Laporta Holds On As Eight Directors Resign
Thursday, 10 July 08, 01:06 PM · Comments (20)
Joan Laporta will remain Barça's president for the time being but his stance has brought about the resignation of eight members of the board including three vice-presidents. First vice-president Albert Vicens, economic vice-president Ferran Soriano and sporting vice-president Marc Ingla were joined by other board members, Xavier Cambra, Evarist Murtra, Josep Lluis Vilaseca, Claudia Vives-Fierro and Toni Rovira in resigning.
Today's board meeting was expected to produce some sparks after the poor result in Sunday's vote of no-confidence. It was thought that Laporta might offer his resignation but he has held firm despite the mass resignation. Soriano has been touted as a possible future president and he obviously felt it was in his interest to distance himself from Laporta at this time.
Regular readers will know I have backed Laporta all the way but now I am beginning to have my doubts. Faced with such criticism and lack of support of key members of his team, perhaps it would have been better for him to walk. However, I still believe his record is good enough to deserve the chance to finish his term of office until 2010. Could it be that the sharks smelt the blood and pounced?
Whatever the case, this is not good news for Barça as now we can be assured that Laporta will be under constant pressure to reconsider his position. Today Laporta was supported in the press by club legends such as Johan Cruyff and Hristo Stoichkov but to no avail. In a press release after the board meeting, given by Albert Vicens, the resigning directors called for calm and support for the team. Unfortunately at a club like Barça this will be very difficult now.
On another note, I heard an interesting rumour today regarding Laporta's personal life. Someone told me that he was supposedly cheating on his wife. I don't know if you remember the the story of Laporta's computer being stolen, well apparently it had to do with this and had nothing to do with club politics or anything. Of course, it could all just be a rumour as part of the anti-Laporta campaign but interesting all the same.
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in light of all this it's no doubt inevitable now that laporta's resignation will be imminent...hopefully all this will be knocked on the head by the start of the new season...
The computer may have been a means for his wife to determine if he had any correspondence from an affair...
But, the real question is when will Laporta see he's lost his legitimacy amongst the majority of FCB's supporters? Sure, the vote of no confidence was defeated, but only as a technicality. The numbers speak for themselves. 6 out of 10 voters said Laporta should go, 1 out of ten said nothing, and 3 out of 10 said he should stay. So, the King of Catalunya sees this, and decides he's won?! Ai ai ai. The man obvious failed math in school. Seriously, this isn't good for Barça, and eight board members stepping down in protest only underscores that fact. I can understand Cruijff and Stoichkov providing public support for Laporta in the interests of the club's success this season, but how does Laporta's refusal to face the facts help now? Who will respect him as leader of the club? How will his crippled authority impact the authority of those below him--especially Pep's who is coming into a rough situation as it is. Already Ronaldinho is intent on ignoring the club's order for him to return. Granted, Ronnie may be on his way out anyway, but when I see the Brazilian defying what is essentially Laporta's regime, it somehow seems ... apt and fitting. No, Laporta must step down or risk damaging the club's success in all its ventures. He may have done good as its president at one time, but refusing to leave when it's apparent he's no longer trusted by a large majority of club only makes him, and therefore the club by association, look petty.
I love this club more than anything, but this is the reason that we cannot be successful for more than a couple of years. The Dream team was good for a couple of years then the Rivaldo years lasted a couple of years now the Dinho era lasted 3 good years. Just because we dont win a title in 2 years doesnt mean that the club is about to fall apart. Its true that we need more consistency, but that also applies to the fans. Barca cannot win every title every year! Thats a fact, Man U didnt win anything for a couple of years and instead of blowing up the team and management, they reloaded and won the double this year. There is too much drama regarding this great club, and people like Giralt who think they are helping the club by causing this mess are delusional, b/c it only brings doubt and instability to the club and also until the attitude of the fans changes, they themselves will be right where Laporta is right now(its happened to Laporta). Laporta gave us Dinho instead of Mendieta, Eto'o instead of Saviola, Messi instead of Geovanni, Deco instead of Gerard etc. Please the club has only gone up since he took over, financially and by the class of the players on the squad now. He has done so much for this club in so little time and it sucks seeing this guy go through all this because Barca couldnt win every title possible every year ( find me a team that does). I dont know what will happened to Laporta but I do know that in a couple of years it will happened to Rosell, or whoever takes over next. Its sad but true, b/c drama follows this club everywhere, and maybe thats part of the mystique of this club, but it usually does more harm than good.
By the way, I saw Messi, Marquez, and Dinho in houston last week for the Free Kick Masters contest. Dinho looked skinnier than the last photos of him that were posted, but he gave about 20% effort though and was jeered at the end. Multiple fans ran on the field to hug Dinho and Messi even though they all got arrested afterwards. One little boy got tasered after he went to get Messi's autograph. It was really ridiculous how many Barca jerseys were in the stadium, it felt like a mini nou camp. 1 guy ran up to Dinho in his barca jersey and kissed the badge in front of him and asked him to stay b4 he got tackled by the cops. Marquez eventually won the competition so barca won something this year. I posted here last week that my buddy took out Torres clubbing on Fri night, well Torres didnt make it out the contest on Sat night, even though he was in town. Im glad he was shown a good time
I don't know what to tell you, Rivaldo, other than it is the nature of España and the nature of a club owned by its members. The Catalan fans of Barcelona are poor as fans go, but then so are the Madridistas of the Bernabou. Both are spoilt rotten. Sometimes, I wonder if I'd be better off supporting Villarreal or Valladolid. Ah, Spain. You gotta love it though, no?
Haha, i know. Im starting to believe now thats the attraction to the club. All this nonstop drama but yet I hate when i log onto goal.com or the barca website and i see no news coming out of the club for that day. Forca Barca!
20 Comments · Add yours
All in all, how much does president, whether Laporta or someone else, effect team performance on the pitch? Unstable times at the club, resigning vice-presidents, high percentage in the vote against current board do not help in any way however the main question for me is will it have a negative impact on players performance. What do you think?
On the rumor of Laporta cheating on his wife, if a man can't run things right in his family, if it's true, how can you expect him to run things correct in a financial institution, such as a football club, particularly FC Barcelona.
computer being stolen.... Laporta cheating on wife... I cant correlate between the two Nic.
Yeah, the situation is bad, I agree with you that Laporta should have stepped down. Lets hope everything is for the best.