Barcelona president Joan Laporta took a thinly veiled swipe at the club's players and outlined his plans for a major overhaul this summer after they relinquished their Primera Liga title to Real Madrid. A 5-1 thrashing of Gimnastic Tarragona on the final day of the season was not enough to overhaul Madrid, whose 3-1 defeat of Real Mallorca at the Bernabeu handed them the trophy on a better head-to-head record against their Catalan rivals.Barca, who have won the last two La Liga crowns, have been off colour for much of the season and Laporta feels now is the right time for change. He said: "This has been decided for some time because we could see it coming, independently of what happened at the end. "At a given moment we noticed a certain lack of commitment. Maybe because of a saturation of really good years at Barca, maybe for human reasons or because of the dynamic we were in.
"This year we haven't won anything and obviously we have to take action. "You could see it coming. We played with fire and got burnt." Injuries to key players Samuel Eto'o and Leo Messi did not help Barca's cause and although Laporta admitted mistakes had been made at all levels, he hinted the majority of the blame lay inside the dressing room.
He added: "We all have a feeling of disappointment. There are degrees of responsibility here and we all know where the main responsibility lies. "In a team game you can't accuse individuals. We've all failed: the directors, the technical staff, coaches and players. But there are different degrees of responsibility." He is still optimistic that with the right changes over the summer, Barca will return to the summit of the Spanish game next season.
"We have to renew the hope, the professionalism and the commitment," he said. "The reading (of the situation) is done and so is the analysis. "When I refer to renewing the hope, the professionalism and the commitment I'm referring to the squad. "The club can cope with the necessary overhaul and I don't believe that we can go downhill just because of one result. The club is a worldwide reference point. "I'm very excited about starting again."
