Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Spanish web portal Terra.
Will you maintain the model of Cruyff?
I don't know if Cruyff started the model. But yes. Whoever the president will be, we should continue on this path. We will certainly strengthen the youth section as much as possible, with transfers that improve the quality. This will keep on staying the same as it is now.
Some people at the youth section have been there for many years, like Alexanko [youth director]. Will you replace Alexanko, or someone else?
If we win, Alexanko will not stay. He will not be in charge of the youth section.
Even if Pep would ask you that he continues?
We would talk with Pep and we would come to an agreement with Pep, I am convinced that I can convince him.
And what of about the sports directors of the other sports sections?
Regarding the basketball section, I'm an ardent supporter of their management and we must strengthen the model and the work that has been done. Creus [sports director] and Pascual [coach] are doing an excellent job. The other three sections are also doing a good job, but without getting to the level of excellence of the basketball section.
Will the club continue to finance those sections with the money of the football team?
Our policy is to give autonomy to the sections, both regarding sporting and economic decisions. But the level of the competitions makes it necessary for the club to give money so that we can be competitive because our competitors have aides we don't have. I am aware they are of strategic value to the club. We also need to care more about the non-professional sections.
It's easy to criticize Laporta, but can you give us three virtues of Laporta and one weakness of yourself.
To have led and implemented the bases for a necessary change. As far as the results of the first team are concerned, he is the best president ever. Although I'm critical about him using his position for political use, at the start he opted for a catalan identity that was right for the club. The problem is the change from the natural Catalan character of Barça to personal use. You cannot do this. My weakness... More than one. It depends on the candidate to whom you compare me. But it's a fact that I have a lack of fame.
Your project has no weakness?
I have no doubt that it's by far the best. Certainly compared with the continuity candidates. From what I know of that of Rosell, I am sure that it is also a lot better than his.
Give me a strong point of the other candidates and, if you know their plans, also one of their projects.
If Godall ends up being a candidate, there will be club members who will value that he has been part of the board that has had the best results in history. I think Ferrer is a good person and you can see that, he transmits it. The fact that Rosell left so early is his main problem, that he abandoned the club that easily hurt his image.
this was the third and last part of this interview.Read the previous parts:Benedito: "Stadium shouldn't be visible from the moon"Benedito: "Barça should transmit values"
Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Spanish web portal Terra.
Are you in favour of keeping UNICEF on the shirt or do you plan to look for a sponsor?
For now, the UNICEF contract has three years left, but the club is entitled to stop putting it on the shirt after each year. In principle we are in favour of maintaining the agreements that have been reached with UNICEF. We see Barça as a demonstration of good citizenship and the club has the potential to transmit values. We want an active presence in the society, establishing networks with social organizations that allow us to transmit our values and what the Barça brand represents. Given that, a collaboration with UNICEF is possible. But we must do a lot more in this aspect.
Godall thinks it's possible to have a budget of 1.000 millions. Have you thought about it? Is it possible?
I think we have to talk about figures in a serious way. If we have revenues of 1.000 and expenses of 1.000... We have to look at his balance sheet and what he plans to do. I think there are a lot of areas in which we can make progress. I'm optimistic. We will improve the exploitation of those resources that are not optimized, like the vip boxes, the use of club assets, the contracts with Nike and with the companies that own the broadcasting rights, as well as move into markets that we didn't yet reach, like Asia and South America. I believe our revenues will grow in the coming years, but I don't want to put it into numbers. But as important as the revenues are the expenses. We must control as much as possible the spending of the club.
Guardiola has spoken highly of Txiki. Will you ask Pep if he wants to continue with him? If that's not the cause but Pep himself asks you for his continuity, what will you do? Keep in mind that Pep always speaks well of him.
With us in charge, he won't continue.
Even if Pep explicitly asks it?
We will talk with Pep and we'll show him our ideas. We look forward to explain him our wishes and our structure so we can finalize it and fill in the names together with him. Through those talks we want to redefine our structure and try to convince him to continue more than one year. We'll find a common ground.
Will this structure have a sports director?
We will continue with the position of sports director. And in all sections, because we believe those are models that have to be to strengthened and that have worked well to date.
Are you in favour of the continuity of the people responsible for each section? It may seem obvious, but to give an example, Rosell wanted to dismiss Frank three months after hving started a project.
Policies of renewals and abrupt changes are not good for the club. As a principle, we will maintain as far as possible the current ideas and projects.
Without mentioning any names, we refer to Cesc. Are you in favour of paying large sums of money for people who left Barca in a non-friendly way?
I think that in the structure we have, the decisions about the transfers should be made by the sports director and the coach and we will support whatever they decide.
But this is a structural decision. Today it's Cesc and tomorrow it can be Thiago.
We insist that these are sports decisions by the coach and the sports director. About Cesc, I can only say that there is a consensus that he's a player with a Barça profile. The price seems to be an important element. Piqué costed 6 millions and he came without any problem. If the price for Cesc is 10 or 15, I'm sure we all agree, even if there would be a policy of not bringing back former youth players. What is the limit? I think these are football decisions and I think we should rely on the sports director.
The squad is almost entirely renewed. Do you agree with that?
There are some decisions that have been influenced by the elections. If they think something may benefit them in the future, they are doing it. I'm reluctant to talk about football - I'll do it when I'm president - I can say in general that in the last weeks of a term, it's perhaps not appropriate to make some of the decisions that are being made and that could also be made in three months time. I think that Piqué would have signed anyway, being it now or in four months.
this was the second part of this interview. you can read the first part here and the third part here.Read more:
Benedito: "The media already have their favourites" Board of Benedito will have 15 directors
Benedito putting emphasis on financial transparency
Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Spanish web portal Terra.
Can you introduce yourself to the club members, many of which still know little about you? Who are you?
From a Barcelona point of view, I'm involved with the club since 1996, when I met Jan Laporta and a large group of Catalans with a different background and different ideas but united by our concern for the club. From this group that didn't have electoral intentions, three people in the end got involved in the candidacy of Angel Fernández in 1997. Laporta, Perrín and I. This was our first electoral experience. A few months later, the three of us, plus another group of Barcelona fans organized the vote of no confidence against Núñez under the name 'Elefant Blau'. This was my second electoral experience. Finally in 2003, I was actively involved in the campaign that led to the presidency of Laporta. Since then, I have been linked with the club, having official responsibilities in the social and sports commissions until I quit a year ago. In summary, it has been 13 years, 7 before the mandate of Laporta, and 6 inside the club.
Why did you quit?
Although from the start some events made me see that the presidency of Laporta might not go as we had imagined, with a number of concrete episodes - some are public and others haven't been disclosed – in which I have been opposed to the decisions of Laporta, but since I am a committed person and it is very difficult to make me leave the ship, I stayed until February 2009. That's when I read a story in the press in which was explained that Laporta tried to mediate in the sale of Mallorca to a group that is domiciled in Switzerland but that is financed with Uzbek money, and that Laporta or his law firm would have got a fee of 4 million euros. I wait until I get the confirmation of the news, which happens at a press conference, and the day after I hand in my resignation. The president of the club cannot do business with a client of the club and get involved in an operation and obtain personal benefits from it. I am not prepared to allow that to happen.
Focusing on your project. What are the three basic ideas?
I feel a part of the original project of Laporta, that of 2003 in which I contributed. I believe in that project and when updated, it is still perfectly valid. And I think many members will agree with this assertion. There are several basic points of the first era of Laporta that have been forgotten. Ideas like transparency, participation of the members in the organs of the club, honesty in the behaviour of the directors and the assets policy of not selling properties.
By the latter, I understand that you disagree with the reclassification of the Miniestadi and the Foster plan.
We are against the sale of assets as a financial management tool, because we would only consider the sale of assets in circumstances of extreme necessity, which is not the case now. On the one hand, when a club is selling properties and reducing the fixed assets, you reduce the solvency ratio and that is the ultimate guarantee for the future stability of the club. When we sell, we impoverish the club and that will limit the operations in future years. It is about economic strategy. Then there is the issue of the practical use of assets. What happens is that some uses are not well defined. I think the football market is changing and that having undeveloped plots close to the Camp Nou allows us to have the ability and willingness to offer many services, that we will need to offer in the future to encourage the attendance at the stadium.
Looking at the future, when you have a city without big spaces to build like Barcelona, did you consider the possibility of removing the Camp Nou outside the city given that it could become unusable because of its current state?
Those are two different things. The Camp Nou is 53 years old and the remodelling is necessary and urgent. We will reform it, but leaving aside the Foster project. We will improve access, comfort, services, the use of new technologies. But this does not mean that the stadium has to be visible from the moon and has to economically condition us in the coming years. According to our studies, the reform of the Camp Nou and the new Palau will cost us more than 100 or 150 millions. And we will do this without selling assets.
Where will the new Palau be located?
Let me say that I hope we can stop the process of reclassification of the Miniestadi site, because that is one of the places where we plan to build it.
this was the first part of this interview. you can read the second part here and the third part here.Read more:
Benedito: "The media already have their favourites" Board of Benedito will have 15 directors
Benedito putting emphasis on financial transparency
Barcelona presidential candidate Agustí Benedito gave an interview to Spanish web portal Terra.