And with almost 38% of the socios behind Laporta, the FCB President is Safe!
Sunday, 06 July 08, 08:40 PM · Comments(2)
Well, the voting results are compiled and it appears Barça's president, Laporta, gets to keep his job. While 60% of FCB members expressed lack of confidence in Mr. Laporta, it was still below the required 66% needed to oust a president. Now, I know that if he'd been voted out it would've meant a freeze on transfers until January as well as the turmoil of an interim administration in place until Laporta's replacement is elected. Still, it has to hang over Laporta that most of the club members, or 'socios', wish him gone. Or, maybe it doesn't, I don't know.
Personally, I was rather pissed at Laporta for letting Saviola go. The little Argentinian had been with Barça since 2001, and had seen two club administrations and three coaches in that time with the Catalan club. He was loaned out twice, last playing with Sevilla where he helped them win the UEFA Cup in 2006. Word was that when Laporta's regime took over Barcelona, Txiki Begiristain, the new football director, tried to see if Saviola would essentially take a pay cut. Saviola said 'no' and from that point the diminutive Argentine was in Txiki's black book. Though a perfectly good striker of the 'poacher' persuasion, Saviola saw very little time on the pitch in 06-07. By the summer of 2007, Saviola signed on with Real Madrid when his contract with Barça expired. Txiki didn't bother to renew it.
To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about Laporta. He started off as a decent enough fellow until last season when Laporta really started going off with his grand statements (and a few confusing ones too). I think his image has been tarnished from this past season. Granted, it was a hard season, an ugly season even, with players in dissent or demoralized, fans demanding that heads roll, and a coach trying his damnest to keep a lid on it all until the axe fell upon him in the end.
As for Rijkaard, my only complaint with him was that he didn't have a tighter hold on the players. I mean, I don't care what you say, we're essentially talking about spoilt 20-something boys who have had the luxury of an extended childhood. They need to be told what to do at times, and to know there'll be consequences for given actions, no questions asked.
As for Laporta and Co. I feel his time has run up. If he were honorable, Laporta would conclude the necessary transfers, make sure Guardiola was settled and prepped for his new task, then he'd step down. This last season saw a near collapse of the squad, and if Laporta had nothing to do with it, then he's probably worthless anyway. Florentino Perez, of all people, stepped down when the Galactico rot was at its worst in Real Madrid. Surely Laporta won't prove Perez' inferior in that department?
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
-
TopCornerStunna10 said:you can't honestly be serious if you think Ronaldo is better than Messi. There ...
Tim said:Please do never compare Ronaldo to Messi because he doesn't worth that. No one ...
-
Pequito
seattle, US
Over 30 years ago, this American came to love the sport by way of Guam. It may have been pivotal that his first coach was a Spaniard with the self-declared moniker of 'Don Pedro'. Since then, the love of tiki-taka and all things La Liga has been foremost. This especially applies to Barça.
2 Comments · Add yours
This will be a very interesting year. I feel that LaPorta and Txiki should bear some of the damage from the last two winless years and that Frank was a scapegoat. But we shall see if Pep can handle the pressure.
He gets lots of chances to mess up which is very surprising since he hasn't done much for Barcelona