By Mark Baber
July 20 – Josep Maria Bartomeu won the backing of 54.63% of Barcelona members voting in the club’s presidential election, decisively beating former president Joan Laporta who received only 33.03% of the votes.
Bartomeu, 52, will now lead the club for the next six years having enjoyed a turbulent but successful period since taking over the club in January 2014.
In a victory speech on Sunday Bartomeu said: “We’ll try to live up to members’ expectations, to the challenges ahead and the legacy of those who came before us. We’ll continue to develop and win if we can give Luis Enrique and his backroom staff the best possible tools and players for the job.
“We’ll continue to develop and win by organising La Masia in a way that ensures it continues to provide the foundations of the first-team.
“We’ll continue to develop and win if we become a global example for women’s football.
“We’ll work hard and sweat blood and tears for Barcelona just like Carles Puyol, Xavi, Eric Abidal and Lionel Messi have always done to ensure that in terms of silverware, playing style, revenue and values, we remain the biggest club in the world.”
For his part, losing candidate Laporta struggled to remain gracious in defeat saying: “I wish to congratulate the winner of the election and make it clear that there are two different models of the club.
“We tried to keep the club from being run by a prosecuted president, who is entirely in Qatar’s hands and will destroy La Masia, but we couldn’t.
“I’m a democrat and I accept the result. It was a very difficult campaign because there were not enough debates, but let’s face it.
“When we started out, we knew it would not be easy. There are many socis who understand that our model defended the club.”
Laporta had pledged to end Barca’s shirt sponsorship with Qatar Airways and to sign Paul Pogba, but in the final analysis the Barcelona fans decided to stick with the man who managed to successfully render the club’s transfer ban wholly ineffective as Barcelona won the treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey for only the second time in their history.
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