Toni Freixa (1968) quotes As in a cafeteria in Plaza Francesc Macià, near the area where he moves in Barcelona. He is the first of the interviewed candidates who appears without his communication director, a sign of knowing how to cope with the questions of two little worlds, soccer and journalism, which he has been managing for years. Consider that there are media interested in directing the campaign in one direction. But he says he's having fun. “Much”.
-Don't be surprised by the first question. Do you dance well?
-Hostia, I have no idea. I dont know. Why?
-Because, apparently, many people want to dance with you in these elections … You see Rousaud, Font …
– (laughs). There is that nervousness in the environment, but I have clear ideas.
-But there has been an approach to test him.
-Lots of people make calls these days. But sometimes when they call, people from the environment call and not on behalf of a specific candidate. But they call you, they ask you, they probe you … Welcome, because that's a rich atmosphere at Barça. There is movement.
-But it is an interesting matter due to the difficulty in obtaining signatures.
-It is a complicated job due to the number of candidates, the dates, the pandemic. Is not easy.
-To those who may think that Laporta is a very favorite at this point, what would you say?
-I would tell you that there are media powers with an interest in this being the case and it is the speakers that tell it. However, what you have to do is talk to partners and realize that this is not the case.
“There are media powers with an interest in presenting Laporta as a favorite”
-Media interests or political interests?
-Medians, politicians … Let's say interests outside the club. When I say media interests, I say that it is the majority sector that dominates the discourse in Catalonia.
-And what choices do you have in mind? With how many candidates and with what need for votes.
-I make the diagnosis and this is that the support I have from the partners does not match at all with the media discourse. Now, the prognosis of those who will pass the cut I do not dare to do it. We are still 40 days away from the elections.
-What image do you think they have of you, that of a former manager with Sandro Rosell, a tertullian?
-That of a person who has knowledge of Barça, management experience and the leadership to run the club. They value very much that he has respected the club this time, that he has not campaigned …
-He has defended Bartomeu and his Board a lot …
-I have behaved like a partner who wants Barça to do well and who puts Barça above all else. I haven't thought about what was right for me. All my life I have been a partner when I have not been a manager and I have behaved that way. Because that is another important issue. There are executives and former presidents who when they stop being on the Board, they disappear, they don't go to the field, they don't participate … And they only intervene if it suits them. I live Barça and I think the partner has detected it. The Barça partner knows that I am from Barça. Sometimes, there are those who tell me that it is very evident that I am from Barça. But beware, sometimes, what some say about “that they are from Barça but in reality they are not” … Well, that can be applied to some.
-But your speech with Bartomeu has been much more critical when he left than when he was.
-If true. Because when he is, you have to help him. Notes are given at the end of the course. I believe that the reality of the club is already complicated enough for those of us who have a speaker to criticize the management. I have wanted to defend him from external attacks, which we have had many. But once his term is over, let's talk. Now we are not going to hurt the club because we talk about Bartomeu, before yes.
-When you talk about attacks, do you mean friendly fire between the Barcelona family? That of uniting the barcelonismo is impossible.
-Joining Barcelona would be possible if everyone put Barça above everything. Have no doubts. When there is disunity in Barcelona, it is when there are interests other than those that Barça may have. But that has been detected in Madrid. There he says: “don't worry, the Catalans will never do anything because they will fight each other. That's how it is.
-But there have been mistakes, you have lived them.
-I raised my voice too. And they will remember the pact with the Prosecutor's Office in the matter of Neymar. I raised my voice and had to speak to the media because they said that I had led the negotiation of that pact and it had not been like that at all. If the managers who had signed Neymar said that things had been done well, you had to go to the end to defend the club.
Therefore, you don't want Neymar back here, right?
Neymar is a great player and when he was with us he was the second best player in the world, but with everything that has happened from 2017 to now, both in his relationship with the club, and in his real performance, not potential, on the pitch … It is not an operation to be considered.
“Neymar is not an operation that has to be considered”
-Joining Barcelona has to do with ending the isms, but you have gotten wet by Rosellismo. He said it was the best time in the club's history, between 2010 and 2015.
-No, that is verifying an indisputable reality. It is to verify that more titles have been obtained than in any other era, more income than in any other mandate, that a reform in the statutes was faced, that the Ciutat Esportiva de Sant Joan Despí was built, we recovered heritage, we stopped a process of requalification of the Mini. From a debt of 450 million we lower it to 200 … I already know about the speech. There is a speech that wants to equate that time to the last of Bartomeu and say: they have taken everything. And that, suffering a very hard illness from Tito, which was a total shock. And yes, Tata came. Everything was not done well …
-But that memorable cycle ended in scandal and resignation.
It ended in resignation because the president decided to resign. With a complaint filed by a partner who accused of misappropriation in distraction mode, when that was not what had happened. And a Barça member goes to Madrid, to the National Court, and takes a complaint. Then, the National Court catches you for a tax offense and they impale you. Then, in the end, come to Barcelona and agree, which is what I complain about. The only thing that happened at that stage was that. It is not that he belongs to an ism, it is that I believe that Rosell's was the best mandate.
-But isn't it losing capital to let go of one of the leading coaches in Barça's history?
-Pep was here four years. A four-year cycle is normal in soccer. I think that, listening to Pep himself, he himself says that it ended because he had already done everything he could for the team and it was he who decided to close the stage. Because we wanted it to continue. In Munich, in fact, he spent three years. Luis Enrique was here for three … The one with Johan, eight years old, was an exception. Four years is a normal cycle.
-He complains about the support for Laporta, but he surprised with an action in Madrid, the canvas. What are you going to do to be the president of Barça?
-Well, try to get our proposals to the partners. This is about members knowing what is the best proposal for the club, it does not consist of anything else.
-Do you see a very posturing campaign, of artifice? The banner, the tattoos …
-Each one decides what to do. Everyone tries to treat the partner intelligently, and they have their strategy. The time must necessarily come to debate deep issues. There will be a moment with debates and we will have to talk about content. We are doing it from the first moment.
“All that can be said about Messi is smoke; the decision is in his hands”
-You presented your candidacy at the Auditori 1899, at the Camp Nou facilities. It could be seen as continuity. It is not normal to do so. Is it a partner right?
-That's it. On the 22nd I will make the presentation in the Roma room. And we pay it, and we have the bill. I prefer that the money I spend on the campaign is for the club than for another.
-Why don't you want to talk about Messi in the campaign?
-Because it doesn't do you any good. We are talking about someone to whom no one can promise anything. The only thing that could be said openly is: I don't want Messi and I will let him go. And since it is not my case, I do not say it. Everything else we say is smoke. Better to leave it alone. When we get to the club we will have to manage it in the best possible way, and always putting the club ahead, even ahead of the best player in history, Messi. Hopefully you can continue with us.
-In other words, you prefer to avoid the topic.
-It is that the future of Messi is not in our hands. The decision is yours.
-Tusquets' words would not sit well with him either when he assured that it would have been better to sell it in July. Only Rousaud has openly said that Messi's salary is unaffordable.
-The situation of Messi is known to everyone. Everyone knows that the contract ends. Talking now will not give us light.
-You are a very football fan and there is a lot of talk about sports directors: Cobos, Zorc, Monchi. Why aren't Barça sports directors coming out?
-We have had good sports directors in Txiki and Zubizarreta. More than anything because it was given continuity. In the club what is needed is a clear idea and to apply the idea without complex or fissure. What has happened in the last stage cannot be taken seriously, not because of the people who have been there but because of how it has been handled. They couldn't design anything if they were only in a year. The people who are with us are a clear exponent of the clear idea that we have. You will check it on the 22nd.
-Is the sports director you have in your head DNA Barça?
-The sports structure that we have in mind is the one that will be able to develop the idea that has made us win when we have applied it. A way of playing that allows you to dominate the ball with interiors, open ends …, ball circulation, immediate recovery. That football with which, by the way, the National Team won two Euro Cups and a World Cup. That football that has made us unique at some point in our history and from which we have now been moving away. It must be recovered.
-So Koeman's double pivot doesn't like …
-I will not go into specific details of the technicians. If Koeman decides to play like this it is because he believes that, with the squad he has, he must play like this to achieve his goals. But the point is that the club is clear that, without 40 players coming from outside, it is played in the same way.
-With such a footballing profile, aren't you afraid of becoming a president-coach and being an interventionist yourself?
-Not because the people who accompany me, they will see them, they have the authority and the sufficient prestige so that that does not happen.
-A case like Riqui Puig, how would you manage it?
-I can't get my football streak out because I have it inside. Obviously, I have that base but I have been working with people on an idea for two years. And what I will be able to do if the case arises is to recriminate those with whom I agreed to play if they do not comply. The people who go with me I am convinced that the idea I have of Barça will be fulfilled to the letter.
“The players have been given everything and on top of that it has ended badly with them; it is the great paradox”
-And is he cruyffista?
-In terms of football idea, absolutely.
-What relationship should a president have with a footballer, what is the perfect balance? We have passed at Barça de Laporta, who almost became a friend, to Bartomeu, who could not enter the locker room.
-The balance is in being honest and telling the truth. Be honest and follow through on what is said. The player is a star of the show and the president represents the club. The player must be given the tools to perform but he is under discipline. If there is sincerity, there should be no problems
-But titles give power.
-The footballer never has the intention of sending if he sees that there is authority in the club. It is not the initial idea of a player. I do not know any player who comes to a club to command. If while you play and, whether you win or not, you realize that no one is in charge there, because you end up occupying a space that does not correspond to you. But if there is an authority and a line drawn, it works. And that doesn't mean that you always have to say yes to a player. The problem of the last period is that there has been panic to lose the players. They have been given everything and, above all, in this last period they have been given everything and have finished badly with the players. It is the paradox! Imagine how bad it has been done.
-The players have not been at the level either …
– I do not believe that they are the culprits of this situation. The player ends up gaining ground if you let him take it.
Interview Toni Freixa presidential candidate for FC Barcelona Freixa, in a moment of the interview.
JOAN M. BASCU (DIARIO AS)
– You are said to be a “suspicious element” in the Palau. By the subject of the sections.
-No way. I go to the Palau a lot, especially basketball and futsal.
-But there is a sector of partners that always advocates the suppression of the sections.
It's not my case. What's more, in our candidacy there is a lifelong Palau person who is doing a beautiful project. And we have surprises.
– Do you think there is a part of political interest in these elections? Can you differentiate between pro-independence and non-pro-independence candidates?
Man. I know that there are two candidates who have met with Carles Puigdemont.
-It refers to Font and Laporta.
As Núñez would say, you say that. I have not met with Puigdemont.
-And with a politician?
Neither. And therefore, it will be possible to explain why. It will be possible to explain the reason for this meeting and what is intended. It seems that I have to give explanations of things in which I do not participate. I do not know. I sure do not participate.
-Analysts believe that the only element that agrees with the Catalan independence movement, fought among himself, is Laporta.
-Well, that's it.
-But can it therefore lead to a political issue? Because in Madrid people wonder a lot about which candidates are pro-independence and who are not.
-It is irrelevant if a candidate is pro-independence or not. In my candidacy there are independentistas, not independentistas. As it happens in Catalan society. I don't think you have to have a granite political position when you are talking about managing a club that has members of all sensitivities.
-Do you think that Barça-Las Palmas should have been played on October 1, 2017?
-He did what he had no choice but to do. He did not have the complicity of the Generalitat to suspend the game, he did not receive any report from the Mossos because they said it could be played. They acted responsibly because, according to the Generalitat, you could play with a full field. And they avoided a public order problem.
“The VAR with Madrid is a scandal; I have to control myself. I see some things that TV would eat me”
-He spoke before the players and their power. Many of them extended the contract and they are very long. How are you going to attack those issues?
-What you have to do is manage the wage bill to reduce spending to the extent necessary to reduce taxes. As I understand it, the Manager has reached an agreement with the players to defer payments, not so much to reduce. If there is no income to meet those payments, wages will have to be reduced. And it will be done with an honest and sincere negotiation. And if it is not solved, drastic measures will have to be taken.
-Do you think that players like Alba, with a contract until 2024, Busquets (2023) or Piqué (2025) have a journey at Barça?
-That must be analyzed from a technical point of view and it is not for me to pronounce myself. We have not worked enough on it and we should study it when we arrive.
-But seeing the economic framework, it is difficult to sign without money.
-Impossible.
– We will have to throw, then, with what there is.
-You also have players from B. And there is no problem. Araújo and Mingueza are playing there. Nothing happens. There is no player more important than Barça.
-A question we ask all the candidates is where do you see the team at the end of the season, whether you win the elections or not. Take out the crystal ball.
-I think that this team, despite all the difficulties and injuries to Ansu, Piqué and the fact that we are rebuilding ourselves, can dispute the three titles. I don't see him winning the treble but there's no reason to think you can't win a title.
– The 2-8 thing is to hit bottom or the bottom is lower than we imagine?
-I hope it's hitting rock bottom. I have not felt anything like it in my life. Okay. Perhaps similar in the final of Champions of Athens in 1994, with the 4-0 in Milan. Or in Seville, but that because of impotence. The Lisbon thing was a feeling that my team does not give me any satisfaction at any point in the game, that they surpass you. I hope I never feel it again.
-Espai Barça, yes or no? And now or when the economic situation is fixed?
-The partner already voted in 2014 to reform the stadium and the surroundings. The Nou Palau, the Estadi Johan Cruyff. There is a financing project that we believe is good, perhaps it could be improved. Therefore, that has to go forward. Barça has to have first class facilities and improve income. And with the project that exists, the income of the stadium is tripled. You have to do it, and do it now. Because the Goldman Sachs financing project does not put the assets or the sports project at risk. They recover the loan with the incremental income, once the installation is completed.
– But an external element would enter that would command a lot … Because Goldman Sachs will have command in the exploitation. It would be a controller.
-This is the negative part, indeed. When a bank leaves you some money, it leaves you with a guarantee, or participating in the management. It is a great sign that they trust that the installation will be done.
– Can Goldman Sachs end up demanding a rise in the membership fees?
-Or another question. Can Goldman Sachs charge the credits? Well … We'll have to read the fine print. If that is not clear before starting the works and receiving the money, we will not do it with Goldman Sachs, we will improve the financing. What you can never do is endanger the social model of Barça. The member and the club are above the Goldman Sachs financing project. But it would be the last straw if the previous Board had signed with Goldman Sachs what they ask me.
-One last curiosity. Why do you exaggerate your role as an agitator in the arbitration conspiracy against Barça and that Madrid steals?
-It is not imposed. Maybe I'm a big fan. But it is what I see very clearly. What's more, I'll tell you that I control myself. I see some things that I like on TV, seriously. The thing about the end of last season … But of course, as for seven or eight days the same thing happens, because there comes a moment that at the fifth of eight, you forget. But it is, I insist, scandalous. And then the president of LaLiga comes out and tells us that the VAR has changed since Florentino called Rubiales … So, that call from Florentino to Rubiales, what did he say? Of course, it is absolutely outrageous.
-So the day you are president and you sit down with Florentino, are you going to tell him that Madrid steals?
-Man, with these words no … But I'm going to tell you: you're going to have it more difficult. You will not have an ally.
-He has been in football for a long time. Referees respond more to soap than to stick.
-The management must be done in several areas. An elegant management, a more political management, a more professional one, and another more quinqui. And they all have to be done!