Ferrer: "Sala started the division in the board"

Barcelona assets vice-president and presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu.


What do you think about the political positioning of the club should be?
I think that the club should not be used as an instrument to do politics. Since the start, Barça has always identified itself with the Catalan society and we will maintain that. As we will maintain the co-operation with the authorities of the country. But what we will not allow is that the club is used. We will try to make all members feel comfortable, both those from here as the ones coming from elsewhere, without giving up our roots.

Do you aim for a budget of 1.000 million euros as Alfons Godall is promising?
That would mean an annual increase of the budget with 18% over the next six years. We shouldn't exclude that because we still can improve a lot as far as revenues are concerned but a lot of factors have an influence.

You can assure that you won't make a deal with anyone?
Yes.

There has been talk about your good relationships with Sandro Rosell.
Those are comments by people who don't know what they are talking about or who have certain interests. I have a good relationship with Sandro Rosell, as I have with Godall and Soriano, but that does not mean that there should be an agreement. It has been some time now that he decided to leave because he did not agree with some decisions of the board and now he should present his own project.

Would you like Soriano to join the electoral race?
I wouldn't like or dislike it. If he wants to do it, then he should.

Do you think agreements between other pre-candidates are possible?
I do not know that, that's science-fiction. People talk about the Godall-Soriano pact, but I don't know if that is true.

If Soriano confirms that he will run, there will be four pre-candidates - five if you count Augustí Benedito, a member of the 'Elefant Blau' - that were part of that original group that arrived at the club in the year 2003...
Yes, we were a group of big Barcelona fans, with a lot of motivation to work for Barça, and it seems that we didn't lose that feeling.

During those seven years, however, up to 15 executives have resigned. How do you explain that?
Being a director of Barça is very complicated. There are a lot of pressures, you have to dedicate many hours to it, you should know how to play down things... For some people, the only way to solve these problems is to leave the board. I don't see any other explanation.

The latest to resign was Joan Franquesa. You count on him to be part of your project?
He has been a good board colleague and he would be welcome. At this moment he has to deal with some personal issues that forced him to leave the board and that he must solve, but when he wishes, he knows he can join us and that he will play the role he wants.

One of the first changes you will make if you are elected as president is to change the chief executive?
I'm not very objective when talking about Joan Oliver. He is a capable person, but he made a serious mistake at a given moment and those things cannot be forgotten. We can discuss that further when the campaign has started, but I don't think that he will be a key figure in the election debate.

But at this moment he is a key figure in the functioning of the club and the decision making...
In principle, his powers are those of a chief executive. At anoter level, we have the personality of each one...

The famous audits was the most tense event you lived during your seven years at the board of Barça?
It surely was, namely when they were made public. The vote of no confidence was also complicated. And the elections of 2006, because we believed that we were not obliged to call them at that moment.

Another person who has gained more power in recent months is Xavier Sala i Martín. Laporta, in fact, thought about him as a possible successor. His entry in the board harmed the unity of the board?
Maybe it did. It was the start of the division. Until that time we were all very united and his entry led to separation.

In that regard, do you foresee a dirty campaign?
I hope not. I won't do so and I think that the members of Barça don't want that. I hope that we will talk about projects, about how we want the Barça of the future to be.

You can also promise not to give names of possible signings?
We won't give them, because there's no debate on the sport area. The coach will continue and talking about transfers without consulting him would be a mistake. If the candidactes want to act as coach, we're wrong. Giving names during the campaign can also gives ideas to rival teams and make the price of the transfers go higher.

this was the third and last part of this interview.

Read the previous parts:
Ferrer: "I started thinking about this a year ago"
Ferrer: "The club needs a more discreet president"

interview : ferran correas and dani colmena