Former vice-presidents Ingla and Castells talking

Catalan news site E-notícies claims that former Barcelona vice-presidents Joan Castells (2000-2002) and Marc Ingla (picture - 2003-2008) are holding talks trying to form a joint candidacy ahead of the presidential elections on 13 June.

The remaining problem would be that Castells only wants to join Ingla if he can lead the candidacy. Because of the same reason, the ex-director earlier rejected an offer by Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer. Castells reportedly also didn't accept a proposal by former presidential candidates Josep Maria Minguella and Jordi Medina to be part of their project.

Castells would have told former collaborators about the negotiations with Ingla during a dinner on Monday. He and Ingla would shortly hold a meeting in which they would decide if they will in the end team up. If he doesn't get the support of the team of Ingla, Castells would not take part in the elections, although he could later publicly announce which candidate he prefers.

Joan Castells is the 57-year old chairman and chief executive of Spanish mutual insurance company Fiatc. In 2000, he was a pre-candidate in the elections for president of Barcelona but he ended up joining the candidacy of then vice-president Joan Gaspart.

After Gaspart won the elections, Castells was appointed as economic vice-president of the club. In December 2002, Castels resigned as first vice-president after Gaspart refused to call early elections. In the 2006 elections, Castells decided not to run and supported pre-candidate Jordi Medina.

Read more:
Former director Castells considering election role
Soriano confirms support for Ingla
Former vice-president Castells unlikely candidate

Minguella-Medina project still looking for a leader

Although all media sources agree that Catalan lawyer Pau Molins [picture] has been offered to head the candidacy that is being set up by former Barcelona presidential candidates Josep Maria Minguella and Jordi Medina (read more here), there is uncertainty about his reaction to the proposal.

Spanish news agency Europa Press claims that sources close to Molins confirmed that the lawyer, who feels "very related to the club", is thinking about the offer and that he wants to take the time necessary to make the decision, which could be more than one week.

Catalan newspaper El Periódico claims that Molins, who would be very interested in the proposal, will decide in one or two weeks time. The offer would have been made to him last week during a meeting with Minguella and a group of club members.

Catalan news site E-notícies claims that Minguella, Medina and Molins had a dinner on Thursday 19 February. The answer would be expected for next week. If Molins accepts the offer, Minguella would become the sports vice-president of the list and Medina the social vice-president.

A source close to the Minguella-Medina project confirmed yesterday evening to this blog that there has indeed been an offer but that Molins didn't yet give a final answer. We were also told that, contrary to previous news reports (read more here), Catalan businessman Jordi Roche, the former president of the Catalan football federation, would not be part of this project.

Spanish news agency EFE claims that it looks like the deal with Molins won't go through - despite a source of the project being quoted as saying that the lawyer would be "a very valid" candidate - because Molins wouldn't be able to combine the campaign with his job. His defense of Catalan business man Fèlix Millet in a major corruption scandal (read more here) could also play a role: "That wouldn't be positive publicity in case he would be our candidate."

The group would now keep on working to find a candidate and announce a name in the next two to three weeks, with the source explaining: "The offer to Molins doesn't mean that we already have a clear idea, because we still have to assess a lot of things, not only about the candidate but also about the rest of the team.

I want to make clear that we are not selling the leadership of our group by auction. We are just talking with a lot of people and, for whatever reason, the names of two [the other being that of catalan journalist xavier bosch] of the many members we have considered have been leaked to the public."

Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Molins already rejected the offer to lead the candidacy because of professional reasons – the Millet case and the opening of a new office in Madrid - but that he did accept to be part of the list. The group would continue to search for a prestigious consensus figure to become the candidate.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Molins has already rejected the offer and that Medina and Minguella continue to look for a candidate that has never before been directly involved in an election process, although it's not excluded that one of the two would in the end be the candidate. The final list should be ready in April.

Medina is quoted by the paper as saying: "We want to assemble a project that could be a third way between laportas and anti-laportistas and that unites the Barcelona fans. That's why the choice of the candidate isn't a fight and won't turn into an auction. We're not in a hurry, there's a lot of pre-campaign and campaign left and we don't want to take part in the battles."

Read more:
Lawyer offered to lead Minguella-Medina project
Catalan journalist rejects offer to run for president
Medina will again take part in the elections

Elections could be called earlier

Barcelona blogger Sisco Pinyol reports on his blog that Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer has said on a meeting with representatives of Barcelona fan clubs on Wedneday that the elections for president of FC Barcelona could be called earlier because of a judicial decision that same day.

After the elections in 2006, the Barcelona board didn't put down a bank guarantee because they considered themselves to be a continuity board and because they had made profits since they took power in 2003.

On Wednesday, a court in Barcelona nevertheless ruled that the losses made in the last eight days of the 2002-2003 season after Laporta became president should be taken into account, something that previously didn't happen.

This now means that in the end the board didn't met the conditions necessary to not put down the guarantee after the 2006 elections and that the eight directors who were part of the 2006 board and are still in office – Joan Laporta, Alfons Godall, Jaume Ferrer, Albert Perrín, Rafael Yuste, Joan Boix, Alfonso Castro and Josep Cubells – would still have to pay the 2006 guarantee.

The club has announced in an official statement on Wednesday that they will take the case to the Suprme Court but Catalan sports paper Sport claims that this doesn't stop the enforcement of the Wednesday decision if the complainant asks for the immediate payment. In interviews with the paper, both the complainant, Barcelona club member Vicenç Pla, and his lawyer have said they plan to do this.

Catalan news site E-notícies claims that each of the board members would be responsible for 3 million euros. Ferrer said during the meeting on Wednesday with fan clubs' representatives that some directors wouldn't want to pay their part which could lead to the elections being organized earlier than 13 June.

Read more:
Elections will be held on Sunday 13 June
Marketing expert: "It will be an Obama-type campaign"
How many people will be able to vote?

Poll result: Will Soriano take over Godall candidacy?

Will Godall hand over the number one position of his candidacy to Soriano?

Yes 53,68%
No 46,32%

total votes: 95
start date poll: 10 february 2010
poll method: internet, free participation
source: e-notícies

check more election poll results here

Poll: Guardiola was right to not yet sign?

Guardiola made the right decision by waiting for the next president to sign his renewal?

Yes 89,19%
No 10,81%

total votes: 111
start date poll: 21 january 2011
poll method: internet, free participation
source: e-notícies

check more election poll results here

Eighty percent of the voters still undecided

Speaking to Catalan news site E-notícies, Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito has said that surveys carried out by his candidacy show that most of the voters still didn't make a decision:

"The continuism has little support so far. They will have difficulties and that seems unbelievable after the best year in the history of the club. Alternative candidates almost shouldn't have a chance, but that's not the case. The majority feeling is that the club members are not very enthusiastic about the continuity candidates.

Our polls tell us that around 80% of the members have not yet decided on their vote and could give it to the continuity candidates. The majority of the remaining 20% is today leaning towards Sandro Rosell, but the part of the members who should still make a decision is very high."

Read more:
Everybody knows Sandro Rosell
Guixa carrying out own election poll
Ferrer feels backed by own poll

Poll result: What should Ferran Soriano do?

What should Soriano do?

Form his own candidacy 11,74%
Join the candidacy of Godall 60,85%
Stay out of the electoral race 27,40%

total votes: 281
start date poll: 25 january 2009
poll method: internet, free participation
source: e-notícies

check more election poll results here

Poll result: Who would you vote for?

Who would you vote for?

Agustí Benedito 53%
Alfons Godall 37%
Sandro Rosell 4%
Ferran Soriano 3%
Jaume Guixà 3%

total votes: 5217
start date poll: 22 december 2009
poll method: internet, free participation
source: e-notícies

check more election poll results here

Poll result: Who should be the board candidate?

Who should be Barça's continuity candidate?

Xavier Sala i Martín 64,16%
Alfons Godall 19,47%
Jaume Ferrer 16,37%

total votes: 226
start date poll: 13 november 2009
source: e-notícies

check more election poll results here

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