Elections Weekly (14): The Waiting Game
this is a summary of the blog FC Barcelona 2010 where you can follow the build-up to the elections on a daily basis. the blog can also be followed through facebook and twitter. you can click on the links to read the full story. you can read all previous episodes of this weekly here.
New candidates are reportedly getting ready to enter the race for Barcelona president although the claims are somewhat unclear on whether these would be part of or separate from the various projects that have been reported in recent weeks.
Possible candidacies repeatedly mentioned include those of Catalan journalist Xavier Bosch, who again claimed that he has been offered to head a ticket, and former Barcelona player Carles Rexach, whose Facebook challenge is reportedly gathering momentum. Catalan sports pundit Josep Maria Minguella also recently confirmed that his group is organizing primaries and could announce a concrete candidacy soon.
The personalities coming out of these initiatives would be joining the growing list of confirmed hopefuls that includes Alfons Godall, current vice-president and Laporta candidate; Sandro Rosell, former vice-president and member of the original Laporta board; Jaume Ferrer, current vice-president and alternative continuity candidate; Agusti Benedito, former director and member of the original Laporta board; Francesc Mañe, former president of Barcelona fans’ club Som-hi; and Jaume Guixa,university professor and former presidential pre-candidate.
Former economic vice-president Ferran Soriano is said to be announcing his own candidacy in the coming weeks, with some Catalan media suggesting that he could lead a united board candidacy that would include the Godall and Ferrer camps.
Onda Cero journalist Victor Lozano, speaking to the blog in this week’s The Catalan Cave, however suggests that Soriano would wait and act when he sees “more clearly what the electoral landscape will look like.”
Close Soriano associate and former Barcelona vice-president Marc Ingla has reportedly been preparing for Soriano’s candidacy. In a published overview of how the original 15- man Laporta board would take part or vote , Ingla appears to be one among many members of the 2003 board that would be taking an active role in the coming elections.
Sandro Rosell is said to have nearly all of his team in place, while Godall, Ferrer, and Soriano would still be in the process of selecting members of their board. They would be looking for individuals who, according to one report, would be able to invest up to 60,000 euro in the campaign and prepared to deposit a bank guarantee of up to 4 million euro.
Former Barcelona president Joan Gaspart meantime expressed the belief that outgoing club president Laporta could take part in a presidential candidacy as a vice-president in Godall’s team and claimed that he had in fact suggested the “machiavellian plan” to Laporta.
On the pre-campaign trail, there are reports that claim presidential candidate Sandro Rosell could officially present his candidacy on May 6, a day of historic significance to the club. One year ago, on May 6, Andres Iniesta scored the winning goal that would put Barcelona past English side Chelsea and thru to the Champions League final where they eventually defeated Manchester United to become the only Spanish team to win a European treble.
Rosell is reportedly taking part in a debate at a sports conference called Global Sports Forum to be held in Barcelona next month. A biography published by the organizers of the event highlights Rosell’s marketing and sports management background. The former Barcelona sports vice-president is also said to have recently told some groups that he would pick Jaume Ferrer as team mate if forced to team up with another candidate.
Ferrer, who reportedly said the same about Rosell, nevertheless claimed in his Formspring page that his objective is to reach the presidency. Asked if he would also cancel the position of sporting director just like Rosell, Ferrer said he would defend the current successful model that has separate positions for a sports director, a coach and a head of the youth academy.
Board candidate Alfons Godall also said he would keep the model that has brought so much success to the club, claiming that the model- “the Barca of the six cups”- separates the positions of sports director and coach.
Candidate Agusti Benedito, who earlier said he would keep the position of sporting director but would replace Txiki Begiristain, believes on the other hand that the sporting aspect will not be the main focus of discussion. On the matter of transfers, Benedito claims this would be best decided in consultation with Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
Candidates Godall, Rosell, Ferrer and Benedito took a breather from their respective pre-campaign activities last week to watch the Champions League match between Barcelona and Stuttgart.
Our featured quote of the week comes from Abraham Clotet of Catalan daily Sport, who shared in the blog segment The Catalan Cave why he thinks Sandro Rosell is staying silent about his candidacy:
I think Rosell doesn’t want to wear himself out too soon. He knows that if he talks, he has more to lose than to win. I think that he will wait until the very last minute so he can take as much advantage as possible of the good image many people have of him.
(A sidenote to this week’s roundup: Catalan sports weekly paper Gol, mentioned the blog (and featured in its pages a screenshot image of the E-112 edition) in an election-related write up entitled “Joc Brut@ Internet” , or Dirty Play on the Internet)
Most read post of the week:
The Catalan Cave: Victor Lozano (Onda Cero)
Soriano could lead united board candidacy
Interesting sidenote of the week:
i am a " rosellist " since his active times as our vice president and i hope he will make it. his concept sounds interesting to me. the idea with to cancel the position of the sporting director is a good thing. that means, pep would have, like the managers in england, the absolut responsibility and power of transfers. i´m sure pep would love and appreciate it.
godall will be rosells main rival and i think the elections will be very exciting. i´m sure godall will make rosell a hard time not just because laporta´s support for godall, he doesn´t want change the current model. even the majority of the current board members would stay. hmm…. why we should take a risky move in voting for someone ( rosell) who want to start a " revolution" ? why changing a successful model and those responsible ? voters, who thinks like this, will vote for godall and, i´m sure that there will be many of them.
me personally, i´m for the " revolution " !
Well, from what I read. He doesn't actually cancel the position. He just said that he would offer it to Guardiola. If Guardiola is not going to be the coach of Barca, then a new sport director will be appointed. So what I understand there is no revolution, just another way to kiss Guardiola's ass to get some more votes.
Pep doesn't love that, he has already said explicitly he doesn't want more power…
i dont think the sports director is especially different in spain to england, take man u – fegrie wants a player tells the club, they arrange the transfer, it's not fergie doing the negotiating. pep wanted ibra and chiggy, told the club txiki went and got them. i can't imagine many of the transfer were the sole responsibility of txiki in the same way that once fergie puts in his request he then has little to do with the transfer process.
anyway if we could have one united continuity candidate that would be good.
You need someone to do the actual transfer process anyway and I can't imagine that Guardiola will have the energy to do it. Even if he takes the position, there will be actually another person who leads a group of people to deal with transfer process. In practice, there is not much difference as before. Guardiola can give requests or green-light it if he thinks the price is right, as what he's doing now.
its been said that rosell is interested in handling the economic aspect of transfers, which is part of his expertise i guess. the sporting aspect would be handled by guardiola or whoever is coach at the time, meaning rosell himself could do the negotiating once pep identifies the targets.
I gonna vote for Jaume Guixà cause is the only one who has nothing to do with all the black issues of Laporta, many thing has happened inside Barça and I would like to have a new president who starts from zero and who really loves the club. I think all the others candidates have many interests outside and they want to use the club for their own business.