Over the past three days, Paco Gasó, the former bodyguard and driver of Barcelona president Joan Laporta, told his experiences to Madrid sports paper Marca.Among many other things, Gasó talked about the relation between Laporta and former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell:
"One day, around the beginning of October [2003], we were on the doorstep of Cruyff's house. Txiki, Perrín, Laporta and Johan were there. And Laporta suddenly offered Cruyff the vice-presidency and the responsibility for the sports area.
Cruyff said no, that he was comfortable with his way of living, that if Laporta had any problem he knew who to call, but that he didn't want to complicate his life. He was very happy to be able to pack his bags whenever he wanted and travel around the world.
The scene was an unpleasant surprise for me. In the car I asked him why he had done this. 'Isn't Sandro the sports vice-president and don't people like him?' And he answered me: 'Yes, but God willing - I think he was referring to Cruyff - Sandro will leave soon on his own initiative.'
Those were his exact words and that was after only two months of the first season. And it was from that moment on that the two had a lot of discussions, about a friendly game in Mexico, for example, and about many more issues. Everything Sandro said went in one ear and out the other."
Read more:
Rosell: "The problem is Laporta himself"
Sala: "Rosell was always on the wrong side"
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If this is true... I wonder why Laporta hates Rossell because this wasn't cool of him. You can't just offer the VP position to Cruyff when Rossell is already in charge of it. He's pretty much backstabbing Rossell.
ReplyDeleteBut again... this is coming from Marca so I'm not sure if it's true.
It has to be said, Omar, that the whole series (in three parts) was a Laporta bashing from start to end. Which of course doesn't mean the story couldn't be true.
ReplyDeleteIt's still hearsay though and if he's a former something, that also implies he was fired and he's bitter about it. Didn't see the Barcelona press mention this which is a surprise.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, IBES, he can't just invent stuff either because he knows Laporta will sue him if he says things that are clearly not correct.
ReplyDeleteAnd with "exclusive" stories like this, other media don't exactly know how to deal with it, because mentioning the story would be like making free publicity for a rival. AS for example also didn't mention it. They would bring it if some journalist asks Laporta about a reaction and he publicly makes a statement on it.
And it also seems the Barcelona press has surprisingly drawn some anti-Laporta line they don't cross. They didn't bring the party pictures either (for reasons of privacy in that case). Or maybe they're just postponing things until after the World Cup for Clubs.