Barcagate (6) - The vice-presidents talk (part 2)

On Monday 28 September, four days after the publication of a newspaper report that Barcelona has been spying on four vice-presidents, Barcelona vice-president Joan Boix was the third director involved - after his colleagues Rafael Yuste and Jaume Ferrer - who talked in public when he gave an interview to Catalan radio station COM Ràdio:

"It's true that when it happened, I felt bad and I was very angry. I had a hard discussion, more than just hard in fact, with the general director, Joan Oliver. He gave his explanations, we exchanged everything we were thinking and I ended up being convinced by what he said.

For me, the issue was closed after that and completely forgotten. We made an effort to resolve the issue back then and now that this has been made public and the wound has again been opened, this hurts again. I was annoyed when it was published because it made me re-live the bad moments I lived in the month of April. The impact of the report has been exaggerated and the story isn't important enough to put it on the cover.

I never considered resigning. I think the board of directors as a whole acted like they should, in a clear and consistent way. It's a historical precedent for this club as the common sense and the stability of the club prevailed. It was hard, very hard, but we took the right measures without anyone resigning.

We were able to deal with it internally, between us, and time has proven us right. You cannot imagine what could have happened if we would have destabilized the club at that moment by changing the structure.

I don't think that I or any of my family members or friends have been followed. The security audit is basically a study of one's personality and how one is seen by the people around him. It won't come out since I have it now. I don't know if a third person has a copy though. I didn't change any of my habits because of what happened. I don't have any reason to change because I lead a consistent life.

As for my role in the next elections, I can only say that this will depend highly on the person who will be our presidential candidate. I also think that the person who will head that candidacy should have the absolute freedom to surround him with the people he wants to have near."

On Friday 2 October, Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa was the last person involved to share his views about the issue when he gave an interview to Catalan local news site cugat.cat:

"Nobody likes to be investigated nor to be the target of that kind of audit. So it's not a pleasant thing to talk about this and I think that the best way to solve this is internally and not through the press. The more discreet we act, the better. Otherwise you might create a bad atmosphere among the fans and the entourage of the club.

I'm annoyed because of having been the target of a security audit. Both personally and because of the image of the club. Seen from the outside, it's a very serious issue but seen from the inside, you can understand a lot of things. In the end it's just an anecdote and this shouldn't overshadow the good performances of this board.

Barça is lead in a good way and is a reference in every aspect: sporting, social, economic. It's clear that because of some internal actions, third parties who want to be part of the club - and they have this right - are now taking advantage of this because the elections are coming up.

I think that my image has also been damaged because I've been linked to a case of espionage. I nevertheless don't exclude to take part in the elections, although I'm aware of my limitations and I don't know what my role could be. You cannot make plans because it's impossible to know what will happen in the coming months.

There are a lot of possibilities. Being president or board member, everything is open and it's also up to others to make a decision on that. If I can help to keep on defending the project that revolutionized the club somehow in 2003, I will be available to add what I can."

this is the sixth of ten parts on the case. the next part will cover the latest revelations on the content of the audit reports. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts of this series:
Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news
Barçagate (2) - Emergency press conference
Barçagate (3) - New revelations in the press
Barcagate (4) - Laporta speaks about spying claims
Barcagate (5) - The vice-presidents talk (part 1)


picture:
Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa -right- and Barcelona president Joan Laporta -left- on Thursday 24 September, the day Catalan newspaper El Periódico brought the story on the investigations