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Football.ua made a comparison between the first term of the newly elected Catalan club president and his promises of a second coming.
The electoral process for the presidency of Catalan Barcelona was almost the main event last weekend. The saga suffered has come to an end. Joan Laporta is the new “old” leader of one of the flagships of Spanish football.
The confident victory of this candidate by majority vote of the electorate simply leaves no room for doubt about the vote of confidence in his speech. But are his proposals as fresh and relevant, considering current realities, as they might seem during a romantic pre-election period? Football.among others invites his readers to discover it together.
First coming to Barcelona
In the elections held on June 15, 2003, the then 41-year-old candidate for the Catalan club’s top management position received excellent support from the club’s members – 52.7%, or – 27,138 votes… This figure significantly surpassed the figures of the second contender in the sympathy index, Luis Bassat, who managed to have only 16,412 votes (31.87%).
Laporta, however, did not arrive alone at his post. Along with him, a team of young reformers arose, who soon put the rusty mechanism into operation. Your overall idea is “circle of virtue” – was to strengthen the economic and social base, and immediately found the support of a wide range of board members.
The provisional title of the project, under whose auspices it was possible to bring together all those who were not indifferent, – “Great challenge”… He was primarily focused on working with fans, and the first step on this path was the revival of the club’s magazine. Yes, the top Spanish team at that time did not have elementary points of contact with their fans, except for uncontrolled local publications. Subsequently, it was possible to connect the television of the clubs to activities of this spectrum. Boat television.
An important characteristic of Laporta’s first stage at the head of the club is reinforcing the traditional values of Barcelona: Catalan identity, community spirit, solidarity around the club and management flexibility.
At the same time, an active process of taking the team to a new level of competition was started thanks to the noisy signings. Ronaldinho and his signing from French PSG for an impressive 32.25 million euros at the time, and leading the first team Frank Rijkaard. Barcelona were willing to spend a lot of money with a reasonably clear goal of lifting the La Liga trophy for the first time in six years. It didn’t work out on the first visit, but investments in Samuel Eto’o and Deco They already paid for themselves in the 2004/05 season. A year later, Barcelona was already celebrating a victory in the final of the Paris Champions League against Arsenal in London.
It was at this moment that Laporta felt the pressure from outside for the first time. One of the courts of Catalonia received a lawsuit demanding that the first ten days of the then president of the club (from June 20 to 30, 2003) count as a full season, which forced the Governing Board of Barcelona, according to the Charter, schedule new elections for September 2006. Fortunately, past successes have led Laporte to the top of a wave of popularity to an extension of his leadership position. 8994 votes: the only candidate who managed to exceed the required minimum threshold of votes.
The 2006/07 season began with the signing of an agreement with UNICEF, according to which the club agreed to collaborate with this organization in financial terms, thanks to which it was able to promote its idea. “More than a club”… Exclusively in terms of football, the year turned out not to be the most successful: a victory in the Spanish Super Cup could not block the exit of the Spanish Cup and the loss of the La Liga title.
The stalemate continued into the following season, so the rebel Ronaldinho had to be kicked out. sure, The individual members of the Barcelona Board of Directors were still furious, so at the end of the first season, under the leadership of the new Spanish manager, a vote of no confidence was cast against the current club board.
Laporta miraculously escaped impeachment: 60.6% (39,389) of the votes fell only slightly below the 66.6% established by the Charter. The reversal effect in this case was the removal of eight directors from the board of directors. Laporte had to find new partners to continue working.
As history will show, a failed vote saved what is arguably the most vibrant season in Catalan Barcelona of the 21st century. The main team won all the tournaments in which they participated, and among the memorable moments was 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu. The Spanish Cup, La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the club world title: six trophies in practically one campaign.
The effect of Laporta’s management of the team was readily apparent: the ever-growing economic and social base was supported by the academy’s successes in training young footballers, as well as the performances of the already existing strong skeleton. under the guidance of an ambitious mentor. Barcelona’s annual budget has gone from 170 to 445.5 million euros, and the number of club members has gone from 106,135 to 173,701 people.
However, for the “Blaugranas” the result was always at the forefront, so the bland start of the 2007/08 season, before which a lot of money was spent on Thierry Henry, Eric Abidal, Yaya Touré and Gabriel Milito, was became a key factor in Laporte’s future resignation on demand. Angry fans. In the position of head coach, instead of Rijkaard, Guardiola arrived, and a completely different page in history began.
A second attempt to bring a paralyzed system to life
The time of the reign of Josep Bartomeu is completely behind us. Barcelona enters a new stage in its history with a well-known club leader at the helm. But, to what extent did Laporte manage to effectively assess the situation within the team from the outside in drawing up his electoral program?
The ideas for a second term in this position of the newly elected president “blaugranas” do not differ much from his first campaign. We are looking at the same package of “social and financial goods” that urgently needs to be fueled with investment, which is not a bad idea, given the recent leak scandal over Lionel Messi’s contract and the transition from debt to equity. nine zeros.
Laporta is also forced to speak again about the need to raise the performance of the club’s quarry to train personnel not for sale, but directly for the main team. But at the same time, he still sees the preservation of Lionel Messi as a key pillar on which the foundation of the club’s stability will be laid.
The results of the main team’s actions, in the midst of the pandemic, are Barcelona’s main source of income. For this reason, the newly appointed president is promoting the idea of the need to change the coach, because with Ronald Koeman, apparently, it will be difficult for the Catalans to win big trophies. Of course, there are enough options for such a prestigious position, from Mikel Arteta to Xavi, so we should expect concrete steps from the new leadership in this direction in the near future.
The flip side of Laporta’s job, which is often hidden from outsiders, is the financial life of the club. Barcelona will have to go through a period of separation from many of its expensive players, but at the same time, it was by no means excluded from denying the possibility of refinancing the debts of the new team. The idea of leaving Messi is certainly good in terms of brand awareness, but how, after signing a new contract with the Argentine, convince the rest of the players of the need for strong financial restrictions is too difficult a question.
The rest of the candidates, unlike Laporta, proposed steps that were too abstract to get out of this situation. For example, Tony Freisha wanted to “fill the stands of the Camp Nou exclusively with Barcelona fans, not tourists”, although the bulk of the stadium’s income, in pre-COVID-19 times, came precisely from foreign fans who filled enthusiastically the stands even in the least rated games. … At the same time, the candidate spoke seriously about the possibility of the club to sign “Mbappé and the Netherlands at the expense of new investors’ money”.
Victor Font was more realistic in his promises, focusing on bringing in new talent that could give the club a different take on the brand, but he never presented these “new faces” until the vote. And the idea of a massive rejection of all the “luxuries” of Barcelona was perceived by the fans in an ambiguous way.
It is quite possible that it was the lack of a clear action program on the part of the competitors that made Joan Laporte the main favorite of the electoral contest, but his ideas are nothing new, and the newly appointed Blaugrana incumbent may not enter the same river twice. We really have some interesting times to go through in the near future!
Ilya Bereza, Football.ua
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