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Josep Maria Bartomeu’s reign as Barcelona president has come to an end, and the 57-year-old announced his resignation on Tuesday together with the club’s board of directors.
His six years in charge were riddled with controversy, with Lionel Messi embroiled in a feud with Bartomeu as he tried to get away from the Camp Nou and Barcelona’s on-field performances in decline.
He was also charged with corruption in September, while former boss Quique Setien announced that same month that he was taking legal action against the club for his departure.
Setién accused Barcelona of “not complying with their employment contracts” after Bartomeu and the club announced their dismissal before officially communicating it to the 61-year-old coach.
(Image: 2020 Quality Sports Pictures)
In a statement, Setien said he only received “written confirmation of the dismissal (without any agreement)” on September 16, almost a month after his dismissal.
In the wake of all the controversy in Barcelona, more than 20,000 club members signed a motion to remove him as president, but Bartomeu has resigned to ensure he did not become the first president to be expelled by a vote of no confidence.
However, in his resignation speech, Bartomeu issued a defiant response to his critics detailing why he and the board of directors did not resign earlier.
(Image: 2020 Getty Images)
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“After being eliminated from the Champions League, the easiest thing was to leave,” he said. “The easiest thing was to quit.
“However, the day after that painful defeat we had to make decisions that we could not delay any longer, key to guaranteeing the sporting future and the immediate sustainability of the Club.
“Furthermore, we had to do it in the middle of an unprecedented global crisis. We could not leave the Club in the hands of an Interim Board with limited powers.
“Who would have found the new coach? Who would have been in charge of the transfers? Who would have fought for Leo Messi to stay? Who would have carried out the budget cuts? Who would have been in charge of the salary adjustments of the players? professional athletes of the Club?
“As a Board we understood that, out of responsibility, we have to make those decisions. Most of which were awkward and unpopular.
“The most obvious sign that we were not holding on to power is that we called for elections in March. The earliest date allowed by the Bylaws.
“That was because we believed this would help calm things down, allow teams to work, and allow for an orderly transition to the newly elected Board of Directors.
“An early resignation would have led the Club to be trapped in an electoral process, a power vacuum, under the management of an Interim Board with limited powers that in a few weeks would have to make sporting and economic decisions with serious consequences that could not be discouraged “.
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