Dubai: Spanish giants Barcelona will have more than the usual stresses to deal with once football action possibly gets back under way later this summer following the coronavirus pandemic stoppage.
The La Liga giants will now have to find measures to regroup behind the scenes after a number of high-ranking officials decided to hand in their resignations to club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Vice presidents Emili Rousand and Enrique Tombas will both depart, along with directors Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia, forcing Bartomeu to start thinking about a strategy post-coronavirus. The departing group of officials have also called for a review of the club’s leadership to ensure Barcelona are able to bounce back from the challenges.
Earlier this year, Bartomeu and his team sacked Erenesto Valverde and appointed Quique Setien as coach after Xavi and Ronald Koeman turned down the request to take over. The appointment of Setien was seen as a new ray of hope, but it doesn’t look like a wise move now with Lionel Messi coming out openly against the management.
And Thursday’s resignation from the six top officials is not going to help as well. “We hereby want to communicate that the undersigned managers have transferred to President Bartomeu our decision to irrevocably resign from our position as managers of FC Barcelona,” the group’s letter read in the Spanish media.
“We have reached this point by not being able to reverse the criteria and forms of management of the club in the face of the important challenges of the future and, especially, from the new post-pandemic scenario. We must also highlight our disenchantment with the unfortunate episode on social networks, known as ‘Barcagate’, which we learnt about through the press.
“We ask here that once the results of the audit entrusted to PWC are presented, that responsibilities be cleared as well as the eventual corresponding compensation. As a last service to our club, we recommend that as soon as circumstances allow it to convene new elections that allow, with all the ‘authority’, to manage the club in the best possible way in the face of the important challenges of the immediate future,” the letter has added.
Bartomeu, who has been a regular attendee at the annual Dubai International Sports Conference held at the end of December each year, has been in charge of the Spanish giants since July 2015. Word has it that recently, Bartomeu was in fact planning an overhaul of his management team.
