Victor Font wants to re-found Barcelona: "The model is from the 80s"

Businessman Victor Font, a former candidate for the presidency of FC Barcelona, published an open letter to members on Thursday in which he called for the club to "turn the page" on a management model from "the 80s of the last century" and to re-found the club in order to protect its ownership model. In the letter, entitled "Let's re-found Barca", Font criticised the direction the club has taken since the arrival of Joan Laporta as president, which, he said, "has further aggravated the dramatic situation that the current board inherited" in March 2021.

"It was necessary to immediately execute a shock plan that would have allowed us to renew Messi and, hand in hand with partners with knowledge of the sports and entertainment business, capitalise the club, reduce losses and have financial muscle to complement home-grown talent with one or two world stars," he defended.

Font, who, in the last elections, received close to 32% of the votes, pointed out that the club's financial health has worsened in the last three years - "we have generated 1,000 million in operating losses", he recalled - and regretted that Laporta manages the club like a family business. "Managing Barça with friends and family and from the trenches, without the capacity to retain prestigious executives, is inappropriate for the magnitude of the club," he added.

He also questioned the club's decision to "go hand in hand with Real Madrid and Florentino Perez on many institutional issues", in an allusion to the European Super League project that both clubs are promoting. For Font, "this mess" in the management of the club has had an effect on the sporting side and also on the figure of the coach Xavi Hernandez, the flagship of the project with which he presented himself in the last elections.

"Yes, we all hoped that Xavi could achieve more with the current squad, but the changes in the sporting management, signings that were not a priority and poor economic management that have tied us hand and foot have not helped," he added. Despite this, Font urged members to be "optimistic and excited" because Barca's potential is, in his opinion, "extraordinary".

In this sense, he appealed to all the "existing talent within Barcelona" to work and "make possible" the alternative that the club needs. "If we cannot help those who currently have the responsibility of government, it is essential that, when the time comes, this cross-cutting, unifying and united alternative is ready. With a solvent plan that has the best people in each key area of our club", he concluded.

 

February 15, 2024