Asked what his role will be if Barcelona presidential candidate Santiago Salvat is elected as president of FC Barcelona, Catalan lawyer and former presidential candidate Jordi Medina has said in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he would become one of the vice-presidents:"I'm part of the candidacy, I helped to organize it and just like other people who are supporting the candidate, I would become vice-president. That's clear. Why didn't I want to head the project myself? Because at this moment, I'm very busy in my job and running for president requires a lot of time and effort."Read more:Santiago Salvat is Minguella-Medina candidateMedina continues to work on candidacyMajo, Minguella and Medina working on candidacy
Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV.
What has been the contribution of Laporta to the recent sporting successes of Barça?
Laporta should be congratulated for the courage he had when he promoted a coach of the third division to first team coach. But said that, it should be clear that Guardiola and his staff have been able to shield the players from the problems created by the board of directors. This board was the most voted in history in 2003, and will also go down in history for the Barça of the 6 Cups and for the 2-6 which I consider to be one more cup. But on the other hand, 16 directors resigned, four vice-presidents investigated by a security company, problems with two presidents of autonomous communities, one being the one of Extremadura, a member of the Barcelona fan club for a long time. All these clashes are unnecessary in my opinion and that is why I say that we are presenting ourselves as an alternative, thanking him for the good things he has done, but obviously willing to do everything he hasn't done.
What do you think of the club's current general director, mister Oliver? Who will you propose to take his place?
The day the affair with the security audits became public, the four vice-president should have resigned or Joan Oliver should have been dismissed. As clear as that. We don't count on the sport director, Txiki Berigistain, nor on the current general director of the club, who is someone we don't trust. What we want is to restructure the sports area by strengthening the youth academy, finishing the training centre and keeping the Miniestadi which should be the home of Barça Athlètic in the Spanish second division. Therefore, there will be a sports director for the youth, one for the B team and one for the first team. As I have already said in other meetings, we also want to help Lleida, Girona and Nastic de Tarragona by loaning players to them and make the other Catalan clubs stronger.
What do you think of the other candidates? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
I do not know some of them, electorally speaking, so I do not know what strengths and weaknesses they have. One has not yet presented himself so I will be friendly with him. Jaume Ferrer probably doesn't like walking because when we were doing the parade at the meeting of fan club's from all around the world in Murcia, he only joined in for the last 50 metres. I met Benedito at the gala of "The Catalan of the Year" and I did not know that he lives in Bellaterra, which very close to my hometown Sant Cugat, but I didn't discuss a lot with him.
Will you lift the veils?
I will not do what the 'Elefant Blau' did, which is promising many things and then not fulfil any of them. That's why we want to act very serious. We will do some audits, internal and external ones, to see where we stand, what the debts are, and how the budget of the club is being spent. It is something very important. We will make the audits public because it is part of the transparency we want.
Before you already spoke about Núñez. As the only candidate that has nothing to do with Laporta, could you inherit the votes of the nuñistas?
If I was a member who used to vote for Núñez, I would think twice before I voted for someone related to the 'Elefant Blau'. I am happy to say the figure of José Luis Núñez is for me a benchmark figure as president of Barça.
Were you surprised by the accusation Laporta made in his book about an offer by Rosell to split a commission for the sale of Ronaldinho to Chelsea?
I do not know what happens inside the club, but what this suggests is that a lot of things happened within the club that have not been clarified. When I say that I am an alternative to the laportism that is also because I want to clarify all these events.
In 2006, when you took part in the elections, you failed to pass the cut of the signatures, but the day they you had to present them you said you had them but that you were waiting for a plane to arrive from the Canary Islands. That plane has already arrived?
What happened in 2006 is that we said that we never again wanted to have an election campaign for the presidency of Barcelona in August. At that time, we had to collect 1.804 signatures to make the cut and we had 1.603. We did not try to appear with our picture in the media with the signatures as did another pre-candidate who didn’t make it.
this was the third and last part of this interview. you can read the first part here and the second part here. Read more: Guixa wants clarification on Ronaldinho commission Guixa not considering pact with other candidacies Guixa wants representative fan clubs in board
Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV.
Which reports do you have on the economic situation of the club? There isn't a lot of talk about this topic...
Others may not talk a lot, but we do talk about it. One of the events we organized was at a business school and we had a seminar with a professor at the University of Barcelona where we discussed the issue. At this moment I don't know which are the real accounts of FC Barcelona or what the real deficit is. We think that when Ferran Soriano was still on the board, the members who vote at the general assembly received the information early and had enough time to analyze things before the assembly. Today, some of the members receive the information the day before or the same day of the assembly. This already generates some doubts and shows that this closeness to the members that the 'Elefant Blau' wanted is not happening. We are very concerned with the possible economic situation of the club and one of the first things we will do is to find out what the numbers are, because we do not believe the current ones.
Can you assure that you won't join any other candidate if you would get a proposal?
We have made this clear from the beginning. We are a clear alternative for the laportism and that is our seal of guarantee. We have a project for a different Barça that brings the club closer to the member who should in a way be involved in the decisions. We open our arms to anyone who wants to join our candidacy but always with the condition that the candidacy is led by Jaume Guixà.
Some think you are looking for a position in the club taking into account the few options that you seem to have.
I don't know where you get that I would have few options because in the poll that came out on 2 December, the day I officially presented my candidacy, Jaume Ferrer not even appeared while he has been part of the board of directors since 2003. We have the example of 2003 where a candidate had 80% of the votes in the polls and in the end he did not win the presidency, so you cannot trust the polls too much. We are working in a serious way, with modesty and close to the member, and that gives us the possibility to pass the cut of the signatures and then to fully be able to show our project.
What type of social, political and economic support does Jaume Guixà get from the Catalan civil society?
Firstly, this is a personal desire of a Barcelona fan, who has the club in his blood. I like Barça, I am president of a fan club that organizes social, solidary and artistic events. But there is more. I have the support of the granddaughter of the founder, Emma Gamper, who has Barça blood because of her origins. She had confidence in me and I asked her to be part of my candidacy. She thought I was reliable and she joined us. I have a former member of the board of José Luis Núñez, Jaume Sobrequés, the former director of the Museum of History of Catalonia and the Museum of Barça. I was asking him advice and later I asked him to join the candidacy and he did so. I have also in my team the writer and historian who has written more books about the club than anyone, Mercé Morales, and the boy who came out with the team in the first match played at the Camp Nou, Joan Segarra, the son of the 'Great Captain'. With those people, plus others that were already with me in 2006, we can build a project that makes the member enthusiast because he can feel involved and participate.
What political party could be interested in Jaume Guixà becoming the president of FC Barcelona?
Barça should not get involved in politics. I have already publicly stated that the president of Barça should not do politics, and in that sense I sent a letter to Laporta when he launched his website saying that if he wanted to get into politics that I encouraged him and that he had every right in the world to do so, but that the citizen Laporta should be separated from the president of Barça. I'm not a member of nor have I ever been a member of any political party, but of course I have my way of thinking about the society which decides who I vote for in the elections.
Is it an indiscretion to ask you who you are voting for?
Yes, because there's no need to know for which party the president of Barça is voting. The presidency of Barça is open to all kinds of ideologies, which seems to be difficult currently. What I want is that the president of Barça represents the institution and welcomes everyone because that is what our club is about.
Which budget do you have to try to become the president of Barça?
Our candidacy will adapt to the planning of the elections. There are a number of uncertainties but with the experience that I have after the camapign of 2006 we are able to adapt our budget, to which the people of our candidacy make a contribution.
Will you be able to deposit the bank guarantee if you pass the cut of the signatures?
Obviously. That was already clear to us in 2006. What we have done is to continue working with the project of 2006 and with everything we've learned, and one of those issues is the bank guarantee. Said that, I think it would be worthwile to change the condition of the guarantees because I don't think it's democratic that a great number of members of Barcelona cannot take part in the elections because they are limited by the bank guarantee. That is impoverishing the electoral process itself. I think there are many great Barcelona fans which could contribute with their presence in the election campaign but the guarantee is blocking them. If I get elected as president we will lower the bar for the members to participate in the democratic process of the elections.
If you are elected as president will you let the general assembly ratify the appointment of Johan Cruyff as honorary president of the club?
First I would like to say that this shouldn't be an issue right now. Nobody questions the value and the qualities of Johan Cruyff as a player and as coach, but there's no need to take such decisions two months before the elections. I think the assembly has to approve it so there's no more discussion about the timing of his appointment.
What do you know about the possible candidacy formed by a group of Barcelona supporters among which is José María Minguella?
I know that there was a brief report in a sports paper recently. I know that they first would be led by a former director of the newspaper 'Avui', then by a lawyer and now they speak of a businessman.
Why do you think all this happens?
That's obvious. Unlike Real Madrid where there is no electoral process and a judge is taking care of bags full of ballot papers, here we are democratic. What we do is to give chances to any candidate so the club would be more democratic. That doesn't worry me.
Were you a supporter of Núñez at the time?
Yes. A large part of the club assets, which are now been used badly and sold, is ours thanks to the vision for the future of president Núñez.
What do you think about the possibility of a debate between the four current candidates?
If the media feel the need to organize a debate I will be glad to participate in the discussion, but that question needs to be answered by all the candidates.
But you can ask for it...
If we can debate, that would be good for the democracy of the club. But our concern now is not trying to set up a debate to have more exit through the media. What matters to us is to work hard, to talk to the member and to convince him of our project. That is the main task we have at the moment.
But the best way for you to reach the member is to defeat your opponents in a debate and to make the club member reconsider his vote.
That is another argument but it is not definitive. I refer to 2003 when the polls said one thing and the president was someone else.
this was the second part of this interview. you can read the first part here. you will be able to read the following part on this blog in the coming days with guixa talking among other things about barcelona president joan laporta and barcelona sports director txiki begiristain.Read more: Guixa wants clarification on Ronaldinho commission Guixa not considering pact with other candidacies Guixa wants representative fan clubs in board
Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà gave an interview to Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV.
Mister Guixà, how do you look at the election campaign so far?
The electoral events in 2010 are quite entertaining and surprising. I do not know if the picture is already getting any clearer. For our candidacy it's clear that we want to reach the end of the process with a totally alternative project to that of Laporta and we are working in that sense. If in the meantime the others start to fight or to play games that could limit the participation in the elections, I feel bad about that. The member of Barça wants to be able to compare projects, see the alternatives, study them and think about them. The real owner of the club, which is the member, has to be able to exercise his right to vote. I hope that in the end there will be real alternatives.
Do you really think that the members of Barcelona are interested in the programs of the candidates?
I think that the members of Barça are living a moment of enthusiasm and excitement, a historic moment because everything that has been given to us by the coaching staff headed by Pep Guardiola and his players. But it is true, and I am feeling this in the talks I have with members and fan club members, that they can perfectly make the difference between the coaching staff, the players and the sporting results on the one hand and the board on the other hand. They know the difference between what they see looking down at the pitch and what they see looking up to the president's box. People are really amazed and do not understand anything of what is going on up there and that the board of Laporta, with all the successes and the good decision to appoint Guardiola as coach, is playing some kind of game between themselves, to now supporting this one and the other day another one. People cannot get that.
It must be clear to you that it is very difficult to get enough signatures to make the cut and to win the elections?
I saw the last game in Tárrega in the province of Lleida and the truth is that people really supported and encouraged me. At Easter I was in Felanitx, on the Balearic Islands, and I can say that we are getting signs of support, of enthusiasm and above all of closeness because I could be the first president of a fan club who could become president of FC Barcelona. That is what inspires us.
Your cv is magnificent. You are a university professor and the president of a Barça fan club in Sant Cugat. But I insist that things are very difficult for you, and it's not only me or the polls who are saying this. Right now, people are looking at the continuity candidacy of Ferrer, the one of Sandro Rosell, who has a lot of chance, and a third one who is raising his voice is Agustí Benedito. I don't want to be cruel, but at this moment I think you don't have any chance.
By explaining me this, you encourage me even more. It's obvious that the challenge will be to make the cut of the 2.100 validated signatures and it's on that we are currently focusing our work by going to the people and organizing meetings. It's possible that the media don't really know much of the work we're doing, but we were the first candidates to create a Facebook profile and anyone who goes there can see what we are doing. I think we will prove it by passing the cut.
Are you telling me that the media only speak about the continuism and Rosell and forget about you and Benedito?
No. I'm very happy with our work. I can not enter the issue of the media. Each one will have their preferences, their own standards to evaluate the information, but we cannot influence that. Our job is to address the members, get in touch with them and try to meet the first objective, which is to make the cut.
In 2006, you took part in the elections for president of FC Barcelona and you did not pass the cut of the signatures. What has changed since then so that the same thing won't happen again?
A lot has changed. Now we are not in an election process in the month of August. We are not in a process where a judge orders that elections have to be organized. We are in a process where the candidacy of Jaume Guixà has matured and has continued to work since 2006, and that is what helps us to be convinced that we are a clear alternative to the laportism and we will show that both by the people and by the project.
These elections are totally different from those we have lived until now. To start with, the current president cannot run according to the statutes. I also think that the member of Barça doesn't want too many changes when the team is doing better than ever. The changes need to focus on the forms and the management model?
President Laporta was in 2003 the most voted club president in the history of the club thanks to the 'Elefant Blau', thanks to the transparency and thanks to wanting to make a club for the member. He said that Barça would be first. Now let's see. Has he fulfilled all this since 2003 until now? We think that we cannot maintain the management model of Laporta among other things because we don't want to continue with the Foster project. All those lights on the outside of five-star stadium don't make sense. We want to involve the member more in the decisions of the club. A general assembly of members where 300 of the 3.940 electors show up, where is the transparency? Where is the 'Elefant Blau'? Our idea is to make it possible for the members to participate in the decisions. We want to have a Miniestadi in excellent conditions, we want to finish the training centre and to help making the first team even better, and all this together with the members who are now being shut out. There are many things we want to change and for some we will have to change the statutes of the club because we see that in many cases it's not possible that the club member participates. We have the vision and the desire to think about a Barça that is closer to the member. We can achieve this if the member wants it.
this was the first part of this interview. you will be able to read the following parts on this blog in the coming days with guixa talking among other things about the economic situation of the club and the nomination of johan cruyff as president of honour.Read more: Guixa wants clarification on Ronaldinho commission Guixa not considering pact with other candidacies Guixa wants representative fan clubs in board
Asked if he would join another candidacy if he would get an offer, Barcelona presidential candidate Jaume Guixà has repeated in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he doesn't plan to accept a proposal like that:
"We have made this clear from the beginning. We are a clear alternative for the laportism and that is our seal of guarantee. We have a project for a different Barça that brings the club closer to the member who should in a way be involved in the decisions. We open our arms to anyone who wants to join our candidacy but always with the condition that the candidacy is led by Jaume Guixà."
Read more: Guixa wants crèche at Camp Nou Rosell most popular candidate on Facebook
Guixa wants representative fan clubs in board
Barcelona presidential candidates Jaume Guixà and Agustí Benedito have last week stated that they want the club members of FC Barcelona to vote on the appointment of Johan Cruyff as president of honour of the club.Guixà [
on Facebook]:
"Johan Cruyff has been a very important person in the history of Barça, but now was not the time to make this decision. If our candidacy receives the support of the club members, we will ask the general assembly to ratify it. We do not like impositions, we want the active participation of club members and democracy at FC Barcelona!"Benedito [during a meeting with Barcelona club members after already having suggested it earlier in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV]:"One of the first things I will do if I win, will be organizing a referendum so that the club members can decide whether or not they want Cruyff as president of honour. For me it is a decision that should be taken with consensus and not while thinking about the elections."Read more:Cruyff doesn't see link nomination-electionsPoll result: Will Cruyff stay honorary president?Cruyff becomes honorary president
Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito [picture, on the right] has said in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he, no matter what happens in the upcoming presidential elections, will certainly take part in the next vote that in theory will take place in 2016:"It was a hard decision for us to participate in these elections. There are a lot of people involved, a lot of money, a lot of energy, it's all very complicated. We made the decision because we had the certainty that our model for the club wasn't the same as that of the other two main candidacies.And I will tell you something that I maybe shouldn't tell. It's possible that I won't win the elections and it might depend on others who at this moment have more chances to win. But the confidence we have in our program for Barça is so big that if we are not able to win now, we will defend it at the next elections. That's also why we're not interested in pacts. We have a long-term vision." Read more:Benedito: "The signatures won't be a problem"Candidacies carrying out pollsBenedito wants to be the third way
Asked about a possible participation in the elections for president of FC Barcelona in June (read more here), former Barcelona first vice-president Joan Castells has said in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he is looking at the options, but that there is little chance he will be a candidate himself: "At this moment, I have spoken with a lot of people and I don't exclude anything, but there is a probability of no more than 20 percent that I will run in the elections. On the other hand, if another candidacy would make me an offer, I would analyze it."Joan Castells is the 57-year old chairman and chief executive of Spanish mutual insurance company Fiatc. In 2000, he was a pre-candidate in the elections for president of Barcelona but he ended up joining the candidacy of then vice-president Joan Gaspart.
After Gaspart won the elections, Castells was appointed as economic vice-president of the club. In December 2002, Castels resigned as first vice-president after Gaspart refused to call early elections. In the 2006 elections, Castells decided not to run and supported pre-candidate Jordi Medina.Read more:Former director Castells considering election roleLlaurado close to renouncing his candidacyOpposition figure offered place in candidacy
Asked about the role of the Godó group and the Zeta group - the two main Catalan media groups - in the electoral process, Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito has said in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he's not getting the same chances as others:"As I'm already involved in this for several years - these are my fourth elections - I know certain mechanisms and I understand how things work. And I think I'm not saying something new when I'm saying that those two important media groups each seem to support a different option. That's at least the feeling I have.So if they want it to be a two-horse race, we are too much. It asks a lot to appear in some media, but I understand the logic of the powers behind it. And that's fine by me. The pre-campaign will be very long and the time will come when we will be able to present ourselves in the way we want.It's true that we might not appear that much in the media, as if we don't exist. But I think that when we've passed the cut of the signatures and there will be three of four candidates left, which I think will be the case, at that moment there will be twenty days left before the elections.And during those twenty days, the elections will be decided. And I hope that during that period I will be treated equally as the other candidates and have the chance to explain our program, of which I'm sure it's the best. I fully believe that if the club members can hear about our project, and can compare it with the others, we could cause a surprise." Read more:Sala accuses Rosell of being behind opposition paperThis blog involved in the election campaignCatalan journalist rejects offer to run for president
Asked what his role will be if Barcelona presidential candidate Santiago Salvat is elected as president of FC Barcelona, Catalan lawyer and former presidential candidate Jordi Medina has said in an interview with Catalan local television station Teletaxi TV that he would become one of the vice-presidents:
