After a troubled summer in which he scraped through a vote of no confidence, Joan Laporta has been confirmed today by the General Assembly as Barça president until 2010. The members who form the Assembly have voted by nearly 55% in favour of Laporta and have also approved the economic budget for the coming season.

The likes of Sandro Rossell or Ferran Soriano who may both have their eyes on Laporta's position, will now have to wait until the elections of 2010. After the good sensations that the football team is showing this can only be a positive thing for the club after all the instability created by the vote of no confidence. I know many won't agree with me but I feel that despite his faults Laporta deserves to finish his mandate.

The summer saga of Samuel Eto'o continues. Today Joan Laporta admitted there was still a possibility that Eto'o could stay at Barça. Laporta said that "Samuel's case is not irrevesible" despite the fact that Pep Guardiola has stated that Eto'o does not enter in his plans. Due to Eto'o's high wage demands he is not receiving many firm offers from other clubs despite interest from most of the top clubs in Europe.

Reports suggest that Eto'o is giving everything in training and his performance against Dundee United in Saturday's 1-5 win shows he is in good form. Eto'o may be a difficult character who occasionally causes problems for team unity; however, given the options of Adebayor, Drogba or our very own Thierry Henry for the number 9 position this season I have to say that Eto'o is better than...

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. ...

According to an exclusive in El Sport Barça's president Joan Laporta will present his resignation at Thursday's board meeting. After being punished in Sunday's vote of no confidence a group of directors are believed to be prepared to resign en bloc if Laporta doesn't go. According to the story, vicepresident Albert Vicens will take over as president when Laporta resigns and Ferran Soriano will be his number two. Click here for the El Sport story (in Spanish).

After being punished in the polls by Barça's members, club president Joan Laporta held on to remain in the job until 2010. Nearly 24,000 voted in favour of the vote of no confidence but this was only 60.60% of the vote and not quite the two thirds needed to oust Laporta from his position. 37.75% voted against the motion (i.e. in favour of Laporta) but the split in the club is evident.

While I am pleased that Laporta can continue, the result is disappointing. Laporta has made mistakes and I am not in favour of all he has done, but as I have said before I think the club is in a better state than when he took over, and looking at the balance of his five years in charge the balance is generally positive. The fact that Oriol Giralt received so many votes in favour of his motion suggests that he had ev...

Tomorrow is a big day for Football Club Barcelona. Tomorrow is when Barça's members have their say on the vote of no confidence against Joan Laporta and his board of directors. If two-thirds vote against Laporta it will bring to an end his time as the club president and new presidential elections will be held. According to polls in El Sport and El Mundo Deportivo it is looking uncomfortably close for Laporta.

Admittedly the people who vote in these polls are not necessarily members of the club, but any result that gives over 50% against Laporta will leave the club in an unstable position. I find it hard to believe how a lot of Barça fans react every time the team goes through a lean period. I'm not a big fan of Laporta myself, I just feel he has done a pretty good...

In 2003 when Joan Laporta was voted in as Barça president his closest collaborators were Ferran Soriano who was financial vicepresident, Marc Ingla who was marketing vicepresident and Sandro Rossell who was sports vicepresident and regarded by many to be Laporta's right-hand man. Rossell was given a lot of credit for being behind the signings of Ronaldinho and Deco, which were helped by Rossell's connections in Brazil, he was also credited with the signings of Marquez and Edmilson. The relationship between Laporta and Rossell seemed to be a firm friendship but halfway through the first season Rossell fell out with Laporta, so what went wrong between them?

According to Rossell he fell out with Laporta due to a lack of democracy and transparency at the club. However, it seems the real reason had ...

The president of the electoral table for the vote of no confidence, David Moner, today presented the voting paper with the question formula for the members to vote. The official Barça page hasn't translated them yet so here is my translation:

Yes to the vote of no confidence presented by the members Oriol Giralt and Christian Castellvi against the board of directors. This affirmative vote would mean the cessation of the entire board of directors which would lead to new presidential elections being held.

No to the vote of no confidence presented by the members Oriol Giralt and Christian Castellvi against the board of directors. this negative vote would mean the continuation of the board of directors until the conclusion of its mandate.

Tomorrow Sandro Rossell is expected to give a ...

The date was set today for the mocio de censura (vote of no confidence) against Barça president Joan Laporta. The club members will have their say on July 6 and the voting will take place at the Miniestadi. The opposition to Laporta, led by Oriol Giralt will need to gain two-thirds of the vote to oust Laporta from his presidency.

I've said before that I do not support this motion. Laporta has made mistakes but I believe overall he has done a pretty good job and deserves to complete his mandate until 2010. The opposition has only brought instability to the club and do not seem to be offering any alternatives. I know a lot of people would like to see Sandro Rosell take over, but I have to ask them what do they really know about Rosell apart from he was behind the Ronaldinho signing. Besides...

With a couple of days to spare Oriol Giralt has reached the 5,882 votes needed to move the motió de censura on to the next stage which will be the actual vote of no confidence. Oddly enough ten years ago Joan Laporta was behind a similar move to try and oust president Josep Lluis Nuñez. On that occasion Nuñez won 61.5% of the vote to Laporta's 35.5% and Nuñez stayed in power until 2000. One of Nuñez's moves after this vote was to change the statutes of the club so that now for a vote of no confidence to succeed it needs to gain two-thirds of the votes and not just a simple majority. It is ironic that now Laporta will benefit from Nuñez's rule change.

The date for the vote has not yet been set, if Giralt wins two-thirds of the votes it will lead to presidential elections which could l...