1978–2000: Núñez and stabilization
In 1978, Josep Lluís Núñez became the first elected president of Barcelona. Since then, the members of Barcelona have elected the club president. The process of electing a president of Barcelona was closely tied to Spain's transition to democracy in 1974 and the end of Franco's dictatorship. The new president's main objective was to develop Barcelona into a world-class club by giving it stability both on and off the pitch. His presidency lasted 22 years. It deeply affected the image of Barcelona, as Núñez held to a strict policy regarding wages and discipline, letting go of such players as Diego Maradona, Romário and Ronaldo rather than meeting their demands.
The club won its first European Cup Winners' Cup on 16 May 1979, beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4–3 in Basel. More than 30,000 travelling blaugrana fans watched the final. The same year, Núñez began to invest in the club's youth programme by converting La Masia (the farmhouse in the property where the Camp Nou was built) into a dormitory for young academy players from abroad. The name of the dormitory would later become synonymous with the youth programme of Barcelona.
In June 1982, Diego Maradona was signed for a world record fee of £5 million from Boca Juniors. In the following season, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, beating Real Madrid. Maradona soon left to join Napoli. At the start of the 1984–85 season, Terry Venables was hired as manager. He won La Liga with noteworthy displays by German midfielder Bernd Schuster. The next season, he took the team to their second European Cup final. The team lost on penalties to Steaua București in Seville.
Around this time, tensions began to arise between what was perceived as president Núñez's dictatorial rule and the nationalistic support group, Boixos Nois. The group, identified with a left-wing separatism, repeatedly demanded the resignation of Núñez and openly defied him through chants and banners at matches. At the same time, Barcelona experienced an eruption in skinheads, who often identified with a right-wing separatism. The skinheads slowly transferred the Boixos Nois' ideology from liberalism to fascism, which caused division within the group and a sudden support for Núñez's presidency. Inspired by British hooligans, the remaining Boixos Nois became violent, causing havoc leading to large-scale arrests.
After the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Barcelona signed the English top scorer Gary Lineker, along with goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, but the team could not achieve success, as Schuster was excluded from the team. Terry Venables was fired at the beginning of the 1987–88 season and replaced with Luis Aragonés. The season finished with the players rebelling against president Núñez, in an event known as the Hesperia mutiny, and a 1–0 victory in the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad.
In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club, this time as manager. He assembled what would later be dubbed the "Dream Team". He used Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, Miguel Angel Nadal and Txiki Begiristain, and also signed international players such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov.
Ten years after the inception of the youth programme, La Masia, its players began to graduate and play for their first team. Pep Guardiola, the future head coach of Barcelona, was one of the first graduates and would go on to receive international recognition.
Under Cruyff's guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley, with a free kick goal from Dutch international Ronald Koeman. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España trophies. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the club's most successful manager at that point. He also became the club's longest consecutive serving manager, serving eight years. Cruyff did not win any trophies in his final two seasons, and fell out with president Josep Lluís Núñez, resulting in his departure.
Reacting to Cruyff's departure, an independent protest group was organised by Armand Caraben, Joan Laporta and Alfons Godall. The objective of the group, called L'Elefant Blau, was to oppose the presidency of Núñez, which they regarded as a corruption of the club's traditional values. Laporta would later take over the presidency of Barcelona in 2003.
Cruyff was briefly replaced by Bobby Robson, who took charge of the club for a single season in 1996–97. He recruited Ronaldo for a world record transfer fee from his previous club, PSV, and delivered a cup treble, winning the Copa del Rey, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the Supercopa de España, with Ronaldo registering 47 goals in 49 games. Despite his success, Robson was only ever seen as a short-term solution while the club waited for Louis van Gaal to become available.
Ronaldo soon left for Inter Milan in another world record transfer. However, new heroes emerged, such as Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, and the team won a Copa del Rey and La Liga double in 1998. In 1999, the club celebrated its centenari, winning the Primera División title, and Rivaldo became the fourth Barcelona player to be awarded European Footballer of the Year. Despite this domestic success, the failure to emulate Real Madrid in the Champions League led to van Gaal and Núñez resigning in 2000.
