Godall: "Laporta and I were a tandem"

Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall gave an interview to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia.


Will you run for president of Barça?
In these elections a club model that has been successful and that we want to see having continuity will be in play. At this moment it's not yet clear to me if I will be the candidate, but that cannot be ruled out. It will depend on how we will interpret the electoral climate, the situation of the candidates and the opinions within the board.

The majority of the potential candidates were also part of the project of Laporta. Do they share the same model?
This board and those who have arrived at the point where we are now have always opted for a sporting model, a way of playing, of presence of the youth players, of stability in the technical department... The permanency of Txiki and the fact that there have only been two coaches have been a consequence of this view. Others have been on the board, but have left for various reasons.

Although he was there in the beginning of the project, mister Rosell did not share this model. For example, in November of the first season he already was in favour of dismissing the coach, against the general opinion of the board and the president, and later it was proven that backing the continuity of Txiki and Rijkaard was the right thing because it gave us two league titles and a Champions League.

Other fellow board members, who left after the vote of no confidence, did so for other reasons. Although they committed a mistake, Ferran Soriano and the others who left the club at that moment did share this model during a longer period.

Sandro Rosell left because this board had a model that was basically presidential.
The sporting model of Sandro Rosell is Sandro Rosell. He has a way of interpreting things in a more short-term way. I think he will propose a more personalist club model and that he won't opt for the current way of playing, for the homegrown players and for being patient at the right times.

Would, on the other hand, a deal with Soriano be possible?
That is possible, but it's still very early.

Could the board candidate, which could be you, be a puppet of a Laporta who stays out of the limelight?
History will judge Laporta as a great president. Said that, the Laporta era will end on 30 June 2010. Any future bid will provide the value of our experience, but will also include the seeds of change for the simple reason that the president will change.

What is the difference between you and Laporta?
It is true that we are friends, we share personal views, even ideological ones, and of course on Barça, but our personalities are different. I have tried to help him and to compensate some aspects of his strong character. It was a tandem that has worked, but in the future I also hope to have the luck to be able to count on a future board member or board members who will help me to do well in what will be my role in the board.

Just when the team has an unimprovable image, it appears that the board and the president are not well regarded. Will that change if you become president?
A Barça without Laporta won't have anymore some of the virtues that he has brought to the club and neither some of the excesses or possible shortcomings which, because of his personality and way of being, might have happened.

this is the first part of this interview. read the second part here. and the third part here.

Read more:
Godall: "Being president would be a dream"
Soriano meeting with Godall and Sala
Poll result: Who should be the board candidate?


interview: m.d. garcía and dagoberto escorcia

Will Begiristain leave together with the president?

Asked if Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain could leave the club together with him, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport that he hopes that Begiristain will stay on:

"Life changes. It isn't a bad thing that people renew themselves, and I'm talking about myself here. I would like Txiki to continue. We are of the same generation, we have a great drive, we act with common sense. What we have lived over these years has been very rewarding. In a few years we'll realize what we have done. There has also been a lot of wear and tear and sometimes your body asks you to stop.

I certainly consider him to be a key figure. He's the one who has won the most titles in the history of the club. Appointing him has been my best decision as president. He's talented, he has an instinct, an ideal character to get along with Pep and Rijkaard, professional, fair, with a good judgment, someone who knows how to act at every moment."

Read more:
Begiristian could leave for Premier League
Elections have no influence on transfer activity
Laporta thought about Begiristain as his successor

The Quote: Jaume Guixa

"The board of mister Laporta will go down in the history of the club as the most unstable one."


Jaume Guixà,
candidate in the elections for president of FC Barcelona

read more election quotes here

Two options left for Soriano

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano is still considering what his final strategy will be ahead of the upcoming elections for president of FC Barcelona.

There would at this moment be two options left: or Soriano will run himself for president, or he will support the candidacy of current Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall.

The key issue is reportedly his job as chairman of Spanish airline Spanair. Soriano will be a candidate if he can find an agreement with the shareholders who appointed him earlier this year. If that's not the case, Soriano would support the continuity candidacy that will be lead by Godall, with whom Soriano already held several contacts (read more here).

Catalan newspaper El Periódico on the other hand claims that there is at this moment no chance at all that Soriano will take part in the elections as a candidate or as a collaborator of another presidential candidate because of his job at the Catalan-owned airline.

Read more:
Soriano meeting with Godall and Sala
Poll result: Who would you vote for today?
Soriano scoring in Japan with management book

Minguella hoping for non-Laporta linked candidate

Asked about the upcoming elections, former players' agent and former presidential candidate Josep Maria Minguella, who could again run for president next year (read more here), has said in an interview with Catalan sports weekly paper Gol that he hopes for a candidate who has no links with the current president:

"It's still very early to talk about favourites, and even more so because the World Cup for Clubs, that could put a great end to a fantastic year, still has to be played.

It's a fact that Rosell has already presented his candidacy and that there will be coming one or two more candidates from the current board. But the only thing I hope for is that there will be a candidate who really stands at the side of the club members and who has never been linked with Laporta. I mean that one should be able not to just vote for or against Laporta but for a neutral candidate.

I surely think that in the next elections the names of possible signings won't have an impact on the final result. Trying to strengthen the squad when the team is doing excellent like is the case now, is not the right way to go. You only have to base your candidacy on transfers when the sporting results haven't been positive."

Read more:
Will former super-agent run for president?
Candidates disapprove Laporta's party behaviour
Cartoon 17: Minguella offering himself

Weekly Round-Up (3)

Every week an overview of the posts from this blog is published on Barcelona news site totalBarca.


These are good times for polling agencies. The Barcelona board has ordered to carry out a poll among club members, which includes the evaluation of a series of current and former board members and gathers information about the approximately 40.000 club members who could vote for the first time next year. Sandro Rosell meanwhile held own polls that confirm that he is currently supported by over 50 per cent of the voters.

Another poll on the other hand indicates that club members think that Joan Laporta is being a good president. The president, who got praised by the world's best chef Ferran Adriá, also would have preferred to run again but is anyhow looking forward to an interesting campaign: "I'm curious to hear about the options that our opponents will bring to the table to challenge the sporting, economic and social model that has allowed us to live the best years in the history of the club."

>>> read the complete weekly round-up here

The Quote: Sandro Rosell

"We went there to teach football and we returned having learnt humanity."


Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell,
on the Football Dreams project in Qatar

read more election quotes here

Puyol not thinking about elections

Barcelona central defender and captain Carles Puyol gave an interview to Catalan sports paper Sport during which he also talked about the upcoming presidential elections.


How does the captain of the team look at the election process?
Honestly, is not an issue I think about. I am focused on playing, I don't know when the campaign will start or when elections will be held. These are things that we cannot control. We will be focusing on playing, on competing for the titles, that's the most important thing for us. I'm sure that each candidate will do his job and that they will look for the best for Barça.

As a club member, will you come out and vote?
If I will be around, I certainly will do that. Although since one cannot vote by mail, it will be impossible when I'm out of the country.

Read more:
The Quote: Carles Puyol
Begiristian could leave for Premier League
Cesc gives his ok to presidential candidates

Godall not pronouncing on candidacy

Asked if he will be a candidate in the elections for president of FC Barcelona that will take place next year (read more here), Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall has said in an interview with Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia that the decision on the board candidate hasn't yet been made:

"In the coming elections a club model club that has been successful and that we want to see having continuity will be in play. At this moment I am not sure if I will be the candidate, but that should not be ruled out. It will depend on how we will interpret the electoral atmosphere, the situation of the candidates and the opinions within the board of directors."

Read more:
Godall: "Being president would be a dream"
Soriano meeting with Godall and Sala
Talks on board candidate to start in December

Poll result: Change or continuity?

Regarding the upcoming elections,
would you prefer a board of change or a continuity one?

Change 57,6 %
Continuity 34,6 %
Don't know/Don't answer 7,8 %

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

Most read this week

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


1.
Cesc gives his ok to presidential candidates

2.
Rosell plans to quit football business

3.
More about Benedito (4): On Txiki and Camp Nou

Former vice-president part of board team Guixa

At a press conference in the Meliá hotel in Girona, a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà has presented on Friday former Barcelona vice-president Jaume Sobrequés (picture, on the left) as a member of his candidacy.

Sobrequés explained at the press conference his reasons for supporting Guixà in his race to the presidency: "I support Jaume Guixà because I see him as a person who could lead FC Barcelona in an effective and different way. He could be the new blood that is needed as he doesn't have any historical links with the club.

Laporta will try for a continuity candidate to keep on leading the club, but I think the club needs someone with a different way of acting and being than the outgoing president, and that Barça should be led by a strict and punctual person like Guixà, a professor and a man of sciences and someone who is used to that kind of seriousness.

I also insist that we need to decentralize the club. We don't stop talking about Barcelona being the club of Catalonia, but that should be put in practice and that's why we are here today and why we will later be in Lleida and Tarragona, so that the club members and the fans' clubs of the whole territory feel that we respresent them. We want to have the support of as many people as possible, not only of the club members who can vote for us but also of others who support the club."

Jaume Sobrequés, who will be part of the club's board of directors if Guixà is chosen president, is a 66-year old historian, university professor and former politician. From 1993 to 2000, Sobrequés was part of the Barcelona board under then president Josep Lluís Núñez, being a vice-president of the club for a couple of years during that period.

Read more:
More about Guixa
Candidates disapprove Laporta's party behaviour
Jaume Guixa will run for president

The Quote: Ferran Adria

"When people in 50 years from now will talk about these eight years of Laporta, they will be seen as an almost unrepeatable period."


Ferran Adrià,
Catalan chef of the El Bulli restaurant

read more election quotes here

Laporta would have liked to run again

Asked about the upcoming elections for president of FC Barcelona, that will be held in the spring of next year, Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who cannot run a third time after two terms in office, has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that he would have preferred to take again part in the elections himself:

"Of course I would have been delighted to be able to run again because it will be a passionate campaign. I'm surprised that the polls are already indicating that much support for a continuity candidate who hasn't yet been chosen. At this moment there are only two and a half candidates, so it's normal that those who already said they will take part get the most votes.

There is no board candidate yet but I think he should have an own profile. It wouldn't be a good idea to appoint a heir. Alfons Godall? He has some extraordinary qualities, but there are others who are also capable of leading a new project and they could make a great team. Jaume Ferrer? I can't stop anybody from having hopes. I will not block anyone's wishes.

I will keep some distance during the process although it's clear that I want the one who defends the model that is working to win. I will give my opinion, based on my experience, because being the president of Barça isn't easy at all. With everything that is still in play, it's nevertheless too early and not very constructive to start debating publicly about something that is still far away.

It will be difficult to propose an alternative model and that's why I'm curious to hear about the options that our opponents will bring to the table to challenge the sporting, economic and social model that has allowed us to live the best years in the history of the club. I think the most important thing now is to give continuity to a model that is working, that is only halfway and that can give the club many more successes."

Read more:
Godall: "Being president would be a dream"
Poll Result: Third presidential term for Laporta?
Laporta: "We'll talk about our candidate in January"

Benedito to open campaign headquarters

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito, who will take part in next yearyear's elections, will open his campaign offices before the end of this month.

The headquarters of Benedito will be located at the heart of the city of Barcelona, on the first floor of the Plaça de Sant Jaume, 2 (at the centre right of the picture). The Sant Jaume square is the centre of political life in Barcelona, as you can find there the "Palau de la Generalitat", the seat of the Catalan government, and the "Casa de la Ciutat" (at the left of the picture), the city hall of Barcelona.

Read more:
Benedito denies talks with Mascherano
More about Benedito (four-parts series)
Benedito optimistic about passing signatures cut

Weekly Round-Up (2)

Every week an overview of the posts from this blog is published on Barcelona news site totalBarca.


The most interesting news of the weeks was without any doubt that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano would have been meeting with Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín in New York and with Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall in Barcelona. It's unclear what the outcome of the talks is but some think that our two crucial remaining questions (what will former Soriano do? and who will be the board candidate?) could get a joint answer.

Godall and Sala i Martín (cartoon) meanwhile continue to work on the candidacy that will be supported by current Barcelona president Joan Laporta. After it was last week rumoured that Barcelona director Magda Oranich could be promoted and become the first female vice-president in the history of the club, it has now been claimed that also Barcelona board secretary Josep Cubells could become a vice-president.

>>> read the complete weekly round-up here