Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Catalan online paper El Singular Digital.There are already people who point out that these elections will be a matter of two, Rosell and Godall...
Every now and then the club members of Barça have the rare ability to choose their representatives and this fact alone proves that the upcoming elections at the club cannot be a matter of two.
Give some reasons to believe in your candidacy.
I have worked with Laporta for almost fifteen years, before he was president and during his term in office. During that period, I have had the opportunity to shape a reliable and solid club model, a model that is different from the continuity one, and by intuition, also different from the one that Sandro Rosell will present.
Make your project a bit more concrete.
The defining element of Barça is that it is owned by 170.000 people and this is the reason of being that defines and orientates our model. I think that the projects of other candidates, like Sandro Rosell, will focus on other aspects. We'll focus on the club member.
Joan Carretero [catalan politician] said several months ago that the position of Barça president is more important than that of president of the Catalan government. Do you feel ready to take on this challenge?
Yes, but I do not share the words of Carretero. Catalonia is a thousand years old and has a splendid story ahead that is in the hands of the Catalans. Barça can not be explained without Catalonia, but Catalonia can without Barça. I can not accept that the president of the Catalan government would be compared with the president of Barça.
Evaluate the presidency of Laporta.
If we make an overall assessment, I don't have any problem in recognizing that Laporta has been a good president. Not recognizing that he made the start of a change would be unfair. He maybe has not been the best president in the history of Barça but he has been the president of the best Barça is history, that's a fact. On the other hand, it has to be said that there have been things he didn't do and others that he has done badly.
What is the economic situation of the club at this moment?
Barça's accounts are audited and we have to believe everything they say. There are nevertheless some elements, especially regarding assets operations, that suggest certain treasury difficulties that make one think that things aren't as good as they tell us. I can not think of any reason to hide information for the club member and if I am president I will therefore assure maximum transparency regarding this issue.
Projects such as the Foster remodelling attract the attention.
And the Miniestadi project too. The candidacies of Godall, and presumably those of Ferrer and Sandro, are in favour of the reclassification of the stadium of the second team. We believe that the assets' solvency ratio is what secures the future viability of the club and we are totally opposed to losses in that aspect.
Regarding the Foster reform, we are also against it, for the simple fact that this is about spending 400 million euros and because it is unacceptable to make these kinds of decisions without consulting the members.
this was the first part of this interview. you can read the second part here and the third part here.
Read more:
Benedito signs ex-campaign director Laporta
Introducing Benedito
Benedito: "Rosell has a different model"
interview: xavier march
Posts
This guy sounds the most interesting among the interviews that I have read so far although his answer to the last question went over my head. Anyone care to explain ...
ReplyDeletein one phrase, kamikaze: he's against the sale of the miniestadi site (that includes the stadium where the second team plays its home games) and the remodelling of the camp nou according to the design of british architect norman foster.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing Pep, is it common to seek the opinion of the members in important decisions. Has it been done often or is he suggesting that they should do so from here on?
ReplyDeleteyour last assumption is probably the correct one, kamikaze. don't think it has been a common practice at some point.
ReplyDeleteIf Benedito doesn't win this race, Barça's members will lose the oportunity of having the first Presdident who has the intention of seek the opiniio of the members in important decisions.
ReplyDeleteÀlex
Welcome, Àlex. Thanks for your point of view!
ReplyDeleteMore than that Pep & Kamikaze; in case Benedito is not wining, members will lose the oportunity to get the real transparency and the fair behaviour in all the managing operations of the Club. Is not only a question of seeking the members opinion; it is a matter of acting only for the benefit of the Club, and not for personal or private interests. As simple as that.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Benedito not selling just the same as Jaume Guixà? They both want the power to be with the club members. And as far as I know...there is no prove that one of the other candidates will use the position solitary for private interests....
ReplyDeleteBenedito is not selling the same as J Guixá at all. In fact, nobody knows what Mr Guixá is really selling...
ReplyDeleteRegarding private interests, there are a lot of EVIDENCES about such concerning the so called "continuistas" (Godall or Ferrer). Talking about Mr S Rosell, nothing is evidenced (neither a little idea of any plan, in fact), but some clues are available, when his supporting team is just revised at a glance!!...
@ anonymous: It is kind of awkward you first state that the candidacies Benedito and Jaume Guixa are not the same at all. And than continue saying that you don't know anything about Jaume Guixa..which means that you actually cannot assess the difference between the two candidates.
ReplyDeleteBut we will see what the future brings...
Gentleman, you are trying to provide a misinterpration of what I wrote. The key point is that Mr Benedito is giving CLEAR ideas about his thinkings, his intentions and his plans. This is something that Mr Guixá didn´t do up today. So, they are completely different, which in fact is absolutely compatible with the fact that I do not know (and nobody does)anything about Mr Guixá´s strategy for the Club. Awkward?; you should better try to get deeper in what the candidates are explaining every day. It seems that you keep in the surface and, obviously, this is the bets way to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Mr S. Rosell team has 2 milion euros to expend in the presidential campaign. It's a huge investment, isn't it? How they will get a return on it? Using the presidential position for their private interests, perhaps?
ReplyDelete