Rexach will next week decide on candidacy

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, former Barcelona player and manager Carles Rexach has said that he is still looking at the option to run for president in the upcoming elections and that he plans to decide next week:

"It's possible that I take part in the elections. I will let the Madrid game pass by and next week we will make a decision. There are people I'm interested in, others not that much. The world of football is quite complicated, but we will not jump the gun."

According to Spanish news agency Europa Press, Rexach also assured that he already has a project in place that would include names of collaborators.

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that one of the main people behind the candidacy of Rexach is Antón Parera, a former Barcelona executive at the time of former presidents Josep Lluís Núñez and Joan Gaspart, under whom he was general director.

Read more:
Rexach seriously considering to run for president
Poll result: Would Rexach be good president?
Rexach trying to set up campaign

The Pundit: Tomas Guasch on easy victory Rosell

« The late Helenio Herrera, called The Wizard, made Barça great in the 1950s and Inter after that, and left us memorable quotes like "we will win without getting off the bus". This could be applied to Sandro Rosell in these elections. »

Tomás Guasch,
As

check more pundit talk

Torres confirms good relationship with Rosell

Asked about a possible return to Spain, Liverpool Fernando Torres (25) has said in an interview with Madrid sports tabloid As that, despite a good contact with Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell, he has no plans to leave the English Premier League soon:

"You never know what can happen but for now I don't consider a return to the Spanish league. Sandro Rosell already wanted me before? I have a good relationship with Sandro since his time at Nike, but these are hypotheses because he is not even the president of Barça. In the short term, my future is in England."

Read more:
Rosell sounding out Fernando Torres
Rooney could become electoral transfer target
Polls lead to Cesc transfer rumours

Ribery rejects approach Rosell

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell has been trying to close a deal with Bayern Munich attacker Franck Ribéry (26) but the player would not be interested in a move to Barcelona (read more here).

Rosell would like Ribéry to be one of the new faces of his project if he's elected as president in June but despite several calls to Bayern Munich and attempts to convice the Frenchman, Ribéry would reportedly only want to join Real Madrid in the summer.

Read more:
Candidate has deal with Ribery
Transfer battle between board and Rosell
Polls lead to Cesc transfer rumours

Polls lead to Cesc transfer rumours

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that the recent rumours regarding a deal on the transfer of Arsenal midfielder Cesc to Barcelona this summer are a consecuence of vote intention enquiries.

Private polls among club members and fans would show that Barcelona vice-president Alfons Godall is going behind and the leaking of names of players that could join Barcelona would be a strategy by the club to attract more votes.

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that, because of the polls, the current board wants to present two big transfers before the elections, with Cesc and Bayern Munich attacker Franck Ribéry suggested as possible targets. The club would be trying to make a budget of 100 million euros available for the signings.

Read more:
Rooney could become electoral transfer target
Laporta and Rosell contacted Cesc
Ribery on wish list Rosell

Godall waiting for poll to announce candidacy

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona vice-president Alfons Godall will announce before the end of the month of January during a press conference that he will take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona later this year.

Sources close to the vice-president would have told the paper that Godall is waiting for the results of a poll that has been carried out to make his candidacy public. If Godall in the end would decide not to run, Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín would be ready to take his place.

Madrid sports paper As claims that Barcelona president Joan Laporta prefers Sala i Martín over Godall, but that a candidacy lead by the first would most probably mean that bank guarantees should be put down because Sala i Martín only joined the board of directors last year.

Read more:
No deal after new Godall-Ferrer negotiations
Poll result: Who should be the board candidate?
Treasurer Sala invites Ferrer to join Godall group

Minguella and Medina behind Rexach candidacy

Madrid sports tabloid As confirms that former Barcelona player and manager Carles "Charly" Rexach (63) has been offered by a group of Barcelona fans to head a candidacy in the presidential elections later this year (read more here).

The mentioned group would, among others, consist of Jordi Roche (former president of the Catalan football federation – read more here), Jordi Medina (pre-candidate in the elections in 2003 and 2006 – read more here), Josep Maria Minguella (candidate in the elections in 2003 – read more here) and Miquel Llobet, a famous Catalan orthopedic surgeon.

The idea is that Rexach would be the "face" of the candidacy and that he would be assisted by qualified professionals in areas like finances and marketing. The whole project should be finalized by the end of this month, so that the team would be ready in case the elections are called.

Read more:
Medina will again take part in the elections
Rexach confirms offer to run for president
Former president of Catalan federation could run
Will former super-agent run for president?

Ribery on wish list Rosell

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Bayern Munich attacker Franck Ribéry (26), who last May would have rejected an offer by Barcelona president Joan Laporta, could play a part in the upcoming elections as presidential candidate Sandro Rosell would have the Frenchman on his wish list.

Rosell would be interested in Ribéry for many reasons, among which the facts that the player would fit Barcelona's playing style, that he's one of the few top players available on the market, that the former sports vice-president has good contacts with executives of Ribéry's sponsor Nike and that Real Madrid is also interested in him which could win Rosell extra votes if he succeeds to sign the player.

Bayern Munich would reportedly want to organize a bid race between the two Spanish clubs, Chelsea and Inter Milan, while the player is said to have reached a verbal agreement with Madrid president Florentino Pérez last August.

Read more:
Barcelona wants to tie down Ribery before elections
Rosell sounding out Fernando Torres
Presidential candidates know transfer price Cesc

Presidential candidates unhappy with renewals

Madrid sports paper As claims that presidential candidates Sandro Rosell, Agustí Benedito and Jaume Guixà are unhappy with the renewal policy of the current board of Barcelona president Joan Laporta over the last year.

The non-board candidates would agree that it would have been better to postpone the renewals and to give the new board more freedom in the composition of the squad, even more so because there weren't important offers for any of the renewed players, none of them had the wish to leave the club and key players like Iniesta and Messi already had long-term contracts.

The candidates reportedly think Laporta has been renewing the contracts of a lot of players to continue to be able to claim the team's successes in the future. In 2009, Barcelona has extended the contracts of players like Touré, Valdés, Pedro, Messi, Puyol, Abidal, Iniesta and Márquez.

Read more:
Benedito denies talks with Mascherano
Poll result: Who would you vote for?
The Rosell Project - Part 2: The Team

Council linked with Rosell working on ethical code

Last Thursday, the Consell Sènior Blaugrana (Blaugrana Senior Council) publicly presented itself during an event assisted by 100 to 150 people at the Princesa Sofía hotel in Barcelona.

The Consell Sènior Blaugrana wants to unite Barcelona club members who are older than 60 years and are a club member for more than 20 years. The objective of the Council is to provide ideas that can lead to a better management and a better public image of the club.

The executive committee of the Council consists of six people and is presided by Catalan business man Ramón Pont, who is rumoured to be part of the candidacy of former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell (read more here). Rosell, who will run for president next year, assisted the event. The committee also includes the fathers of Rosell and of his right-hand man Josep Maria Bartomeu (see below).

The main focus of the Council is at this moment the elaboration of an ethical code for the club which should make the decisions taken by the club more transparent.

A first draft of the code has been drawn up by university professors Antonio Argandoña and Fermín Morales and is based on the principles of legality, honesty and service to the members, loyalty to the club, information and transparency, participation, pluralism and austerity.

Apart from giving some general criteria, the code would more concretely want to avoid certain specific acts, among which getting involved in conflicts of interest, putting pressure on others to obtain a decision in the benefit of oneself or of a third party, hiring relatives as an employee or a commercial partner, disclosing corporate decisions to third parties that are not involved, publicly or privately behaving in a way that damages the image of the club, accepting commissions and accepting gifts that can lead to a lack of objectivity.

The ultimate goal is that, after the upcoming presidential elections, this ethical code would become part of the club's by-laws and that an ethical commission would be put in place to safeguard the code by controlling and sanctioning the acts by the club's directors and executives. The commission would consist of six people and the president of the commission would be part of the board of directors.

Read more:
Rosell working on ethical code
Internet entrepreneur joins Rosell candidacy


members of the executive committee of the consell sènior blaugrana:

Josep Maria Bartomeu
chairman of the TEAM group
>>> father of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who is rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors

Ramón Garriga
former chief executive of the TÜV Rheinland group in Spain

Joan Granados
former chief executive of FC Barcelona and former general director of Catalan public media corporation CCRTV
>>> father of Roger Granados, who is rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors

Jordi Montané
chairman of the Pontex group

Ramón Pont
chairman of the Borges group
>>> rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors

Jaume Rosell
former secretary of FC Barcelona and chairman of the FAR group
>>> father of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell


picture:
Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell (centre) with the six members of the executive committee of the Senior Blaugrana Council on Thursday 12 November in Barcelona. At Rosell's right hand, you see Ramón Pont, president of the Council, on Rosell's left hand side, you see his father Jaume Rosell.

sources: as, el 9 esportiu, el mundo deportivo, e-notícies, esadir.blogspot.com, pelikano, sport

When will the elections be held?

Last August, the changes made by FC Barcelona's general assembly to the club's by-laws included the date on which the presidential elections should be held.

The third paragraph of Article 39.1 (entitled Call of the elections - Terms) of FC Barcelona's by-laws now reads as follows:

"The elections for the presidency of the Club should be held between 15 March and 15 June, immediately preceding the termination of the mandate [...]. If possible, the elections are held on a day on which the first football team of the Club plays an official game at the Camp Nou."

Spanish sports paper As claimed last week, based upon sources from the entourage of Barcelona president Joan Laporta, that the club will organize the elections as soon as possible if the team would win the World Cup for Clubs in December in Abu Dhabi, because this would be believed to possibly benefit the continuity candidate.

If Barcelona qualifies for the first knockout round of the Champions League and plays the second leg at home, that game will be played on Tuesday 9 March or Wednesday 17 March. But as elections are normally organized in the weekend, the first chance to organize the elections could well be in the weekend of 3 and 4 April when Barcelona will play against Athletic Bilbao.

Read more:
Who is eligible as president?
Plan for internet voting rejected


picture:
Current Barcelona president Joan Laporta voting during the 2003 elections.

Rosell sounding out Fernando Torres

Madrid sports tabloid As claimed last week that Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell has been in contact with Liverpool forward and Spanish international Fernando Torres (25) to sound him out on a possible transfer at the end of the current season.

The relationship between Torres and Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez wouldn't be very good and the striker would therefore be considering to leave the English Premier league club next summer. Torres reportedly prefers to return to Spain and Barcelona could then been his first option.

Spanish radio station Cadena Ser confirmed that Rosell is working on both the transfers of Torres and Arsenal midfielder Cesc (read more here). The talks with Torres would be very advanced and the Spanish striker could sign for Barcelona if Rosell is elected as new president of the club next year.

Read more:
Barcelona wants to tie down Ribery before elections
The Rosell Project - Part 2: The Team
Barcelona wants to sign Cesc before elections

Stolen computer could affect elections

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Barcelona president Joan Laporta is worried that compromising information could be spread in the coming months.

On 25 April 2008, during Barcelona's Champions League semi-final against Manchester United, Laporta's portable computer was stolen from the club's offices at the Camp Nou.

Laporta thinks that part of the data from the computer would now be in the possession of some media that could make the information public little by little, from now until he leaves the club.

Over the past weeks, the president of Barcelona has in fact already been involved in several controversies that linked events from his personal and professional life to his position as Barcelona president.

News reports on some electronic mail messages of Laporta are said to not only be possibly damaging for the president himself but could also affect other members of the current board of directors who would want to take part in next year's elections.

Read more:
Laporta could step down before elections
Poll Result: Third presidential term for Laporta?

The Rosell Project - Part 4: The Board (2)

In June 2008, former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell announced at a press conference that he would take part in the next presidential elections. Last month, he confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station Ràdio Barcelona that nothing had changed since that announcement.

Despite the fact that Rosell reportedly decided not to start campaigning before the end of this year (and maybe not even before the elections are called), he would be close to finishing his program. Several media have in the past weeks reported on his project. This blog will give an overview of what has been published so far.


After a long selection process, Rosell would be almost ready with the composition of what will be his board if he would become the next president of FC Barcelona. Rosell might still be looking for a strong figure who could become economic vice-president. Besides the nine names that will almost certainly be part of Rosell's board (read more here), several other people are rumoured to be among the candidates. An overview.


Women:

Rosell would have selected three women who he wants as director in his board. At least two of them will effectively be part of his candidacy. Pilar Guinovart, head of external relations of the guild of restaurant owners of Barcelona, would become the board member responsible for the social area.


Current vice-president:

Catalan television channel TV3 claimed that it's not excluded that one of the four Barcelona vice-presidents that have been involved in the Barcagate case could join Rosell. People of Rosell's entourage reportedly nevertheless told Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo that this option has almost become impossible because none of them has resigned after they discovered the investigations.


Former vice-president:

Several media claim that Gabriel Masfurroll, chairman and managing director of USP Hospitals, a network of private hospitals in Spain, southern Europe and Morocco, could be part of Rosell's candidacy. Masfurroll is a former Barcelona board member under Josep Lluís Núñez and a presidential candidate in 2000. He was vice-president under Joan Gaspart until he resigned in December 2002.

One year ago, Masfurroll said in an interview with Spanish news site noticias.com that he already agreed with Sandro Rosell on a possible partnership in the coming elections shortly after the latter left the board in 2005: "If Sandro wants me to join him, I will be delighted to do so. And if not, I will stay at home, no hard feelings. I would have liked to run for president myself, but I came to the conclusion that it's not worth it."

On Thursday 8 October, Rosell assisted the presentation of a new book written by Masfurroll. Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez was also present. Asked about the upcoming elections, Rosell didn't want to enter the questions of the journalists: "Wait and see."

The media nevertheless don't seem able to agree on what Masfurroll's role might be: he could become board member, he could become involved in the club's foundation or he could play no role at all. Talks between Rosell and Masfurroll would still be ongoing and one media even reports that Masfurroll could join another candidate or not take part in the elections, hoping the winner would then offer him a post afterwards.


Other possible board members:

- Ricardo Rodrigo, chairman of the RBA Group, a communication company that, among other things, publishes popular magazines like 'Lecturas' and 'Semana', as well as the Spanish edition of 'National Geographic'.

- Roger Granados, lawyer.

- Josep Maria Prat, director of classical music promotor Ibercamera.

- Marc Ros, general director of marketing and advertising agency Aftershare.tv.

- José Daurella, chairman of bottling company Cobega, that is authorized to manufacture and sell products of the Coca-Cola Company in large areas of Spain.

- Jordi Mestre, chairman of the Expo Group, a chain of Spanish hotels and resorts, among which the Princesa Sofia hotel close to the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona.

- Jordi Calsamiglia, lawyer specialized in sports law.

- Josep Ramón Vidal, architect.


this is the fourth and last part of this series. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts:
The Rosell Project - Part 1: The Club
The Rosell Project - Part 2: The Team
The Rosell Project - Part 3: The Board (1)

Pilar Guinovart

Gabriel Masfurroll

Ricardo Rodrigo

Roger Granados

Josep Maria Prat

Marc Ros

sources for this series:
el mundo deportivo, sport, el 9 esportiu, as, gol, noticias.com, pelikano, britcorner, intereconomía tv, tv3, rac 1, ràdio barcelona, radio marca, catalunya ràdio and own research

The Rosell Project - Part 3: The Board (1)

In June 2008, former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell announced at a press conference that he would take part in the next presidential elections. Last month, he confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station Ràdio Barcelona that nothing had changed since that announcement.

Despite the fact that Rosell reportedly decided not to start campaigning before the end of this year (and maybe not even before the elections are called), he would be close to finishing his program. Several media have in the past weeks reported on his project. This blog will give an overview of what has been published so far.


Several names have already been put forward as possible board members. On Tuesday 6 October, Catalan television channel TV3 revealed ten names of people (Rosell included) who would be part of the next Barcelona board of directors if Sandro Rosell would be chosen as president.

Asked about the story, one of the people mentioned, Carles Vilarrubí, confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that this list was correct: "It's true that I am part of the project of Sandro Rosell. And the names that have been put forward are the correct ones."


Former board members who left the club in 2005, at or around the same time as Rosell:

- Josep Maria Bartomeu, would become sports vice-president.

- Jordi Moix, would become the director responsible for the assets administration.

- Xavier Faus, would become economic vice-president.

- Jordi Monés, would become the director responsible for the medical services.


New board members:

- Ramón Pont, chairman of the Borges Group, producers of, among other things, several varieties of olive oil.

- Jordi Cardoner Casaus, the grandson of the popular former Barcelona vice-president (for over 20 years) Nicolau Casaus. Cardoner, who last month confirmed he is part of Rosell's project during an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio, was reportedly wanted by several presidential candidates. He would become the director responsible for the social area, possibly as vice-president.

- Manel Arroyo, managing director of Dorna Sports, an international sports management and marketing company, that is among other things the exclusive holder of all commercial and television rights of the MotoGP World Championship since 1992.

- Carles Vilarrubí, financial entrepreneur involved in telecom, media, hotels and investment banking, vice-chairman of the Rothschild Bank Spain and president of the Jumping Owner's Club of the FEI, the international governing body of equestrian sports.

- Javier Bordas, hospitality and entertainment enterpreneur, chief executive of the Costa Este Group, among other things owner of the Sotavento Beach Club and the Opium Mar night club in Barcelona.


this is the third part of a four-parts series. the next and last part will cover the people who are rumoured to possibly also be part of rosell's board. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts of this series:
The Rosell Project - Part 1: The Club
The Rosell Project - Part 2: The Team

Josep Maria Bartomeu

Jordi Moix

Xavier Faus

Jordi Monés

Ramón Pont

Jordi Cardoner Casaus, with his grandfather Nicolau Casaus
(copyright picture: jordi cardoner casaus)

Manel Arroyo

Carles Vilarrubí

Javier Bordas

sources for this series:
el mundo deportivo, sport, el 9 esportiu, as, gol, pelikano, britcorner, intereconomía tv, tv3, rac 1, ràdio barcelona, radio marca, catalunya ràdio and own research

The Rosell Project - Part 2: The Team

In June 2008, former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell announced at a press conference that he would take part in the next presidential elections. Last month, he confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station Ràdio Barcelona that nothing had changed since that announcement.

Despite the fact that Rosell reportedly decided not to start campaigning before the end of this year (and maybe not even before the elections are called), he would be close to finishing his program. Several media have in the past weeks reported on his project. This blog will give an overview of what has been published so far.


Guardiola
Rosell fully supports the working methods and ideas of Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola, who will stay on as Barcelona manager if he wishes so. Guardiola will be given more decision power, for example regarding the transfers and the youth academy, and would become a 'British-style' manager.

Sports director
The position of sports director will disappear in the new club structure, which would mean that current Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain will have to leave the club.

Incoming transfers
Rosell will start working on the transfers during the first months of next year. The transfer operations will also depend on the financial situation of the club, on which Rosell has some doubts (read more here).

Cesc
Although several media have claimed that Rosell would already have an agreement with Arsenal midfielder and former Barcelona youth player Cesc Fàbregas (22), both the player (in public) and Rosell (in private) have denied there would be a deal.

Robinho
If Guardiola wishes to sign Manchester City winger Robinho (25) next summer, Rosell would be confident the deal can be done. As former Nike executive in Brazil, Rosell still follows the local market closely and has good contacts in the South-American country.

Puyol
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol (31) is seen as a club icon and will therefore be offered to become part of the club's coaching staff once his career has ended. This would not be linked to Puyol's upcoming decision to renew his expiring contract or to leave the club next summer.

African youth players
Rosell wants to focus more on African players and therefore wants to develop and open youth academies on that continent.

this is the second part of a four-parts series. the next part will cover the people who could be part of rosell's board. you can read the whole series here.


Read the first part of this series:
The Rosell Project - Part 1: The Club


sources for this series:
el mundo deportivo, sport, el 9 esportiu, as, gol, pelikano, britcorner, intereconomía tv, tv3, rac 1, ràdio barcelona, radio marca and own research

Barçagate (3) - New revelations in the press

In the hours and days after the publication by Catalan sports paper El Periódico of the report saying that Barcelona had been spying on four vice-presidents and the following press conference by Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver explaining the version of the club, several media revealed new -and sometimes contradicting- details about what happened in March and April of this year.


1. What was in the security audit report?

Catalan newspaper El Periódico suggests they had access to the reports by describing that every page of the reports wears the logo of detective agency Método 3 and that they have an annex with copies of official documents.

The audits would have been ordered by Oliver, although it was a member of the club's security department who contacted the agency. The reports were ready after three weeks. To draw up the reports, people of the entourage of the four directors were discretely interviewed and official documents were looked at. The targets were not followed or spied upon.

The agency reportedly found flaws and a few irregularities regarding all vice-presidents, although all of these would be of minor importance. The audit has information on the business and economical activities of the investigated persons, their properties and their legal and tax situation. There is no reference to the fact that one of them could be being investigated by third persons.

There would be no references to the personal lives of the vice-presidents, except one mentioning of a legal dispute one of the four has with his former mother-in-law regarding the ownership of a company. Spanish sports paper As nevertheless claims that the reports include some very intimate details about the private lives of the directors.

Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia claims that vice-president Joan Franquesa was totally cleared by the background check. Although the other three vice-presidents (Joan Boix, Jaume Ferrer and Rafael Yuste) are convinced they are also clean, one of them would have some weak points.

2. What was the reason for the investigations, who found out and what happened when it was found out?

- Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio claims that it was Barcelona vice-president Joan Franquesa who asked the club to carry out a security audit to see if he would be able to run for president in 2010. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo confirmed this version of the events. Madrid sports paper As claims that Franquesa contacted Barcelona head of security Xavier Martorell.

Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver would then have decided on his own to also investigate the other three vice-presidents who could be a candidate in the elections.

During the investigations, Barcelona vice-president Jaume Ferrer reportedly found out something was going on and asked Barcelona president Joan Laporta for an explication. During a tense meeting, during which both men unconfirmedly would even have gotten physical, it was agreed that the vice-presidents would from now on be better informed about the club's activities.

- Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia on the other hand reports that the investigations were discovered when vice-president Franquesa saw a newspaper report about his person and was advised by his lawyer to investigate this. Two weeks later, his lawyer reportedly told him: "It's Barça who is investigating you."

Franquesa contacted Martorell, who confirmed him that Oliver had ordered the investigation. The matter was discussed at a board meeting, during which several board members asked for the dismissal of Oliver. Others directors wanted to resign themselves and put the case in the hands of the police.

- Catalan radio station RAC 1 reports that Ferrer was close to attacking Oliver during a meeting which also involved the three other vice-presidents.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo says that Martorell offered to resign, which in the end didn't happen. The security audits also wouldn't have been handed immediately to the four people concerned, but only after those explicitly demanded this when they found out about the investigations.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that one of the vice-presidents considered to step down. El Mundo Deportivo says that this was Franquesa, who still would be considering to leave before the end of this board's term next year.

In the end the case was settled, in the benefit of the club. Madrid sports paper As claims that at least one of the vice-presidents is nonetheless still convinced that Laporta knew about the investigations beforehand.

Barcelona opposition news site Pelikano claims, based upon sources close to the board, that Laporta set up the whole operation, trying to torpedo a possible candidacy of Ferrer, who is not the favourite of the president to succeed him but who has the support of the majority of the board members. Ferrer would therefore have been the main target of the investigations.

In the margin
Spanish newspaper El País reported that Barcelona chief executive Oliver and Barcelona board member Xavier Sala i Martín own a consultancy company together. As was already known before, both men are also members of Catalunya Oberta, a right-wing think-tank. Sala replied on Facebook that the company is in fact a charity organization, so that they cannot be seen as business partners.

this is the third of ten parts on the case. the next parts will cover the reactions of the president and the board members involved. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous part of this series:
Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news
Barçagate (2) - Emergency press conference


picture:
Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver -left- and Barcelona marketing vice-president Jaume Ferrer -right- talking on Thursday 24 September, the day Catalan newspaper El Periódico brought the story on the investigations