‘It is no coincidence that this news comes out now’ – Joan Laporta responds to Barcelona-referee scandal

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has leapt to the defence of the club after allegations were made about payments to former Vice President of the Technical Committee for Referees, Enriquez Negreira.

The news broke shortly before 13:00 CEST that Barcelona had paid Negreira €1.392m over a period of three years for consultancy work. That work was reportedly in order to ‘ensure neutral decisions’ were being made by La Liga referees, and provide advice over dealing with referees.

Less than two hours later, Laporta appeared in front of the camera to defend the club’s actions publicly, after the club had already released a statement.

“FC Barcelona in the past had contracted the services of an external consultant to obtain reports from players in the lower categories of Spanish football, and refereeing advice, which is a service that other Spanish clubs hire out too. It is very normal for clubs to do so.”

“Really, the news is surprising, and it is no coincidence that it comes out now.”

“And what I can say is that from Futbol Club Barcelona, ​​any captious, tendentious interpretation that insinuates things that are not, will receive the proportional and adequate response from the club and therefore we reserve all the actions that are necessary to defend honour of the club. I say this to the cules [Barcelona fans]. It is no coincidence that this information is now coming out at this time when Barca are doing well. It is no coincidence.”

In the club statement, it was also noted that the timing of news was inopportune for the club, given their good performance currently. Equally, if Barcelona were going through a tough time, then it would have looked like opportunism then, from Laporta’s perspective.

Laporta clearly feels this is part of smear campaign, but does not actually deny the allegations themselves. Without knowledge of other clubs’ use of similar consultancy services, it is hard to know whether this is common practice or not.

Tags Barcelona Enriquez Negreira Joan Laporta

3 Comments

  1. “FC Barcelona in the past had contracted the services of an external consultant to obtain reports from players in the lower categories of Spanish football”

    “1.392m over a period of three years for consultancy work.”

    450mil per year for “consultancy work”
    Ahahahhaha. Thats a presidential tier of hour salary.

    Who is this bum lying to?

  2. Thank you president I like your courage
    When they see that’s we are progressing that’s when the brought the News out why didn’t dey bring it out last season

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