The overwhelming victory of Joan Laporta in the elections held this Sunday for the presidency of Futbol Club Barcelona is first and foremost a reflection of the enormous desire for change at the helm of the Barça club. The members of the club have opted for what was undoubtedly the most rational decision in the current circumstances: to trust in Laporta after several years in which the ship has sunk to rock bottom in sporting, institutional, reputational and economic terms. The club is literally falling apart, and the economic crisis has left it exposed - who knows, perhaps even to a possible commercial dissolution, or an inevitable conversion into a limited company if things don’t improve and quickly.
The club members don’t want to choose one or the other. They want to continue to be the owners of the club and they also want sporting triumphs. They want everything from now on and this concern among the membership at large has been Laporta's great ally, as it was in 2003. If, at that time, it was the unendurable presidency of Joan Gaspart that had to be laid to rest, now it is necessary to erase that of Josep Maria Bartomeu, which also has a corollary in the courts that does not bode well for the former president or the club. At a time when a spring clean is required, the returning president is seen as a guarantee that the changes that need to be made will not be done by halves and that the club will once again be an essential reference at international level. That financial health will be restored and the titles will return.
Here is another of the keys to the result, and it is also reflected in the very high turnout in the polls which elected the new president, overcoming obstacles such as the limations on mobility due to Covid-19. The club members, despite this circumstance, wanted to take part en masse in what can only be interpreted in one way: that the new president has enough strength and support from day one. There is nothing in the result that can be used to criticise him: a very high turnout and a clear victory that allows him to be, as he said during the campaign, independent, politically, economically and in terms of the media. The great argument of his main opponent, Víctor Font, the economic response proposed to the club's crisis, did not stand up during the debates in which he was clearly surpassed by Jaume Giró, the Laporta candidacy's strong man in this subject.
Laporta starts a six-year presidency that will not be easy as his charisma and indomitable attitude arouse passions but also generate enemies. It would be good to leave the quarrels behind and let the new president and his board get to work. Saving the club, which is the first objective of the president-elect, should be the target not only for the winner but also for the defeated candidates. And also for those who did not stand, but who are there, and who will not find it easy to digest the return of Laporta at the head of the club.