Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Catalan online paper El Singular Digital.There are already people who point out that these elections will be a matter of two, Rosell and Godall...
Every now and then the club members of Barça have the rare ability to choose their representatives and this fact alone proves that the upcoming elections at the club cannot be a matter of two.
Give some reasons to believe in your candidacy.
I have worked with Laporta for almost fifteen years, before he was president and during his term in office. During that period, I have had the opportunity to shape a reliable and solid club model, a model that is different from the continuity one, and by intuition, also different from the one that Sandro Rosell will present.
Make your project a bit more concrete.
The defining element of Barça is that it is owned by 170.000 people and this is the reason of being that defines and orientates our model. I think that the projects of other candidates, like Sandro Rosell, will focus on other aspects. We'll focus on the club member.
Joan Carretero [catalan politician] said several months ago that the position of Barça president is more important than that of president of the Catalan government. Do you feel ready to take on this challenge?
Yes, but I do not share the words of Carretero. Catalonia is a thousand years old and has a splendid story ahead that is in the hands of the Catalans. Barça can not be explained without Catalonia, but Catalonia can without Barça. I can not accept that the president of the Catalan government would be compared with the president of Barça.
Evaluate the presidency of Laporta.
If we make an overall assessment, I don't have any problem in recognizing that Laporta has been a good president. Not recognizing that he made the start of a change would be unfair. He maybe has not been the best president in the history of Barça but he has been the president of the best Barça is history, that's a fact. On the other hand, it has to be said that there have been things he didn't do and others that he has done badly.
What is the economic situation of the club at this moment?
Barça's accounts are audited and we have to believe everything they say. There are nevertheless some elements, especially regarding assets operations, that suggest certain treasury difficulties that make one think that things aren't as good as they tell us. I can not think of any reason to hide information for the club member and if I am president I will therefore assure maximum transparency regarding this issue.
Projects such as the Foster remodelling attract the attention.
And the Miniestadi project too. The candidacies of Godall, and presumably those of Ferrer and Sandro, are in favour of the reclassification of the stadium of the second team. We believe that the assets' solvency ratio is what secures the future viability of the club and we are totally opposed to losses in that aspect.
Regarding the Foster reform, we are also against it, for the simple fact that this is about spending 400 million euros and because it is unacceptable to make these kinds of decisions without consulting the members.
this was the first part of this interview. you can read the second part here and the third part here.
Read more:
Benedito signs ex-campaign director Laporta
Introducing Benedito
Benedito: "Rosell has a different model"
interview: xavier march
