Javier Bordas, formerly on the board of Barcelona with Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, has spoken out about the way in which the latter was removed from his position in recent months to Mundo Deportivo.
“[These past ten years] have been wonderful,” he said. “We have won in football, which is the most important thing, but also in all disciplines.
“We have won all the titles, we are the largest club in the world, the one with the highest turnover and the most followers on social media.
“The social part [of Bartomeu’s mandate] was very good, everything was managed well and many good measures have been taken for the club.
“On an economic level we were also doing very well but the pandemic has come and it has been a global disaster. We have been very generous in paying the players.
“We’ve had the very best [footballers] in the world in place, with big-money offers for them coming in, but we’ve managed to keep them. I have a very positive assessment of these years.”
Bordas was direct when asked whether Bartomeu deserved to be ran out of the club in the manner in which he was, with a vote of no confidence and early elections being called.
“Not at all,” he said. “It was a shame, a lynching. Whenever there was something small they attacked us, I don’t understand it.
“One of the crises was that we were selling the Seient Lliure tickets at a high price, when everything was done with club’s financial health in mind. Should that be criticised?
“And now, with the disaster of the pandemic, they have crushed Bartomeu.”
The electoral campaign for the new president will last one week, from January 15th to the 22nd. Electronic voting won’t be allowed and all candidates must gather at least 2,264 signatures.
At this very moment, the candidates who’ve announced their intention to run are Victor Font, Toni Freixa, Agusti Benedito, Jordi Farre, Luis Fernandez Ala and Xavier Vilajoana.
The winner of the election will have a challenging six-year tenure ahead of them. They’ll have to inject life into an ageing and sluggish team and try to bring Barcelona back to the level of Europe’s super-elite.
Most pressing, however, will be convincing Lionel Messi to stay – the Argentine talisman can sign for whoever he wants come the summer, a year on after failing to force a move from the club with whom he’s spent his entire club career.
Featured image courtesy of FC Barcelona.
According to Bordas: Mbappe, Alvaro Morata, Haaland and Courtois, all could sign with Barcelona!
Javier Bordas: “What happened to Bartomeu was a lynching”!
The failure of these transfers and the loss of Neymar should have led to Bartomeu “lynching” much earlier!