Guixa: "We won't win by promising a star signing"

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Spanish football site Mercafutbol.

translation: jacob coronado

Why does a university professor in business organization, architect, and lawyer, want to be president of FC Barcelona?
First of all, these titles don't make you president of Barça, but if we add that I am president of the fan club of Sant Cugat del Vallés, that my electoral career for the presidency started back in 2006 and that I feel a great passion towards the colours of Barça it is clear that what moves me as a pre-candidate are the dreams and the desire for a different project.

As you said, you have already been a pre-candidate in the election of Barcelona in 2006 but you failed to make the cut... What makes you think that, this time, you can achieve the 2.095 signatures required to take part in the final vote?
In principle, in 2006 we said no to any more elections to the presidency of Barcelona in August because they have to be participatory, democratic and with maximum attendance. In 2010, Barcelona president Joan Laporta told us that there would be an election with maximum participation but he has once again violated this promise of democracy. Still, after the months of the pre-campaign, after I presented myself last December, we are excited and eager to campaign and propose an alternative to Laporta. However, we are seeing, unfortunately, that the current board of directors are continuously intervening to block the popular vote.

How did you take the club's decision to stop allowing the collection of signatures on the final match day in the Nou Camp?
Very bad because what the club, Joan Laporta, and the Elefant Blau have always defended has been transparency, participation, and democracy. Moreso, Laporta who at times has expressed desire to go into politics, is giving a bad example. Barça must support maximum participation so that the the highest possible number of members can exercise their right to vote.

The current board seems ready to take another controversial decision which would be to close a signing before the end of term. If so, what do you think of it?
We, as in the candidacy of Jaume Guixà, have always said that we will be respectful with the first team and we would not do as they did with the Beckham controversy. We do not have that line of conduct, we are serious and we will not win by a signing, but instead with the illusion of a project, and the desire and enthusiasm to convince the member, which is the only guarantee of the vote.

Do you think therefore, that if the current board would present a new signing it would be for electoral interests, rather than sporting one?
It is obvious and already showing at this time by them not allowing the member to participate on a very important game day. I'd like to see, finally, how this process ends because with the members of the Elefant Blau, with continuism, and with the people who have left the laportism, in the end there will not be plurality of projects and the member will not be able to discern one project from another.

You've already made it clear you will not use the promise of a star signing, but do you think that some other candidate could?
I can only talk about the candidacy of Jaume Guixà. For the other candidates, each can choose their own lines for a project and how to get the vote. We will not destabilize Pep Guardiola, we will not destabilize the first team, and we will not win the presidency with a star signing. This was our message from the first day and we are going to maintain that.

Why do you think you should win this election?
I think the members have to analyze and to put apart the sporting successes, congratulating Joan Laporta, as he will go down in history as the president of the six cups. But I think the member of Barcelona has managed to differentiate between the successes of Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff and the poor management by the current board. We believe that the continuism is all about Laporta, as he has shown as Barça president, who embraced his lifelong friend and when he saw necessary, he abandoned him and hugged another. In addition, there was a motion of censure in 2008 when some board members left because they understood that the mandate had expired. I would place them in the same bag. We have a different project, especially in the field of management. We are concerned about the economic situation of the club because there's a spending in short and in medium term which should be corrected, and a revenue trend that we clearly must change. We are also concerned about the treatment of the sports centre which is unfinished, and the process of reclassifying the Mini Stadium. I am in contact with the affected neighborhood associations and they oppose the project. And when we talk of holding the reins of the club differently, we mean that the member of Barcelona will participate in a voting process on the reclassification. We also say no to the Foster project, which is a project of megalomania of Laporta to leave behind a legacy that includes this pharaonic project that will have high lighting and maintenance costs.

this was the first part of this interview. you can read the first part here.

Read more:
Guixa wants to export youth academy
The Decalogue of Jaume Guixa
Guixa: "You cannot trust the polls"

interview: elena fernández