Poll result: Who do you (not) want to be president?

This is the final result (in percentages) of this blog's Who would you vote for in the elections for president of FC Barcelona? poll that was held one day before the elections:

Sandro Rosell 35,9
Marc Ingla 25,6
Agustí Benedito 20,5
Jaume Ferrer 14,6
Don't know/Don't answer 3,4

This is the final result (in percentages) of this blog's Who do you NOT want to be the next president of FC Barcelona? poll that was held one day before the elections:

Sandro Rosell 61,9
Marc Ingla 12,4
Agustí Benedito 11,9
Jaume Ferrer 9,4
Don't know/Don't answer 4,5

Live Coverage: Fourth presidential debate

Barcelona presidential candidates Agustí Benedito, Jaume Ferrer, Marc Ingla and Sandro Rosell hold the foourth and last presidential debate on Catalan television channel TV3. Re-fresh!

The presidency of Laporta

Benedito: "Laporta is the president of the best Barça in history. He changed the club at a crucial moment. The problem is that he later forget about the original project."

Ferrer: "Like Guardiola, I would say thanks to the president for those seven years. During this presidency we changed the club. We won a record number of trophies. Economically we've recovered. We have more members and fan clubs than ever."

Ingla: "I also want to say thanks to the president. Another thing I want to point out is the fight against the hooligans. At the end, he made overexposed himself a bit."

Rosell: "The first big decision was to keep the violent people out of the stadium. The second was to put unicef on the shirt, I want to congratulate the coach for that. And thirdly, the appointment of Guardiola. Not good were the political involvement and the link with the members. Economically there are too much expenses."

Sports area

Ferrer: "What is working, shouldn't be touched. We will continue with the same playing style and the same people. We'll put even more emphasis on the youth academy and the other sections."

Ingla: "We want to continue. We also want to keep Txiki, one of the architects of this model, like Rijkaard and Cruyff. If Txiki wouldn't continue, Txiki and Guardiola will help to decide on his successor. We should have youth academies abroad."

Rosell: "This is the model we've started in 2003, so we'll keep the same model. Since Txiki has already said he won't stay, we will appoint somebody else. We will offer Guardiola a contract of 6 years, that will be renewable each year. We will close deals with foreign clubs."

Benedito: "We all share this model, but the model isn't linked with people."

Ferrer: "Txiki didn't say he will stop. I talked with him and I'm convinced he will want to continue."

Rosell: "If Txiki wants to continue, we'll talk with him and give him the chance to explain himself, we'll explain him our project and if Guardiola als wants it, he'll continue."

Ingla: "Sandro has a youth academy in Qatar and that could cause conflicts of interests."

Rosell: "It's just a solidary project. And I will sell my company."

Ingla: "We have been contacted by Rooney and two, three other players but we passed the information to Txiki."

Ferrer+Rosell+Benedito: "The people from the sports departmen should decide on the transfers, we can only put financial limits."

Economic area

Ingla: "We're far better than in 2003. Unicef is a good decision. Foster, We won't execute it."

Rosell: "We will reduce the expenses, so we can keep on growing."

Benedito: "We should make profit. We should not be forced to sell assets if we want to invest."

Ferrer: "The economic situation of the club is very good. In 2003, we lost money. Now we're making profits."

Rosell: "Unicef will continue, Foster won't be executed but we will profoundly remodel the stadium."

Benedito: "If we will be elected, we will stop the reclassification of the miniestadi site."

Ingla: "The times of the games can't be changed, the televisions won't accept it."

Ferrer: "It's populist Rosell wants to play at 5pm, the television rights will drop by 50%."

Social area

Rosell: "I've talked with a lot of members and want to give them again the feeling that they the owners of the club."

Benedito: "We want to make the members feel represented. Rosell is the reprensentative of the elite."

Ferrer: "we want to keep the people happy by winning, that's the first thing. We want the most Catalan and the most global Barça in history. The foundation should also continue with the international agreements."

Ingla: "We want to give more comfort to the members when coming to the stadium. We want to help the members who have financial problems. We don't want to exclude anyone."

Final statement

Benedito: "We'll the candidacy of the people. No one expected we would arrive here and we will fight until the end."

Ferrer: "The continuity of the best Barça in history is in play."

Ingla: "We shouldn't change the model of the club. Our candidacy has the most experience, we're the guarantee of this model."

Rosell: "We know what the member wants, everything what he wants is in our program. We won't fail."

Cartoon 44: A Camp Nou 2.0?

Fan A:
Soriano proposes to create a Camp Nou 2.0.

Which would mean that the fans could get all kind of information through their mobile phone.

Fan B:
I prefer a Camp Nou where we win all games with at least 2-0.

(click the cartoon to enlarge)


by kap

source:
el mundo deportivo

check more election cartoons here

Live Coverage: Third presidential debate

Barcelona presidential candidates Agustí Benedito, Jaume Ferrer, Marc Ingla and Sandro Rosell held the third presidential debate on Catalan television channel 8tv.

Contract renewal Xavi

Rosell: "It's a good thing if the technical staff has approved it. He will most probably become the player with the most games at the club.

Benedito: "I'm happy."

Ingla: "Good news. Xavi has the Barça DNA, he could become a coach at the club later.

Ferrer: "He deserves to finish his career at Barça."

Role of the president

Ingla: "The president shouldn't intervene. The president shouldn't get involved in the sports area. A president shouldn't propose players to the coach and put pressure on them."

Rosell: "Everyone has his task but the president has to mark the limits."

Ferrer: "It depends on the moment. If Guardiola asks for Chygrynskiy after winning the treble, it's difficult not to follow him. But the president shouldn't think he knows more than the coach. He should stay away from the technical decisions and not want to throw out for example Rijkaard after some games, or dismiss Tito Vilanova [goes for Rosell]."

Benedito: "The president should only put economic limits."

Ferrer: "In February 2005, Rosell wanted to throw out Rijkaard and replace him by Gratacós, and later Scolari."

Ingla: "I confirm this."

Rosell: "That's not tru, I said we should turn things around or else the league could slip away. And first we indeed thought about Gratacos, because we didn't have money for another coach."

Benedito: "I was at that time part of the sports commission, following the handball section. I didn't have power to decide. And Rosell was indeed interventionist. Ingla also, in the marketing department."

Ingla: "I remember perfectly that Rosell wanted to change the coach just before winning the first league. As far as the marketing department is concerned, we were working hard to change things but I always worked with the permission of the board."

Ferrer: "Rosell has businesses in the world of football and that makes him wanting to intervene."

Rosell: "I will sell my business if I'm elected and I never represented players, I'm mostly working for multinationals. The times are also different, now the model is clear."

Ferrer: "Rosell left in 2005, because he didn't like the model we were building. Like Ingla in 2008, who also wanted Mourinho."

Rosell: "I left because we weren't executing the election program."

Ingla: "In November, we already wanted Guardiola. In January, Mourinho offered himself, so we went to see him but upon return I told the president we couldn't sign him. I have witnesses of that meeting, like former director Murtra."

Ingla: "Rosell brought lists with his favourite players to the board, like Maniche, Costinha and others, and the sports director had to choose."

Rosell: "We should finish the youth centre."

Ferrer: "We will finish it this year."

Rosell: "We want another youth academy, also for the other sections."

Ferrer: "We already have that."

Benedito: "We need more youth academy and private jets."

Ferrer: "Benedito has never been in the board so he can't know all that. Most private jets are put at our disposal by the FIFA and others to go and get the prizes of the players."

Successor Guardiola? Do we want to keep the style?

Ingla: "We should keep the style we put in place in 2003. We should have a long-term view."

Ferrer: "We'll see what happens with Guardiola, we'll start with 2-3 more years and then we'll see if he wants to stay."

Rosell: "We will try to convince Guardiola to stay for the six years. We should keep the style."

Youth academy

Ingla and Ferrer: "We want a more global youth academy."

Rosell and Benedito: "We should only have the academy in Barcelona."

Youth stand

Rosell: "We want it because we want more animation in the stadium."

Ingla: "The Catalans are like this, over the last years the atmosphere has already gotten better. A united youth stands is a chance for the hooligans to get back in."

Benedito: "Rosell is playing with fire, although I agree we need more animation. But we should analyze the issue very carefully."

Ferrer: "At the game against Inter for example, we had the best animation in years."

Social project

Ingla: "The member will have the power to decide in several area, like for exmple the honorary members. We want to stay solidary with the world around, but also with the members, who we want to help in difficult moments. We want to be closer than ever to the member."

Rosell: "We want to change the hours of the games in 2012 and play in the afternoon, so the families and children can come to the stadoum."

Benedito: "The fact that we have members is something unique in the world and we should finally give him the power he should have."

Ferrer: "We have listened to the members and we will implement what they asked us. We should renew the stadium so it's more user-friendly. We should offer cheaper packages for away games. We wants to be more solidary than ever."

Benedito: "We want to ask the members the chance to vote on proposals, for example every two months."

Ingla: "Barcelona is a feeling, we want to give everyone the chance to become a member, although we don't want to promote it."

Rosell, Ferrer and Benedito: "We should regulate the entrance of new members."

Rumours about pact Benedito-Ingla-Ferrer

Spanish news agency EFE claims, based upon sources from the candidacies involved, that Barcelona presidential candidates Agustí Benedito, Marc Ingla and Jaume Ferrer could make a pact ahead of the elections on Sunday.

Because none of the three candidates would according to the latest internal polls have a chance to defeat Sandro Rosell on Sunday, with the former sports vice-president getting around 40% of the voting intentions. The main problem would be the decision on who would lead the united candidacy.

Catalan radio station RAC1 reported that they asked the three candidacies about the rumours of a pact and that all denied. Speaking to Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio, Benedito repeated that he will not make a deal before the elections.

Read more:
Benedito wants sections to have own president
Ingla reveals his plan for Camp Nou 2.0
Ferrer: "Barça is a club that unites"

[picture] The second debate

The four presidential candidates held last night the second presidential candidates debate on Spanish television station TVE.

From left to right:
Sandro Rosell, Jaume Ferrer, Marc Ingla, Agustí Benedito

Ingla reveals his plan for Camp Nou 2.0

The candidacy of Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla has yesterday presented at a press conference their "Camp Nou 2.0" project that includes the implementation of new technologies to make a visit to the stadium more user-friendly.

The candidacy wants to install a free wifi network at the Camp Nou and develop a mobile phone application that would, among other things, include a guide to your seat and to other facilities in the stadium, a chat application, line-ups, real-time statistics and action replays.

Read more:
Ingla: "I will be a very quiet president"
The first presidential debate
Ingla contradicts presumed season-ticket upgrade

Poll Voting Intentions: One Week Before

This is the final result (in percentages) of this blog's Who would you vote for in the elections for president of FC Barcelona? poll that was held one week before the elections:

Marc Ingla 37.7
Sandro Rosell 24.3
Agusti Benedito 15.9
Jaume Ferrer 15.5
Don't know/Don't answer 6.7

compare with the results of february, march, april and may here

check more voting intention poll results

[picture] The first debate

The four presidential candidates held yesterday the first presidential candidates debate on Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio (read more here).

From left to right:
Jaume Ferrer, Sandro Rosell, [talkshow host Manel Fuentes], Agustí Benedito, Marc Ingla

[video] Japanese support for Ingla

Ingla contradicts presumed season-ticket upgrade

Catalan sports paper Sport claimed yesterday that Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla and several key members of his candidacy have tried in 2005 to get an upgrade of the season-tickets of themselves and some family members and that former Barcelona vice-president Albert Vicens had organized the whole upgrade for board members.

After several denials yesterday evening and this morning, when among other things Ingla said at a press conference that he already has the same seat for over fourty years, the candidacy put out a press release with more detailed information.

In the note, it is explained that Vicens was never in charge of any relocation of season-tickets, that Ingla and Alfons Godall still have the same seats as before they joined the board in 2003 and that Vicens and Ferran Soriano changed their seats in 2008 through the normal procedure of relocation that is open to all club members.

Read more:
Ingla: "I will be a very quiet president"
Former vice-president changes Rosell for Ingla
Ingla wants to appoint club ambassadors

The first presidential debate

Barcelona presidential candidates Agustí Benedito, Jaume Ferrer, Marc Ingla and Sandro Rosell held the first presidential debate on Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio.


Sports area

Ingla (against Rosell): "You won't even call Txiki when you are appointed, so tell the people what you really want."

Rosell: "We can't reveal our plan because that would make it more expensive."

Ingla: "Why don't you explain your business in Brasil? Maybe there's nothing wrong but the member at least has the right to get informed."

Rosell: "I will sell my businesses I have related to the world of sports if I'm elected as president."

Rosell: "There haven't been enough players promoted to the first team over the last years. Only Pedro and Jeffren, who I bought with Busquets. We should work better with the youth academy."

Benedito: "Txiki won't continue, his time is over."

Rosell: "Cruyff wanted to sign the triple A of Valencia: Albelda, Aimar and Ayala."

Ingla: "This Barça is build by Cruyff, Txiki, Rijkaard and Pep. The project of Rosell will break with all that. He will bring his own people in."

Ferrer: "Ingla wasn't there when we won the six cups, so it's strange he now claims those successes."

Benedito and Rosell: "No one will change the sporting model, it's working."

Economic area

Rosell: "There are too many expenses and some aren't clear."

Ingla: "Economically, Barça is better than ever. And we want to double the budget in the next six years. We want to open embassies, we want to go out in the world."

Benedito: "We have more revenues but the expenses have also risen."

Ingla: "We're a sporting club, we shouldn't make profits."

Catalan identity and legacy of Laporta

Rosell, Ingla and Benedito: "Oliver won't continue."

Ingla: "I've included the Catalan flag in the shirt."

Ingla: "We want an open club, Rosell wants to close the club to some families."

Benedito: "Laporta has done good things but also bad things. We shouldn't have relations with the Uzbek mafia."

Ferrer: "Barça didn't have a contract with Uzbekistan, but with an Uzbek club to play a friendly game."

Rosell: "40.000 people of Siberia could become club member and decide who will be the new president. We don't want to lose the Catalan identity of the club. We need to regulate the members."

Benedito: "The club member without season-tickets should get a discount of 50% for the tickets."

Ingla: "We want an open club."

Ferrer: "The number of members should be limited. We want another system so the people can be linked to the club in another way."

Ingla: "It's sad Rosell has made photos with factions of the Boixos Nois hooligans."

Rosell: "We want zero violence at the stadium."

Benedito: "The Boixos Nois are supporting Rosell, they are shouting 'Rosell president'. In meetings of Rosell with fan groups there have been representatives of the violent groups."

Ingla: "We need youth academies all over the world."

Rosell: "We should not have own youth academies but control the players through agreements."

Ferrer: "We have our academy in Argentina and it's working."

Conclusion

Ferrer: "What is working shouldn't be touched."

Benedito: "We are the alternative."

Ingla: "We have the best project, we're the guarantee that this model will continue. We've done a lot but there's a lot of work to do."

Rosell: "We know what the member want after a lot of meetings."

[picture] The paella of Marc Ingla

Barcelona presidentual candidate Marc Ingla yesterday invited the members of his campaign team and representatives of the press for a dinner.

Ingla: "I will be a very quiet president"

Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla gave an interview to Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu.


As a former sports vice-president, so an expert of the sports area, which things have to be changed?
It is something the technical department should decide. When I was vice-president, the most important thing were the demands of the coach and my task was to explain them to the board.

Do you agree with transfers before the elections?
The club has to follow its own pace and if there are operations that are ready to be closed, they should be closed so that the new players can start following the rhythm of the club, the plans for the physical preparation can be drawn up, etcetera...

Signing players now is more expensive?
It depends. If the economic positions are close, you should not wait any longer and finish things. If there is a difference, I would ask them to be cautious and if you have to wait two more weeks, you wait.

Don't you think, however, that the president is eager to leave a legacy as far as players are concerned?
I don't know if that's the reason. When you're the president of Barça, you have to act in the benefit of the club. Always. If you ask yourself the question what will be best for the club, you'll always make the best decision.

You totally exclude that you will yourself announce a transfer?
Yes, although it is true that our candidacy has received many phone calls offering us players. If there is something interesting, we pass the information to the club.

You will try to convince Txiki to stay?
Yes, and I have ideas to explain to him, regarding the technical department. If he feels comfortable, I'll be delighted.

Txiki has had to deal with a lot of criticism...
He has been able to build this successful model. He was an architect of this model. Rijkaard gave us balance and Pep brought it to the highest level. He told me that the era of Rijkaard was over and that Pep was the natural choice.

Which other coaches did you have in mind, apart from Mourinho...
Ernesto Valverde and Laurent Blanc, and then later there also was Michael Laudrup. We did not talk with them because Pep was always the first option. We met with him and his enthusiasm convinced us.

Your opponents don't hesitate to say that you wanted Mourinho...
That is false and anyone who says otherwise isn't telling the truth. He wanted to coach Barça, he still has friends in Barcelona, he knew the club and the way of playing. At that time he didn't have a job and we wanted to get to know his virtues and defects. These were clear. The coach of Barça is the image of the club. And Mourinho was not the right person and that is what I told the president. I have witnesses.

He is the right person for Madrid?
I guess so, because Madrid goes from one side to another, they do not have a defined line.

What do you think about the project of Florentino?
I do not care that much about what the opponent is doing. But I think it is irresponsible to spend a seemingly unlimited budget. We have an opposite model.

Oliver will stay if you win?
Mister Oliver only joined the club in this last phase and although he has contributed to the success of this model, we are looking for another profile.

How can the club grow in terms of merchandising?
The big area of growth is the internationalization. Today we are the club with the most television viewers. People are excited about our style of play. Efforts should be made to capitalize on that in markets such as China, India, Asia, Africa, South America and the United States. If today around ten percent of the revenues of the club come from international business, that should be fourty percent in four or six years from now.

Unicef?
It's an incredible help for the image of the club. It helps us to defend a series of values.

The big teams should defend a television model similar to that of the Premier League.
The current model, negotiating the rights individually, is going very well. Changing it would be an adventure. If there is a collective model that ensures that we can stay competitive, we must look at it.

Is this the challenge of your life?
The challenge was to become sports vice-president after two years without any titles. We couldn't make mistakes. And the team ended up being the Barça of the six cups. Now I don't feel any pressure, I deal with it naturally and I feel very well surrounded.

What kind of president do you want to be?
One who accurately represents the club, a team player, with experienced people, but also picking up fresh ideas from new board members and, finally, a very quiet president.

this was the second and last part of this interview. you can read the first part here.

Read more:
Ingla wants global youth academy
Godall resigns as director ahead of the elections
Ingla denies he didn't want Unicef on shirt

interview: ramiro martín-llanos

The Quotes: Benedito, Ingla, Ferrer, Rosell

"50% of the voters didn't yet make a decision. And I think the vote of the other 50% could still change."

Agustí Benedito


"We've received information regarding Wayne Rooney and we've passed that through to Txiki."

Marc Ingla


"You have to stand up to the hooligans and not make pictures with them, as some have been doing."

Jaume Ferrer


"I expected some rumours or some little lies but it seems people have invested quite a bit of money in investigations. But I guess in the end it's good people talk about you, for good or for bad."

Sandro Rosell

read more election quotes here

[picture] The football table of Marc Ingla

Albert Vicens and Alfons Godall playing a game of table football at the headquarters of Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla.

The Quotes: Benedito, Ferrer, Bartomeu, Ingla

"The weak point of Rosell? Let me ask you a question. What's the strong point of Rosell?"

Agustí Benedito


"It seems difficult that the campaign will be a clean one."

Jaume Ferrer


"It should be easy to sign Cesc after he has publicly said that he wants to join Barça."

Josep Maria Bartomeu


"We have a note from a Brazilian law firm that confirms that a company of Sandro Rosell is involved in a judicial investigation for possible fraud, so in this case Sandro Rosell has been and is lying."

Marc Ingla

read more election quotes here

Rosell, Ingla, Ferrer and Benedito official candidates

Barcelona board secretary Josep Cubells has this evening announced that Barcelona presidential candidates Sandro Rosell, Marc Ingla, Jaume Ferrer and Agustí Benedito have passed the cut of the 2.095 signatures of club members needed to take part in the final vote on Sunday 13 June.

These are the official numbers:
- Rosell: 12.635 validated signatures (13.620 presented - 985 invalid)
- Ingla: 4.288 validated signatures (4.744 presented - 456 invalid)
- Ferrer: 3.935 validated signatures (4.442 presented - 507 invalid)
- Benedito: 2.520 validated signatures (2.896 presented - 376 invalid)

Read more:
The final number of signatures of support
The electoral proceedings
The process of collecting the signatures

[picture] Marc Ingla and Alicia Keys

Barcelona presidential candidate Marc Ingla assisted yesterday a concert by American singer Alicia Keys in Barcelona.

The Quotes: Rosell, Ingla, Ferrer, Benedito

"We're all again starting from zero."

Sandro Rosell


"We've come out from the first minute trying to win this game and we've only played the first minutes."

Marc Ingla


"I feel that a lot of people are changing their voting intention now that they start to know all projects better."

Jaume Ferrer


"The feeling I have is that Sandro Rosell won't win these elections. The member doesn't like it that others decide in his place."

Agustí Benedito

read more election quotes here