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
During the past week, Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer talked about the upcoming elections and his own run for the presidency in interviews with Catalan radio stations Ona FM and RAC 1. Some excerpts.His club modelThe current model should stay in place but should be renewed. This should happen by allowing the professionals to work while the board stays more in the background. The board of directors should take the decisions but that should happen in a discreet way.
In the economic and sporting areas, we should basically continue with the project we have now. In the social area on the other hand, there's a lot of work to do. The members should feel the club is theirs.Sports directorThe model of having a sports director and a coach has worked well over the past years and I think it's the best model for FC Barcelona at this moment and that it should be continued. Giving the coach more powers isn't and has never been the model of FC Barcelona.
I would be very happy if Txiki Begiristain could continue since he has been a key figure. And if he doesn't, it should be someone with the same profile. I don't think it's right to talk already about possible successors, also because the first thing I will do is trying to convince Txiki to stay.Role of the sports vice-presidentThe board of directors should be very discreet at this moment. The focus should be on the players and the coaches, who are the ones who play and win the games. The director who's responsible for the first team should therefore play a role of go-between between the board and the professionals in the sports area.Possible collaboration with Sandro RosellI know very little of the project of Sandro Rosell because he didn't yet explain anything, so I don't know if we share certain points. What I do know is that we have been board colleagues during a certain time. We had a good relationship and if he'll present his program, we'll see.But it's clear to me what my program will be and now that we have come this far, we want to go on until the end and not make deals with anyone. I sure don't have bad feelings towards him about what happened in the past. I think one should be able to forget.I think it's good he's a candidate in the elections, I will also be one and others will too. He's leading in the polls now, but the only valid polls are on the day of the elections. I think it's good that the club members will have a choice and will be able to say which candidate convinces them the most.FranquesaI've always had, and still have, a very good relationship with him and the doors will always be open for him.Transfer rumours during the campaignI think all the presidential candidates should try not to talk about football players. It would be wrong to do that. Of couse the club cannot stop and the next season should be prepared and I guess Pep Guardiola and the staff will want to sign some player or change something about the squad. But it's the current sports director who should work on that.Chat session on TwitterWe'll look at that option. I've also opened a Twitter account but I haven't yet thought about a chat like Rosell has done. We'll see how things went for him and maybe we'll also consider doing it.SorianoI would like him to take part in the elections, with an own project. it would be good to confront our ideas, although I don't veto him.Camp NouThe stadium needs to be remodelled, but we first should solve our problems with the city council. It's also clear to me that this remodelling should focus on what the club really needs. Therefore we might have to reconsider the Foster project.Read more:Ferrer thinks one board candidacy is unlikelyFormer vice-president Franquesa to join FerrerNo deal after new Godall-Ferrer negotiations
Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio claims that former Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa will be part of the candidacy of current Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer in the presidential elections later this year.
Catalan business man Joan Franquesa, who resigned as board member in November of last year (read more here), joined Barcelona's board of directors in July of 2005 and was promoted to assets vice-president in July of 2008.
Read more:
Speaking to Catalan local news site cugat.cat, former Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa, who resigned last week (read more here), has said that he at this moment doesn't plan to take part in next year's elections:
"I will keep on following the news about the club very closely and I will always stay a Barcelona fan.
I have now taken a step back and although I'm a rather restless person, I don't have any plans to take part in the election process. Maybe somewhere in the future, time will tell.
I would want the future president of Barcelona to understand the values that a group of people brought to the club in 2003. Values of modernity and progress, of seeing the board as a place where you cannot just appear but where you have to serve the club and not serve yourself.
A catalanist board, where a job should be well-done, giving priority to the club and this shouldn't be just words or slogans but realities. I want a president who makes this values his owns and I'm sure the fans will be able to find out who is like that and who isn't. That won't be a very difficult task."
Read more:The resignation letter of vice-president FranquesaBarcagate (6) - The vice-presidents talk (part 2)
Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa resigned from his post yesterday (read more here).
Below you find the translation of the resignation letter he handed yesterday to Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
Dear Jan,
I still recall the moment, in 2003, when you asked me to help and to take part in the project that you had started off after you became president of Barça. In 2005, you offered me to become a director. This fulfilled a dream and made me very happy as a Barcelona fan and son of Barcelona fans.
Today I can proudly say that we have done a very good job. Personally I think that I have contributed decisively to push forward assets issues of great strategic value for FC Barcelona. You know that I have spared no time or effort and that I have given my all.
As we discussed recently, I am unable to continue devoting the time to the club that, according to my sense of responsibility, I think a director of FC Barcelona should. The changes in my personal and professional life now require all my attention. I appreciate that in recent days you have tried to find solutions to allow me to continue at the club. But you know me… At this moment, my priorities are my recently enlarged family and my company.
Therefore, I formally present you my resignation as director of FC Barcelona, which I ask you to pass on to the rest of the colleagues in the Board of Directors.
I am aware that my resignation could be used and misinterpreted. That is why I want to reiterate that I fully share the model that has been in place since 2003, that idea of revolution, with identitarian values... Time has proven us right and I hope that the current model will be continued beyond 2010.
You will always be able to count on my affection, my gratitude and my most sincere friendship.
We will always have Paris, Rome, the 2-6... In a word, the satisfaction of having contributed to the best Barça in history.
Joan Franquesa i Cabanas
Barcelona, November 11th, 2009
* I don't mind at all that you make this letter public, if you think this is convenient. Read more:Vice-president Joan Franquesa resignsBarcagate (6) - The vice-presidents talk (part 2)
Spanish news agency EFE claims that Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa has resigned from his post as director of the club. Franquesa, who was responsible for institutional matters and assets administration, reportedly sent a letter of resignation to Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
Barcelona has meanwhile officially confirmed the news and has made public the letter that Franquesa personally handed to president Joan Laporta earlier today and in which he explaines the reasons for his resignation.
In his letter, Franquesa says that he leaves the board because of personal and professional reasons: "As we have discussed recently, I am unable to continue to devote the time to the club that, according to my sense of responsibility, I think is needed for a director of FC Barcelona. The changes in my personal and professional life now require my full attention. [...] At this moment, my priorities are my recently enlarged family and my company."
Joan Franquesa joined Barcelona's board of directors in July of 2005 and was promoted to vice-president in July of 2008. Franquesa was one of the four vice-presidents involved in the Barçagate investigation story earlier this year (read more here) and was rumoured to lose power in an upcoming board reshuffle on Friday (read more here). check our exclusive overview of all Barcelona board movements since 2003 here
Few hours after El Periódico brought the news that Barcelona had been spying on four of the club's vice-presidents (read more here), Barcelona called an emergency press conference at 12:15 pm that same Thursday 24 september.
While Barcelona president Joan Laporta was - in the company of three of the four vice-presidents involved (Ferrer, Yuste and Franquesa) - inaugurating a statue of former Barcelona player László Kubala, Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver faced the press alone and gave his version of the events:
"I can confirm that we have carried out an investigation but I want to make clear that the report that was published today refers to spying, while we were in fact protecting and defending those people. When somebody is the target of a security audit and it's he who receives the result - which is what happened here - that's not espionage. You can call it whatever you want, just do not use the word 'spying'.
Of course we are not happy that this information has been published but we don't have any problems to give further explanations. Although we would prefer to be able to work with more discretion, we are aware that few things in this club are not publicly known.
Everything started in March of this year when vice-president Joan Franquesa informed the club that he thought he was being investigated and followed. The police was not informed because there were only indications and no real proof. He thought this had to do with his position as vice-president of the club and asked us to verify the situation and his security.
Taking into account previous events related to security issues at the club - the death threats to the president, the theft of his computer, the theft of a data base and other incidents that we will not reveal - we decided to act. We considered this to be a reasonable request and, as security is an important issue for the club, we also thought it made sense to extend this to other vice-presidents, namely misters Joan Boix, Jaume Ferrer and Rafael Yuste. That's when these security audits were commissioned.
I want to point out that this happened shortly after first vice-president Alfons Godall had announced that he had no intention of being a candidate in the next elections, so there you had a situation in which the other four vice-presidents came more into the limelight because people were starting to discuss which one of them could become the continuity candidate. So yes, there was an electoral element to it as they played a bigger role. In short, all of them gained some public notoriety and that made them vulnerable. I also want to mention that current director Xavier Sala i Martín was at that time not yet a member of the board.
The club then contacted Método 3, a firm with a good reputation with whom we normally work, to carry out the audits. As is usual in security matters, this all happened with discretion so things could be done efficiently. At the beginning of April, the results of the security audit were known and, after being shared with them, they are now in the possession of the four vice-presidents. I think the fact that nobody did anything after they were informed about the audits is sufficient proof that nothing irregular happened.
A security audit consists of verifying information about those people that is available in public records and places, as well as making inquiries about them regarding certain areas of relevance. What is also part of it is trying to find out whether this person is being subjected to illegal activities of others. This is for example a very common practice in the United States.
A security audit can also be defined by what it is not and it's important to make this clear. It is not and does not contain any type of following of people or any activity related to these people's communications, meaning for example that telephone conversations or e-mails are not checked.
The cost of this audit was 56 000 euros, which is a little more than 1% of the club's security budget, which is four million euros. I want to make clear here that there are two types of security the club is dealing with: we have the security of people and brands, and then there's the security of the facilities. It's a very complex situation that asks for a lot of efforts. I can on the other hand guarantee you that this club never has been investigating people, so it is excluded that we have been following former vice-president Sandro Rosell.
President Laporta was not behind all this. Like all the vice-presidents, he was informed about the results once we got them. He didn't know about it before because that's the way we work here. We are doing things and depending on the results, the president is informed. Every day thousands of decisions are being made and people are informed from the moment this is relevant for them. I don't know if this is good or bad but it's our policy. The president takes care of the strategic matters, not the day-to-day activities.
Six months have now passed since the events took place and I insist that this was a normal procedure within the club's security measures. I cannot confirm or deny that similar audits were carried out before but it was just another measure without any special importance. Another thing is that this security audit was undertaken with the most strict respect for the law. It's a standard measure and no rules have been violated.
I never thought about resigning. Not back then and not after things have become public now. I am here because of a decision of the board and I don't think people have lost their trust in me. This happened half a year ago and nobody asked me anything. But if they would now ask me to leave, I would go with the great satisfaction of having worked at this club."
this is the second of ten parts on the case. the third part will cover some further revelations. you can read the whole series here.
Read the first part of this series:Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news
Under the front-page headline "Pre-Electoral Earthquake Inside The Barcelona Board: Barça Has Been Spying On Four Vice-Presidents", Catalan newspaper El Periódico brought on Thursday 24 September the story that Barcelona has been investigating four vice-presidents.
The paper claims that Catalan detective agency Método 3 has been gathering information on Barcelona vice-presidents Joan Boix (finances), Joan Franquesa (assets administration), Rafael Yuste (sports matters) and Jaume Ferrer (marketing and media) earlier this year.
The order for the investigations was reportedly given by Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver. At the request of one of the four directors concerned, who wanted to have his background checked, Oliver would have asked the security services of the club to contact an agency that would make a report of four vice-presidents, three of them not being alerted about the investigation.
The detective agency carried out at the end of April of this year a so-called risk analysis, examining the professional and private lives of the targets to see if something could be used against one of them during the upcoming election campaign.
When one of the four vice-presidents who were spied upon found out what was going on, he reportedly informed his colleagues and they met with Barcelona president Joan Laporta to ask for further explanations. The president showed his surprise when confronted with the story and told the directors he didn't know about the investigations.
Laporta was able to convince the four board members that he was not aware of what had been going on and, although one of the four still wouldn't exclude to take legal actions after next year's elections, it was in the end agreed to silence the case in order to safeguard the stability of the club.this is the first of ten parts on the case. the second part will cover the reaction of barcelona ceo joan oliver. you can read the whole series here.
Barcelona assets vice-president and presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu.
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