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Barcelona fans are celebrating after the club confirmed president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his entire board have resigned from their positions.
The move comes after over 20,000 members signed a petition calling for a vote of no confidence against the president. Supporters are angry at the way the club has been run by Bartomeu since he took charge in 2014.
A referendum was due to be held in the coming weeks, but Bartomeu has chosen to stand down before then, leaving fans to celebrate the 57-year-old’s departure.
Bartomeu took over as president in 2014 from Sandro Rosell and was due to stand down in March 2021. He’s become increasingly unpopular at the Camp Nou for a number of reasons including some failed moves in the transfer market, and the way he handled captain Lionel Messi’s request to leave in the summer.
The president spoke at a press conference on Monday night where he stated “it never crossed my mind to resign,” as reported by Marca. Yet less than 24 hours later he and his board were gone.
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What Happens Next?
A temporary management board will now be installed to manage the running of the club until a new president is put in place. An election will take place to decide Bartomeu’s replacement within the next 90 days, as reported by ESPN.
Carles Tusquets, president of the Economic Commission, will be appointed as the club’s interim president until the elections take place and a new president arrives, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Meanwhile, Barca is in action on Wednesday night in Turin. Ronald Koeman’s side take on Juventus in the second match of the group stages of the Champions League. Barca won their opening game of the Champions League campaign 5-1 against Ferencvaros.
Who Will Be the Next Barcelona President?
Elections were previously scheduled for March and a number of candidates have already announced their intention to run. Victor Font, Joan Laporta, and Jordi Farre are all keen to replace Bartomeu at the helm of the club.
Laporta knows all about being Barcelona president. He took control of the club between 2003 and 2010 and has spoken previously about his desire to bring Pep Guardiola back to Barca if elected as president, as reported by Sky Sports.
I would be very pleased to have Pep back, but he’s at City now and it’s a decision that would be down to him. He’s a reference point for everyone associated with Barcelona and I think many fans would be thrilled if he came back to coach the club again.
Font is another candidate who has spoken about which manager he would want in charge if he were to be successful. The 48-year-old told talkSPORT that he wants club legend Xavi in the dugout.
We’ve been working on what the sports organisation would look like with the leadership of Xavi Hernandez, and what I said is, if we have the honour of being chosen by the members and we become the board of the club, we would like to implement the project we’ve been working on.
Xavi as the leader of the sports organisation would be making the decision of how to handle the situation of Koeman, and I’m sure that if Koeman does well Xavi will take care of that in the right way.
Barcelona only changed managers in August when Ronald Koeman replaced Quique Setien after just six months in charge. It’s been a rollercoaster year on and off the pitch for the Catalan giants in 2020, and there’s no doubt more big changes are coming before the end of the year.
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