Rosell plans to quit football business

Speaking at a seminar on sports governance in Barcelona, former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell has suggested that he will give up his football-related business if he's chosen as president of Barcelona next year:

"I won't talk about Barcelona until the campaign starts, but if my dream of winning the elections come true, others will have to continue the project in Qatar."

Rosell's sports marketing agency Bonus Sports Marketing is currently involved in the Football Dreams project, a scouting program sponsored by the government of Qatar and Nike aimed at giving children from Africa, Asia and Latin America the opportunity to earn scholarships to study and train at a football academy in Qatar.

Spanish news agency EFE claims that Rosell has in private said that he doesn't understand why the fact that a president of FC Barcelona could be active in the sports business is seen as something negative as he personally thinks is an added value.

Read more:
Rosell appointed as adviser of Nelson Mandela
Sala: "Rosell was always on the wrong side"
Council linked with Rosell working on ethical code

Poll result: Guardiola to become sports director?

Do you think that Guardiola could become the technical director of the club, like Alex Ferguson at Manchester United?

Yes 40%
It's too early 40%
Don't know/Don't answer 15%
No 5%

total votes: 1000
date poll: 11 to 13 november 2009
poll method: telephone inteviews with club members who have the right to vote, 95% certainty
source: diari gol

check more election poll results here

More about Benedito (3): On his exit and politics

Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito has in the past weeks given several interviews to Catalan newspapers, radio stations and television channels. This blog will give an overview of what the Catalan businessman had to say.

As a preface you can read this blog's five-parts introduction series on Benedito and the opinion piece he published last month.


His exit
By trying to sell Mallorca, Laporta crossed a line that one cannot cross and I didn't accept that. I found out that he had tried to enrich himself by obtaining a commission of 4,2 million euros and that's why I decided to quit (read more here). I thought it was very serious and I felt disappointed when Laporta confirmed the newspaper report at a press conference.

And since I don't have to power to make the president of Barça resign, I resigned myself and left the club. After having talked with a lot of people I got to know within the club, I went to see Laporta at the club offices. Since he wasn't there, I handed my resignation letter to his secretary and since that day I haven't talk with him again.

When I was at the club, people told me many things about Laporta, but when I asked them if they had proof, they didn't. The first clear facts I had was when he admitted that his office had mediated in an attempt by Uzbeks to buy Mallorca. If I would have had clear evidence sooner, I would have left sooner.

At the start of Laporta's mandate there were already events that made clear that things wouldn’t go the way they were meant to go. For example when he closed a deal with Gaspart at the Majestic hotel that no veils would be lifted.

But you think that if you leave, that won't help the change that was meant to take place. So you continue thinking that it's for the good cause. I thought the easy thing was to leave and with a function in the club you have at least some power to change something. It's like the voter of a political party who doesn't vote for the opposition when he sees that there's something in his own party he doesn't like.

Chief executive Joan Oliver
I don't know Joan Oliver very well. I didn't deal with him a lot since he arrived in July 2008, replacing Anna Xicoy, and I left the club in February 2009. But as far as I know, his profile and his way of acting is not at all compatible with what we think about the function of chief executive.

Politics
The fact that Barça is connected to the world of politics is a consequence of the immense fame the club has, abroad but certainly at home. It can therefore be interesting for politicians to be linked to the club but I think the latest acts by the presidents are going to far.

The catalanism of the club is clear, it's essential for the club, it's part of the roots of the club but it shouldn't be linked to concrete politics or party politics. That might have been necesary in the past, but now the club shouldn't get involved in political matters. If I will be the next president, that's how things will be.

Salary president
There are some examples in Spanish football of presidents who are paid for the job but those involve clubs that are joint stock companies. In any case, I don't think that the president of Barça should get a salary.

this is the third part of a four-parts serie. you will be able to read the last parts in the coming days with benedito giving his opinion, among other things, on the continuation of sports director txiki begiristain and on the plan to remodel the camp nou.

Read the previous parts of this series:
More about Benedito (1): His reason for running
More about Benedito (2): On Laporta and Guardiola

sources:
el 9 esportiu, catalunya ràdio, com ràdio, ona fm, tv cugat, tv3

Begiristian could leave for Premier League

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain, whose current contract expires at the end of this season, is considering to leave the club independent of the result of next year's elections and of who will be the next president of the club (read more here).

Begiristain would have rejected the offer made by Barcelona president Joan Laporta to all employees of the club to renew for an extra year and several English clubs are said to be interested to sign the Basque sports director once his contract with Barcelona ends in the summer of 2010.

Read more:
Laporta thought about Begiristain as his successor
Txiki Begiristain to quit after the elections

Most read this month

these were the five most read blog posts during the past month of november:


1.
Respected journalist to run for president?

2.
Could Guardiola be a future president?

3.
The Quote: Carles Puyol

4.
Rosell sounding out Fernando Torres

5.
Jaume Guixa will run for president

Laporta not reacting to poll results

Asked about the poll that was published on Wednesday about the voting intentions of the club members of FC Barcelona in next year's presidential elections (read more here), Barcelona president Joan Laporta didn't want to enter the issue when talking to journalists later that day:

"I will not at all comment on the issue of the elections until I believe the moment has come to take part in the debate, because this is not the right moment to focus on that matter. At the moment only two persons have made public that they will run for president and it's not yet clear who else will take part."

check the three polls so far on club members' voting intentions here

Soriano meeting with Godall and Sala

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano has been meeting over the past days and weeks with Barcelona board members.

Soriano would recently have had a dinner with Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín in New York, where Sala i Martín is professor of economics at Columbia University. The current chairman of Spanish airline Spanair would also have met several times with Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall, the last time on Tuesday when the two went for a light afternoon meal at a Farga restaurant in Barcelona.

It wouldn't be clear who took the initiative for the meetings and what has been discussed but for Soriano everything is reportedly still open: from supporting passively or actively a candidate (who could be a current director or a director who left with Soriano last year) to leading a candidacy for the presidency himself.

Two options would nevertheless be excluded for the former vice-president: establishing a pact with former sports vice-president Sandro Rosell and joining a candidacy that would include current Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver.

When Barcelona president Joan Laporta took office in 2003, Soriano became, besides vice-president, also "emergency" chief executive. Oliver was at that time one of the candidates to succeed him but didn't pass the selection procedure. The job in the end went to Anna Xicoy, who had to leave the club after last year's vote of no confidence and was replaced by Oliver.

Catalan sports paper Sport meanwhile claims that Soriano would be considering to not getting actively involved in a candidacy for the presidency. His new job at the head of an airline wouldn't allow him to find the time necessary to take up a position at Barcelona.

Read more:
Soriano: "I will take part in the electoral debate"
Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?

Ex-president Montal avoids election involvement

Asked if he will in any way take part in next year's presidential elections, former Barcelona president Agustí Montal (1969-1977) has said in an interview with Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia that he doesn't plan to get involved:

"I never take part in the elections. I just think they should be democratically well-organized and I hope and wish that he who gets elected has the skills and the success his predecessors had."

Read more:
Bassat will not run a third time
Former candidate Angel Fernandez will not run

Guixa confirms presidential candidacy

As this blog already reported last month (read more here), Jaume Guixà has today officially announced at a press conference that he will take part in the presidential elections next year.

The 51-year old Catalan university professor, who already was a pre-candidate in the 2006 elections but was then not able to collect the signatures needed (read more here), promoted himself as a clear alternative for what he called the "laportism".

Read more:
Jaume Guixa will run for president
Agusti Benedito to run for president
Guixa confirms that he will run for president

Poll result: Who would you vote for today?

If the elections for the presidency of Barça would be today, who would you vote for?

Sandro Rosell 56,8%
Ferran Soriano 11,4%
Xavier Sala i Martín 9,6%
Alfons Godall 5,9%
I don't know 10,8%
Other answers 5,7%

total votes: 800
date poll: 29 november 2009
poll method: interviews with club members who have the right to vote by polling agency Gesop in the surroundings of the Camp Nou around the time of the league game against Real Madrid, 95% certainty, 3,5% margin of error
source: el periódico

check more election poll results here

Weekly Round-Up (1)

Starting today, we will from now on publish every week an overview of the posts from this blog on Barcelona news site totalBarca.


There are basically two crucial questions remaining before this election process can definitely lift off:

(1) what will former economic vice-president Ferran Soriano do?
(2) who will be the board candidate?

Ferran Soriano, who last week came out on top of a poll organized by probably the most popular Catalan Barcelona blog, still didn't pronounce on what his role will be in the elecions. It is nevertheless generally believed that he will not run himself but support another candidate, mainly because he's too busy with his job as chairman of an airline.

The board on the other hand has planned to start talking about their candidate after the World Cup for Clubs next month. Although Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín still hasn't given up the possibility of leading a candidacy, first vice-president Alfons Godall would be in pole position. Former president Joan Gaspart meanwhile advised president Laporta to not publicly appoint a successor.

read the full weekly round-up here

Board secretary Cubells to become vice-president

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that it's almost certain that Barcelona board member Josep Cubells will become one of the club's vice-presidents if current first vice-president Alfons Godall is chosen as president of FC Barcelona next year.

The 45-year old Catalan lawyer, who is currently the secretary of the board and the director responsible for Barcelona's basketball team, would become Barcelona's institutional vice-president, a post occupied by Albert Perrín since last month (read more here).

Josep Cubells, who is also the chairman of the club's disciplinary commission, is one of the five directors left from the board that came to power in June 2003 when Joan Laporta was elected president of the club (read more here).

Read more:
First female vice-president for Barcelona?
Godall: "Being president would be a dream"
The Board, 6-7 Years Later

More about Benedito (2): On Laporta and Guardiola

Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito has in the past weeks given several interviews to Catalan newspapers, radio stations and television channels. This blog will give an overview of what the Catalan businessman had to say.

As a preface you can read this blog's five-parts introduction series on Benedito and the opinion piece he published earlier this month.


Laporta's reign
There are things he hasn't been able to do and there are things he hasn't wanted to do. He had a unique, historical chance to make an irreversible change but he lost track. Laporta has for some reason deviated a lot from the model of the Elefant Blau [former barcelona opposition group] and has been losing control lately.

In the seven years before he became president we had talked and discussed a lot about how the club should be led, about our model, what we wanted to change. On crucial themes, he hasn't been able to push through what we wanted.

We're then talking about transparency, especially the communication with the club members, about honesty and about participation, ways to get the club members more involved. There he failed.

In general, he clearly passed the test. I would give him a 6. But regarding certain issues, that were very important back in the days, he failed. So there might be some disappointment from my side, especially because most of this happened because he didn't want to change certain things. But where Laporta failed, there we will succeed.

If I will win, I will of course lift the veils of the Laporta era. It will be an exercise of transparency, something the club members deserve and have been waiting for for many years. I think it's an ethical and moral duty.

Guardiola
Well, what can I say? I'm a guardiolist. He has done an amazing, incredible job, that might be unsurpassable. As a club member, I don't think there's a better way for our team to continue like they're doing now, than by keeping Guardiola in charge.

So if I could decide, Guardiola would be there for many more years. In our sporting model concerning the first team, his place is assured. But I think that will be a decision that will mainly depend on Josep Guardiola. I sure think that Guardiola knows the club that well that he will be very careful not to intervene in the elections.

Salary chief executive Oliver
A possible 900.000 euros is four or five times more than the former general director Anna Xicoy, who did an excellent job in my opinion. So I think this is too much, it's disproportionate and I don't understand the change in the salary policy. If I'm chosen as the new president, the chief executive won't earn more than 400.000 euros.

Sale of the Mini Estadi site
In 2003, the promise that the team of Laporta has repeated the most was that we wouldn't sell one square meter of club property. For me, the 2003 program is still valid and so I'm against it. Club assets should only be sold in a crisis situation and that's not the case now.

Although I took part in a vote of no confidence against Josep Lluís Núñez, I can recognize that he considerably increased the assets of the club. And now I can only say that Laporta is selling what Núñez had bought.

Season tickets
Barcelona has over 184.000 club members, 100.000 of which cannot come to the stadium to watch the games, which is the main activity of the club. Some people have to wait ten years to be able to buy a season ticket.

All this should lead us to start thinking about how to deal with that. An option could be rotating season tickets, like is done by some English clubs.

Bank guarantee
We have this legal obligation, which is in my opinion a disadvantage for us compared with other clubs. As you know Barça and three other Liga clubs have decided not to change themselves in public limited companies, which means that our boards have to put down a bank guarantee that is worth 15 per cent of the club's budget while for the others it's only 5 per cent.

Of course that limits the possibilities for a lot of club members to become part of the board of directors. Because at this moment, with Barça's budget of 400 million euros that would mean a guarantee of around 60 million euros. Our candidacy has looked at it, we have contacted financial institutions to discuss things and as it's a legal obligation, we will cumply with it.

this is the second part of a four-parts serie. you can read the first part here. you will be able to read the next parts in the coming days with benedito giving his opinion, among other things, on the continuation of sports director txiki begiristain and on the plan to remodel the camp nou.

Read more:
Benedito: "It won't be a matter of two candidates"
Poll result: Can Benedito win the elections?
Barça, a 'wonderful rarity' (by Agustí Benedito)

sources:
el 9 esportiu, catalunya ràdio, com ràdio, ona fm, tv cugat, tv3

Cartoon 18: Xavier Sala i Martin

(click the cartoon to enlarge)


by vizcarra

source:
avui

see more cartoons here

Rosell calls a press conference

Spanish news agency EFE reports that former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell will hold a press conference on Thursday at the Real Academia de Ciencias Económicas y Financieras (Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences) in Barcelona.

It is expected that Rosell will re-confirm his wish, that was already expressed before the vote of no confidence in 2008, to take part in next years' election for president of FC Barcelona. The meeting with the press will take place before Rosell will speak at a seminar on sports management at 11:15 am.

Read more:
The Rosell Project
Sala: "Rosell was always on the wrong side"
Rosell wants three women in his board

Laporta thought about Begiristain as his successor

Catalan sports paper Sport claimed last year that Barcelona president Joan Laporta was considering the possibility of appointing current Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain as his successor as president of the club.

Laporta reportedly liked the idea of having an old player as president, with the example being Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

A possible plan was that Begiristain would resign as sports director at the end of last season so that the Basque would be able to run for president and have the time to prepare a candidacy.

Read more:
Could Guardiola be a future president?
Txiki Begiristain to quit after the elections

Poll result: What do you expect from a president?

What would you ask from the president who wins the coming elections?

To not politicize the club 95%
That he shows wisdom 80%
A less self-centred reign 65%
More transparency in the governance 60%
To change the hours of the game 55%
More respect for the fan clubs 45%
To limit the spending 40%

total votes: 1000
date poll: 11 to 13 november 2009
poll method: telephone inteviews with club members who have the right to vote, 95% certainty
source: diari gol

check more election poll results here

Most read this week

these were the three most read blog posts of the past week:


1.
Respected journalist to run for president?

2.
The Quote: Carles Puyol

3.
Rosell appointed as adviser of Nelson Mandela

More about Benedito: His reason for running

Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito has in the past weeks given several interviews to Catalan newspapers, radio stations and television channels. This blog will give an overview of what the Catalan businessman had to say.

As a preface you can read this blog's five-parts introduction series on Benedito and the opinion piece he published earlier this month.


His reason for running
Since 1997, when I was part of the candidacy of Angel Fernández, I have in a way been linked to the club and during that time I have formed myself an idea about the club, how I think it should be or how I would want it to be. And after discussions with a lot of other people, we have now a clear project for Barça.

Because we think our model is different compared to the project of the current board as well as to the project that will probably be presented by Sandro Rosell, our group has decided to run. My vanity isn't really well-developed, so that's certainly not why I'm taking part in the elections. And I think my track record proves that.

Basic ideas
Besides what happens on the pitch and what this club means for Catalonia, the key characteristic of this club is that it's owned by the club members, which is unique in the world and which seems to have been forgotten by the last presidents of Barça. We will elaborate a concrete project based on some key principles, that might even be more important than the sporting results.

Ethics are the main thing. You can always make a mistake but ethics are essential. I think we can obtain the same results, but with a governance that is more transparent, more honest and more participatory. We propose to recover and to update the spirit we had in the year 2003, that was based on principles like transparency, honesty, participation and representativeness.

His campaign
Mid-July, a group of club members made the final decision to take part in the elections and that I would lead this candidacy. We thought that none of the other candidacies would represent the model we want for the club. Our project is very well thought through, very detailled, very concrete.

We have people responsible for the communication, a lot of people have responded to the video we put out (watch the subtitled video here), but we don't yet have a campaign director. We didn't yet decide what our slogan will be, although there are some ideas going around. We sure will try to communicate in a different, innovative way.

I cannot yet announce names of people that will be part of my team. I have been talking with everyone who could be important for the club: political parties, financial institutions, business people, journalists and so on. That was just about informing them, having a first contact and getting to know each other.

We plan to invest 500.000 euros in this campaign. If we don't win the elections, we will continue to work in the benefit of Barça but in that case from outside the club.

Possible opponents
Things aren't very clear yet. I think there certainly will be a continuity candidate. I have some doubts on Jaume Ferrer of whom I know that he also has some plans to present himself, but I think there will in the end be one unique board candidacy, probably lead by Alfons Godall. Then there's the candidacy of Sandro Rosell, there's mine. I don't really know if there will be others.

It's not clear what the group who left with Ferran Soriano in 2008 will do. I know that there are people who are very motivated to present their own project, so I think there might be another candidacy although probably not lead by Soriano but by another director who resigned together with him, maybe Albert Vicens.

Sandro Rosell? Sandro is a great Barça fan. What I don't like about him is that he also had the chance to contribute to the historical change of the club (read more in the second part of this series) but that he then decided to leave.

Xavier Sala i Martín? A good economist, recognized all over the world, who has recently decided to start talking about football. Alfons Godall? A good person, a great Barça fan, who is very - I would even say unlimitedly - loyal to Laporta.

The campaign
When you talk with people, it seems that it's already decided, but I don't think that's the case. It will depend on the campaign, on the results this season. I have talked with over 900 club members over the past months and I think that the race is very open.

I also sense that it will be a dirty campaign. I hope I am wrong because that wouldn't be good for Barça, but I have the feeling that people are very tense. We sure plan to campaign in a positive way, explaining our own project and proposals.

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of rivalry. It's very difficult to know the reasons why a club member will vote for a certain candidate so I start from the idea that there are no favourites and that the candidate who will seem the most credible one in the eyes of the voters, will win the elections.

this is the first part of a four-parts serie. you will be able to read the next parts in the coming days with benedito giving his opinion, among other things, on the continuation of manager josep guardiola and sports director txiki begiristain and on the plan to remodel the camp nou.

Read more:
Benedito: "It won't be a matter of two candidates"
Poll result: Can Benedito win the elections?
Barça, a 'wonderful rarity' (by Agustí Benedito)

sources:
el 9 esportiu, catalunya ràdio, com ràdio, ona fm, tv cugat, tv3

Soriano: "I will take part in the electoral debate"

Asked about his rumoured participation in next year's presidential elections (read more here), former Barcelona economic vice-president and current chairman of Spanish airline Spanair Ferran Soriano has repeated in an interview with Catalan news agency ACN that he didn't yet decide what his role will be:

"I will take part in the electoral debate, but until then I will make an effort and not say anything."

Read more:
Former board member willing to join Soriano
Poll: Who should be the next Barcelona president?