Rousaud: "Bartomeu is very secretive and has no credibility at Barça"

Emili Rousaud, the former vice president to Josep Maria Bartomeu at FC Barcelona, resigned alongside five other directors in the wake of 'BarçaGate'. In an exclusive interview with SPORT, he explains why he felt cheated by the president after being nominated as the man to replace him at the next elections.

We are doing an interview and you still haven't confirmed if you will run in the next elections.

I'm working hard to build a group that will be strong because the situation at Barça, from all viewpoints, is a disaster and requires a lot of honest and prestigious people to turn it around..

What is your history with Barça? 

My father took me to the Camp Nou when I was five years old. I was part of that Barcelona generation that fell in love with Cruyff. I told my mother I would only buy Jim pants because those are the ones Johan promoted.

How long have you been a season ticket holder? 

Since 1982. My father told me I could choose either a motorcycle or a season ticket. I chose the second one, of course.

Who were your heroes at Barcelona? 

Laudrup for his class and Stoichkov for his character. I also liked Koeman and Guardiola a lot. Thanks to the Dream Team and Johan Cruyff, we changed from a losing club to a winning one. 

You spent five years working with Bartomeu, so you must know him quite well. 

He organised everything so we couldn't see what was happening. We couldn't intervene or advise him either. He's a very secretive person in that regard, not transparent at all.

But you stayed for five years

The first few years weren't, let's just say, very happy ones.

Why not?

We didn't vote for many things in the board meetings. One of them was the criminal conviction of Barça for the Neymar case. Quique Tombas, Maria Teixido and I all voted against this. Barto took this as some kind of treason and from that point on we had very minor roles at the club. We were kept far away from what was really happening. 

You turned the situation around but did you stop offering advice?

No. For example, after going through a disastrous period with technical secretaries, some of us suggested Monchi, who had left Sevilla. What's undeniable is that Barto has always controlled the sporting side. For that reason I have the sensation everyone who he's put there were part of his team. 

But the good feelings didn't last long…

When I was there I felt like Barto had made mistakes but what really opened my eyes was the social media contract. I realised that he was tricking us. We created a commission to control contracts and he made it so no one else saw it. I noticed this was intentional and I decided to walk away.

Pros and cons of Bartomeu?

His resiliance is his biggest plus and his greatest failing is saying 'yes' to everyone.

Did you ask for the audit to see the social media contacts? 

Yes, I asked for that in the meeting. Barto wasn't convinced. That's why I did something which made him feel bad: I asked for the audit via email and copied all of the directors into that message. That was when Barto thought: "Now I can't escape from this."

You can never erase those five years alongside him...

Yes, but the board of directors meetings weren't done so no one else knew what was happening. At least not the important matters. I have a lot of doubts about Barto's actual conduct. 

Were you convinced by his press conference following the result of that audit?

No. It bothered me a lot. The summary of the audit isn't the whole audit. When we found out about the full report, we're going to be shocked. Right now it's in court thanks to Plataforma Dignitat Blaugrana and it'll all be revealed soon.

Do you regret saying "someone had their hand in the till"? 

I said that "if it can be shown" that someone had paid over the market price then you could say someone had put their hand in the till. I didn't accuse anyone. 

Do you agree with Barto that he didn't resign "out of responsibility" for Barça?

The best option for the club would've been if he had resigned. Barça can't fall any further. For me, he has no credibility at all."

What do you promise to bring if you become Barça president?

A model for the club which allows us to create a fantastic Barça again with a sporting project that would be an example to the world. Bring back the excellence. And, above all, recover the DNA that makes people proud to be part of Barça. We would have a board of directors that would be neutral. Like in society now, people from all points of the spectrum. Those who want to turn Barça into a political movement, this isn't their place. Now Barça have always been on the side on Catalunya but we won't be a prop for anyone. 

We haven't spoken about the financial situation at the club…

It worries me a lot because it's compromised by the decisions made by the president: signings, renewals.. we've spent €1000m over these years and the sporting project hasn't worked. We have a huge wage bill and some players have seen their value crash in the market. We all have to work together to save Barça.

What do you think about Ronald Koeman's appointment? 

It has an immediate impact. You bring in a Barcelona legend to cover up the reality. I wish him the best of luck in the world.