Seven board members continue until 30 June

The resignations of Barcelona vice-presidents Alfons Godall, Jaume Ferrer [picture, on the right], Joan Boix and Albert Perrín, and of Barcelona directors Jordi Torrent, Alfonso Castro, Patrick Auset, Magda Oranich, Josep Ignasi Macià and Xavier Bagués have yesterday been accepted during a meeting of the Barcelona board.

The ten members of the board were forced to resign because they will be officially part of a candidacy in the presidential elections on Sunday 13 June. Apart from Godall, who supports former Barcelona marketing and sports vice-president Marc Ingla, all other directors who left are part of the candidacy of Jaume Ferrer.

A board of seven people will now govern the club until 30 June, with president Joan Laporta sports vice-president Rafael Yuste [picture, on the left], secretary Josep Cubells, treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín, and directors Jacint Borràs, Josep Anton Colomer and Maria Elena Fort staying in office. Sala i Martín is expected to leave the club at the end of this term, while the other six support the candidacy of Jaume Ferrer.

Read more:
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Ferrer gets new support from board members
Godall resigns as director ahead of the elections

Ferrer gets new support from board members

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that several Barcelona board members have joined the candidacy of Barcelona assets vice-president and presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer after the latter got the support of Barcelona president Joan Laporta and the majority of the board at the end of March (read more here).

Since the public announcement of his candidacy in December last year, Ferrer could already count on the support of five board members: institutional vice-president Albert Perrín and directors Alfons Castro, Jacint Borràs, Josep Anton Colomer and Jordi Torrent (read more here).

Since then at least four more directors would have given their support to Ferrer: economic vice-president Joan Boix and directors Magda Oranich, Maria Elena Fort and Patrcik Auset. Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste [picture] is also said to be close to joining Ferrer. Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Yuste will certainly support Ferrer.

Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall wouldn't have got a formal offer from Ferrer to be part of his team and has in the meantime joined the candidacy of former marketing and sports vice-president Marc Ingla. Barcelona directors Josep-Ignasi Macià and Xavier Bagués, who supported the candidacy of Godall, wouldn't have been contacted by any of the candidates.

Ferrer would also have offered Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín a place in his board team but the latter reportedly didn't yet give his final response. The offer would nevertheless have caused some unrest in the candidacy of Ferrer and would be the reason why a possible big name that would join Ferrer has dropped out.

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French director Auset part of Ferrer candidacy
Ferrer presenting three new team members

Vice-president Yuste also supports Ferrer

Asked about the majority of the board now giving support to Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer in the elections (read more here), Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste has said in an interview with Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia that he now also supports Ferrer:

"Godall said that he wanted to include Soriano and the president reminded him that there had been agreed that the candidate had to come from within the current board.

Now all members of the board, with the exception of Godall and Sala i Martín, have decided to support Ferrer. We got what we wanted, to have a single board candidacy. We supported Alfons, but Jaume is a candidate who also deserves all our respect."

Read more:
Laporta confirms board support for Ferrer
Vice-president Yuste to leave after elections
Ferrer becomes official continuity candidate

Soriano preparing candidacy

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that former Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano has in the last weeks intensified the preparation of his candidacy ahead of the presidential elections in June.

Soriano would have decided to run for president although the candidacy wouldn't be announced soon. The chairman of Spanair is now reportedly finishing his election program and the composition of his board team and management structure.

Among other things, Soriano would have met with the seven board members who left the club together with him in 2008 (read more here). Of those ex-directors, former vice-presidents Albert Vicens and Marc Ingla would certainly be willing to join his candidacy, others are still considering the options and one of them would not actively take part but give his support to the project.

Soriano would also be open for current board members to become a part of his candidacy although under the condition that Soriano stays the presidential candidate. Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claimed a couple of weeks ago that Soriano has already a deal with the candidacy of current Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall.

Of the candidacy of Godall, Soriano would want to add Godall, Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín and director Magda Oranich to his team. He would also try to include vice-president Jaume Ferrer and director Alfons Castro in his project. Soriano would not count on vice-presidents Joan Boix, Rafael Yuste and Albert Perrín, nor on directors Josep-Ignasi Macià and Xavier Bagués.

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All options are still open for Soriano
How much does it cost to become a director?
Soriano dines with former board colleagues

Vice-president Yuste to leave after elections

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste (picture, on the left) will not continue at the club after the elections later this year, independently of who the next president of FC Barcelona will be.

Yuste, who said last week that he won't actively take part in the elections (read more here), would have informed his board colleagues that he will leave the club in July and that he will serve as right-hand man Barcelona president Joan Laporta (picture, on the right) when the latter starts his political career.

Catalan businessman Rafael Yuste joined the board of directors of Barcelona in November of the year 2005. In July 2008, after eight board members left because of the result of the vote of no confidence, he was appointed as sports vice-president.

Read more:
Directors considering to leave the club
The five vice-presidents of Godall
Vice-president Yuste won't take part in campaign

Vice-president Yuste won't take part in campaign

Asked about his role in the upcoming elections, Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste (picture, on the left) has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that he will stay at the club until the end of the term of the board and that he won't participate in the electoral process:

"I have said last week at the board meeting that I will stay on until 30 June, together with Txiki Begiristain. As sports vice-president, I think that I need to stay close to the team and the president. And after that, we'll see what will have happened in the elections. If Alfons Godall is elected president, something I hope will be the case, and he wants me to stay, I'm totally at his disposal to continue with this model."

The statements of Yuste came after Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed that Yuste would not be part of the campaign team of Godall, but would after the election join the new board if Godall would be chosen, although pointing out that there would also be a chance that Yuste could follow current Barcelona president Joan Laporta if the latter decides to enter politics.

Read more:
Vice-president Yuste still hoping for board unity
Directors considering to leave the club
The five vice-presidents of Godall

Ferrer could lead single board candidacy

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona assets vice-president Jaume Ferrer could become the board candidate in the upcoming elections. A decisive meeting is reportedly coming up this week after Barcelona president Joan Laporta met with Ferrer on Tuesday morning in Barcelona.

In the presence of Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste, Laporta and Ferrer would during that last meeting, which is described as "positive", have agreed on the fact that there should be one single board candidacy.

It's not yet clear who will assist at the upcoming decisive meeting - one version says all directors minus Laporta will assist, another one says only the vice-presidents will - but the goal is to make a final decision on who will be the board candidate in the elections. The name of the candidate would then be officially announced at the board meeting on 29 January.

During the Tuesday meeting, Ferrer would have told Laporta that he doesn't plan to change his mind on running for president and with Ferrer getting more and more support inside and outside the board, he would at this moment seem to be the most likely leader of the united board candidacy.

Three board members who were believed to support Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall would now have doubts, while vice-presidents Rafael Yuste and Joan Boix would have informed Godall on Tuesday that, given the latest events, they might support Ferrer.

All this means that Godall could lose his majority within the board of directors. It meanwhile wouldn't be clear if Godall will take part in the elections if Ferrer is appointed as the board's presidential candidate.

Read more:
Laporta calls on Ferrer and Godall to join forces
Board still trying for united candidacy
Treasurer Sala invites Ferrer to join Godall group

Vice-president Yuste still hoping for board unity

Asked about the upcoming presidential elections, Barcelona sports vice-president Rafael Yuste said last month in an interview with Catalan radio station COM Ràdio that he still hopes that the board will be able to present one single board candidacy:

"We are a group of people that wants to continue this project because it's worth it. My wish would be that there would only be one candidacy and I hope that we will be strong enough to stay united. Godall or Ferrer? I don't want to make a public statement on that, I can only say that I think the issue will be resolved soon."

Read more:
Directors considering to leave the club
Ferrer: "One board candidacy will be difficult"
The five vice-presidents of Godall

Directors considering to leave the club

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that several directors could leave the club at the end of the presidency of Joan Laporta in June of this year in case the current board cannot form one consensus candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.

The directors in question would not feel comfortable with the division inside the board that is caused by the fact that two vice-presidents - Alfons Godall and Jaume Ferrer - would like to run for president later this year.

Barcelona economic vice-president Joan Boix would be one of the board members who finds it difficult to choose between his two colleagues because of his good personal relationships with both Godall and Ferrer.

Both Boix and sports vice-president Rafael Yuste would, like others, also be firmly convinced that the only way to win the coming elections is by presenting a single board candidacy. They would therefore think that if that's not possible it maybe wouldn't be worthwile to make an attempt.

Catalan newspaper Avui nevertheless claims that things are already clear. All the board members that weren't explicitly mentioned by vice-president Ferrer when he announced he will take part in the elections (read more here), would be supporting Godall.

This would mean that the group of Godall, who is believed to also have the support of president Laporta, would in that case include ten of the current directors and the group of Ferrer six.

Read more:
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Ferrer confirms that he will run for president
The five vice-presidents of Godall

The five vice-presidents of Godall

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall will be a candidate in the elections and offer a vice-presidency to Joan Boix (picture), Rafael Yuste, Josep Cubells, Magda Oranich and Xavier Sala i Martín.

The second paragraph of Article 30 of the statutes of FC Barcelona states that the board of the club must have at least one and a maximum of five vice-presidents.

All five mentioned above are already board members at this moment: Boix, who would also have an offer of Jaume Ferrer (read more here), is economic vice-president and responsible for the marketing and media area, Yuste is sports vice-president, Cubells is board secretary and director responsible for the basketball section, Oranich is director of the institutional area and responsible for the foundation and Sala i Martín is treasurer and director of the economic area.

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Board secretary Cubells to become vice-president

Barçagate (2) - Emergency press conference

Few hours after El Periódico brought the news that Barcelona had been spying on four of the club's vice-presidents (read more here), Barcelona called an emergency press conference at 12:15 pm that same Thursday 24 september.

While Barcelona president Joan Laporta was - in the company of three of the four vice-presidents involved (Ferrer, Yuste and Franquesa) - inaugurating a statue of former Barcelona player László Kubala, Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver faced the press alone and gave his version of the events:

"I can confirm that we have carried out an investigation but I want to make clear that the report that was published today refers to spying, while we were in fact protecting and defending those people. When somebody is the target of a security audit and it's he who receives the result - which is what happened here - that's not espionage. You can call it whatever you want, just do not use the word 'spying'.

Of course we are not happy that this information has been published but we don't have any problems to give further explanations. Although we would prefer to be able to work with more discretion, we are aware that few things in this club are not publicly known.

Everything started in March of this year when vice-president Joan Franquesa informed the club that he thought he was being investigated and followed. The police was not informed because there were only indications and no real proof. He thought this had to do with his position as vice-president of the club and asked us to verify the situation and his security.

Taking into account previous events related to security issues at the club - the death threats to the president, the theft of his computer, the theft of a data base and other incidents that we will not reveal - we decided to act. We considered this to be a reasonable request and, as security is an important issue for the club, we also thought it made sense to extend this to other vice-presidents, namely misters Joan Boix, Jaume Ferrer and Rafael Yuste. That's when these security audits were commissioned.

I want to point out that this happened shortly after first vice-president Alfons Godall had announced that he had no intention of being a candidate in the next elections, so there you had a situation in which the other four vice-presidents came more into the limelight because people were starting to discuss which one of them could become the continuity candidate. So yes, there was an electoral element to it as they played a bigger role. In short, all of them gained some public notoriety and that made them vulnerable. I also want to mention that current director Xavier Sala i Martín was at that time not yet a member of the board.

The club then contacted Método 3, a firm with a good reputation with whom we normally work, to carry out the audits. As is usual in security matters, this all happened with discretion so things could be done efficiently. At the beginning of April, the results of the security audit were known and, after being shared with them, they are now in the possession of the four vice-presidents. I think the fact that nobody did anything after they were informed about the audits is sufficient proof that nothing irregular happened.

A security audit consists of verifying information about those people that is available in public records and places, as well as making inquiries about them regarding certain areas of relevance. What is also part of it is trying to find out whether this person is being subjected to illegal activities of others. This is for example a very common practice in the United States.

A security audit can also be defined by what it is not and it's important to make this clear. It is not and does not contain any type of following of people or any activity related to these people's communications, meaning for example that telephone conversations or e-mails are not checked.

The cost of this audit was 56 000 euros, which is a little more than 1% of the club's security budget, which is four million euros. I want to make clear here that there are two types of security the club is dealing with: we have the security of people and brands, and then there's the security of the facilities. It's a very complex situation that asks for a lot of efforts. I can on the other hand guarantee you that this club never has been investigating people, so it is excluded that we have been following former vice-president Sandro Rosell.

President Laporta was not behind all this. Like all the vice-presidents, he was informed about the results once we got them. He didn't know about it before because that's the way we work here. We are doing things and depending on the results, the president is informed. Every day thousands of decisions are being made and people are informed from the moment this is relevant for them. I don't know if this is good or bad but it's our policy. The president takes care of the strategic matters, not the day-to-day activities.

Six months have now passed since the events took place and I insist that this was a normal procedure within the club's security measures. I cannot confirm or deny that similar audits were carried out before but it was just another measure without any special importance. Another thing is that this security audit was undertaken with the most strict respect for the law. It's a standard measure and no rules have been violated.

I never thought about resigning. Not back then and not after things have become public now. I am here because of a decision of the board and I don't think people have lost their trust in me. This happened half a year ago and nobody asked me anything. But if they would now ask me to leave, I would go with the great satisfaction of having worked at this club."

this is the second of ten parts on the case. the third part will cover some further revelations. you can read the whole series here.

Read the first part of this series:
Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news

Barçagate (1) - El Periodico breaks the news

Under the front-page headline "Pre-Electoral Earthquake Inside The Barcelona Board: Barça Has Been Spying On Four Vice-Presidents", Catalan newspaper El Periódico brought on Thursday 24 September the story that Barcelona has been investigating four vice-presidents.

The paper claims that Catalan detective agency Método 3 has been gathering information on Barcelona vice-presidents Joan Boix (finances), Joan Franquesa (assets administration), Rafael Yuste (sports matters) and Jaume Ferrer (marketing and media) earlier this year.

The order for the investigations was reportedly given by Barcelona chief executive Joan Oliver. At the request of one of the four directors concerned, who wanted to have his background checked, Oliver would have asked the security services of the club to contact an agency that would make a report of four vice-presidents, three of them not being alerted about the investigation.

The detective agency carried out at the end of April of this year a so-called risk analysis, examining the professional and private lives of the targets to see if something could be used against one of them during the upcoming election campaign.

When one of the four vice-presidents who were spied upon found out what was going on, he reportedly informed his colleagues and they met with Barcelona president Joan Laporta to ask for further explanations. The president showed his surprise when confronted with the story and told the directors he didn't know about the investigations.

Laporta was able to convince the four board members that he was not aware of what had been going on and, although one of the four still wouldn't exclude to take legal actions after next year's elections, it was in the end agreed to silence the case in order to safeguard the stability of the club.

this is the first of ten parts on the case. the second part will cover the reaction of barcelona ceo joan oliver. you can read the whole series here.