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What's the Story?
The rule of Josep Bartomeu as President of Futbol Club Barcelona has been rife with controversy - right from the decision to have a shirt sponsor for the first time in the club's storied history, to seeing Barcelona move away from their hallowed tiki-taka style of play, to the final straw for many people, allowing PSG to walk-in and pay the buy-out clause for Neymar Jr... after reportedly failing to prise Marco Veratti away from the very same club.
With such tumultuous changes occurring across the board, one of Barcelona's members (remember, the club is owned by a collection of fans who are members of the club) Augusti Benedito has begun the process of no-confidence against the current President.
In case you didn't know
Even Xavi, that beacon of Barca PR speak, said earlier today -"The difference between Real and Barca is that when things go badly for Real Madrid, the players, the staff, and the management are one"
If the fact that Xavi is speaking about divisiveness within the club doesn;t convince you that something's wrong at the Camp Nou, nothing ever will.
The heart of the matter
Benedito, a former Presidential candidate himself, arrived at the Camp Nou to pick the relevant papers for collecting signatures - 16000 of which are required - and although the campaign to oust Bartomeu has been on for some time now, the task of physically collecting these 16000 signatures begins today.
"Bartomeu should resign, as he's out of control," Benedito said as he left the stadium's offices."We are looking at a very important institutional crisis."
What's Next
In order for the motion to succeed, it would not only require the 16000 signatures but also 66% support at the actual, physical, vote of no confidence. Benedito is confident, though, and indicated that he already had the support of upto 50,000 fellow members!
Author's Take
While Barcelona's officials have been quick to condemn the social media outrage against their President as emanating from outside Catalunya (forgetting that Barcelona are a truly global club now - bringing with it all that term entails - and the global fan's voice carries as much weight as the local ones) but this motion for no-confidence has been coming for quite sometime.
Unless Barcelona spring a surprise on Deadline Day with a major, major, signing to appease their large fan base, and unless the club dramatically improves their playing style on the pitch it appears likely that this motion will go down to the wire and Bartomeu's Presidency could genuinely be at risk.
