Joan Laporta This Thursday he celebrates three years at the helm of FC Barcelona. On March 7, 2021, he won the election to Victor Font and Toni Freixa and begins his second period as president of the Barça club after the first between 2003 and 2010. In an open letter published in the newspaper Sport, he analyzes what he has experienced and predicts what awaits a strict request among members: unity . “The sporting, economic and institutional recovery of FC Barcelona This is achieved because we remain more united in the face of people who want to hurt us. Barça is an irreducible, invincible sensation. I ask that we remain more united than ever in defense of our shield, our values, our teams,” the president wrote.
“Three years after the members of FC Barcelona gave us their trust in the polls, the Board of Directors that I have the honor to lead is very proud of the work done. Without a doubt, Barça is on the right track, the institution “The club is strong, healthy and we can prove that, with talent, courage, courage and professionalism, the club has been straightened and recovered,” he proclaimed. Joan Laportawho defends the work every day: “But nothing has been the result of chance, rather the sum of many efforts used to follow a detailed strategic plan that is reviewed weekly by those responsible for the various departments that make up a solvent organization dedicated to the club. . “I take advantage of these lines to thank the team of workers at the club for the talent and spirit of Barcelona that they put at the disposal of the club every day. Without them, the ‘miracle’ of saving the entity from shipwreck .”
The situation he experienced
“We do not shrink from the threat of technical bankruptcy”
Reporter He again recalled that he took office in a very difficult time: “To properly assess the efforts and achievements achieved in the last three years, it is worth recalling the situation we experienced in March 2021, when we were elected by the partners. and members: the club’s own funds were negative and the debt was astronomical, with a large short-term component.Furthermore, there was a clear undervaluation of the club project. Espai Barça; a breach of commitments to sports and financial entities and a lack of management and internal control. In these numbers, a private company entered a technical bankruptcy process. But we did not waver in the face of such a threat and made a bold decision with two untrustworthy premises: that the cost of economic recovery would not be borne by the members and that any decision would not jeopardize the ownership model. owns the club.”
The president appreciated that “the growth of Barça In the last three years, this is an objective fact after the club has been established economically with a clear improvement in income, a reduction in the sports wage bill, which has gone from representing 98% in relation to total income in the season 20 -21 to 57 % in the current season, more than a sustainable figure because we are on the lower side of the percentage recommended by UEFA. At the same time, the value of the first team squad has increased significantly, an important fact to understand the economic-sporting balance of a football club, with a firm commitment to young talent that has worked in The Masiawhich is the basis of the sporting project and the best guarantee to ensure the sporting and economic sustainability of Barça in the years to come.”
“The institutional pulse has been recovered thanks to the consolidation and expansion of a series of strategic alliances that confirm the strength and attraction that Barça is generating in all areas. More and more partners and investors from around the world who wants to be associated with Barça and, above all, always respecting our identity as a Catalan club open to the world, with undeniable values linked to democracy, freedom, our language and our culture, that is, to our founding essences and our ownership model, which the Board of Directors defends at all costs because we believe that the uniqueness provided by the current associative model gives us more economic, social and institutional strength than any other model,” he defended .
The trials
“Continue to be the best multi-sports club in the world”
The president announced that “the challenges for the coming years, established in the thorough strategic plan, are based on the acceleration of the club’s business to complete the economic recovery and the consolidation in the first line of sports in the world. None another ten months to celebrate the 125 years of history, our goal is nothing more than to continue to be the best multi-sports club in the world. Faced with new paradigms of the football industry, with new and strong economic competitors, we are moving towards a change in the business model that coincides with the digital transformation of the entity as a key element to ensure the economic and financial maintenance.”
“The central project of our mandate is the Espai Barçawith the new one Spotify Camp Nou ahead, an important project to keep FC Barcelona in the leadership of world football and become one of the pillars of the Club’s economic viability. We are talking about a new stadium to continue winning, in sport and economy. “This will be the best stadium in the world, the highest dream of all Barcelona fans,” he continued talking about the future.
And finish Reporter appealing for the unity of Barcelona fans: “Barça is an irreducible, invincible feeling. I ask that we remain more united than ever in defense of our shield, our values, our teams. It is worth remembering that at the present time We still have many goals to achieve in sports. Barça is the current champion of the 6 leagues in which our 6 professional teams compete (men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, handball, hockey and indoor soccer), an unprecedented achievement in the club’s history. If the players see that we don’t give up, they won’t either. Here we will fight to the end. “We can win or lose, it’s part of sport, but we will never throw in the towel because winning is part of our competitive essence.”
“The sporting, economic and institutional recovery of FC Barcelona is achieved because we have remained more united in the face of those who want to hurt us. And this is the key to presenting ourselves more and better in the future: to be more and to be stronger. We are just Barça, the fans of Barcelona. And we have to close ranks, more united than ever, because we don’t have or want to have powerful states behind us or millionaires who want to control the Club. Our strength comes from our identity, our history. and our ownership model,” he concluded.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
