Spain’s La Liga’s Barcelona in Turmoil with Mass Resignations over Future Direction and ‘Barcagate’ Affair

FC BARCELONA has been rocked by the resignation of six board members who are unhappy over the club’s future direction under president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Despite Bartomeu claiming that the La Liga champions would earn a billion euros this season, it has decided to not pay non-playing staff during the current State of Alarm, and have put them on furlough.

There’s also been a controversial spat on social media nicknamed ‘Barcagate,’ where a director close to Bartomeu, Eric Abidal, has posted comments attacking senior team figures like Lionel Messi over their negativity over taking big pay cuts during the current crisis.

The Argentinian star and his colleagues have made no secret of their displeasure at the salary reductions imposed by the president.

The six boardroom resignations involve vice-presidents Emili Rousand and Enrique Tombas, alongside directors Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia.

Their exits were confirmed via a strongly-worded letter sent to Bartomeu, with the group calling for the club’s leadership to be reviewed as soon as possible to ensure that Barcelona are able to bounce back from the challenges caused by the coronavirus crisis.

“We want to announce that we have told Bartomeu of our decision to irrevocably resign from our position as directors of FC Barcelona,” the group’s letter started.

“We have reached this point by not being able to change the way the club is being run to face off the important future challenges of the future, especially what will happen after the pandemic.

“We must also highlight our disenchantment with the unfortunate episode on social networks, known as ‘Barcagate,’ which we learned about through the media.

“As a last service to our club, we recommend that as soon as circumstances allow it, new elections should be held that will allow all the ‘authority,’ to manage the club in the best possible way to face the important challenges of the immediate future.”

That presumably means that Bartomeu and his supporters will face a challenge in an off-field battle that at least is providing some interest to compensate for the lack of on-field action for the foreseeable future.

Author badge placeholder
Written by

Alex Trelinski

Comments