His parting gift…
Josep Maria Bartomeu rocked the footballing world by announcing his resignation as Barcelona president on Tuesday night. The club confirmed his departure along with the entire board of directors, six years after Bartomeu was first elected as president.
His resignation brought joy to Barcelona fans around the world, and presumably most of all to Lionel Messi, who described his leadership as “a disaster.”
But Bartomeu had another bombshell to drop.
During the press conference, he announced Barcelona had been signed up to a “European Super League” and that they had accepted proposals on a new Club World Cup format.
“I can announce that yesterday we approved the requirements to form part of a new European Super League,” he announced.
“The decision to play in that competition must be ratified by the next club AGM.
“The European Super League will guarantee that the socios (members) can remain in control of the club.”
Which super league, you ask? The one that was recently leaked as an alternative to the Champions League, or this mystical notion of a breakaway league? Most likely the latter, but it’s not entirely clear.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas then came out to rubbish Bartomeu’s claims, tweeting:
“Unfortunate @jmbartomeu announcing on his final day the participation in a phantom competition, which would be the ruin of FC Barcelona, and confirming his ignorance of the football industry.
“A sad finale for a president who did some things right but finally made mistakes.”
Unfortunate @jmbartomeu statement on his last day about @fcbarcelona joining a weak and imaginary competition which would be their ruin. It confirms his ignorance about the football industry. Sad end for a president with successes and lately many mistakeshttps://t.co/byyci9cl8h
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) October 27, 2020
