article_snippet: Barcelona may never have been here today.
article_snippet: After just one season at the Catalan club, the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 and the country was in chaos.
article_snippet: On the streets of Barcelona, anarchy was escalating.
article_snippet: La Liga was suspended and, despite playing in and winning the Mediterranean League, cash was running out fast.
article_snippet: La Liga were facing financial ruin.
article_snippet: Former Barcelona captain and defender Carles Puyol   took the team on a tour of Mexico and America, playing 14 games and raising $5,000 - the equivalent of $83,000 today.
article_snippet: Why then would this Barca legend  come to die alone and penniless in London 20 years later?
highlights_snippet: Irishman was in charge of the Catalan club between 1935 and 1940 .
  
highlights_snippet: Barcelona were saved when Irishman arranged a tour of Mexico to raise cash .