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Barcelona’s Joan Laporta Wants To Make ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ A Club Slogan

Barcelona’s Joan Laporta Wants To Make ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ A Club Slogan

Presidential hopeful pledges to use title of Liverpool’s anthem as slogan for youth academy.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Barcelona presidential hopeful Joan Laporta wants to take inspiration from Liverpool and use 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as the slogan for the Catalan club's La Masia youth academy.

Laporta, Barcelona president between 2003 and 2010, has confirmed he will stand for election to the position once again in January to help the struggling giant. But one of his manifesto promises, stated on his website, stands out.

"La Masia will be a personalised accompaniment to the player, under the slogan of 'You Will Never Walk Alone'," Laporta's statement reads.

"We want it to become a centre for high performance and sport excellence, but also for personal development, where the treatment of athletes is not generic but one-on-one.

"We will do this with special care for the values that make up strong personalities and that we can be proud of: we want athletes who love Barca."

Fair enough, Joan, but you might also get a lot of athletes who love Liverpool if you start plastering 'You'll Never Walk Alone' around the famous walls of La Masia.

You might think the academy that produced stars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and most recently Ansu Fati has an inspiring enough name on its own anyway.

Also, do Barcelona really want a constant reminder of the song that was bellowed at them by a packed Anfield when they lost 4-0 in that Champions League semi-final second leg in 2019?

Apparently so - at least according to Laporta.

Of course, Liverpool aren't unique in their use of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The song, taken from the musical 'Carousel', has also been adopted by clubs including Celtic, FC Twente, Mainz 05, 1860 Munich, Club Brugge, PAOK and others.

However the YNWA message is most strongly associated with Liverpool, appearing on the club's badge, as well as being sung at Anfield before - and often during - every game.

Plus Barcelona's own 'Mes Que Un Club' (or 'more than a club') motto seems pretty cool to us.

Laporta, who was president during the rise in Barca's fortunes when Pep Guardiola took over as manager, presumably knows what he's doing. But we await to see whether 'You'll Never Walk Alone' signs will be hung high and proud in La Masia in 2021.

All imagery: PA Images

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Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Barcelona, Premier League, Joan Laporta, La Liga