Ferrer: "Barcelona is a Catalan club"

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer gave an interview to Catalan local radio station Radio Cabrera and Catalan online sports paper Yoya.


You recently said about mister Sala i Martin that he was the reason of the division in the board, because mister Laporta changed his preferences in choosing his successor. What happened?
Xavier Sala became part of the board of directors because president Joan Laporta asked this to us and it's true that after his entrance there were some disagreements in the board. Mainly about how we should deal with the 2010 elections. But I accept it as something normal, everyone should do what they think is best for Barça. So I guess I have nothing more to say, I think I've already talked enough about this subject.

What do you think about Rosell and this attitude of hiding and avoiding to make statements?
Everybody knows mister Rosell and we all know that he intends to stand for election so there's no need for him to say anything until the elections are officially called. He must know for himself how he wants to approach the club member, if that is by talking or not talking. I have in any case a lot of respect for mister Rosell.

Which impulses do you plan to give the club, if you're elected as president, that are linked to the globalization of football?
We must continue with this project. In the sports area, we have to make sure we evolve but we have the best players and team in the world. We want a competitive team to continue the successes of recent years. And to have the best team and the best players in the world, the economic issue is crucial. We need to have enough revenues, profits and cash flow. We will remodel the stadium, build a new Palau, the sports centre for the non-professional sports sections and the sports city for the fans in Viladecans, which we could also export to other places in the world, like Miami, Shanghai or Abu Dhabi. That will have an impact on the club revenues. Given the current state of the world of football, we want to have revenues between 800 and 1.000 million euros in six years.

What role would Laporta have during your presidency? You would offer him a post of representing the club at the international level as has been commented by Godall?
When Laporta ends his mandate on 30 June, he will be the ex-president of Barcelona and he will be treated as such, with the utmost respect. He has to decide himself what he wants to do, but he might re-orientate his life in such a way that he will not have the time or the will to work for Barça.

Would it be possible that a representative chosen by the fan clubs becomes part of the board of directors without having the right to vote?
To become a member of the board of directors you have to take part in the elections, which includes electoral expenses, and you have to put down a very high bank guarantee. There are other formulas to inform the fan clubs and there's no need to have a person within the board of directors. Because then we should also give a place to many other groups that ask that. A person from outside the board is not really needed unless they come by one day to explain a concrete thing.

What do you think about the relation between Barça and politics and the show set up by mister Laporta? What will your position be?
From the start, Barcelona has fully identified itself with the Catalan society. Barcelona is a Catalan club and I share this idea. What we shouldn't do is politics, and the president even less, and we also shouldn't use the club for political promotion. Barça should be inclusive, so that a club member in Cadiz feels as comfortable in the club as a member in Barcelona, but without forgetting who we are and where we come from.

How are you organizing the collection of the signatures? Are you optimistic given you will only have around 14 days?
In fact, I think that we will only have 11 or 12 days. It will be difficult because they are very few days. But we will try to set up an organization within the candidacy that allows us to reach as many members as possible, so that if someone wants to give us his signature, we at least ican get to him so he can give it. We are optimistic but we will have to work hard to get more than 2.000 signatures.

this was the third and last part of this interview.

You can read the previous parts here:
Ferrer: "The easy thing would have been to leave"
Ferrer: "I know how do this"

interview: uri bruguera