An authentic news bombshell blasted through the facilities of Futbol Club Barcelona this Monday with the disclosure by the SER radio chain that the club paid a company to discredit first-team players such as Messi and Piqué, Barça legends such as Guardiola, Xavi, or Puyol, rivals of club president Bartomeu in the last elections and precandidates for those to be held next year, plus public figures from the world of politics such as Torra, Puigdemont or Junqueras and businessmen like Jaume Roures. The common thread of the criticism and defamation is twofold: firstly, those who have a specific weight in the club or may, in one way or another, be rivals of the current board, and secondly, personalities linked to the pro-independence universe. This is an extremely serious revelation and, in terms of reputation, the closest thing to a tragedy, as the club has allegedly spent a significant amount, around a million euros, on this dirty war. Money that in turn will not have passed through the board of directors since it would have been divided into six bills to escape even the watchful eyes of the committee responsible.
News like this, which has a global impact due to the power possessed by the world of sports in general, and by football and a club like Barça in particular, has been dispatched by the club with a press statement of twenty lines which, if it lacks one thing, is unmistakable forcefulness and full clarity. No other information was offered to the public domain, while the club's name was appearing across all the media and its image was being tarnished. There has been no immediate public appearance by president Bartomeu to reassure members, no legal action to preserve the good name if defamation has taken place, no clear explanation of what the relationship is with the murky company I3 Ventures, which is administered by a Uruguayan businessman involved in espionage in Ecuador and an expert in social media manipulation. Nothing. A 20-line statement acknowledging that I3 Ventures is "a provider of the club" and that if the company were proven to have a relationship with the social media accounts in question, the club would "immediately terminate its contractual relationship and take appropriate legal action."
The directionlessness of the Barcelona club in recent times is extremely worrying. The Barça supporter base is disoriented by the lack of a clear course in the sporting area following the way that coach Valverde's removal was handled and the subsequent appointment of Setién to replace him. Fans are also mystified seeing how symbolic Barça figures, like Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol, have been exploited by the current board for its own benefit, first trying to sign them and then, after they rejected the offer, rejecting them. It's nothing new, as it follows the line in which Guardiola, Cruyff and so many others were treated. But in these circumstances, it seems difficult to maintain the current calendar for elections, due in summer 2021. It's too far away and the current disintegration of the club is not going to help. It would be best to give the club's members a voice at the end of this season, in which they could still win two titles, league and Champions. An announcement of this nature would reassure the dressing room and every other level of the club. But I don't think the current board is ready for an act of maturity like this in which it puts the club's interests before its own. A pity.