Former president Gaspart linked to Ingla

Catalan weekly paper El Triangle claims that former Barcelona president Joan Gaspart supports the candidacy of Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla in the upcoming presidential elections.

The paper bases their claim on the fact that seven hotels - six in the city Barcelona and one in the Catalan province of Girona - of hotel chain Husa that is owned by Gaspart are places where club members can go and deposit their signature of support for Ingla.

Asked about his position in the elections, Gaspart said in an interview with Catalan radio station Ona FM that he doesn't plan to give his support to a candidate: "Josep Lluís Núñez has every right to give his signature of support to Sandro Rosell, but I won't support any candidate."

Read more:
The Quote: Joan Gaspart
Former president Nunez will support Rosell
Spanair board divided on Soriano candidacy

Former vice-president Ingla will run for president

Catalan weekly paper El Triangle claims that former Barcelona marketing and sports vice-president Marc Ingla [picture, on the left] has decided to take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona, that will be held on Sunday 13 June of this year.

Ingla would take over the project of former Barcelona economic president Ferran Soriano, who announced last week that he would not head a list in the upcoming elections (read more here). Ingla would make an official statement announcing his candidacy in the coming days.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed yesterday that Ingla, who is reportedly on vacation in the Alps, was still thinking about a possible candidacy while being in constant contact with former Barcelona first vice-president Albert Vicens.

Although he is aware of the time pressure, Ingla wouldn't have a concrete deadline in mind and the fact that Soriano would agree, or not, to be part of his candidacy as a board member would not be a decisive element in his final decision.

Read more:
Former vice-president Ingla considering to run
Soriano will not run for president
Soriano dines with former board colleagues

Position vice-president Joan Boix remains unclear

The Catalan press is still having doubts on what the role of Barcelona economic vice-president Joan Boix will be in the upcoming elections for president of FC Barcelona later this year.

Boix was generally believed to be one of the main supporters of a united board candidacy and it's not clear what he will do now that it has become almost certain that Barcelona vice-presidents Alfons Godall and Jaume Ferrer will separately run for president.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Boix supported Ferrer before the latter was vetoed as board candidate by Barcelona president Joan Laporta. Boix would now be seriousy considering not to join either of his colleagues, although the more flexible opinions of Ferrer over the past weeks could make him decide to support the assets vice-president.

Catalan weekly paper El Triangle claims that Boix will support Godall, Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu says that it's possible Boix won't take part in the elections at all and Catalan sports paper Sport isn't able to take a stand.

Things could become clear tonight at 7 pm local time, when first vice-president Godall will officially present his candidacy in Barcelona. Sport nevertheless claims that Boix could maintain the doubts by attending the press conference as a mere listener in an act of courtesy towards his board colleague.

Read more:
The five vice-presidents of Godall
Directors considering to leave the club
Boix could be the consensus board candidate

Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate

Earlier this month, Catalan business man Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will give an introduction on the pre-candidate in the coming week.


Benedito, who had resigned from his post at the club in March of this year (read more in the third part of this series), would already have been preparing his candidacy for months and since the summer, there had been speculation about his plans.

During the second half of the month of September, several media claimed that Benedito had made the decision to be a candidate. On 25 September, Catalan weekly paper El Triangle reported that an announcement would follow soon.

On Thursday 8 October, Benedito then came with the official confirmation that he would run for president. Although he said the announcement was made to avoid further speculation, it seems clear that Benedito was trying to gain some momentum in the preparation of his candidacy.

Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Benedito, who wouldn't have plans to link up with another candidate, is also already keeping an eye on the following presidential elections, that will in theory be held in 2016.

His ideas
So far, Benedito has only given a short preview of his plans, while declaring he will present his full project when the election process wil officially be launched.

Everyone seems nevertheless to agree that the core of his campaign will be the recovery of the values of the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), the opposition group of which Benedito was one of the founders in the late 1990s, alongside -among others- current Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Benedito demonstrated this by already revealing the key words of his campaign in his letter to Spanish news agency EFE: "Transparency, participation of the club members, good governance and honesty".

He added that his team would lead the club "from a full but non-political catalanism, always looking for the support and the involvement of the many Barcelona fans in and outside Catalonia."

His people
Benedito, who is still looking for support, defined the people he's working with as follows: "I will finalize my project together with a diligent, pluralistic and open-minded team - people with proven management skills in business, sports and social areas - because I understand the social importance of Barça and because I know the values that an entity like this needs to be able to transmit: effort, will to improve and responsibility."

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed already last month that Benedito is supported by a group of around 400 people and that he is planning to contact the Catalan political parties shortly to present them his project. Catalan sports paper Sport reports that Benedito has been surrounding himself with a group of ambitious young businessmen.

Barcelona opposition site Pelikano claims that Benedito contacted this summer former "Elefant Blau" members like Aymerich, Carrasco, Canal, Geli, Sola, Salinas, Castellet, Latorre or Bonet, to ask them if they were interested in joining him in this new project.

this is the first part of a four-parts series. the next part will cover benedito's personal, professional and blaugrana background. you can read the whole series here.


Read more:
Agusti Benedito to run for president
Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?



picture: germán rodríguez rosas