I’ll start at the end: I think we’re dealing with a clumsy attempt by Barça to compensate for the referee’s madridism. Referee madridism has existed and has existed since the moment that 70% of football fans in Spain sympathize with Madrid, that the biggest speakers are in Madrid. I wouldn’t want to entertain myself with theories, but Madridism is the natural, environmental condition with which football is played in Spain. And that would explain why Joan Gaspart, who was the president in 2001, decided it was a good idea to pay a former referee and manager of the college, even if it was only to balance the refereeing bias. That they wouldn’t call him naive. And so began seventeen years of payments to the companies of this former referee (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) who received from Barça more than 7 million euros, an exorbitant amount that reeks of overpricing (and which, for thus, it could have enriched someone from the Barça environment other than the referee). And all this is known as a result of a tax inspection of these companies, which has resulted in a complaint from the Prosecutor’s Office that if the judge admits, which is the most likely, it will end with the opening of judicial proceedings against the Boat. In other words, we would be faced with an unfortunate move by Barça (an unethical move and not at all aesthetic even if it was paid for technical reports) that is now being turned against them because it has been investigated by a Prosecutor’s Office that does not seek to restore the good name of Barça.
The Spanish government, all the Primera Division clubs – including Madrid – and the Federation have already joined the case against Barça. We have the Spanish media machinery working so intensively, that Barça has already lost the popular judgment, it has already been declared guilty. The day before yesterday, in Bilbao, fans threw tickets onto the field with the word mafia and the Barça shield.
And this is where the political derivative is. Remember that we are leaving the Process. That first was operation Catalonia and then the operation of punishment against Catalonia. That the State sewers pursued Rosell and, after more than two years of having him in prison, they had to let him go without charges. It is known that for having organized the Freedom Concert at Camp Nou in 2013, the then Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, threatened Rosell and part of his board that this would have consequences. And he had some. Certain Spanish press published lies about current accounts. They will understand that seeing the same authors or similar amplifying the case is no guarantee of a fair trial or informative impartiality. Many of these want the barca dead, for obvious reasons, because of what it is and what it represents.
And what does Barça say? President Joan Laporta, yesterday evening:
“Recently there are some fierce attacks to tarnish our shield. That they have nothing to do with reality, and you can be sure that the board of directors that I chair will defend it with all its strength… Don’t think that I get excited because of weakness, I get excited because I really want to face all these disgraces that are tarnishing our shield. Don’t let anyone think it’s because of weakness.”
This emotional reaction of Laporta (which transports us decades back to the tears of Núñez when he felt persecuted) will perhaps understand the good heart of many culers. But it is not enough. Barça continues without clarifying the reason for the payments to the former referee. It is one thing that the Prosecutor’s Office has difficulty adjusting the type of crime and that justice has difficulty proving any crime and another is that when Barça is pointed out by everyone, and the damage to its reputation is already international, for a problem that has caused Barça itself, the president responds with an appearance between emotional and testosterone (“I want to face the shameless”), but without giving any explanation and ends up getting wrapped up in the “all united we are strong “.
The origin of the problem is Barça: more specifically, Barça’s governance system, which is presidential and opaque.
The club’s internal control bodies have been failing for a long time now. I remind you that the club was already condemned as an entity for tax fraud seven years ago. That Bartomeu had to resign when it was discovered that he had broken up contracts to pay a company to smear the reputation of partners, opponents, journalists and even some players. If it is necessary to face the shameless things that stain Barça’s shield, it is also necessary, and unfortunately, to look inside Barça, which right now is a club emerging from economic bankruptcy, with a stadium to redo and a squad to improve and without money Those who have allowed this to happen, just as we are coming from the most brilliant sporting era in the club’s history, have also tarnished the shield.
Good morning.