And it all spilled out into the open on Friday when six of the Barcelona board resigned and told the clubs president Maria Bartomeu that they were deeply unhappy about how the club was being run.
In an open letter, they called for new presidential elections, and expressed about the financial implications for the club amidst the pandemic. Last week the players agreed to take a 70% pay cut, and also agreed to make additional contributions to non-playing staff to help them keep their jobs and receive their salaries in full during the shutdown, but the process was by no means amicable, with the players feeling it had been forced upon them by the club.
One of the biggest causes of the furore at the Catalan side is what has become known as Barcagate.
Bartomeu hired a public relations company called I3 Ventures to help improve is own image as President. Whether they exceeded their brief or whether they were acting on his instructions is unclear, but part of their activities involved creating social media posts negative of key players at the club, including Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqu, as well as legends from the past. Bartomeu was forced to deny any involvement in the matter, and the contract with I3 Ventures was terminated.
Barcelona has not been a happy club for some months, and again hit the headlines in February when a spat between Eric Abidal, who is Barcelona’s sporting director and their star player Messi became public.
An accusation by Abidal that the players had not worked hard enough during the time of former manager Ernesto Valverde, ensuring he lost his job did not go down very well with the players. Club captain Messi reacted furiously, challenging him to name names, and accused the Frenchman of tarnishing the image of players.
It shows where the power lies at Barcelona that it was Abidal who came closest to losing his job over the entire affair.