Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news

Under the front-page headline "Pre-Electoral Earthquake Inside The Barcelona Board: Barça Has Been Spying On Four Vice-Presidents", Catalan newspaper El Periódico brought on Thursday 24 September the story that Barcelona has been investigating four vice-presidents.

The paper claims that Catalan detective agency Método 3 has been gathering information on Barcelona vice-presidents Joan Boix (finances), Joan Franquesa (assets administration), Rafael Yuste (sports matters) and Jaume Ferrer (marketing and media) earlier this year.

The order for the investigations was reportedly given by Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver. At the request of one of the four directors concerned, who wanted to have his background checked, Oliver would have asked the security services of the club to contact an agency that would make a report of four vice-presidents, three of them not being alerted about the investigation.

The detective agency carried out at the end of April of this year a so-called risk analysis, examining the professional and private lives of the targets to see if something could be used against one of them during the upcoming election campaign.

When one of the four vice-presidents who were spied upon found out what was going on, he reportedly informed his colleagues and they met with Barcelona president Joan Laporta to ask for further explanations. The president showed his surprise when confronted with the story and told the directors he didn't know about the investigations.

Laporta was able to convince the four board members that he was not aware of what had been going on and, although one of the four still wouldn't exclude to take legal actions after next year's elections, it was in the end agreed to silence the case in order to safeguard the stability of the club.

this is the first of ten parts on the case. the second part will cover the reaction of barcelona ceo joan oliver. you can read the whole series here.

Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?

this article was originally published at fcbtransfers.blogspot.com


In May or June next year, Barcelona's club members will appoint a new president. After two terms, current president Joan Laporta cannot run again. Who are the candidates to succeed him?


1. The continuity candidate
The current Barcelona board wants to put forward one candidate who should continue the current project. In recent weeks and months, this seemed to have become a struggle between marketing vice-president Jaume Ferrer and recently appointed board member Xavier Sala i Martín.

While Sala, a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York, would have the support of president Laporta, Ferrer would be backed by the majority of the board members. First vice-president Alfons Godall, who first had said that he would not run, has put himself back on the map in two interviews earlier this week and could become the consensus candidate. A decision is expected to be made in December or January.

2. Sandro Rosell (former sports vice-president, board member 2003-2005) (picture)
Rosell is until this moment the only one who has publicly announced - in the summer of 2008 - that he will run for president. He has started to prepare for the elections shortly after he resigned as vice-president in 2005.

Rosell has long been seen as the favourite to become the next president although this could have changed because of last season's sporting succeses of the team. Rosell is seen as the architect of the team around Brazilian player Ronaldinho that won two league titles and one Champions League under coach Frank Rijkaard.

3. Ferran Soriano (former economic vice-president, board member 2003-2008)
Until he stepped down together with several other board members last summer, Soriano was considered to be the most likely "board candidate" for the elections. Soriano is seen as the architect of the current healthier financial situation of the club, compared to the situation when Laporta took office back in 2003. Because of his new job as chairman of airline company Spanair it has become uncertain if Soriano will run.

4. The Others
Several other names of people from the "entorn", the club's entourage, are rumoured to try to set up a candidature. Former presidental candidates like Jordi Majó, Josep Maria Minguella or Jaume Llauradó could again make an attempt, although none of them are expected to have a serious chance and they might try to link up with one of the main candidates trying to get a place in the board.

(vaguely based on an article in Catalan sports paper Sport)