by, first of all by Rosell, and then by Bartomeu, the current president, who really is the author of this demise by making bad, bad decisions.
"You wonder, why has he made such bad decisions? Is it just incompetence? I think that's the kindest thing we could say is that he is well-meaning, trying to do his best for the club, but he is incompetent, he's out of his depth.
"He can't cope with this level of pressure, he doesn't have the intelligence to make good decisions, he doesn't have the force of personality to make good decisions under pressure, and he has made a series of terrible recruitment decisions that eventually have caught up with the team.
"Yes, this is obviously the final straw in the destruction of the team, but it's been coming. We've seen it over many years, going back to when they lost that game 4-0 at PSG.
"Yes they somehow turned that around with a famous victory to win the tie, but the writing was on the wall at that point, and has continued - every time they've come up against top-quality opposition ever since, they've crumbled.
"It's just been getting worse and worse and worse, and this is just the latest in a long trend."
Spanish football writer Graham Hunter, also speaking on OTB AM, acknowledged there could be an element of a power play to Lionel Messi's decision to announce his desire to leave.
However, he argued that the downfall of the team on the pitch is the main reason.
"When you listen to Victor Font, who I know is a less well-known name to your audience... He wants to be the [Barcelona] president next summer. He's the leading candidate to take over from Bartomeu.
"Messi's not a politician, Messi wants to win."@BumperGraham explained the politics behind the Barca scenes on #OTBAM with @gergilroy and @EoinSheahan.
SEE MORE: https://t.co/lQhEdX5J3p pic.twitter.com/iEBXJ5EaO8— Off The Ball (@offtheball) August 26, 2020
"In my opinion he will win and he'll try to take Xavi with him and he probably will succeed. He said he had spoken to Messi's entourage, by which he can only mean his brother or his father - he's quoted as saying that Messi's desire to leave is firm, and that the only minute possibility of him reversing that decision would be if Bartomeu went.
"To ignore there was a power play element would be naive, but I think it would be ill-advised to think that is the primary idea.
"Messi doing this to his public, to Barcelona, to his family as well - he's spoken widely about how little any of them want to leave their Mediterranean-side home just outside of Barcelona.
"Why would you want to leave if you felt your football project was competitive? It is a potential power play, might it force Bartomeu out? Yeah, I take your point.
"But if Bartomeu went instantly - Messi's not a politician, Messi wants to win. Bartomeu being removed, does that stop them leaking goals or does that make them more athletic up-front?
"It's a real nettle-chewing prospect to reckon that Bartomeu would voluntarily say 'Ah, now I see the error of my ways, how could I have missed them for the last ten years as vice-president!' And then he goes and Messi is like 'You beauty, that's us sorted at the back then!' No."
