Joan Laporta returns and the pre-campaign for the Barcelona elections, announced for January 24, has started to rotate.
As if waiting for the candidacy presented yesterday by the former president (2003-2010) at the Sant Pau hospital to start betting on the favorites to succeed Josep Maria Bartomeu, resigned on October 27, before submitting to a vote of no confidence endorsed by 19,380 partners and after questioning the behavior of the Generalitat.
"We will do it again and we will do better," said Laporta, ready to face the "greatest challenge" of his life after living "the best years of our lives," the slogan in his tenure at the Camp Nou.
Johan Cruyff is no longer there and Pep Guardiola has renewed for Manchester City.
To disgust and with a contract until June 30, Leo Messi remains as the pillar of Laporta's work.
“Messi loves Barça and will give him a chance;
I hope we arrive on time, ”said the former president, aware of the ascendancy he has over the player, who in the summer expressed his desire to leave the club, and the maximum defender of the
Dream Team's
legacy
.
The respect he has for the symbols of that team allows him to defend Ronald Koeman's continuity as coach.
“It has a margin;
He is one of the greats ”, he added.
It is committed not to interfere to guarantee sporting stability - it did not give names of possible signings - and is waiting to know the degree of drama of the economic situation: “I hope to find the minimum possible surprises and that the management commission has not overreached in his functions and his agreements are pending ratification ", he stressed, and later discarded, for now, the option of passing accounts, as happened when he left office and was subjected to a liability action by Sandro Rosell's board:" I do not want to look back or put the rear-view mirror because governing from resentment or judicializing the club does not lead anywhere, "he emphasized.
The former president appealed to effort and unity with a measured, close, conciliatory and institutional speech, opposite to that of his time as an opponent or candidate before reaching the box in 2003. The motto of his campaign is
Estimem el Barça.
“I want a club that defends the rights and freedoms of Catalonia and, at the same time, in which everyone who feels like a Barcelona player has room regardless of their thinking.
Our priority is to return Barça to the front line based on experience, determination and preparation ”, Laporta optimistically synthesized, whose figure never provoked indifference, but rather extreme attitudes, of support or rejection, delivered today to capture undecided votes.
After all, he is the best-known candidate, present in some way in the elections since 1998, when he was the promoter of a vote of no confidence against Josep Lluís Núñez as leader of
Elefant Blau
.
He was also part of Lluís Bassat's list in 2002 and opposed integrating the one who ended up being president, Joan Gaspart.
Laporta won in 2003 with 27,138 votes and led the club until 2010 after overcoming the vote of no confidence presented by Oriol Giralt in 2008. He returned in 2015, Sandro Rosell already resigned, and lost the vote with Bartomeu.
Up to 16,615 members voted for Laporta and will surely maintain their loyalty in 2021.
The bag of adhesions that it has would reinforce its aspirations if the vote is atomized by the presence of nine pre-candidates: Víctor Font, Toni Freixa, Jordi Farré, Lluís Fernández Alà, Pere Riera, Xavier Vilajoana, Agustí Benedito and Emili Rousaud.
Juan Rosell, former president of the entrepreneurs (CEOE), will not attend at the end, after the resignation also of Jordi Roche, former president of Girona and the Catalan Federation.
Roche, which had the support of Sandro Rosell, represented the third way, the alternative to Víctor Font and Laporta, who would compete for the same sector of the electorate - those mentioned are about 110,000 and the headquarters will be in Barcelona, Tarragona, Tortosa, Lleida , Girona, Andorra, Madrid, Seville, Valencia and Mallorca—.
Font, whose candidacy was announced in 2013, marked the step until the appearance of Laporta.
The businessman, CEO of Delta Partners and founder of the
newspaper Ara
, former member of Marc Ingla's candidacy in 2010 and partner of Ferran Soriano in Cluster Consulting, has Toni Nadal, former coach of tennis player Rafa Nadal, journalist Antoni Bassas and doctor Ramon Cugat, and bet as sports chief for Xavi Hernández.
Laporta once again has several of its former directors and negotiates with Jaume Giró, former general director of the Fundació La Caixa, a key figure in the agreement between the Cruyff Foundation and the Barça Foundation, and with Mateo Alemany, former president of Mallorca.
Charisma and team
The former president is endorsed by his charisma;
Font exposes his sense of team, management skills and a well thought out and adapted plan after the covid-19.
Both ruled out agreeing and go toe-to-toe if a third option willing to capture the votes of the legacy of Sandro Rosell (35,021 votes in 2010) and Bartomeu (25,823 in 2015) does not bear fruit and especially those who want the club to remain safe from "economic, media and political interests", in the words of Rosell himself.
The partners of the Government of the Generalitat, Junts per Catalunya and ERC, seem comfortable before the Laporta-Font dilemma after their disagreement with Bartomeu.
A declared independence activist, Laporta has a more marked political profile than the nationalist Font.
He was a deputy to the Parliament (2010-2012) and councilor of the Barcelona City Council (2011-2015), he maintains a very good relationship with Carles Puigdemont and is well regarded by ERC.
Font can also capitalize on the vote of those who do not want Laporta to win, especially if the other candidates do not grow and articulate a bloc endorsed by the
establishment
, as is supposed to be the intention of Rousaud, the former vice president who resigned after
Barçagate
.
Rousaud and, above all, Toni Freixa, adviser, exporter of the club and candidate in 2015, would be the best positioned.
The challenge is to pass the signature cut from January 23 to 11 (2,257) and have the guarantee of 15% of the budget (118 million) to be a candidate (the campaign will be from January 15 to 22).
The number of applicants is surprising if one takes into account that the club closed last year with 97 million losses, the debt amounted to 488 million - the total would exceed 800 million -, the wage bill is the highest in Europe and needs to reduce expenses at 300 million.
No applicant is scared.
And less to Laporta, ready to return, now with a tempered speech, as if it were about not losing to those who see him as the winner, different from 2003.
The nine hopefuls to make the cut
Joan Laporta
.
Lawyer.
58 years.
Former Barça president during the period of the club's greatest sporting successes (2003-2010), he overcame a motion of censure in 2008. Independentist, faithful to the legacy of Cruyff and Guardiola and defender of La Masia.
Victor Font.
Entrepreneur.
48 years.
Bet on Xavi as a sports manager and announce a professionalized management based on his experience at Delta Partners.
Founder of the newspaper
Ara
, he has Toni Nadal, Antoni Bassas and Ramon Cugat.
Toni Freixa
.
Lawyer.
52 years.
Advisor, exportavoice of the club, manager with Laporta and Rosell, candidate in the 2015 elections. Aspiring to lead the third way, his motto is
Fidels al Barça
.
Bet on Koeman.
Emili Rousaud.
Entrepreneur.
54 years.
Founder and CEO of Factor Energía.
Former director with Bartomeu, he resigned for Barçagate.
He would try to get Neymar back.
Jordi Farré.
Entrepreneur.
45 years.
Very active since 2015, he has been the promoter of the vote of no confidence against Bartomeu.
Xavier Vilajoana.
Engineer.
47 years.
Former Barça soccer and futsal player, a good connoisseur of La Masia and ex-director until the end with Bartomeu.
Agustí Benedito.
Entrepreneur.
56 years.
A classic of the last elections and founder of Elefant Blau.
He proposed a vote of no confidence against Bartomeu before opposing Farré's.
Lluís Fernández Alà.
Entrepreneur.
53 years.
Operations Director of Up Catalonia.
Pere Riera
.
Entrepreneur.
54 years.
Former soccer player.
Director and businessman of the real estate and chemical sector.