Bartomeu has been elected as president for the next 6 years. 54.63% of the votes went to Bartomeu. 43.12% of members participated in the vote.
The slogan ‘Més que un club’…
“For many years, this commitment specifically referred to Catalan society, which for many decades of the 20th century lived under dictatorships that persecuted its language and culture. Under these circumstances, Barça always supported Catalan sentiments, and the defence of its own language and culture.” (fcbarcelona.com)
Bartomeu recently said “we want a club independent of political power…we are a Catalan club, we don’t do politics.”. So what the club’s elected president is saying, is he wants to try to remove the club from its actual slogan, a slogan that is one of the reasons why FC Barcelona have been respected by so many.
“Now in times of globalisation, Barça has extended its social commitment to the rest of the planet, with a specially significant event being the signing of an agreement with Unicef in 2006, which was a way of saying that a sports club should not be marginal to problems going on in society, in this case, the plight of children around the world.” (fcbarcelona.com)
During Laporta’s tenure as president of the club, he made an agreement with UNICEF in which they would feature on the front of the shirt, and that the club would pay them for that to be the case. Bartomeu has stripped UNICEF from the front of the shirt and slapped it on the rear instead, and now plastering Qatar over the front. Qatar Airways, a company with no respect for workers or women, a company that belongs to the state of Qatar, in which migrant workers a treated like slaves. From no corporate sponsorship, to blood money from Qatar…quite a jump.
Bartomeu has told everyone that there will be a potential new sponsor, and that members will have the opportunity to choose which sponsor is suitable. I doubt “No sponsor on the shirts, UNICEF on the front” will be an option.
Many are under the illusion that the club needs a sponsor to compete in the transfer market of today. I’m not convinced.
“He also took the chance to thank the other candidates for their hard work and sense of fair-play during the campaign and that any idea that was good for Barça would be worth considering.” (fcbarcelona.com)
Bartomeu thanked the other candidates for their sense of fair-play during the campaign. I’m glad he didn’t note his own sense of fair-play. The man who used FC Barcelona social media (twitter account) to retweet his tweets promoting his campaign at the beginning of the campaigning period, forced the interim board to sign Arda Turan as it is ‘what Luis Enrique wanted’ (couldn’t he wait a week?), and campaigned on the streets, giving out gifts to those who agreed to vote, on the day of elections, in which the campaigning period was officially over.
“The model of FC Barcelona is based on La Masia and that will continue. Most of the players will come from La Masia” (cadena ser)
La Masia seems important to the new president. With Barcelona B called a “team in which players train”, loyal Masia coach García Pimienta promised the Barcelona B job seemingly thrown out as Gerard Lopez will get the position instead. Promising youth players like Alex Corredera, Moha and Ayoub Abou have now left the club as they don’t feel valued, and I’m sure more will follow.
Bartomeu has gone against 116 years of tradition by introducing horizontal stripes to the home shirt. In 1899, the 3rd paragraph of meeting notes from the second ever FC Barcelona foundational meeting read, “It was decided that the colours that this society will use will be the dark blue and scarlet with perpendicular stripes and on the chest Barcelona’s crest.”.
There are many other things that Bartomeu has done…
- Promising to renew Abidal and then letting him go. (and then just yesterday saying, “We will sweat blood & tears like Xavi, Puyol, Abidal & Messi.”)
- The Neymar case
- Being charged with Tax Fraud and Corruption
- The transfer ban
- Stalled the contract renewal of the best player in the world
- Started a poll asking socios if they would sell Messi and for what price
I’m sure there is even more, but you can easily find that for yourself.
Next season will be interesting. Looking like UE Llagostera, La Masia players leaving, big name/money signings, and a president who is an alleged criminal.
‘Més que un club’, but not as we know it.
BCNDavid 