Following the resounding success for the censure motion on Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board, the spokesperson for the censure motion said that only a new board can keep Lionel Messi at the club past next season.
“Mes que una mocio” (More than a motion), a group of members supported by candidates for next year’s presidential election, said they had gathered 20,731 votes by Thursday’s deadline.
Marc Duch and Ricard Faura , the spokespersons for the promoters of the vote of no confidence, held a press conference after completing the first step of evicting Bartomeu and his board of directors.
Should the motion of censure go ahead, Bartomeu will be the third president to face a vote of no-confidence after Josep Lluis Nunez in 1998 and Joan Laporta in 2008, with the vote failing to pass on both occasions.
“I don’t think Bartomeu will resign but I would like to think he will. It is necessary. Not for fear of the embarrassment of being cast out by a vote, but he should have done it a long time ago. He cannot rule the club,” Duch said.
“Bartomeu and his board of directors are not going to be able to keep Messi going beyond 2020. If we want to keep Messi, it has to be another board, one that starts talking to the Argentine star soon,” he said.
Messi stayed at Barcelona this season after wanting to leave but felt betrayed by Bartomeu, who went back on his words.
As reported by ‘Esport 3’, Bartomeu’s idea was to finish his term. However, a part of his team considers that the more than 20,000 signatures are practically a definitive blow to their chances, and therefore they consider that it is time to resign without the need for the motion to continue taking steps forward.
