Godall: "Rosell has similarities with Florentino"

Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall gave an interview to Catalan sports paper Sport.

translation: jacob coronado

You have distanced yourself from te club but you didn't quit the vice-presidency.
Following the situation that was created on 22 March I was looking for my spot, electorally but also on a personal level and as a director. I let the president know through Cubells [board secretary] and Oliver [chief executive] that I didn't have the motivation to continue and that I would resign if he though that was appropriate.

Why did you not resign yourself?
Because the end of the current mandate is in a matter of weeks and the teams are playing for titles. A unilateral resignation would not have been good for the board, the environment, nor anyone else.

How did the dissolution of you +Barça project occur?
Joan Laporta's support for the project seemed great, I thought it could help. But I've always felt that a candidate must have the freedom to choose his colleagues and to me, it was crucial to reach an agreement with Soriano and his people.

This was the key point in losing the support of the President on 22 March?
Everything went very quickly. Laporta gave great importance to the fact that I assured him I would be the number one and that I would count on many of the current directors. For me, the project itself was more important that my actual role. I do not believe in the continuism, but more in the experience of the people who know the club and have participated in building the project since 2003. He did not share my point of view and decided to withdraw his support and give it to Jaume Ferrer.

How do you value that decision?
I respect it but I believe that he wants to be too involved in the electoral process. They are not Laporta's elections but post-Laporta. There is also the question of formality. The decision could have been taken in another fashion without the sudden action which hurt me a lot because we have a strong relationship and friendship.

And then there is the proposal of Ingla...
That same week, Soriano also abandoned the idea of being a candidate due to his commitments to Spanair. I was concerned and disappointed and I think Ferran was too. We spent two weeks sending text messages, and one day we decided we had to do something. We thought we had a good project for the club. Marc [Ingla] had already proposed to be a candidate and we decided to take the plunge.

What is the basis of your new project?
We see that there is a clear space between the continuism imposed by the current president and the change of Rosell which from our point of view is not appropriate if there is a model that currently works very well. The idea is to recover four of the architects of the first project of 2003 and who have been vice-presidents doing a good job in the economic, sporting, social, and institutional area and leaving the media attention to the players.

What are the differences with respect to Jaume Ferrer?
More than in the program, in the project itself. I've always had a reservation about the project of Jaume. There are different stimuli or engines that make me think that it is not consistent. He has a personal and professional environment that may detract the independence necessary to decide whether he will be eligible in the end or not. I am speaking specifically of the links with the Pujol Ferrusola family, for which he works. Also the role of Alejandro Echevarría, I know that he has a big role in the candidacy on the motivational, strategic and logistical level. And the role of some directors who were afraid to stay out and thought they wouldn't have a role in any candidacy.

What about Rosell?
It's true that we need a certain change regarding the forms. But what Rosell preaches is very extreme, and comes in part from resentment or revenge. It is essential to maintain the sporting model with a sport director and a coach and if possible those should be Txiki and Pep. We want to respect our commitment to the style of play, based on our youth academy, and that contrasts with that of Rosell who has a sports philosophy that is more result-based, changeable according to the coach of the moment and the results. In that sense, his model has more similarities with that of Florentino Pérez.

Read more:
Godall: "It's a team project against ego projects"
The Pic: Four (former) vice-presidents
Ingla: "We are the real continuity candidacy"