So, here’s the thing about Sir Bobby Robson, the man who, when people call Alex Ferguson “Sir,” make me think “Here’s a big, fat dose of ‘Whatever, dude.’”

Robson is my real “Sir.” He only had a season at the reins, 1996-97, a season in which he brought in Ronaldo, a.k.a. “Fenomeno,” still the best striker that most cules will say has ever donned the colors. Robson was considered by many a manager who had a phenomenon, and didn’t win the league. Others argue that humanity and grace are more important than winning.

Almost everyone you ask will tell you that Sir was a throwback, that there will never, ever be another manager like him, because he managed with his heart and humanity. He rolled in after the Cruijff glory years of footballing beauty, adopting a system that was more English than the fluidity that Camp Nou dwellers had come to love. But make no mistake about it, his boys stomped on the terra, with a single-minded mission of putting the ball in the back of the net. He had Ronaldo, “Judas” Figo and some dude named Guardiola, and they played like their manager, like the game was fun. Like it was a game.

And he won. In a season, his team nabbed the Spanish Super Cup, Copa and UEFA Winners’ Cup. And he did it with style, grace and a good humor that endeared him to almost everyone who had the opportunity to work with him. Cules and others, however, were less convinced.

Typical of Robson is one of his statements, upon learning that the cancer he had was terminal: “I am going to die sooner rather than later. But everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute.”

It is that attitude that makes it clear why, though he only managed Barca for a season, his death, though inevitable as a result of the cancer that ravaged his body, hit many people at the club hard, particularly Luis Enrique.

“It was a fantastic year for both football and personal experiences,” said Enrique. “Although he was only on the bench for a year, Robson was a manager who left his mark.”

Robson’s first contact with us came when Terry Venables was rumored to be in trouble. It was over dinner with club officials. When he rolled into town after the Cruijff circus, toting along one Jose Mourinho as his intepreter, it was a term destined to be short-lived. And yet, in that time, he became a bona-fide Barca legend, winning 3 titles and setting the club up for further opportunities at European success.

And when people talk about how the club treats its legends, for Robson to, after one season, have been tossed aside for Louis van Gaal is a decision that still rankles some socis with long memories.

But the biggest problem was, as it was with another beloved manager, Frank Rijkaard, an irrpressible Brazilian who helped put the nails in the coffin. It was probably inevitable, because Robson loved football and he loved football players. He came when it was a business, post-Bosman, when crazy millions were flying around like ninepins. But to him, it was still a game, the game he loved as a child and cherished as a player.

But I had to dig out Jimmy Burns’ spectacular “Barca: a people’s passion” to find a Robson quote that just knocked me out, and summed up his feelings about his too-brief time with the club. When asked how he felt about his time with us, Robson said:

“It is the opening of a European tournament….an electric atmosphere, a hair-tingling scenario. And you know that if you lose you are going to get whacked and people are going to be unhappy and the press is going to be out there waiting for you. And the tension brings the adrenaline and the excitement.

“The army can not be defeated.”

Rest well, Sir, and thank you for your heartfelt service to the cause.

So. On Sunday, we lost a meaningless game, playing with a B side, Bojan and Eto’o.

Our very own (as I call him) Cranky Cameroonian squandered chance after chance after chance as he sinks, knees-deep into a scoring malaise.

My review gave him a 1, a score that, surprisingly, nobody argued with. Cries went up to “Sell, sell, sell!” Others said “You people are being typical cules in looking a gift horse in the mouth and spitting in its face.

Lady Justice says “Hmmm.”

In looking at the history of this season, an historic one which has our beloved side going for the treble in less than two weeks’ time, it’s worth noting that people have not been kind to a raft of players. Let’s look at it all.

Abidal He’s a disaster waiting to happen, by many accounts. After his red cards, a few folks want him out of town on a rail, or at least never playing for the side again. He’s been in the crosshairs of many a cule for quite some time, for failings that warrant the death penalty. “Sell, sell, sell!”

And yet, his pace, positioning and of late, increasing willingness to become part of the offense have made him a very valuable part of the side. His pace and range at left back means that others can shift to cover Alves’ rambling runs, because Abidal has sideline to sideline pace and range.

Valdes Asenjo, Casillas, Buffon and Cech are but a few of the names that have been offered up as replacements for our insufferably crappy keeper, one so awful he’ll be getting the Zamora for the statistically best keeper.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s shit, and is one mistake away from killing the side,” right? True, but what keeper isn’t? Casillas spilled that easy shot on Saturday, gifting Villarreal the title and us the crown. Buffon’s had some howlers, Cech was caught flat-footed as Iniesta hammered the Golden Strike. It’s just part of being keeper.

Has Valdes cost the side matches? Yes. One. Espanyol, when he gaffed the clearance directly to the attacker, who put the shot away. Reasons are found not to trust him. It’s always “one mistake away.” Alves cost us the Athletico match by lazily letting Aguero take that pass. Or is it Puyol’s loss for being snookered by Aguero? If that’s the case, then Puyol has cost us two matches this season, that one and Villarreal, in which he botched up a play that he makes 9 out of 10 times.

Yet Valdes is still “one mistake away,” a man without whom we wouldn’t be in the Champions League final, and probably wouldn’t have won the first Clasico, as he parried away one long-range blast destined to go in, then stonewalled Drenthe. He stopped Chelsea time and again, but still, he’s “one mistake away.”

Henry There are still people who want to sell the Frenchman, who believed after last season that we had been sold a bill of goods by a sniggering Wenger, who pawned off an over-the-hill striker for crazy dosh.

Are there any Gunners fans who wouldn’t want Henry in the side right now? Yet some cules don’t, and are ready to lash into him the first patch of bad play, or run of poor finishes that he makes. “Sell, sell, sell!”

Has Henry cost the side matches with his poor finishing? Not that I can recall. If someone can, please refresh my memory. Has he won matches with his finishing? You bet. He single-handedly killed Valencia, was involved in every goal in another match, got us the precious away goal against Lyon….the list goes on.

And yet….

Now it’s Eto’o’s turn, and people are leaping to his defense in a way that hardly anyone does when it’s Abidal’s, Henry’s or Valdes’ turn in the barrel. Nobody is screaming “Sell, sell, sell” at Alves, who has been spraying crosses and passes all over the joint for the last month now, and gives up fouls.

So here’s my question, after this long-ass setup: What’s the reason? Why are some people one mistake away from being cast onto the scrap heap, and others, no matter what they do, are defended? Let’s look at Eto’o by way of example.

Last season he said, “No silver, no me.” He was part of the “surplus to requirements” group, but stalled his way into staying with the side by refusing to discuss arrangements, or setting crazy salary demands. He played his way back into the good graces of fans by popping in a rather gaudy 29 goals. He also has a history of scoring goals like crazy for Barcelona, has an astonishing work rate and ethic, and creates chaos, which leads to scoring chances for other front-line players.

So is he crap or is he great? Or does it really matter?

Part of why I started the HFC (Henry Fairness Committee, for newcomers) is because I felt as though he wasn’t getting a fair shake. Even when he wasn’t finishing, he was doing other things. So is the different standard because he isn’t deep-down Barca, like Eto’o? Or is it simple time in grade, and he hasn’t been here long enough?

If that last is the case, what about Valdes?

What I want, and all that I want, is for people to be fair to our players. They can have crappy matches, and we, as people who love the side, have every right to call them on it. But if Messi is crap, call him on it. Don’t make excuses for his play, that some of us might not make for Valdes, or Henry, or Abidal.

We aren’t going to sell a guy for having a bad match, right? Nor should we. The answer is to look at the player over the season, and to recognize that our starting XI, every last one of them, has been immensely valuable in creating this Dream Season.

Let’s hear it, folks.

However, it’s not like Andrew was going to stop there and just wonder about Atletico’s crest. Not here, not at the Barça Offside, dedicated 24/7 to the blaugrana. For those of you who don’t know where the club’s crest (also called a shield) came from or just want to refresh their memory, Andrew did a bit of research. Thanks a bunch, Andrew, for looking all this stuff up. [Ed note: I've rewritten some of it, but it's mostly Andrew's work; for instance, I corrected his crazy British spellings.]

The club’s first crest (1899-1910) used the city of Barcelona’s coat of arms with a few decorative additions: a diamond divided into four quarters, two displaying the St. George’s cross while the other two each displayed two of the four red stripes of the Catalan flag (senyera). This was framed by a branch of a laurel tree, a branch of a palm tree and a crown with a bat on top of it.* This crest remained in place until 1910, when the club decided it needed its own badge.

Back to the crest, in 1910 a competition was held by the club in which interested members could submit proposals of a new crest. The competition was won by Carles Comamala, a player on the team from 1902 until 1912.** His entry looks very similar to the one that’s used today:

The St. George cross (Sant Jordi in Catalan) which appears in the top left corner of the crest is used because Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia; he was a soldier of the Roman Empire and a Christian martyr who, after canonization, was adopted as the patron saint of the Crown of Aragon, thus the connection to Barcelona.

Legend has it that the four red bars of the Catalan flag, which graces the upper right corner of the crest, were drawn on Count Wilfred the Hairy’s golden shield by King Charles the Bald’s fingers, after they were dipped in the blood from the count’s war wounds during the siege of Barcelona in 897. In case you’re unfamiliar with the history of the senyera, check out the fairly thorough (if poorly written) Wiki page. It gives quite a few possibilities for the flag’s origins (including the commonly held opinion above), if nothing concrete.

Since Comamala’s initial entry, the most significant change to the club crest that took place was the replacement of the club’s initials, FCB (Futbol Club de Barcelona), which feature in a band across the center of the crest, with CFB (Club de Futbol de Barcelona). This was the official Spanish name of the club, as opposed to the Catalan FCB. The change was enforced by the Franco dictatorship in an attempt to downplay Catalan culture and identity. The four red stripes were also reduced to two in order to remove the Catalan flag from the crest.

It was on the clubs 50th anniversary in 1949 that the four red bars were reinstituted but it was not until 1974 when the club finally reclaimed its original lettering of FCB thus restoring the crest to its original 1910 state.

The present crest is an adaptation by designer Claret Serrahima which he created in 2002 in order to simplify its presentation in order that it may be easier for the club’s corporate identity to be reproduced in many different formats.

Sources:
FC Barcelona Official Site – The Crest
FC Barcelona Official Site – The Colors
Wikipedia: FC Barcelona (Catalan – English);

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*Perhaps a native Catalan can help us out a bit here…Do laurel branches, palm trees, crowns, and bats symbolize Catalan identity? If so, how? (for instance, the bald eagle supposedly represents the US because it’s a powerful bird of prey, though Ben Franklin disagreed; bats are also used in Valencia’s crest, what’s up with that?)

**On a side note, one of the theories the club espouses as possibly why the team’s colors are blaugrana is because of “the mother of the Comamala brothers supplied the players with red and blue sashes so that they could differentiate between each other in the days before they had a kit of their own.” (source) If that’s true, well, we owe that family quite a debt of gratitude, huh?