Medina continues to work on candidacy

Asked about his role in the upcoming elections, twice presidential pre-candidate Jordi Medina has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that he keeps on working trying to form a candidacy: "We're working on a project, but it's not yet sure it will lead to an actual candidacy.

Because of a communication problem with another member of the project, Jordi Majó, who could have been one of the leading figures, prefers not to keep on investing time and effort in it. Josep Maria Minguella, myself and other people continue to work hard.

We don't know who will lead the candidacy. It could be Josep Maria, myself or none of the two. That is something we're discussing, analyzing and if we can launch this project, the candidate will be the one we agree on to be the most suited person.

We have been talking with many people, also from outside our group. Some are still considering it, some have rejected the offer for personal reasons - something we understand - and with others we're still talking.

Xavier Bosch? That has been published, so I can now confirm that we have been talking with him but because of his professional situation it wasn't possible. Charly Rexach? I didn't talk with Charly personally, but I know there have been some meetings and dinners that I didn't attend. He has the profile of a good candidate but I don't have more information on that.

It's true that we plan to come out as late as possible because we first want to work hard, prepare the program, not reveal anything. We could start thinking about a calendar when the final decision to take part has been made but nothing will be organized or announced before the month of April."

Read more:
Majo stepping out of Minguella-Medina project
Catalan journalist rejects offer to run for president
Medina will again take part in the elections

Majo stepping out of Minguella-Medina project

Catalan sports paper Sport reports that former presidential candidate Jordi Majó (picture, on the left) will not join a presidential candidacy that would include, among other people, former presidential candidates Josep Maria Minguella (picture, on the right) and Jordi Medina (read more here).

The group of people would have been holding contacts for a while trying to form a candidacy. The idea is said to have been that the three former candidates would become vice-presidents and that they would offer another person to lead the project.

Catalan journalist Xavier Bosch was reportedly the first to reject the offer to head the candidacy because of personal reasons (read more here) and later contacts that were started with two former players also didn't yet lead to concrete results.

Majó would now have finally decided not to take part in the candidacy because he don't believe any longer in the project, and would yesterday have informed his entourage about his decision. The Catalan businessman confirmed the news to the paper:

"I have spoken with pre-candidates and potential pre-candidates and if I now reveal the project with Minguella that is because he has been the first to disclose it publicly. I would have preferred that it wouldn't come to light, as this forces me to take a position and I have decided not to continue.

I maintain a good personal relationship with Josep Maria, but there are differences of opinion and I do not feel comfortable in a candidacy that advances in a way that doesn't convince me. I think my decision is the most honest thing I can do."

Read more:
Minguella confirms talks with Medina and Majo
Guixa: "The most powerful candidacy is ours"
Majo considering to participate in the elections

Majo, Minguella and Medina working on candidacy

Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that former presidential candidates Jordi Majó, Jordi Medina and Josep Maria Minguella (picture, from left to right) are continuing to hold talks trying to form a joint candidacy and take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona in June (read more here).

All three the former candidates would be willing to team up but no final decision has yet been made. After the Barcelona board decided to only hold the elections after the end of the season, on 13 June, Majó, Minguella and Medina would not be in a hurry to take a stand on their participation in the elections.

Jordi Majó is a 60-year old agricultural businessman who finished third, out of six candidates, in the 2003 elections. Behind Joan Laporta and Lluís Bassat, Majó obtained 2.490 votes (4,82%). In 2006, he considered to be a candidate but he ended up giving his support to Jaume Guixà.

Josep Maria Minguella, a 68-year old former player's agent who now mainly acts as a Barcelona pundit for a number of radio and television shows, took part in the 2003 elections, when he ended fifth with 1.867 votes (3,62%). The Catalan supported the 2008 vote of no confidence against the board.

Jordi Medina is a 45-year old Catalan lawyer who was a pre-candidate in the 2003 and 2006 elections but failed twice to collect enough signatures of club members to take part in the final vote. Medina is the chairman of 'Un Crit Valent', an FC Barcelona platform.

Read more:
Minguella confirms talks with Medina and Majo
Majo considering to participate in the elections
Medina confirms he's working on a candidacy

Majo considering to participate in the elections

Asked about the rumours that he could take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona this year (read more here), former Barcelona presidential candidate Jordi Majó has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that talks are ongoing but that a final decision has not yet been made:

"Nothing has been decided. It's true that we want to take a closer look at how the electoral panorama looks like but we're not in a hurry and even less now the elections will only be on 13 June.

We'll look at the situation and we'll see what we will do, we'll take a decision later on. I've always stayed motivated, I never lost that feeling. The thing is that you should do a good job and do everything at the right time, not in a hasty way."

Jordi Majó is a 60-year old agricultural businessman who finished third, out of six candidates, in the 2003 elections. Behind Joan Laporta and Lluís Bassat, Majó obtained 2.490 votes (4,82%). In 2006, he considered to be a candidate but he ended up giving his support to Jaume Guixà.

Read more:
Minguella confirms talks with Medina and Majo
Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?
Former coach Rexach will not run for president

Minguella confirms talks with Medina and Majo

Asked if he will take part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona (read more here), former players' agent Josep Maria Minguella has confirmed in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that he is holding talks with other potential candidates to form a united list:

"I won't deny that there have been talks, with people like Jordi Medina, Jordi Majò and others who would want to get involved. The key to go on with this project would be that we feel we can add important things to Barça.

We also want to avoid a division between 'laportistas' and 'anti-laportistas' like before you had the division between 'nunistas' and 'cruyffistas'. While I'm just a fan of Barça and I think there are many people like that who are looking for a third option and that's what we have been analizing for a while now.

We didn't yet make a decision, but we're talking and now that the elections will be held on 13 June, we really have more time and more peace. All those involved are people with a certain economic and social level and big Barcelona supporters, so if we would form a candidacy, I'm sure we would be able to contribute a lot of things."

Josep Maria Minguella, who now mainly acts as a Barcelona pundit for a number of radio and television shows, took part in the 2003 elections, when he ended fifth (out of six contenders) with 1.867 votes (3,62%). The Catalan supported the 2008 vote of no confidence against the board.

Read more:
Minguella and Medina behind Rexach candidacy
Llaurado admits talks with Minguella and Rexach
Minguella: "Laporta didn't keep his promises"

Former coach Rexach will not run for president

Catalan online sports paper Yoya claims that former Barcelona player and manager Carles "Charly" Rexach will not run for president in the upcoming elections later this year.

It was rumoured that a group of club members had offered Rexach to be the "face" of their candidacy (read more here), but Jordi Medina, who was a presidential pre-candidate in 2003 and 2006 and is now one of the people behind the group (together with former candidates Josep Maria Minguella and Jordi Majó, and surgeon Miquell Llobet), would have denied that Rexach will join their project.

Sources close to the above-mentioned group meanwhile confirmed to this blog that Rexach was in the beginning a possible candidate for them, but that they are at this moment looking for another person to lead the project. Rexach could nevertheless still be part of the candidacy.

Read more:
Ex-coach Rexach considers running for president
Medina will again take part in the elections
Minguella and Medina behind Rexach candidacy

Medina will again take part in the elections

Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that 'Un Crit Valent', an FC Barcelona platform led by Jordi Medina, has decided to take part in this year's elections for president of FC Barcelona.

Medina is a 45-year old Catalan lawyer who was a pre-candidate in the 2003 and 2006 elections but failed twice to collect enough signatures of club members.

After analysing the situation and having been contacted by other groups who have the intention to participate in the elections, 'Un Crit Valent' thinks the best option is to join forces with others and present one common project.

At this moment, negotiations would be ongoing to finialize the program and to decide who will be the main people in the candidacy. It wouldn't be excluded that they will try to attract a candidate who is at this moment not yet linked with any of the groups involved.

Although 'Un Crit Valent' is reported to keep the option open to take part in the elections on their own, the talks would be well-advanced and there wouldn't be any more major obstacles that could block a deal. Nothing has yet been made public because the people involved would think this is not yet the right time to come out.

Catalan radio station RAC 1 claims that Jordi Medina could team up with two candidates in the 2003 elections: former player's agent Josep Maria Minguella and agricultural businessman Jordi Majó.

A source of the club's entourage consulted by this blog has said that a deal between Medina and Majó is unlikely after the latter gave his support to Jaume Guixà and not to Medina in the 2006 elections.

Read more:
Minguella still didn't decide on candidacy
Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?
Rexach confirms offer to run for president

Guixa: "The most powerful candidacy is ours"

Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu.


You are president of a penya, a Barcelona fans' club. Do you think you could have the support of a large part of the fans' clubs?
I would be the first president of a fans' club to preside over the club and that is a very exciting thought. The laportism has been distancing themselves from the penyes. There have been four different vice-presidents in charge of the social area and with none of them there has been an improvement. The fans' clubs, which are the backbone of the club around the country, are discouraged and absent.

The fact that Jaume Sobrequés [former vice-president between 1993 and 2000, read more here] is part of your candidacy could lead to think you will try to collect the votes of the supporters of former president Núñez.
I won't hide myself. For me, the reign of Núñez has brought the club very good things. He had a vision for the future on issues like the acquisition of the land, for example that of the current training centre, or the start of the youth academy... Jaume Sobrequés represents the freedom of thought. He always says what he thinks and that is his main quality. He's not just part of my candidacy to be on the list, but to work.

In 2006, you were also supported by Jordi Majó [candidate in the 2003 elections, when he finished third behind joan laporta and lluís bassat].
Yes, I contacted him to ask his advice on some issues regarding the electoral process. And although he did not want to support anyone, he saw we were acting in a serious and professional way and he gave us his support. The truth is that I have not talked with him recently, but the doors are open for everyone.

Back then, some also accused you of having the secret support of Sandro Rosell.
I have always denied that. We only wanted that there was an alternative in those elections. We had been working in the shadow for a long time, not because I was the straw man of anyone, but because we wanted to put together a serious project.

People think that the electoral battle between some candidates will be very tough, maybe even dirty. Does that concern you?
Since I wasn't part of the internal struggles over the recent years, this doesn't worry me at all. It is true that fifteen directors have resigned from Laporta's board and that some of those might take part in the elections, but we'll see what happens. We just want to present our project and some serious people.

Do you rule out any deal with other candidates?
I leave the door open to all club members who have motivation, time and resources to add to our candidacy. Barcelona people can join us.

But would you close an agreement with another, more powerful candidate?
At this moment, the most powerful candidacy is ours, really. We believe we can make it to the final vote.

And can you guarantee that you will be able to deposit the necessary bank guarantees?
Of course. Otherwise I would not have started this. I do believe, however, that this point of the statutes should be amended. There are fans with good ideas that might not have enough financial means to get involved. It is an unfair restriction.

this is the second and last part of this interview.

Read the first part of this interview:
Guixa: "The club is almost bankrupt"

Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?

this article was originally published at fcbtransfers.blogspot.com


In May or June next year, Barcelona's club members will appoint a new president. After two terms, current president Joan Laporta cannot run again. Who are the candidates to succeed him?


1. The continuity candidate
The current Barcelona board wants to put forward one candidate who should continue the current project. In recent weeks and months, this seemed to have become a struggle between marketing vice-president Jaume Ferrer and recently appointed board member Xavier Sala i Martín.

While Sala, a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York, would have the support of president Laporta, Ferrer would be backed by the majority of the board members. First vice-president Alfons Godall, who first had said that he would not run, has put himself back on the map in two interviews earlier this week and could become the consensus candidate. A decision is expected to be made in December or January.

2. Sandro Rosell (former sports vice-president, board member 2003-2005) (picture)
Rosell is until this moment the only one who has publicly announced - in the summer of 2008 - that he will run for president. He has started to prepare for the elections shortly after he resigned as vice-president in 2005.

Rosell has long been seen as the favourite to become the next president although this could have changed because of last season's sporting succeses of the team. Rosell is seen as the architect of the team around Brazilian player Ronaldinho that won two league titles and one Champions League under coach Frank Rijkaard.

3. Ferran Soriano (former economic vice-president, board member 2003-2008)
Until he stepped down together with several other board members last summer, Soriano was considered to be the most likely "board candidate" for the elections. Soriano is seen as the architect of the current healthier financial situation of the club, compared to the situation when Laporta took office back in 2003. Because of his new job as chairman of airline company Spanair it has become uncertain if Soriano will run.

4. The Others
Several other names of people from the "entorn", the club's entourage, are rumoured to try to set up a candidature. Former presidental candidates like Jordi Majó, Josep Maria Minguella or Jaume Llauradó could again make an attempt, although none of them are expected to have a serious chance and they might try to link up with one of the main candidates trying to get a place in the board.

(vaguely based on an article in Catalan sports paper Sport)