Asked about some news reports in Catalan sports weekly paper Gol, Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín has accused presidential candidate Sandro Rosell in a note on his Facebook page of being behind the paper:
"That pamphlet is Sandro's. The assistant director of this pamphlet is called Juanjo Gonzalez although, instead of facing up, this man is hiding behind the pseudonym Diego Valor.
According to confessions by Sandro himself that were published on 25 April 2006, among the people who convinced him to write the book 'Benvingut Al Món Real' there was Juanjo Gonzalez, whom he calls "a friend of mine and of my father".
So while they're telling the people they are playing it clean, the campaign of Sandro also consists of throwing dirt on the others through pamphlets such as this one or Pelikano [Barcelona news site]. But so they don't face up. Everybody is how he is. We are not doing it that way."
Read more: Rosell organizing press dinners Barcagate (9) - A crucial dinner Sala: "Rosell was always on the wrong side"
Barcelona site Pelikano claims that Catalan lawyer Xavier-Albert Canal (picture), who could be appointed as new member of Barcelona's board of directors at the end of this month (read more here), was part of the candidacy of Agustí Benedito.
Sources close to the presidential candidate would have told the site that Canal would already have been actively helping Benedito in the preparation of the elections, but would now nevertheless be willing to accept to become a board member for the coming months.
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo confirms that Canal has made the decision to enter the board if he is offered the post by Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who still has to decide between Canal and another lawyer (read more here).Read more:New board member to be appointed this monthBenedito: "We want to repeat the historical results"The Board Movements (2003-2009)
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Catalan lawyer Xavier-Albert Canal (picture) will almost certainly be appointed as new director of FC Barcelona at the next board meeting on Friday 26 February.Barcelona president Joan Laporta had reportedly proposed during one of the last limited board meetings to add a new member to the board who should not be part of any candidacy and who should stay at the club until the end of the term with the main task of keeping an eye on the correctness of the whole eletoral process.Although there would have been a consensus during the general board meeting last Friday to nominate Jaume Alonso Cuevillas, a university professor of law, the latter was at the last minute vetoed by someone within the club.
Club sources told the paper that the veto came from Barcelona ombudsman Agustí Bassols. This is confirmed by Barcelona site Pelikano that claims that the position of Bassals was caused by an earlier business dispute with Cuevillas, whose appointment is said to have been strongly supported by Laporta and director Magda Oranich. Everything would now indicate that Xavier-Albert Canal, a former president of the Catalan rugby federation, will become the new board member. Canal joined the disciplinary commission of FC Barcelona in October of last year. Before, he had already been a member of the club's sports commission.Read more:The Board Movements (2003-2009)Vice-president Joan Franquesa resignsFirst female vice-president for Barcelona?
Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed last week that Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell wants to create a new function within the social area of the club. José Maria Barnils (picture) would become the club's "Penyes' embassador" and would be the link between FC Barcelona and the fan clubs abroad.Barnils confirmed the news in an interview with Barcelona opposition site Pelikano: "A while ago, during one of my trips to Barcelona, my friend Jordi Cardoner told me about the plans they had regarding the internationalization of Barça, which included encouraging the foreign fan clubs, club members and supporters. Since I have lived abroad for over 20 years and I know the concerns and the problems foreign Barça fans can face, Jordi Cardoner asked me to work on the subject. It seemed an interesting and original project and that's why I gladly accepted his proposal.If Sandro Rosell is elected president, I would become a member of the club's social commission as the 'correspondent' abroad with the function of being the contact person for the foreign fan clubs, their representative and all foreign club members and fans. I will help to promote the Barça brand abroad."José Maria Barnils is a 45-year old Catalan lawyer, specialized in company law, who is living in Denmark for more than twenty years. His father, Carlos Barnils, was in the 1960s and 1970s the editor of 'Barça' and 'R.B.', two magazines that focused on FC Barcelona.Read more:Brother Rosell member of his campaign teamRosell gives first interview ahead of electionsTeam member Rosell talking about their project
Barcelona opposition site Pelikano claims that the club could be ready to give up the plan of remodelling the Camp Nou on the basis of a project by British architect Norman Foster because of electoral motives.
The results of the polls the club is carrying out among club members these days (read more here) would indicate that, although the majority wants a more modern stadium and is in favour of an urban development plan in the surroundings, they also think that because of the global economic crisis, this is not the right time to sell club assets like the Miniestadi to finance an expensive remodelling.
Asked about a new postponement of a deal between the club and the city of Barcelona on the land reclassification of the Miniestadi site, Barcelona first vice-president Alfons Godall seemed to suggest in an interview with Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia last weekend that the club could withdraw the plan:
"We feel treated badly by the authorities because there are constantly put new obstacles during the process of the reclassification and the conditions and terms that have been proposed have always been contrary to the interests of the club.
Either we find a fair solution or we should think about quitting, which would mean that we keep the current situation and, obviously, again start thinking about what the options are to have more modern facilities so the club members can have the stadium they deserve."
Read more:
More about Benedito: On Txiki and Camp Nou
Barcelona carrying out own election polls More about Guixa: Politics and Camp Nou
Barcelona opposition site Pelikano reports that Barcelona is these days carrying out a poll through telephone interviews with club members. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo confirms the news.
Although the interview is announced as a general inquiry into the satisfaction of the members, there are a lot of questions that could be inspired by the upcoming presidential elections next year. The club members are among other things asked about their voting behaviour in the 2003 elections and the 2008 vote of no confidence and are asked to evaluate people by giving them a score from 0 to 10.
The people included in the poll are the most important current directors of the club like Joan Laporta, Alfons Godall, Joan Boix, Jaume Ferrer, Rafael Yuste, Albert Perrín and Xavier Sala Martín, and former board members like Sandro Rosell and Ferran Soriano, but also former Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez and former Barcelona player and manager Johan Cruyff.
Opposition site Pelikano claims that the main intention of the interviews ordered by the club is to learn more about the profile and the ideas of the approximately 40.000 club members who will next year for the first time have the right to cast their vote in the presidential elections.
Read more:
Poll result: Who would you vote for today? Poll result: Who should be the board candidate?
Last Thursday, the Consell Sènior Blaugrana (Blaugrana Senior Council) publicly presented itself during an event assisted by 100 to 150 people at the Princesa Sofía hotel in Barcelona.The Consell Sènior Blaugrana wants to unite Barcelona club members who are older than 60 years and are a club member for more than 20 years. The objective of the Council is to provide ideas that can lead to a better management and a better public image of the club.The executive committee of the Council consists of six people and is presided by Catalan business man Ramón Pont, who is rumoured to be part of the candidacy of former Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell (read more here). Rosell, who will run for president next year, assisted the event. The committee also includes the fathers of Rosell and of his right-hand man Josep Maria Bartomeu (see below).The main focus of the Council is at this moment the elaboration of an ethical code for the club which should make the decisions taken by the club more transparent.
A first draft of the code has been drawn up by university professors Antonio Argandoña and Fermín Morales and is based on the principles of legality, honesty and service to the members, loyalty to the club, information and transparency, participation, pluralism and austerity.Apart from giving some general criteria, the code would more concretely want to avoid certain specific acts, among which getting involved in conflicts of interest, putting pressure on others to obtain a decision in the benefit of oneself or of a third party, hiring relatives as an employee or a commercial partner, disclosing corporate decisions to third parties that are not involved, publicly or privately behaving in a way that damages the image of the club, accepting commissions and accepting gifts that can lead to a lack of objectivity.The ultimate goal is that, after the upcoming presidential elections, this ethical code would become part of the club's by-laws and that an ethical commission would be put in place to safeguard the code by controlling and sanctioning the acts by the club's directors and executives. The commission would consist of six people and the president of the commission would be part of the board of directors.Read more:Rosell working on ethical codeInternet entrepreneur joins Rosell candidacymembers of the executive committee of the consell sènior blaugrana:
Josep Maria Bartomeu
chairman of the TEAM group
>>> father of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who is rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors
Ramón Garriga
former chief executive of the TÜV Rheinland group in Spain
Joan Granados
former chief executive of FC Barcelona and former general director of Catalan public media corporation CCRTV
>>> father of Roger Granados, who is rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors
Jordi Montané
chairman of the Pontex group
Ramón Pont
chairman of the Borges group
>>> rumoured to be part of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell’s team of directors
Jaume Rosell
former secretary of FC Barcelona and chairman of the FAR group
>>> father of Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell
picture:
Barcelona presidential candidate Sandro Rosell (centre) with the six members of the executive committee of the Senior Blaugrana Council on Thursday 12 November in Barcelona. At Rosell's right hand, you see Ramón Pont, president of the Council, on Rosell's left hand side, you see his father Jaume Rosell.
sources: as, el 9 esportiu, el mundo deportivo, e-notícies, esadir.blogspot.com, pelikano, sport
Asked about some news reports in Catalan sports weekly paper Gol, Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala i Martín has accused presidential candidate Sandro Rosell in a note on his Facebook page of being behind the paper:
