‘It never crossed my mind’ – Barcelona president refuses to resign ahead of vote of no confidence next stage

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The second stage of the vote of no confidence in Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board is on the immediate horizon in Barcelona, and it was thought that the president may have resigned before it began.

A board meeting convened on Monday only served to strengthen Bartomeu’s resolve, however.

Not content with being blamed for almost forcing Lionel Messi out of the club and cited by the Catalan police for corruption amongst a whole host of other misdemeanours, the president appears content to tough it out.

“It never crossed my mind to resign,” MARCA report him as saying to reporters after Monday’s board meeting.

“The project is very interesting with young players and experienced ones, like [Lionel] Messi.

“And I think that with him we are going to win a title this season. I understand everyone’s opinions, as empathising is important. In Leo’s case is good to get angry because it is not good to accept defeats and we have all gotten angry.

“[…] If the vote of no confidence is made on November 1 and 2, it is impossible to do it in a decentralised manner. We do not have days to guarantee the logistics to vote in Catalonia and the rest of the region.

“We are not reckless, we want prepare the voting days on time. Tomorrow, Tuesday, there is another meeting to agree on the decentralised voting protocol. The Catalan government knew about the 15 days from the beginning.”

Although he has to leave next July regardless, with elections being pencilled in for March 2021, if the vote of no confidence is successful, then Bartomeu and his entire board would have to leave with immediate effect.

In that scenario, there may just been the possibility that Messi would stay as the likes of Xavi, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes could be brought back in various positions to sweep away Bartomeu’s mess.

For now, he remains in his position, but for how long?

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