In his autobiography, Emmanuel Petit told his very sad affair with Barcelona and claims his acquisition was only a political one.
The French ex-international was clearly disgusted by his treatment at Camp Nou and has confessed all in his new autobiography under a chapter called “Barcelona, my bad fortune.”
“The only regret I have in life is that I left Arsenal for Barcelona. In England I earned €150,000-per-month so I asked Gaspart for double that and after some doubts he agreed in the end,” Emmanuel Petit says.
“All went well until I arrived when I was met by some directors who were very smooth talking. They were like carpet salesman.
“They talked about it and I threatened to return to my hotel unless we arrived at an agreement and at 4am they finally accepted my demands.
“I joined the squad later than others, during a trip to Holland, and I arrived in time to play in a game. When I turned up most of them did not pay me any attention or greet me.
“In a short space of time I discovered that there were three cliques; the Catalans, the Dutch and the rest. There was no unity.
“The day I arrived the coach asked Richard Dutruel, the other French player in the squad, to translate for me. He asked me, visibly ashamed, not to laugh but the coach wanted to know where I played. I could not believe it.
“I thought it was a joke, but that was when I realized that I had been signed to help the political ambitions of Gaspart who wanted to be the president.
“The coach (Llorenç Serra Ferrer) was a clown and completely incompetent. I had never seen a head as bald as his.”
Like the situation with the cliques wasn’t bad enough, local media decide to help him a bit and made a false statement.
“We lost to Besiktas and played terribly. On the plane on the way home the Catalan journalists asked me if it was because we lacked character and I nodded my head,” he continued.
“The next day the press had headlines which claimed I had said the team lacked guts. The squad were not happy and Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola, Sergio and Abelardo took me to one side and told me it was not on.
“From that moment I was outcast, I became the unapproachable one and nobody would speak to me.”
After his father died, Petit wanted to have a few days off to grieve but Barcelona’s refusal to let him leave meant he was forced to take drastic action.
“I asked the coaching staff to let me go and they said no and I felt very bad about that. I was ready to just walk out then. I thought I was going hit someone.
“I had to install a punchbag in my garage to stop myself from turning violent at the club.”
“I had no luck and I joined the club at the worst time when it was in complete decline and ruled by groups within the squad. I used to cry about having to go into training, but not through sadness, but just nerves.”
Petit only stayed at Barcelona one season and returned to London in 2001 where he joined Chelsea and spent three seasons at Stamford Bridge.
It’s gonna be a close call between Sporting and Shakhtar for second place, Basel being the clear underdog.
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