Bartomeu resists at the head of FC Barcelona. After more than five hours of meeting of its board of directors, including lunch break, the maximum president will be in charge of the club in the first half of March, the date on which the presidential elections will be called, that is, within the margins required by the club's statutes. So, without an electoral advance and with an electoral campaign that will begin in January.
The pressure for the president and his board to resign and for the elections to be called as soon as possible were in vain. Bartomeu prioritizes leading the remodeling of the team, which will begin with the dismissal of Quique Setién as coach, which was made official at the same meeting of the board, the signing of his replacement, who will be Ronald Koeman almost certainly and the no less important approval of the accounts for this exercise as well as the budget for the next campaign. Between the step to the side and the flight forward, Bartomeu opted for the latter.
The board in its statement, as there was no press conference after this fundamental decision, assumes “the sports responsibility created” and also assumes “economic responsibility for the closing of the 20-21 season.”
The statement explains that the fact of taking the elections to March has been taken after evaluating several options, but taking into account that the League begins on September 12, will face “a shock plan” to reverse the sporting situation that will involve “profound changes in the first team” that will be carried out in accordance with the new coach and the current technical secretary, which will continue until the end of the course. Therefore, Éric Abidal and Ramon Planes will continue directing sports policy at a time when a “budget reshuffle” must be faced, which will involve a drop in staff salaries.
The president arrived at the most important board meeting of his term at 10:56 am, four minutes before the meeting officially began, which was held with half of the board present and other members connected online.
Eight executives attended the Barça offices: the president Bartomeu, Jordi Moix, Javier Bordas, Josep Ramón Vidal-Abarca, Marta Plana, Xavier Vilajoana, David bellver and Jaume carreter. Therefore, telematically the number two of the board participated in the meeting Jordi Cardoner, the institutional vice president Pau Vilanova, Oriol Thomas, Joan Bladé, Jaume carreter and Didac Lee.
Shortly after two thirty in the afternoon, the meeting stopped for something to eat and a catering service from a Japanese restaurant brought supplies for those gathered into offices. At three in the afternoon, the club's CEO, Òscar Grau, left the meeting and 45 minutes later the meeting was closed.
It was then left to write a statement -which was delayed for more than three hours- and propose the communication strategy in which Josep Maria Bartomeu, who ruled out giving a press conference from the outset, plans to provide explanations through personal interviews of the agreements of the board.