Former Barcelona presidential candidate Victor Font has responded to incumbent president Joan Laporta after the latter accused the groups that demanded his resignation of “attacking the club by land, air and sea.” Laporta also stated that his 'enemies' were 'ignorant' and noted that he felt sorry for them.
Font responded less than 48 hours later with an interview on radio station RAC1. He said he supported the demand for Laporta's resignation and said the press conference was proof that putting Laporta in charge of the club was dangerous.
“The action was deplorable and unbearable. Seeing the president of Barça with this aggressiveness… A press conference is meant to provide information and he did not do that. He belittled thousands of Barcelona fans who believe the club should be run in a very different way to his.”
“Who is Laporta to say who is a good or bad Barcelona fan? Are we Barcelona fans the enemies? The bad guys of many culers and the good guys are those of 'El Chiringuito' or Real Madrid?'
That said, he abandoned the idea of a vote of no confidence, citing its destabilizing effect on the club and the difficulty of carrying it out successfully. Font criticized Laporta for improvising with the club's finances to sign Dani Olmo and Pau Victor while their registrations were still pending. On Wednesday evening, on-loan striker Vitor Roque scored against Barcelona, just over a year after moving to Catalonia for €30 million. It's a deal that raises Font's suspicions.
“We had Marc Guiu, there was no fair play and we signed Vitor Roque. When we saw that he was the new Ronaldinho, we understood that and prioritized talent, but it is clear that Vitor Roque does not have the qualities to play for Barca and Deco had offered him to the club when he was his agent. Jordi Cruijff and Mateu Alemany said there was no 'fair play' and that it was not a priority. The first thing Deco did when he arrived was sign Vitor Roque.
Another controversial issue that Laporta took issue with was the presence of Darren Dein as a mediator in their new Nike sponsorship deal. Dein is said to have earned fifty million euros from the deal, while Font pointed out that intermediaries tend to earn per hour and not per percentage.
“They tell us that Darren Dein was the mediator because Nike and Barca believed it was the best solution. That's not the information I have. I know that Dein was the intermediary from May, when negotiations were well advanced. No one wonders why [Economic] Vice President Juli Guiu has left?”
Guiu left this past week for personal reasons, but many media outlets have reported that he decided to leave as a result of the Nike negotiations. During Laporta's tenure, more than 30 people in senior management have left the club, often for non-professional reasons.
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