Cartoon 33: Rosell ready to solve Cesc's problem

Cesc:
It's very frustrating not to be able to make my debut at the Camp Nou, I would like to find a solution for that.

Rosell:
Well, I have 56 million solutions.


(click the cartoon to enlarge)


by caye

source:
sport

check more election cartoons here

Possible candidate Llaurado buys football club

Former Barcelona vice-president and possible presidential candidate Jaume Llauradó has recently bought Spanish fourth division club Badajoz.

Badajoz is a city in the autonomous community of Extramadura, in western Spain, that borders with Portugal.

Together with Mauro Gianetti, a Swiss former professional cyclist, Llauradó acquired a few months ago around 60 per cent of the shares of the club and the 65-year old Catalan businessman was in January appointed as board member of the club.

Jaume Llauradó was a pre-candidate in the elections of 1997 and 2000, when he ended up joining the candidacy of the later president Joan Gaspart, in whose board Llauradó was a vice-president from 2000 until he resigned after one year because he didn't agree with the way the club was governed.

In 2003, he was a presidential candidate but finished 6th and last in the elections won by Joan Laporta. He obtained 987 votes (1,91%), which was considerably lower than the number of signatures he had been able to collect. Llauradó is also the president of FC Barcelona think tank Fòrum Samitier.

Read more:
Llaurado close to renouncing his candidacy
Will Llaurado run for the fourth time?
Llaurado confirms that he will run

sources: hoy, el periódico de extremadura

The Pundit: Alex Santos on re-election Laporta

« If Laporta could be re-elected, I think there would be no chance to take the presidency away from him, just like when Josep Lluís Núñez ran for a new term. »

Alex Santos,
El 9 Esportiu

check more pundit talk

Benedito: "The signatures won't be a problem"

Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Catalan local radio station Radio Cabrera and Catalan online sports paper Yoya.



It is true that you're against the sale of assets and specifically against the sale of the Miniestadi?
The truth is that I'm concerned about some decisions that the board has lately taken regarding the sale of assets because this that our assets' solvency ratio has become worse. Three times they have sold parts of our assets. I'm not in favour of this, it should only happen when we're facing a very difficult situation and I think that is not the case now. I'm heavily opposed and I think that the other candidates have a different idea.

But do you think a reform of the Camp Nou is necessary?
The Camp Nou is 53 years old and needs a reform regarding accesses, comfort, new technologies and we will do it during the next mandate. Another, very different thing is having reform of a football pitch that can be seen from the moon.

A theme that regularly comes back in these elections, is the relationschip Barça-politics. What is your opinion?
The Catalan character of Barcelona is part of its essence. Whoever wants to reduce this Catalan character, no matter who it is, will fail. But the president should not do politics and this has been one of the big mistakes of Laporta. One thing is to help Catalonia club through the club and another thing is to use it in a party-politcal way. And besides that, Laporta is doing it for his personal benefit, betraying the spirit and the pact he had with the club members in 2003.

Having been, back in the days, so close and loyal to Laporta, how is it possible that you never were part of the board of directors? You rejected or it was never offered to you?
Honestly, since Laporta was elected as president Laporta he never talked with me about the possibility of joining the board. Other directors did tell me that they wanted me to become part of the board but Laporta never proposed it to me, so I didn't have the choice to say yes or no. Likewise, this fact did not stop me from working for Barça with all I had until the last day.

Could it be that your biggest signing is not a player? I'm talking about your campaign director, Mr. Xavier Roig...
Yeah, right, he is a great professional and I am very happy with the collaboration agreement we have signed. He has a great cv, also in the Barça elections, since he was Laporta's campaign director in 2003. He will not be the only signing of this nature, I will bit by bit release names that people will certainly like a lot.

Let's try, can you already give us a name?
The campaign hasn't started yet... It's precisely Xavier Roig who has advised me that these names should be brought to the public gradually.

How are you planning the collection of the signatures, are you optimistic?
What we have is like a "movement", today we don't get the same attention in the mainstream media as other candidates, but we are with many people, many people are working on this, many club members have contacted us to help us. There will be more than 1, 2 or 3 candidates that will have more difficulties than us to pass the cut of the signatures. We will go over it and it won't be a problem for us, we will have other problems but not this one.

this was the second and last part of this interview. you can read the first part here.

Read more:
Benedito wants to be the third way
Logo and first campaign slogan Benedito revealed
Benedito: "Stadium shouldn't be visible from the moon"

interview: uri bruguera

Most read of the week

these were the three most read blog posts of the past week:


1.
Ferrer and Benedito to form one candidacy

2.
Rosell preparing election stunt

3.
Rosell wanted commission fee for sale Ronaldinho

Rosell preparing bid for Cesc

British tabloid The Daily Mail claims that Barcelona presidential candidate and former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell is preparing a bid of 56 million euros to sign Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas in the summer.

Rosell would always have maintained excellent relations with Cesc, whose contract with the English Premier League club expires in 2014, as well as with his family, and securing the transfer of the former Barcelona youth player would strengthen his bid for the presidency.

Read more:
Ribery rejects approach Rosell
Laporta and Rosell contacted Cesc
Torres confirms good relationship with Rosell

Ferrer doesn't want Laporta to campaign

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that, after Barcelona president Joan Laporta gave his support to Barcelona assets vice-president and presidential candidate Jaume Ferrer last month (read more here), Ferrer has now asked Laporta not to campaign for him in the coming months.

Both Ferrer and members of the candidacy of the vice-president would have asked Laporta during private talks that he wouldn't make any more statements in favour of Ferrer that could lead people to think that the president is directly taking part in the campaign ahead of the elections in June.

Read more:
Ferrer: "I want to work with more discretion"
Laporta confirms board support for Ferrer
Ferrer won't accept conditions Laporta