President Joan Laporta: The history of Barcelona cannot be tainted

The FC Barcelona's Assembly on Saturday began with the customary speech by the club's president, Joan Laporta. At the time of the start of the assembly, only 571 of the 4,451 members of the 4,451 entitled to vote had been accredited.

The best part of the Barça president's speech came when he defended the club in the 'Negreira case'.

"The history of Barça cannot be tainted," he said. "I am talking about the 'Negreira case'. We cannot allow this unprecedented smear campaign. No matter how much they search and defame, they won't find anything because we haven't done anything of what we are accused of.

"In my time, at the very least, we explained that we paid for reports. The judge says that this money was used to pay referees and buy matches, but they don't prove it. And they won't because they can't, because there is nothing to accuse us of. The case has been used by some people who want to sully the name of Barça, those who don't want us to be 'Més que un Club.'"

Laporta once again used the term sociological madridismo: "When you go to Madrid, you realise that there is a sociological madridismo in all the organisms of power. In my first period, we beat this sociological madridismo. This sociological madridismo didn't have a good time and you can imagine how they feel when they see that Barça are doing better and that the president of that period is the same, that the coach was the best midfielder in the world at the time.

"They see that great players from grassroots football are coming back. Moreover, they are not interested in their power being talked about. They are the promoters of this plot. They want to take over the club and destroy one of the symbols of Catalonia. We will win the legal proceedings. I have bad news for sociological madridismo because we will once again become the best Barça in history."

Sporting merit

Laporta began his speech by recalling that they have reached the halfway point of the mandate, highlighting that they have managed to overcome a critical situation: "We are working hard to reverse an adverse situation due to the inheritance we received in March 2021.

"We have implemented a strategic plan to turn the situation around and this is being achieved thanks to hard work, courage, insistence.... Between all of us we have saved the club despite the sticks in the wheels that they put in our way from outside. They attack us because we are doing well again. Sportingly and economically."

The Barça president wanted to highlight last season's sporting successes: "We are returning to sporting excellence. We have a young team, with many home-grown players, with much more value on the market and more sustainable than the one we inherited. And I'm not just talking about football, last season we won all six leagues with our different teams.

"It is something unique in the world of football. And the women's Champions League deserves a chapter apart.

"The reduction of the sporting wage bill was necessary to stabilise the club. It has been achieved through hard work and maintaining the competitiveness of our teams. We have a first team, with Xavi Hernández, who wants to mark an era. I would like to highlight the work of the football department. Mateu Alemany has done a great job and I thank him for it and now Deco has arrived, a very valid person who understands Xavi very well, another fundamental person."

Finances

Laporta also wanted to talk about the economic area, denying claims the current Barça is worse than the one they inherited: "Financially we are doing much better. We arrived at the end of the 20/21 season. What we did was save the club, which had a debt of €1.350 billion, most of it short-term, with €455 million in negative equity.

"We took courageous decisions and saved the club. And without touching the pockets of the members. Today we are presenting a profit of €304m, higher than what we approved a year ago. There have been record figures in the commercial area. We are much better off than when we arrived."

The Barça president, continuing with the economic section, highlighted the good figures forecast for this financial year: "An effort has been made to reduce the debt and contain spending. There are more expenses than expected because we have decided to let players go and we have had to liquidate their contracts.

"We have done it now because we had a lot of profits due to the financial operations that were authorised. We will present you with a budget of €859 million with €11m profit without activating levers. And this will be achieved in spite of going to Montjuïc."

And he concluded by highlighting the value of the Barça brand and the importance of the Espai Barça: "We have also improved the institutional pulse. We have regained our leadership in the sports industry. Every day there are more sponsors who want to associate themselves with the Barça brand and respect our identity and our values.

"Espai Barça is essential and the biggest project in our history. It is a pillar for economic recovery, it will allow us to continue to enjoy our associative model of club. It is progressing well. We already have the licence to build the new stadium. If nothing happens, we will be back at the end of 2024, when we start our 125th anniversary celebrations."