Catalan sports paper Sport claimed yesterday that Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla and several key members of his candidacy have tried in 2005 to get an upgrade of the season-tickets of themselves and some family members and that former Barcelona vice-president Albert Vicens had organized the whole upgrade for board members.After several denials yesterday evening and this morning, when among other things Ingla said at a press conference that he already has the same seat for over fourty years, the candidacy put out a press release with more detailed information.
In the note, it is explained that Vicens was never in charge of any relocation of season-tickets, that Ingla and Alfons Godall still have the same seats as before they joined the board in 2003 and that Vicens and Ferran Soriano changed their seats in 2008 through the normal procedure of relocation that is open to all club members.
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Great job from Sport that they found a two-year old rumour and presented it as news that "will make much noise and will be heard halfway around the world".
ReplyDeleteyeah, the original story came from pelikano.cat, a quite radical anti-board and pro-rosell website, and was published ahead of the vote of no confidence in 2008.
ReplyDeleteCarazo should hang his head in shame, this has to be the least explosive "bombshell" in journalistic history. Even if true it's hardly a revelation of watergate proportions.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that now even Sport is joining the Rosell camp by allowing Carazo (pro-Rosell) to publish this story. There won't be any opposition in the media if Rosell is elected and this lack of public control wories me a lot.
ReplyDeleteAbout "the bomb": directors arranging better seats for family and friends was a common practice in the period of Nunez. The season-tickets are a very sensible issue among the local club members because people have to wait for more than 10-15 years to get a seat. Unless you have a lot of money and can buy one in the circuit.
I think the denial from Ingla and his people has been very clear, but there's always something that will keep sticking in people's head. I guess when it would have been true, the people who are sitting near to them in the Camp Nou would have come out.
In any case, Ingla's press release was an example of transparency compared to how Rosell is dealing with (far more serious) issues like his Brasilian company or the Boixos Nois, where he's just trying to tap up everthing (with the help of the media).