BARCELONA // FC Barcelona’s 109,000 socios (club members) go to the polls at Camp Nou on Saturday to vote for their next club president.
Five candidates are competing, with the winner set for a four-year term in charge of the Spanish and European champions. A sixth, fan group Seguiment, surprisingly made the cut of 2,450 signatures before a re-count said they had missed it by 13 votes.
The match-going fans at Seguiment didn’t want to be president, they wanted action against Camp Nou’s dreadful atmosphere, where vocal fans are spread around a stadium full of elderly fans and tourists. It wasn’t an issue for the main candidates; it is now, with the idea of a vocal section being seriously discussed.
The two favourites are Josep Maria Bartomeu, president last season when Barca excelled on the pitch. That’s his greatest asset; he’s the man who delivered the treble.
Had elections taken place at the start of 2015, Bartomeu would have struggled. It was his signature on the forms with which Barca signed young players illegally, the reason they are currently banned from using players signed now until 2016, such as Arda Turan, their latest star signing.
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Bartomeu, who was never voted in as he took over from ally and former president Sandro Rosell when he stepped down over the bungled Neymar transfer, remains favourite with 32 per cent of the vote in the latest polls.
His main rival is Rosell’s former friend turned nemesis, Joan Laporta. With 26 per cent of the predicted vote, Laporta, who was a successful Barca president between 2003 and 2010 when he served the maximum two consecutive terms, is closing in on Bartomeu.
Though Laporta turned to politics afterwards, the pair are lawyers by trade and, while the post of Barca’s president is unpaid, for the wealthy candidates who need 15 per cent of the club’s revenue – currently €75 million (Dh305m) – in bank guarantees, it’s the highest profile position in Catalonia and the prestige runs deep.
With 27 per cent of the voters still undecided, there remains all to play for in the election. In 2003, Laporta surged from being an outsider to winner on the promise of bringing David Beckham to the club. He didn’t, but Ronaldinho sufficed.
The talk of new players is what excites some socios who aren’t overly interested in the budgetary requirements of Barca’s handball section. Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba has been linked with Barca in the media, but Bartomeu maintains that coach Luis Enrique, who has stayed well away from favouring any candidate, hasn’t made the signing of Pogba a priority.
There are other issues. The commercial sponsorship by Qatar Airlines on a Barca shirt, which many Catalans consider sacred, is divisive, though profitable.
The Masia youth factory is another. Barca’s B team were relegated last season from Spain’s second division and the flow of top talent has been reduced. Bartomeu said: “When it comes to Barca B, I think that there was a mistake in the planning. We made a mistake. Sometimes we want to make stars out of players that are too young. What’s most important for La Masia is that players continue with their educational process.”
Such mistakes are eagerly seized upon by his rivals, though Laporta made many of his own while president. He remains popular, though he is trying to get the support of the other candidates Agusto Benedito and Toni Freixa, whom he suggested join him in the fight against Bartomeu.
Frexia and Benedito, with no more than 6 per cent of the predicted vote, said they don’t want to make pacts with other candidates.
A debate on Catalan television scheduled for Tuesday night will see Bartomeu and Laporta go head-to-head for the first time. Bartomeu has so far refused to participate in such debates, but fans want to see him answer the accusations of those trying to topple him.
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