Josep Maria Bartomeu officially resigned as President of Barcelona, which he has served since 2014.
In fact, Bartomeu’s position as president will end in March 2021 when Barcelona will conduct a new presidential election.
However, recently a petition emerged containing a vote of no confidence in Bartomeu. Of the 16,250 signatures targeted, 20,687 were collected for Bartomeu to step down from his chair.
Bartomeu said, the resignation along with the other board of directors had been carried out with a number of careful considerations. He also chose to resign rather than be ‘fired’ by the vote of no confidence petition.
“This is a decision that everyone considers. This morning I received a response from the Generalitat and the response clearly reaffirms that there are no legal obstacles to continuing the motion of no confidence. These decisions are contradictory and irresponsible,” said Bartomeu from Marca.
Bartomeu said there was political motivation related to the presidential election behind the petition that tens of thousands of people saw to fire him.
“We don’t want to have to choose between health and elections, and that’s why we didn’t vote and we immediately resigned,” said Bartomeu, who became president to replace Sandro Rosel six years ago.
Bartomeu explained why he did not immediately resign from the start, especially after Barcelona were crushed by Bayern Munich 2-8 and devastated last season. According to him, he did this for the sake of the club’s survival.
“After being eliminated from the Champions League, the easiest thing is to resign, but a decision has to be taken and we do not resign immediately. Furthermore, we are in the midst of a world crisis.”
“We cannot leave the club in the hands of the management board, who hires a new manager? Who signs? Who defends Messi’s continuity? Who makes proposals to adjust wages? We understand that decisions must be made on responsibility, even if they are uncomfortable. and unpopular, “he added.
Bartomeu’s urge to resign has echoed for a long time and got stronger a few months ago after Barcelona won the 2019/2020 season, especially after Lionel Messi expressed his intention to leave and Barcelona were beaten up by Bayern.
After the title, Bartomeu then fired Quique Setien from the coaching chair. He then appointed Ronald Koeman as the new captain of Messi et al in the 2020/2021 season.
