Things didn't go as Josep Maria Bartomeu expected at Barcelona's general assembly. He had to suspend the vote for the approval of the new badge proposal and delegates voted against a change to the statutes which would give the club a greater capacity for debt. The rejection of these two proposals isn't trivial and this must be profoundly analysed. This is a clear rejection from the members of Bartomeu's management, as the members don't see eye to eye on some of the current board's handiwork, with certain criteria having varied in dangerous ways.
Below is a look at some of the topics from the general assembly that have caused eyebrows to be raised....
An oscillating debt
The club announced a debt of 157 million euros. The criteria is that which the LFP uses. Here, they only count debt accumulated in the past year, but the criteria of two years ago reflected the total debt of the club. There's an important point here. According to something Sandro Rosell put into the statutes, there was a limit to the ratio with respect to EBITDA margin and if this was surpassed for two years then the board would have to step down immediately. Using the previous method of calculation, which was used when this ratio was introduced, the club's debt would be 490m euros, according to a study done by Palaco23. With that figure, the ratio would surpass the permitted limit. As such, the board would be at risk of having to step down. Dangerous.
The salaries
There has also been a change to the calculations when it comes to salary spending. The club state that the percentage of spending on salaries for the first team is 66 percent with respect to the budget, but when it comes to counting this they have considered that the figures for the sales of players are normal income. This is a method other clubs don't use. If these fees hadn't been included then the proportion of salary spending would rise to 77 percent, a dangerous number. The club defend themselves by saying that they also include amortizations, something others don't do. In any case, this figure is also dangerous.
Obligatory sales
As part of the Budget they consider obligatory sales of around 130m euros. This is a considerable risk because the club might start to sell players purely for economic reasons.
The badge is up in the air
Bartomeu didn't want to accept a defeat regarding the proposed new badge. Rather than lose at a vote, he decided to suspend it in a legal action, something ethically reprehensible. There was no fair play on the president's part.
New directors
The board proposed the acceptance of four new directors with a joined vote, aware that the proposal of Marta Plana would be rejected if put to an individual vote. That's because her company was the first to leave Catalonia during the Catalan referendum process.
The name of the stadium
They had proposed an assembly in the first semester to decide which company would have naming rights for the stadium but there is still not date for this.
(SOURCE: MARCA)
