Guixa: "We remain the clear alternative to Laporta"

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Spanish football site Mercafutbol.

translation: jacob coronado

Despite opposing the Foster project, you are committed to the renewal of the Camp Nou...
Yes, we understand that the Camp Nou is a five-star venue but that it needs a complete restoration. We can gradually upgrade it.

What are your plans for the Miniestadi?
The Miniestadi is a small Camp Nou and we will strengthen the grassroots and the concept of our youth program. We will finish the training centre and put in place a technical staff that will turnit into a High Performance Football Center.

You refererred to La Masia as a model that you would like to export to different countries...
Yes, we understand that the model of our youth academy is very valid and should be followed more closely. The concept of our academy will be exported so that we will not only have players at the training center in Barcelona, but also create a universal program.

Let's continue to talk about the sports structure you are thinking of for Barcelona, because you have explained in your decalogue that you would replace the figure of a sporting director by a staff of three experts who would work in coordination with the first team coach. How would this favour the sporting operations of Barca?
It would benefit the youth teams, Barça Atlètic, as well as the first team. Everyone has to play in the same way, the same style of football, and that means that the little ones at the training center need to know what what will be expected of them when they are older and reach the first team. And on that path, the three sports directors - youth, Atlètic and first team - should all have the same criteria of training, built-up to the game, player attitudes, knowing that they are defending the same shirt.

Do you think Sandro Rosell is the favourite to win this election?
No. I honestly think this is going to change when each candidate presents his project.

If you became president, what would you change about the current management by Barça president Joan Laporta?
First of all, I would introduce a different style. The presidentialism of Joan Laporta has sinned in many ways, and I believe that I have a different way of being and thinking. I am more open, more participatory, more open for dialogue, more democratic and more transparent...

At the beginning of the pre-campaign you defined your candidacy as the "alternative to Laporta". Now that two other candidates, Alexis Plaza and Santi Salvat, have no association with Joan Laporta, have you redefined your motto?
We believe that we remain the clear alternative to both Laporta and the Elefant Blau and that we, in that context, present a different project. We were the first, the rest have joined in later which is a good thing. When your program is copied, this confirms that we have a good project.

What do you think about the political use of Barça by Laporta?
I think that, as a citizen, Joan Laporta has every right to participate in the democratic process and I encourage him to do is. It is something different when you are Barca president though. I think the president of Barça has to think about the institution, and should be open for the diversity that Barcelona represents and in that sense, he has mixed these two figures and, as I understand it, to his personal advantage. I asked him in a letter that he should separate things and that if he wanted to strengthen his political profile he should resign as Barça president because Barça is plural and the members do not want to get involved in politics. That is what the political parties are for.

Another decision of Joan Laporta was to appoint honorary president Johan Cruyff. How did you feel about that appointment?
I'm not going to question the value of Johan Cruyff as a player and coach, but I oppose the use of his image two months before the elections in a controversial manner at a presentation where only guests that were invited could enter the ceremony and no members were allowed to attend, which to me divides the supporters. I think the club's statutes do not include the figure of honorary president but only that of honorary member. This decision, therefore, must be validated by the General Assembly in the interest of Johan and of the club.

Before you told us you are the president of a fan club in Sant Cugat. Do you believe that, during the mandate of Joan Laporta, the fan clubs have been properly treated?
I think the penyes have been neglected. It seems as if they have not been taken into account. We want to strenghten the social area of the club and we have already stated publicly that the spokesman of the council of the fan clubs will be part of the board in the event that the members decide that Jaume Guixà will be the next president.

Joan Laporta has stated that the current Barcelona model is based on Johan Cruyff, Catalunya and Unicef. Do you agree with this statement?
No. I think that Barça is more than a club because of the hundred and a bit years of history, because of the thirty-one years of the youth academy, because of the legendary players from the Barça of the five cups, because of the history the Barça of the six cups will make... All tgether, we strive for a bigger Barça.

this was the second and last part of this interview. you can read the first part here.

Read more:
Guixa wants to export youth academy
The Decalogue of Jaume Guixa
Guixa: "You cannot trust the polls"

interview: elena fernández