A group of Barcelona supporters are unhappy with President Josep Maria Bartomeu for putting the blame of the Neymar case onto the club.
Bartomeu signed a document that means the club accepts liability for tax fraud in the signing of Neymar but absolves himself and his predecessor, Sandro Rosell, much to the chagrin of Manifest Blaugrana leader Marc Duch.
“If Barca was a person I’m sure they’d already be in jail. It couldn’t be more rotten. I browsed through the document and freaked out. It’s amazing they’ve allowed the club to fall this low. This is a tremendous embarrassment for the club, for the members and for the fans,” Duch told AS.
“To be accused and convicted of fraud by the Treasury! That is particularly harmful, in addition to the sensation the club is dirty that’s transmitted to the outside.”
Duch explained that the group are limited in the action they can take, however, as with 300 members, they can’t afford to bring legal proceedings that could remove Bartomeu and the other members of the board who voted in favour of the measure.
“The idea [of Manifest Blaugrana] is to monitor everything that happens at the club. That bothers them a lot, to the point we don’t receive any support from the offices. It’s the opposite,” Duch continued.
“We can’t do anything. Interventions are judicial in nature and obviously extremely expensive. There is talk of a bond issue and even though we’d want that, we can’t. The platform would be to ask for the expulsion of the directors who voted in favour of the pact with the Prosecutor [all bar Carles Villarubi, Maria Teixido and two abstentions].
“The problem is the decision is made by an internal body of the club. That’s why there are no options. If Bartomeu resigned? Jordi Cardoner would take over, and that would give us another kick to keep going.”
