Barcelona is in turmoil after six board directors resigned on Friday after criticising the club’s lamentable handling of a major social media scandal that has plunged the club into disorder, which has been further exacerbated by the debilitating financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Emili Rousaud and Enrique Tombas were foremost among two of the club’s four vice presidents to throw in their resignations, joined by directors Silvio Elias, Josep Pont, Jordi Calsamiglia and Maria Texidor.
In a joint letter to fans, the directors pointed an accusative finger at incumbent president Josep Maria Bartomeu, expressing their doubts about the board’s ability to handle the implications of the pandemic which has slashed income drastically and led to a 70 per cent players’ pay cut.
The directors also called for Bartomeu to call for presidential elections as soon as possible and openly criticised the club for its complicity in hiring an outsider, I3 Ventures, earlier this year to conduct an acrimonious campaign via social media channels targetting Messi and various other players and ex managers of Barcelona.
Bartomeu has denied all accusations fingering him as the prime mover in the social media scandal and refutes evidence that the company created social media accounts to smear future presidential candidates, and former and current players, but claimed instead that he rescinded the club’s contract with the firm anyway. I3 Ventures was also quick to deny any wrongdoing in the matter.
“We have arrived at this point because we cannot reverse the way the club is managed in the face of important challenges in the future, especially in the post-pandemic era,” said the letter, which appeared in Spanish media on Friday.
The directors’ statement read:
“We also want to show our displeasure over the unfortunate episode about the social media accounts, known as ‘Barcagate’, which we learned about through the press.
“As our last act of service to the club, we recommend that elections are called as soon as circumstances permit so that the club can be managed in the best way possible and deal with the important challenges of the immediate future.”
So far there has been no immediate reaction from Barcelona or Bartomeu.
Bartomeu, who became Barca president in 2014 after Sandro Rosell’s resignation, is unable to stand for re-election as he has already served two terms.
Barca are the recipient of eight of the last 11 La Liga titles and were leading led the race for the La Liga title when football in Spain ground to a halt when all activities were indefinitely postponed last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the Spanish nation being one of the most to suffer from the outbreak with over 15,000 deaths and more than 150,000 cases.
Barcelona players including club captain Lionel Messi have rallied together in a show of solidarity and concern to take a huge pay cut to guarantee that non-playing staff will receive full salaries while soccer is put indefinitley on hold.