Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has concluded a turbulent week by receiving the support of the club’s remaining directors.
A chaotic 2020 behind the scenes at the Catalan club took another twist on Friday as ?six boardroom directors resigned.
Vice president Emili Rousaud, in addition to Enrique Tombas, Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia all stepped down from their positions, citing the club’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as the tip of the iceberg.
?Barcelona have asked all staff to take a ?70% pay cut due to the pandemic.
But according to Spanish news outlet ?Sport, there will be no more departures from the Barcelona top brass.
Rousaud had threatened that up to three more directors could resign. However, Bartomeu held video conference meetings with each of the 13 remaining directors, and each one pledged their allegiance to the club.
Barcelona were already in a state of off-field turmoil prior to their handling of the coronavirus situation.
In February, Spanish radio station Cadena SER claimed that payments of €900,000 were made to social media accounts and websites to attack players Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique and defend president Bartomeu.
Explaining their decision to step down, the six executives released a statement that read: “We have reached this point by not being able to reverse the criteria and forms of management of the club in the face of the important challenges of the future and, in particular, from the new post-pandemic scenario.
“We must also highlight our disillusion over the unfortunate social media episode, known as ‘Barcagate’, of which we found out through the press.”
Hours after resigning, Rousaud told Spanish radio station RAC1 (via Sport) he believed someone at the club had their ‘hand in the till’.
A ?statement was soon released by Barcelona which read: “Given the serious and unfounded accusations made by Mr. Emili Rousaud, former institutional vice president of the club, in various interviews with the media, FC Barcelona categorically denies any action that could be classified as corruption and, therefore, reserves the right to filing of criminal actions that may correspond.”
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