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FC Barcelona's presidential candidate, Víctor Font, has set himself the primary goal for the next term to restore the link between the members and the stadium and leave the days of it regularly being at 75-77% capacity behind since more than 10 seasons ago. Before the pandemic, at every match, there were, on average, over 20,000 unoccupied seats. To turn the situation around, Sí al futur will implement policies to pack the Camp Nou full of new members.
The more than 12,000 people on the waiting list to obtain a season ticket and the other members who do not have a seat at the Camp Nou are the priority of Víctor Font. Therefore, they will have preference over third parties when enjoying the Stadium. In this sense, the commitments are:
With a loyalty program, their presence will be encouraged with a reduction in the annual price of season tickets for members who attend the Stadium, Johan Cruyff and the Palau, among other promotions.
Sí al futur will implement other initiatives to fill the facilities of members and to reward those who support the team in the stands and on trips more often:
In parallel with these measures, work will be done with the other clubs on reciprocal and bilateral agreements to obtain financial income for the fans who travel with the team.
One of the priorities of the Sí al futur ['Yes to the future' in Catalan] is to be able to make a reality a more direct and transparent relationship with the members of the Club.
With the will to make this new link possible, Sí al futur has begun the edition of a program of questions where the candidate for the presidency of FC Barcelona, Víctor Font, answers the questions raised by all those members who want to know more details of the project best prepared to rescue the Club.
Send us your questions to info@sialfutur.cat
Sí al Futur (“Yes to the Future” in Catalan) wants Barça to complete the signing of Eric Garcia this month, before the January transfer window shuts, rather than waiting until June, as the Management Committee decided yesterday. Víctor Font argues that the most competitive squad possible will be needed, if trophies are to be won this season and that,according to Ronald Koeman and to the team that handles sporting matters within Sí al Futur, it is essential to bring the player on board now.
At a meeting held with Ronald Koeman on Wednesday, 20 January at the Club offices, he said that he needed to bring in a centre back because of the number of players in that position out injured. For this reason, Víctor Font has taken the necessary steps to make it possible for the Catalan centre half to be brought in during the January transfer window. Garcia, a 20-year-old La Masia Barça Academy product, currently plays for Manchester City and is destined to form part of Barça’s spine in the future.
Víctor Font believes that the Club can find the money for signing Eric Garcia, despite its precarious financial situation. Following talks held over the last few days with Manchester City, the English club would be prepared to sell the player for €3 million plus add-ons, and City would be prepared not to start receiving transfer payments until next year. On top of that, the player could be prepared to go without wages until June, so that he can play, as soon as possible, as many games as he can this season. Between now and June 2021, the Club would have to pay just €230,000 of his transfer fee.
As such, Sí al Futur is calling on the Club’s Management Committee to sign the player before the January transfer window shuts, at midnight on Monday, 1 February.
Sí al Futur (“Yes to the Future” in Catalan) considers it a success for Catalan clubs that the Catalan Government has recently enacted a decree giving legal recognition to the use of electronic voting in sport organisations’ elections. Electronic voting has been a key issue for Sí al Futur since day one, in line with our goal of making the members central to the life of the organisation, so that they, as the true owners of the Club, can make decisions more easily.
Sí al Futur included an item on the agenda of the latest Members’ Delegates Meeting, held on 6 October 2019, asking for the Club to adopt electronic voting. It did this thanks to the backing of 4,669 members, who added their signatures to make the initiative possible. In the vote, the adoption of electronic voting won with 60% of the vote: 359 of the members in attendance were in favour, with 173 voting against and 67 abstaining. Since the proposal – relating, as it did, to amendment of the Club’s Articles of Association – needed two thirds of the vote to be adopted, the motion did not pass.
Víctor Font had already, months before that vote-gathering initiative, given Barça the information and software that the Club required in order to implement electronic voting, so some of the technical preparations that it would have to undertake could already be underway.
On 11 November 2020, Víctor Font sent a letter to Carles Tusquets, Chair of the recently formed Management Committee, asking him to consider, in light of the commitment he had made to promote postal voting, also establishing electronic voting in the presidential election.
Sí al Futur is disappointed that the recent change in the law cannot be applied in the context of the current pandemic and cannot understand why this is the case. Víctor Font’s candidacy takes the view that this form of voting, which would enable all members to vote in a way that would be quick, legally secure and Covid-safe, should coexist with in-person and postal voting.
Electronic voting would guarantee all members’ right to vote, regardless of where they live, would reduce human interaction – and, therefore, the risk of infection – and would be traceable. It would be a means of voting that would encourage participation by those members wanting the greatest possible reduction in risk of Covid-19 infection.
To ensure the rigour and security of electronic voting, the Club could choose one of the many companies that have a confirmed track record of implementing this sort of voting. Sí al Futur also proposes the establishment of a group of independent technical observers to guarantee absolute transparency of electronic voting.
Víctor Font advocates doing everything possible to bring in Eric García during the January transfer window, given that the player has made it clear he wants to join the Club and that coach Ronald Koeman has said he needs a centre back. Even though the player could arrive on a free transfer in June, Sí al Futur believes that the signing of Éric Garcia would strengthen the squad at a crucial point of the season.
Víctor Font’s candidacy is asking that the election debates that various media outlets and civil society bodies want to hold should be spaced out over the seven weeks leading up to the 7 March election, rather than being concentrated in the last days of the campaign. Sí al Futur considers it important to recall that contrast between electoral programmes is essential if members are to be fully informed when they cast their votes, and takes the view that spreading the debates evenly would help to give voters more time to assess each candidate’s proposals.
Putting the members at the heart of the Club’s governance model: it is on the basis of that core principle that Sí al Futur (“Yes to the Future” in Catalan) will increase member participation in FC Barcelona, with a view to turning the Club into a more democratic organisation with greater commitment to social issues. To achieve that goal, Sí al Futur will, if it wins the elections, push for the setting-up of electronic voting, create new channels for communicating with members, and promote support for and the modernisation of supporters’ clubs and associations. In line with what he had already explained during the presentation of the financial programme, Víctor Font has reasserted that Sí al Futur represents a guarantee that the members will remain the owners of the Club and will exercise that ownership, which will prevent the Club’s current critical financial position resulting in it being turned into a public limited company. The two people entrusted with leadership of the Social unit will be Marc Duch and Antoni Rovira.
Marc Duch (member 84,283) will, as a Club executive, contribute to modernising, democratising and transforming FC Barcelona’s social projects. He will also provide the link between the Club and the various unofficial supporters groups that coexist among the fanbase. “We are proposing to promote dialogue between the Club and its members, making them central to the organisation. We want to change Barça’s governance model, and make it so that its owners are listened to and take part in the social fabric of the Club”, explains Marc Duch.
Sí al Futur takes the view that modernising the Club will also involve a comprehensive revision of its articles of association, with the clear goal of adapting them to the social and technological reality of the 21st century, and equipping them with the tools available in the modern day. As such, a very wide range of changes will be made, the following being some particularly important points:
1. Term reduction to four years
2. Reform of the make-up of the Delegate Members’ Assembly
3. Overhaul of internal mechanisms and bodies to democratise them and make them fully operational
With that in mind, Víctor Font stresses that Sí al Futur “will work towards scrapping the guarantees system (Board members have to guarantee 15% of the Club’s budget from their own funds), and making it easier for Board membership to be based on the experience and capabilities of the people who make it up, rather than exclusively on how deep their pockets are”.
Víctor Font considers it essential to bring back the link between members and the stadium by setting in train effective policies to fill the Camp Nou with members. To that end, Sí al Futur will set up a loyalty programmefor season ticket holders and will offer advantages for those going to matches as a family. It will also, to the greatest extent possible, streamline the allocation of seats to members who do not have a season ticket but are on the waiting list for one. Members without a season ticket will also enjoy priority access to ticket purchases.
The system of benefits for members regarding activities and discounts relating to the Club and its products will be promoted and expanded; the aim is to make it so that proudly wearing Barça gear every day isn’t as big a financial sacrifice as it currently is.
The general policy will shift towards giving the Club a catalogue of attractive services for members, with a view to involving members in the daily life of the Club and really putting them at the heart of it. With that in mind, programmes will be created to enable members without season tickets to access the Camp Nou, the Palau Blaugrana and the Johan Cruyff Stadium under favourable conditions.
If Sí al Futur wins the elections, voting processes and referenda will not be the only ways in which members will be able to participate. “We will hold periodic meetings with members of the Club, of official supporters’ clubs and of supporters groups and listen to their proposals and share information with them”, explains Víctor Font.
In addition, a Working Fund will be created for members, in order to feed Barça with Culé professionals and create a network of professional contacts between members. In view of this, Sí al Futur will bolster the body of volunteers to work on projects run by the Foundation or partner bodies.
Sport will play a central role in the participation of ordinary fans, with the creation of members’ leagues for various sports and age categories, and with the setting-up of a network of gyms run by the Club.
Sí al Futur is also committed to strengthening and looking after all supporters’ clubs, and everything that Barça supporters’ clubs and associations represent, such as the supporters’ clubs themselves, the Casal de l’Avi (a club for retired members) and the Agrupació Barça Jugadors (retired players’ club). Antoni Rovira (member 40,705) will be the Board member responsible for supporters’ clubs and relations with supporters’ associations.
With that in mind, the Sí al Futur programme includes over 50 initiatives, each contributing to one of five overarching goals:
1. the financial sustainability of the supporters’ clubs
2. the fostering of diversity, participation and democracy in the supporters’ clubs
3. improved proposals to supporters’ club members
4. a new model: from the supporters’ clubs of before to the centres and embassies of the future
5. relations and cooperation with the country’s associations network
Furthermore, in order to give the supporters’ clubs and associations more of a voice and greater weight, the Board member responsible for this area will attend and fully participate in all Board meetings.
1. Name:
Antoni Rovira
2. Date and place of birth:
60 years old, Barcelona
3. Professional field and noteworthy experience:
Business owner
4. My link to Barça:
My father was a Barça member in the 1940s and 1950s. I’ve been going to the Camp Nou on the membership cards of family members since I was little. I am member number 40,705 (since 1990 – Johan Cruyff and his “Dream Team” drew me into the stadium). My seat is along the side of the stadium, second stand back. In my family, all four of us are members: my wife, my two kids and me.
5. What type of Culé are you?
Positive and calm on the outside, can’t bear to watch on the inside. I respect the referees and the opposition, though I never want Real Madrid to win.
6. Our slogan means “Yes to the Future”. What do you think is the thing
Barça need to improve most urgently in your field?
Giving Barcelona fans hope and pride in winning again.
Reinvigorating and modernising the supporters’ club model for the 21st century and, at the same time, growing the supporters’ club movement.
7. Do you have a couple of suggestions for those rare times when we are
thinking of something other than Barça?
Three things:
Reading books is the best window you can open for getting to know the world and the human condition.
Doing sport is good medicine for staying healthy and in balance.
Living in nature (sea and mountains) is learning to love it. In my case, one of my passions is to go mushroom-picking in the forest. The other is going out in a boat to contemplate the beauty of the sea and of our landscape,
which we must protect.