FCBARCELONA.CAT

07.07.2008 01:11

“We’ll finish off our term of office with coherence and responsibility”

Vanessa Forns

On confirmation that the vote of censure had been unsuccessful, Joan Laporta has confirmed that his Board of Directors wish to finish their term of office in 2010 “with coherence, because we’re legitimate and with a sense of responsibility”.

The President of FC Barcelona has appeared before the press after an intense day of voting in order to evaluate the result. Despite the ‘yes’ vote for the censure motion being the choice of the majority (60.60%), it didn’t reach the 66.6% required by the Statutes in order to be successful.

Given this situation, Joan Laporta affirmed that he along with his colleagues, the Board of Directors –who accompanied him and sat in the first two rows of the Camp Nou’s pressroom- will finish their term of office “with cohesion, because we’re legitimate and with a sense of responsibility”.

Conformity with the “protest votes”

Despite everything, Joan Laporta has made it very clear that he understands the outcome of this vote of censure process as “a protest vote for what we have done during the last two years”, and assured that the Board of Directors “will act accordingly to calm the situation”. In this way, the president has highlighted the importance of “recovering stability”.

Renewed illusion

“We’ll have to work hard to gain the confidence of those members who didn’t trust us”, he added. Laporta pointed out that the Board of Directors he presides have “had their illusion renewed”, and that he is deeply convinced that “the sports project will help to regain the confidence of those members’ who are disappointed”.

A reinforced Barça

Barcelona’s president, who explained that none of the directors had resigned, was especially happy, as this Sunday “was an exemplary democratic exercise” from which FC Barcelona “has come out reinforced as a democratic institution”.

Thanks

It should be emphasised how, at the beginning of his speech, Joan Laporta had some words of thanks for all the members of the club: “I wish to express my profound respect for the almost 24 thousand members who voted in favour of the censure. Also those who voted against it and the 80 thousand others who considered that they didn’t have to join in”.

At the same time he praised Oriol Giralt, the member who called for the vote of censure, “for his conduct after the result”.