Thursday, February 25, 2010

Soriano could lead united board candidacy

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano will take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona.

Soriano would lead an own candidacy and the decision would be officially announced in two or three weeks.

First, Soriano wants to personally inform all the members of the board of directors of Spanish airline Spanair, of which he is the chairman, about his decision. The directors of Spanair wouldn't have problems with the candidacy and a possible presidency of Soriano.

Soriano's right-hand man during the campaign would be former Barcelona vice-president Marc Ingla, who left the club together with Soriano in 2008. Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Ingla has been preparing the candidacy of Soriano.

Spanish news agency EFE claims that Soriano didn't yet make a decision but that he has been in contact with current Barcelona board members, among which presidential candidates Alfons Godall and Jaume Ferrer. None of the meetings would nevertheless already have led to a deal.

Sources of the entourage of Soriano would have told that the best option could be a united candidacy with the current board members and both Ferrer and Godall would be open for this option, that would also be supported current Barcelona president Joan Laporta. El 9 Esportiu claims that Soriano and Laporta could meet soon to solve their differences.

EFE says that it's so far unclear who should lead the candidacy but an agreement could be reached by the end of March or the beginning of April. Spanish news site El Confidencial suggests that Soriano would head the list because Godall would in the end prefer a role in the shadow.

Read more:
Soriano to announce decision in coming weeks
Ferrer: "Sala started the division in the board"
Soriano repeats wish to play role in elections

6 comments:

  1. I don't think this will happen. At most I see an agreement between Soriano and Godall.
    A united Soriano-Godall-Ferrer candidacy? It's too late for that, too many things happened.

    Right now the most likely thing is that Soriano will run for the presidency alone. In that case Rosell could choose "Divide and rule" as his campaign slogan.

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  2. at this moment things are really unpredictable. even insiders won't put their money on any possibility.

    soriano could re-unite godall and ferrer because none of them would come out of this new candidacy as the only loser. both would basically lose since both wouldn't be the candidate. although it's true a lot happened.

    and i don't know if "divide and rule" should be rosell's slogan in that last case you mention. maybe it might be godall's... because people now think godall/ferrer/soriano will split the anti-rosell votes while in fact rosell/ferrer/soriano might as well split the anti-laporta(godall) votes... the campaign will decide.

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  3. This would make the board candidacy much stronger. Although the "too many things that have happened" might also see them lose credibility if they do come together.

    I am glad to see Benedito moving up in the polls.

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  4. I think Rosell will win more than he will lose if Soriano will run alone. He's in the driver's seat and he chose a good strategy so far. The funny thing is that he isn't the one who divides his opponents, they do it themselves.
    But anything can happen, 13 June is still very far.

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  5. People who don't like Laporta (which are a lot!) until now only had the option of Rosell. If soriano would run, they would have another option. So I agree that Soriano could take more votes from Rosell than from Godall because Godall has more die hard-fans than Rosell, who are mostly fans because they don't like Laporta and could switch to Soriano now, because Rosell also has more and more enemies, which makes people look for a third way.

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  6. i think in the homestretch it is winnability that most undecided voters would go for. in a close race that would be crucial. soriano appears to have more of it than godall which is why (i think) people continue to speculate about him as a possible continuity candidate inspite the fact godall has stepped up.. godall is gaining ground, true, but would his final push be enough? i doubt it esp if soriano would offer himself as the third way...i agree with fcbee in that most people seem to go for rosell now (i dont know how the dynamics would evolve later) because they are essentially anti-laporta. if soriano runs, he would take away votes from rosell and not godall. godall is aware of that so unless laporta himself gets him to join up with soriano, he would stick to his own candidacy.

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