BARCELONA ARE BARCELONA TODAY BECAUSE OF HIM.

You must know the history of F.C. Barcelona, during the cruel period of the Spanish dictator General Franco., and how it nearly went bankrupt. General Franco had the bank account of Barcelona frozen , the Spanish troops assassinated the president of Barcelona as well, his name was Josep Sunyol 1935? 1936. And he had But then came the saviour of Barcelona , in the form of a Irish man named Patrick O Connell, he was from Dublin Ireland. Now this Irish man had also played in England with both Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday. But he then left suddenly for Spain , and was the manager of the Spanish club Racing Santander , and also Real Betis, the Basque cub.in fact in the year 1935, just before General Franco and his cruel regime came to power in 1936, Real Betis won their first and only Spanish title in 1935. General Franco just hated Barcelona , as you may not aware that Spain are divided into regions like Catalonia and the Basque region. General Franco had the bank account of Barcelona frozen, and Barcelona were staring at bankruptcy. But then a friend of Patrick O'Connell who was living in Mexico invited Barcelona to play several exhibition games in both Mexico and the U.S.A. The money then collected was put in a secret bank account in Paris, and mighty Barcelona survived. General Franco saw to it that the best players like Fernc Puskas and Alberto Di Stefano were strictly told not to join Barcelona , but to join Real Madrid , the club the Dictator liked. The hero Patrick O Connell returned to England where he so very sadly died a pauper, and was buried in a open grave, but now it will be respectfully buried in a decent grave. It is possible that Real Madrid won matches and many trophies during the Franco Era , the referees might have been terrified to blow their whistle. I wonder would Real Madrid be the club they are today , ad they been in the place of Barcelona . A second president of Barcelona was also assassinated by the Franco regime he was Josep Vida Ribas 1942.