Guixa will vote for Ferrer

Speaking at a press conference and further explaining his position in an open letter, former Barcelona presidential pre-candidate Jaume Guixà, who didn't pass the cut of the signatures, has said that he will vote on Sunday for presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer:

"Although I dislike the excesses of Laporta, I will vote for Jaume Ferrer. I will vote for him because I think he's a solid, serious, discreet and serene person who can deal with the pressure, because he believes in the youth academy and because I know the players and coaches respect him.

I will vote for Jaume Ferrer because he has been the most conciliatory candidate in the debates and because I like his latest proposal to include in the statutes of the club the incompatibility between being a director and having businesses in the world of sports."

Read more:
Guixa will make his vote public
The final number of signatures of support
Plaza will return blank ballot paper

Guixa will make his vote public

Former Barcelona presidential pre-candidate Jaume Guixà, who didn't pass the cut of the signatures in 2006 and this year, has said in an open letter that he will announce ahead of the elections whom he will vote for on Sunday.

In his letter, Guixà gives a personal evaluation of all four candidates and already says that his vote won't go to Sandro Rosell.

Guixà claims that Rosell doesn't believe in the youth academy and notes that during his time at the club, Rosell dismissed Tito Vilanova, then a youth coach and now the assistant of Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola. His main argument is that Rosell has businesses in the world of football and could take advantage of his position as president.

Read more:
Guixa: "We remain the clear alternative to Laporta"
The final number of signatures of support
Guixa wants to export youth academy

The final number of signatures of support

These are the final numbers of signatures of club members that were collected by the pre-candidates in the elections for president of FC Barcelona:

Sandro Rosell 13.618
Marc Ingla 4.744
Jaume Ferrer 4.442
Agustí Benedito 2.896
Jaume Guixà 1.845
Alexis Plaza 1.209
Santiago Salvat ?

The signatures of the four pre-candidates with the most support among club members were brought to the club and will be checked in the coming days. To pass the cut of the signatures and to be able to take part in the final vote on 13 June, candidates should have 2.095 validated signatures.

Alexis Plaza didn't present his signatures but brought them to a notary who counted and destroyed them. Jaume Guixà and Santiago Salvat didn't present their signatures eiter. Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Salvat in the end would have collected around 1.100 signatures.

Read more:
Live Coverage: End of signatures process

Live Coverage: End of signatures process

We will follow live the last hours of the process of the collection of the club members and explain what has happened today. Candidates should have 2.095 validated signatures to take part in the final vote. The deadline is at 9 pm tonight. Re-fresh!

The first candidate to come out today was Sandro Rosell. At 12:30 pm he gave a press conference in which he explained that he until that moment had collected 13.491 signatures.

7:00 pm Jaume Ferrer and members of his candidacy walking to the offices of the Camp Nou with the boxes containing the signatures. Ferrer confirmed this afternoon that he has collected 4.422 signatures.

7:20 pm Sandro Rosell is on his way to the Camp Nou with his whole board team in six cars. The candidacy would in the end have collected 13.603 signatures.

7:30 pm Sandro Rosell has arrived at the Camp Nou with the boxes with in the end 13.618 signatures. The candidate is in the centre of the picture, at the left is Jordi Cardoner, who will become social vice-president if Rosell is elected as president.

7:40 pm The candidacy of Marc Ingla announces that they have collected 4.756 signatures. The former vice-president is on his way to the Camp Nou.

8:00 pm This afternoon, Alexis Plaza has announced that his candidacy has collected 1.209 signatures, that have already been destroyed by a notary so they won't affect the signatures of the other candidates nor canbe used in the future. Around 6 pm, Plaza came to the Camp Nou to formally step out of the race.

8:30 pm The board team of Marc Ingla arrives with in the end 4.744 signatures. At the left of Ingla there's Victor Font, at the right Carme Miró, behind him Ferran Soriano and Albert Vicens.

8:45 Presidential candidates Jaume Guixà and Santiago Salvat haven't passed the cut although it's not yet known how many signatures they have collected.

9:00 pm Agustí Benedito also passes the cut with 2.847 signatures.

Benedito, Salvat, Guixa and Plaza struggling with signatures

The three main Catalan sports papers agree today that Barcelona presidential candidates Sandro Rosell, Jaume Ferrer and Marc Ingla will certainly pass the cut of the 2.095 signatures that should be delivered tomorrow. Rosell would clearly present the most signatures.

From the other four candidates, Benedito would be the closest to pass the cut although it would be close. The three remaining candidates - Santiago Salvat, Jaume Guixà and Alexis Plaza - would almost certainly not obtain the signatures needed and would have to leave the race.

Read more:
The process of collecting the signatures
How many people will be able to vote?
The electoral proceedings

Rosell has already enough signatures

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell was yesterday the only candidate who has already collected the 2.095 signatures of club members needed to take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona on Sunday 13 June.

Former Barcelona vice-presidents Jaume Ferrer and Marc Ingla would be on their way to pass the number, while Agustí Benedito, Santiago Salvat, Jaume Guixà and Alexis Plaza would have difficulties to reach the necesary signatures of support the candidates should present on Tuesday 29 May.

Read more:
The process of collecting the signatures
"Sandro Rosell" not on support slips
The electoral proceedings

The Quotes: Guixa, Minguella, Soriano, Salvat, Rosell

"We will all have difficulties to get the 2.095 signatures. The decision of Laporta that didn't allow us to collect signatures at the last league game has hurt us. We'll have to wait and see what happens."

Jaume Guixà


"The only thing I would ask Txiki if he wants to continue is that he would clearly explain me how and why Henrique and Keirrison have been transferred."

Josep Maria Minguella


"I don't understand why Sandro Rosell goes to Madrid and declares there that we have a catastrophic debt while that's a lie. We have a debt of around 240 millions, which is less than our opponents."

Ferran Soriano


"Barça should not have links with countries that seem to be a dictatorship."

Santiago Salvat


"I am not against the collective sale of the television rights but only if it doesn't hurt our interests."

Sandro Rosell

read more election quotes here

[picture] Jaume Guixa on patrol

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà uses a couple of these cars to collect the signatures of the club members.

Guixa: "We remain the clear alternative to Laporta"

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

translation: jacob coronado

Despite opposing the Foster project, you are committed to the renewal of the Camp Nou...
Yes, we understand that the Camp Nou is a five-star venue but that it needs a complete restoration. We can gradually upgrade it.

What are your plans for the Miniestadi?
The Miniestadi is a small Camp Nou and we will strengthen the grassroots and the concept of our youth program. We will finish the training centre and put in place a technical staff that will turnit into a High Performance Football Center.

You refererred to La Masia as a model that you would like to export to different countries...
Yes, we understand that the model of our youth academy is very valid and should be followed more closely. The concept of our academy will be exported so that we will not only have players at the training center in Barcelona, but also create a universal program.

Let's continue to talk about the sports structure you are thinking of for Barcelona, because you have explained in your decalogue that you would replace the figure of a sporting director by a staff of three experts who would work in coordination with the first team coach. How would this favour the sporting operations of Barca?
It would benefit the youth teams, Barça Atlètic, as well as the first team. Everyone has to play in the same way, the same style of football, and that means that the little ones at the training center need to know what what will be expected of them when they are older and reach the first team. And on that path, the three sports directors - youth, Atlètic and first team - should all have the same criteria of training, built-up to the game, player attitudes, knowing that they are defending the same shirt.

Do you think Sandro Rosell is the favourite to win this election?
No. I honestly think this is going to change when each candidate presents his project.

If you became president, what would you change about the current management by Barça president Joan Laporta?
First of all, I would introduce a different style. The presidentialism of Joan Laporta has sinned in many ways, and I believe that I have a different way of being and thinking. I am more open, more participatory, more open for dialogue, more democratic and more transparent...

At the beginning of the pre-campaign you defined your candidacy as the "alternative to Laporta". Now that two other candidates, Alexis Plaza and Santi Salvat, have no association with Joan Laporta, have you redefined your motto?
We believe that we remain the clear alternative to both Laporta and the Elefant Blau and that we, in that context, present a different project. We were the first, the rest have joined in later which is a good thing. When your program is copied, this confirms that we have a good project.

What do you think about the political use of Barça by Laporta?
I think that, as a citizen, Joan Laporta has every right to participate in the democratic process and I encourage him to do is. It is something different when you are Barca president though. I think the president of Barça has to think about the institution, and should be open for the diversity that Barcelona represents and in that sense, he has mixed these two figures and, as I understand it, to his personal advantage. I asked him in a letter that he should separate things and that if he wanted to strengthen his political profile he should resign as Barça president because Barça is plural and the members do not want to get involved in politics. That is what the political parties are for.

Another decision of Joan Laporta was to appoint honorary president Johan Cruyff. How did you feel about that appointment?
I'm not going to question the value of Johan Cruyff as a player and coach, but I oppose the use of his image two months before the elections in a controversial manner at a presentation where only guests that were invited could enter the ceremony and no members were allowed to attend, which to me divides the supporters. I think the club's statutes do not include the figure of honorary president but only that of honorary member. This decision, therefore, must be validated by the General Assembly in the interest of Johan and of the club.

Before you told us you are the president of a fan club in Sant Cugat. Do you believe that, during the mandate of Joan Laporta, the fan clubs have been properly treated?
I think the penyes have been neglected. It seems as if they have not been taken into account. We want to strenghten the social area of the club and we have already stated publicly that the spokesman of the council of the fan clubs will be part of the board in the event that the members decide that Jaume Guixà will be the next president.

Joan Laporta has stated that the current Barcelona model is based on Johan Cruyff, Catalunya and Unicef. Do you agree with this statement?
No. I think that Barça is more than a club because of the hundred and a bit years of history, because of the thirty-one years of the youth academy, because of the legendary players from the Barça of the five cups, because of the history the Barça of the six cups will make... All tgether, we strive for a bigger Barça.

this was the second and last 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

[picture] Candidates take part in football game

This morning, members of several presidential candidacies, former players of FC Barcelona and representatives of the press have played a football tournament in Barcelona.

From left to right:
Agustí Benedito, Alexis Plaza, Santiago Salvat, Jaume Guixà, Carles Ayats [candidacy Jaume Ferrer] and Josep Maria Bartomeu [candidacy Sandro Rosell]

Poll Voting Intentions: One Month Before

This is the final result (in percentages) of this blog's Who would you vote for in the elections for president of FC Barcelona? poll that was held exactly one month before the elections:

Sandro Rosell 30.9
Marc Ingla 23.6
Jaume Ferrer 15.5
Agusti Benedito 11.2

Don't know/Don't answer 9.4
Alexis Plaza 5.6
Santiago Salvat 2.2
Jaume Guixa 1.7

compare with the results of february, march and april here

check more voting intention poll results

Benedito accuses paper of burying poll

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed yesterday that Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito had ordered a university poll regarding the upcoming presidential elections that was carried out on Sunday in the surroundings of the Camp Nou.

Of the 1.200 people polled, 54% reportedly didn't yet make their choice about who they will choose for on 13 June. Half of those who already decided, said they would vote for Rosell, 24% for Ferrer and 15% for Ingla. Benedito got 11% of the votes, while Guixà got 1% and Salvat and Plaza were not included.

Benedito confirmed yesterday on a press conference that they indeed had that poll but explained later on Facebook – while linking to the article in El Mundo Deportivo - that it was in fact Catalan sports paper Sport that had asked for the poll but later didn't want to make it public and instead reported on another poll (read more here):

"This is the poll that Sport had ordered with the Ramon Llull university but that they then decided not to publish. They have the right to publish what they want just as I can tell this, right? In this one we have 11%, while in the one they published we have 1,4%. Now I tell you…"

Read more:
Benedito: "Transfer of Villa won't influence vote"
Poll result: Who would you vote for?
The collection of the signatures has started

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

Poll result: Who would you vote for?

Who would you vote for as president of Barça?

Sandro Rosell 54,8%
Marc Ingla 12,4%
Jaume Ferrer 9,9%
Santiago Salvat 1,6%
Agustí Benedito 1,4%
Alexis Plaza 0,4%
Jaume Guixà 0,3%

Others 1,0%
None 1,3%
Won't vote 2,3%
Don't know/Don't answer 14,9%

total votes: 800
date poll: 16 may 2010
poll method: interviews with club members who have the right to vote by polling agency Gesop in the surroundings of the Camp Nou around the time of the league game against Valladolid

source: el periódico and sport

check more election poll results here

The collection of the signatures has started

Barcelona's official website reports that several Barcelona presidential candidates came to the Camp Nou this morning to ask the club for the slips that can be used to collect the 2.095 signatures of the club members that are needed to become a candidate in the vote on Sunday 13 June (read more here).

People can get a number of slips for free - 4.190, twice the signatures needed - and if they want to have more, they need to pay for them. The candidates have asked the following number of slips: Sandro Rosell 60.000, Marc Ingla 40.000, Jaume Ferrer 25.000, Agustí Benedito 20.000, Santiago Salvat 12.000, Jaume Guixà 9.000 and Alexis Plaza 4.190.

Three pre-candidates that didn't yet announce before that they have the intention to run for president of FC Barcelona also formally asked for slips. Francesc Liñan and Ferran Estrada asked for 4.190 slips, while Jordi Ruiz asked for 5.000 official papers that should be handed back to the club in two weeks with the signature of club members.

Read more:
Salvat wants to help others to collect signatures
[2003] The battle for the signatures has started
Pre-candidates need to collect signatures

Guixa presents campaign logo and slogan

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà has yesterday presented his campaign logo. The slogan he will use during the coming weeks will be "Un nou estil" [A new style].

Guixa wants to export youth academy

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà has explained yesterday in a press release that he wants to strengthen and export the club's youth academy which he sees as one of the cornerstones of the current Barça:

"It has been proven that the model of our youth academy works and therefore our intention is to globalize the model of the sports residence. That way, we don't only make sure that our club becomes more international, but we also make it possible that players from other countries can join our youth teams and to become key players of the first team in the future."

Read more:
The Decalogue of Jaume Guixa
Rosell leading in university poll
Guixa: "We want to help other Catalan clubs"

The number: 14.000-15.000

Barcelona presidential candidates Santiago Salvat and Jaume Guixà respectively want to add 14.000 and 15.000 seats to the Camp Nou stadium.

Rosell leading in university poll

Catalan sports paper Sport reports that the faculty of communications of the Blanquera university centre has carried out an enquiry regarding the upcoming presidential elections among 400 Barcelona club members in the surroundings of the Camp Nou ahead of the league game against Tenerife on Tuesday.

With 46% of the members not yet having decided on their vote, 65% of the rest said they would vote for Sandro Rosell, 29% for Jaume Ferrer, 3% for Agustí Benedito and 2% for Jaume Guixà. The name of Marc Ingla was not yet included among the options because he only officially presented his candidacy yesterday.

Other data received from the poll indicate that 77% of the club members think that Sandro Rosell will win the elections (22% thinks Ferrer will win), that 89% of the club members wants to go and vote on 13 June and that 40% would vote for current Barcelona president Joan Laporta if he would be able to run again.

Read more:
Poll result: Who would you vote for?
Candidacies carrying out polls
Poll Voting Intentions: Two Months Before

The Pic: Support for people in wheelchairs

Several Barcelona presidential candidates yesterday assisted a concert organized by an association of Barcelona fans with mobility problems, who ask for a Camp Nou that is more accessible to people in wheelchairs.

Standing, from left to right:
Jaume Guixà, Agustí Benedito, Alfons Godall [representing Marc Ingla], Alexis Plaza, Jaume Ferrer and Armand Sanz [representing Santiago Salvat].