A big day in Barca history….a.k.a. “Votar no!”

By: Kevin | July 5th, 2008

As in, vote no against the “no confidence” vote.

This is, for many Barca fans, a big day in the club’s history. Bigger than any player signing, bigger than any match win or loss. Sunday, July 6 is the day that a vote that was forced by soci Oriol Giralt
has, along with 5,882 other socis, angled for a no confidence vote against current Barcelona board president Joan Laporta and his mates. (There are now more than 9,000 signatures on the petition.)

So, what’s at stake here? Essentially, control and direction of the club for the foreseeable future. Here are the facts. My rant will follow after that.

After two silver-less seasons, Giralt began to circulate a petition that garnered the necessary number of signatures to force the vote. If 65 percent of voting socis vote for the Giralt petition, the board is dissolved and elections will be held within three months, for a new president and board.

The in-person vote will take place at the Camp Nou on Sunday, July 6.

Now for speculation.

Sandro Rosell,

who has a past with Laporta, is rumored to be the leading candidate to replace Laporta. He’s essentially running on a “I’ll bring Kun Aguero to the Nou Camp” platform. Rosell denies that he has anything to do with this petition drive, but has of late criticized everything from player sales and transfers, to what Laporta had for breakfast and the color of his socks.

Laporta is saying that a no confidence vote could paralyze the board and the team at a critical time, in effect freezing all player activity and allowing for nothing but the basic, day-to-day operations of the club. Here is the relevant passage:

“The interim committee exercises the functions of government, administration and representation that belong to the board, but limited to the acts that are necessary and inevitable for the normal functioning of the club and the protection of its interests.”

Now, that bold-faced bit is where the lawyers are going to get involved. Laporta, quite naturally, suggests that passage does NOT allow for transfers or completions of ongoing negotiations. Giralt says that Laporta is a liar and scare-monger, that transfers at this time of the season are most definitely within the scope of “acts that are necessary and inevitable for the normal functioning of the club.”

You fans of irony should note that Laporta’s history with the club essentially began in 1998, when he forced an unsuccessful confidence vote against then-president Josep Nunez. Laporta then successfully stood for election in 2003, running on a “bring Beckham to the Nou Camp” platform.

Well, he couldn’t get Beckham, so he settled for this Brazilian named Ronaldinho, and the rest is history. His tenure began with the club trying to rid itself of underperformers, so that it could become the bright, shining entity that it has now become. Barca was big, but many argue that it became world-wide under the aegis of Laporta/Rijkaard/Ronaldinho, playing the kind of football that sold shirts and grabbed attention.

Many also say that with Laporta’s campaign against the Barca ultras, the Boixos Nois, the Nou Camp became a much nicer place to watch a match. No violence, no stress, just a tourist and soci-friendly little hamlet. Debt isn’t as crushing as it once was, either.

During Laporta’s tenure, the club grabbed a Champions League crown and two league trophies, ending six trophy-less years before Laporta. Hot on the heels of the side’s European crown, no other candidate even ran against Laporta in September of 2006, so he won another four-year term.

Now, it hasn’t been six years, but does any of that above sound familiar? Players out, coach out, new system in after two trophy-less years.

(Rant time….)

Giralt claims to have the best interests of the club at heart with his destructive foray, but he doesn’t. He claims not to want anything save the success of the club, should his efforts result in the dismantling of Laporta and the current board. Horseshit.

We have been silver-less for two seasons now, and have decided to reload the cannon, so to speak. There’s a new coach, a slew of new signings, and under or non-performers are being jettisoned. To unsettle all of that now is extremely dangerous. If Laporta were any other president, it wouldn’t be as bad. But he is almost as big a symbol of the club as any of the players. This helps on the public relations side, but it also helps with the transfer negotiations. Many believe that he was the one able to prise Alves from Sevilla, thanks to a relationship with Del Nido.

Dunno. What I do know is this: You can’t screw with a program before it is complete, which is, in effect, what Giralt and his cohorts are wanting. They say that everything will run as before, that nothing will be upset, that operations will continue as before. All they want is new folks running things, because Laporta and his board suck. Oh, and we’re keeping Eto’o and Ronaldinho, while adding Aguero, never mind that he isn’t for sale, and has a 40 million Euro release clause. We will most likely be as successful getting El Kun as Laporta was getting David Beckham.

Were I able to be in Barcelona on Sunday, I would be voting not just no, but hell no to this attempt. It’s a destabilizing, misguided power grab.