Skip to main content

Font's Barcelona vision

Barcelona presidential candidate Vincent Font has been interviewed by off the pitch.com.  Businessman Font wants to restructure the club's considerable short-term debt and cut costs. According to Font, the classic income streams have limited growth so innovation is needed to boost commercial revenue.

The presidential candidate believes that the current version of Uefa’s Champions League must improve – but national competitions should be protected.

'The leadership style has been very presidential, individualistic, very much the chairman and the board acting as if they were the owners,' says Font, who is known as a leader who builds a progressive working culture.

Font has pledged to bring former player Xavi Hernández back to the Nou Camp and keep current star Leo Messi. He would also give Barcelona's more than 140,000 members more opportunities to give their opinions.

The other candidates in the election, which takes place on March 7, are former Barcelona president Joan Laporta and former club board member Toni Freixa.

To me, for all the promises of greater member involvement, this sounds like a more business oriented strategy.  Nothing wrong with that, but it may not sit well with Barcelona's status as an icon of Catalonia. However, in an earlier interview he said the club could not go back to the past [Laporta was president from 2003-10): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9129339/Victor-Font-urges-Barcelona-pick-new-president-instead-rival-Joan-Laporta.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wolves get raw deal from FFP

  I used to see a lifelong Wolves fan for lunch once a month.   He was approaching ninety, but still went to games.   Sadly he passed away the other week. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire has noted, Wolves continue to be constrained by financial fair play rules.  Radio 4 this morning described them as this year's 'crisis club' and the pessimists have certainly been piling in. Martin Samuel wrote sympathetically in the Sunday Times yesterday, saying that the Premier League drives talent away with regulatory red tape: 'Why could Al-Hilal sign Neves? Because Wolves needed the money. And why did Wolves need the money? Because the club had to comply with an artificial construct known as financial fair play. So Wolves are going skint, yes? No. There is no suggestion that Wolves are in financial trouble, only that they are failing to meet the rigours of FFP. Wolves’ owners appear to have the money to run the club, and invest in the club, and in fact came up with a pow

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day income is

Charlton takeover approved

The long awaited takeover of Charlton Athletic by SE7 Partners from Thomas Sandgaard has been approved:  https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/se7-partners-obtain-efl-approval-for-charlton-athletic-takeover/ Charlton have had unhappy experiences with owners for over a decade, so how this works out will remain to be seen.  There is certainly potential there, but will it be realised? This interview with Charlie Methven gives detail not available elsewhere:  https://thecharltondossier.com/charlie-methven-on-the-record/