In 2004, Lionel Messi made his senior debut for FC Barcelona. In 2021, he announced his departure from the club with tears in his eyes after 17 years of service to his beloved club where accumulated 30 titles. The worst part of all, he left for free, against his and the club's wishes.

To understand how a player who is arguably the best of all time to many could leave in such circumstances, you must be aware of a long, complicated history. In this part of The A-Z Barcelona Story, I will attempt to explain the war brewing inside the walls of FC Barcelona which might have prevented a great era from being even greater.

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The Inside War That Tore Barcelona

There are many characters at play when we talk about this inside war, some might be familiar, some might not. It is a war that goes all the way back to 1978 when the best club president is Barcelona's history, trophies-wise.

Josep Lluís Núñez

Núñez was the president of FC Barcelona in the period between 1978 to 2000. He was a crude, successful businessman. However, he also was quite a controversial person. In 1988, for example, he was in a feud with the entire Barcelona team, players, and manager. The players protested in a hotel in what became known as the "Hesperia Mutiny". Núñez won that feud and 14 out of 26 first-team players along with the manager were forced out.

Not only was that example used to show the extends of Núñez's power, but it was also the start of a two-sided war inside the club.

Johan Cruyff

After the failure of the Hesperia Mutiny in the media and supporters' eyes, Núñez hired football legend Johan Cruyff as manager of the team.

Cruyff started rebuilding a team that had already lost more than half its players. And between 1989 and 1996, FC Barcelona managed to win 11 titles, including their first-ever Champions League titles.

However, in 1996, another fight started between Núñez and Cruyff.

Different Mindsets

Cruyff was a football purest and wanted certain types of players with a certain level of quality in the team. On the other hand, Núñez was a hard-bargain businessman who refused to pay high wages. Núñez's refusal to pay high wages cost him players like Diego Maradona, Ronaldo, Bernd Schuster, Hristo Stoichkov, and Luís Figo, the latter's case is something we will cover in future parts of the series.

The collide of such two huge egos was unfortunate for Cruyff as he found himself outside of the club. However, his departure, along with a few years of lackluster performance and trophies started a divide within the club. The divide had two sides, the Cruyffists, and the Nunists.

Reasons For The Divide

Nunists saw that what Núñez did was the right thing as letting Cruyff do what he wants cancels the very purpose of the existence of the club's management.

Cruyffists on the other hand saw Cruyff's departure as a big loss and that Núñez wanted to be the ultimate star man at the club.

Joan Laporta

Laporta was a big fan of Cruyff since he was young, copying his hairstyle, and even doing the "Cruyff turn" while playing football with friends.

When Laporta saw his childhood idol treated that way, he started a group called the "Blue Elephant" for the sole purpose of pressuring Núñez out of the job. Something he had done successfully in 2000 as he Núñez handed his resignation, three years later Laporta became president of FC Barcelona.

A New Divide

Joan Laporta's team included two members who were actually Nunists, that would be Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu.

In the first summer with Laporta in charge, he wanted to bring David Beckham to Barcelona. A deal we all know failed as the Englishman opted to join Real Madrid instead.

However, Barcelona managed to save face at the time thanks to Sandro Rossel.

Sandro Rosell

Sandro Rosell at the time was an executive for Nike who were a sponsor of many Brazilian talents. Using that connection, he managed to secure a deal from PSG for Ronaldinho who led Barcelona to new heights.

The issue for Rosell was that among all the glory Barcelona basked in, he felt ignored and didn't receive the recognition he deserved nor respected.

The credit of his deal for Ronaldinho who transformed the club went to Laporta. His friend and fellow Nunist Bartomeu was ridiculed publicly by Laporta and had his decision in something relating to the basketball team reversed.

Also, the management wasn't taking credit for hiring Frank Rijkaard, the credit for that went to Johan Cruyff.

The Return Johan Cruyff

With Laporta as president, Johan Cruyff returned to the club with no official title. He was attending and missing meetings as he pleased.

Johan Cruyff's return was a source of anxiety for Nunists as his influence kept increasing. Also, thanks to him, Laporta was giving respect to either Sandro Rosell or Josep Bartomeu. The two ended up resigning and the war between the two sides took a sharp turn.

The Rosell/Bartomeu Movement

In 2006, after Barcelona had won the Champions League, Rosell and Bartomeu started an attempt to withdraw confidence from Laporta. They managed to get 61% of the votes on their side, 5% less than what they needed. What made the percentage so high is that Laporta had some sketchy actions done with the club resources, including spying on Rosell and Bartomeu and their movement.

What ended up saving Laporta at the time is that he listened to Cruyff and hired Pep Guardiola as manager. Pep Guardiola's quick success ensured the failure of that attempt. At that time, Barcelona had arguably the best player in the world, the best manager, and what many see as the best team.

A New Age

In 2010, Laporta left the club for political reasons. After that, Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu won the election and Rosell became the club president.

The pair started a chain of events with the intention of erasing Cruyffists from the club's history. Starting with Cruyff, who went back to the Netherlands.

In the documentary "Take The Ball, Pass The Ball". Guardiola's friend and one of his coaching staff said that Guardiola's departure was one of the manager's saddest moments, not because he left the club he loves, but because he felt a real will for the new management to destroy anything Cruyff-related.

The new management started a slow decline that ended with the club being deep in debts, and far away from how it was before their time. A chain of events ended with Lionel Messi, in tears, announcing his departure from the club.

In Conclusion

The divisive war inside the Barcelona offices almost seems like it had no good guys. It was an ugly, political game that always kept the club unstable even during its most successful era in football. A juxtaposition between the ugliness off-pitch actions and the beautiful style that became synonymous with the club.

It is also an example of how a legend's existence within a club can affect its shapes.