I WILL VOTE NO, BUT MAYBE WE HAVE TO VOTE YES

From Monday (1-20-2014), when I wrote the last post explaining my reasons for voting "NO" to reform the Camp Nou, the facts have been at breakneck speed. Rosell resigned as president on Thursday and Friday, the new president, Josep Maria Bartomeu explained odds Neymar contract that, after all, and tell us what they tell us, has been the reason for the resignation. Beyond that, it is not acceptable under any circumstances, the threats that Rosell and his family have received. Violence can never be excused .

Rosell and Bartomeu have castled on the 57.1M€ as final price of the sale of Neymar to Barça. Of these, 17.1M€ are for Santos (the team Neymar played) and 40M€ for a company owned by the parents of Neymar (N&N), which has the rights to decide, as we were told, where should Neymar play once his contract with the Brazilian team is over.

Paint as you want, but the 10M€ "signing bonus" and 2.7M€ of commission for the Player Agent (father, are part of the transfer. That is, the direct price of the transfer of Neymar price is 69.8M€. Translated, it means that the Board has cheated us. So clear. But there's more. There are a number of contracts with different companies of Neymar's family that if the player had not signed for the club they would not exist. In a few days I will talk about one of them (400,000€ per year for scouting). All this means that the final price of this signing goes into the environment of the € 90M, you say it the way you want to say it.

According to what Bartomeu explained, the player will get 8.8M€/year (44 in total), including awards for titles (Guaranteed they are won or not. In which company are you objectives payed even if you don't get them? Wacky and embarrassing), with a prize additional of 2M€ if the player is a finalist in the FIFA World player awards.

All this means that, like it or not, Neymar will get, for playing for FC Barcelona, ​​an amount close to 100M€ for the 5 seasons he has to play. 20M€ per season. They can explain it as they want it. Because nobody swallows beyond the legal issues of whether the 40M€ received are reportable tax in one way or another, that this money, plus the signing bonus, will go, in one way or another to Neymar .

And this is where the show begins. Messi has to renew his contract and, as it  has been repeated and logically, he should be the highest paid player in the squad. 12M€/ season? 15? Or maybe 25? Because obviously, I guess Messi 's father, after seen what we all have seen, will also asked these 40M€ that N&N has received. Or perhaps 50. Have no doubt.

And Iniesta will come later, who was told it would be the second best paid player. If Messi, one way or another, will take 25M€ and Neymar around 20M€, it is logical to expect that Iniesta will be on the 22-23M€ mark. This means that these 3 players will get around 70M€, and this is more than 10% of the GLOBAL budget of Club. No jokes.

More things. There is a pending lawsuit over the issue of the facade of the new Masia. Demand is 100M€, according to what I have been told, it should be provisioned for accounting, ie, include at the annual balance sheet as losses.

To make it a little bit more complicated is the issue of "civil responsibility action" and the fact that Directors are required (by agreement of the same Board), to respond for the debts that they can have at the end of their term.

This could make that losses this year, maybe next one, can very high. And, the Board completes its mandate in 2016. This means they must make quick actions. And, to balance these losses there are only two options: either put the personal assets of the directors to cover the deficit or to sell. In the first case, I do not know if all the directors have (or want to spend), the money (we're talking at least about 150M€) to cover this debt. And if they do not want to put it out of their pockets, they will have to sell. And the easiest to sell are two things: the name of the Stadium (which, as you know, is already included in the planned reform) or, ... Leo Messi. If they sell Messi they will have as unique star the one they wanted and that they brought to the Camp Nou. How can you sell Messi without a "civil war" in the club? They will do it. They will sell us what is so appropriate: if the offer is impossible to say, that if we save so much money, that if we guarantee the future of the Club, etc. Do not worry that together them and the press that follows their "game" they will find a way, as they have found it to make us believe what they want.

Another thing is, in a few weeks, the referendum/consultation about the reform of the Camp Nou. A few days ago I explained my reasons for voting NO to this reform (I will vote NO). If the query is negative , the Board will be forced to resign, much to speak of that consultation is not binding. You can not say that is the most important project of the past 50 years and, if lost, continue to lead the Club. They must leave. And, as we said before, with a very high possibility of losses to be assumed.

But of course, with what money will this reform be done if, the first to do is to cover the debt that will be generated by what we said before? Impossible to do. Moreover, they can not do the query , then due have insisted again and again that will.

So, I 'm afraid the only solution is to vote "yes" to the query so that it wins. The "yes", wins, but that reform is not made. This would allow the current Board to get to 2016, have largely settled this debt, looking for other solutions (which, honestly, I do not see anywhere beyond these sales we have spoken), but they can always appear.

We can only hope that the trial MCM is not done, almost impossible. Or that Messi and Iniesta lower their claims. Even more impossible.

Therefore, I fear that if we want the club does not become ruined athletically and without the name of the Stadium, we will no other choice but to vote "yes " to the query reform, that also entails having a surname at Stadium. But at least enable the Board to seek solutions to avoid putting money from its pocket and still have Messi, which is something. Voting "no" will mean the Board leavein on a balloon, which could perhaps be the most interesting for us, if they do fast enough to have no time to sell anything or make any nonsense.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

I WILL VOTE NO

Finally, the Board of FC Barcelona has said its word on the subject of Reform/Enlarging of the Camp Nou. Beyond staging, very poor with that table where not fit all and it seemed that someone would come out at any time, that cocky fixation ("Next Question"), when they were questioned about the case of the signing of Neymar, Club representatives (Rosell, Faus, Moix, Freixa) , gave their reasons for voting in favor of reform.

They got theirs. I have mine, but to vote against it, as I guess you can also do the day of the consultation.

The first thing to be clear is that I am in favor of a reform in the Camp Nou. As I once said, I've seen a few stadiums in Europe, and the standards they have and, in most of the case we are talking about Clubs with lower level than Barça, are much higher than we have here. At all levels: Wi- Fi connections, Restaurants, Shops, etc.

That said, I will vote NO, because I have no more options to choose from. The Board dismissed a number of options. Why them? Why not we, the Partners, the owners of Club? On what basis they decide which options should we vote? If you have more than one, show them and then we'll decide what we want to do. And if you want to make easy, 3 options: New Stadium, Reform, Do nothing. And with the one that wins, we will decide what type of action. Now, this of "or this or nothing" does not seem the most appropriate.

I will vote NO, because the purpose of the reform (said by the same officials) is to increase the hospitality (VIP seats, so we understand), at match days and thereby make more money. That is, the most important thing is not the comfort of the fans, assumed that in a reform of this type should be the starting point, but cash on hand. No matter if the share-holders have more or less space to sit. Important that there are people on match days, that I bet what you want, what matters is to do business and not supporting the team.

I will vote NO, because the day of the vote you will have not seen any plans or diagrams or anything. There will be a model, it will be very nice, I guess, but we will not know how we will be distributed, who will change place due to works (temporarily or permanently), or who will have better location at no cost. I mean, first say YES or NO, to a work of 600M € and then we'll see how we do. Can anyone imagine ordering a house without a Project from an Architect? Well that's what we'll do. And think one thing. There must be a project for the Stadium, one for the new "Palau Blau Grana", one for the Annex to the Palau, one for Spatial urban environment, one for each building to be done, etc. Obviously, this will not be done for the 5th or 6th of April, neither 1 month earlier, which is the period that the members should have, at least, to watch and discuss. We will not see nor be no debate. Let us be clear .

I will vote NO, because it means the end of the Club as manager of its assets. It was said yesterday. Concessions for 50 and 99 years!!! All life. I think that nobody of us will be here to explain when these concessions are finished. The Management Club becomes external. Right now, you have the season-tickets, or Bar or services, catering at the Honor Box. Now, they will sell all new beverage services, and what isneeded. In fact, one of the companies responsible of the Reform Study (or rather, the one that made the study) is AEG, a specialist Sports facilities management company. For those who do not know, AEG is owned by the same sponsor that we carry in our shirt (part of the deal at the time?).

I will vote NO, because the Camp Nou can not have "surname ". Moreover, the figures given seem very out of market. Allianz pays 30M€ to have, for 30 years, its name in the stadium of Bayern. Here, 150M€ only for the "surname" ? Nobody believes it. And let no one confuse sentimentality with realism. Because they have said the Heritage Club is not sold and that all would be financed with own money. That is, the name of the stadium isn't Heritage, is it? The money obtained from the sale of the "name" is own money? I have not studied at ESADE and no place of these, but my knowledge of economics tell me that this is NO own money.

I will vote NO, because when Sandro Rosell ran for the presidency, said that the so called "Foster Project" was economically unfeasible (it was estimated around 300M€) and said that with an investment of 70M€ he could make the needed reform to adapt the Camp Nou. It turns out that the investment will be around 600M€ and that this amount is acceptable. Does anyone believe it? So much have been arranged for club finances that we can now afford this expense?

I will vote NO because the Board has no credibility. We have been fooled at all and they are cheating. The signing of Neymar is the latest episode. How can a journal go saying like "El Mundo" siad on Monday (20-1-2014) and did not go to the courts to quickly add a complaint? I just comes to my mind a solution: what they said was true and, if not, you must respect your name and the entity that you represent and act accordingly. And they have not. Maybe because they can not.

I will vote NO, because it does represent much more than a reform of the Stadium. It represents everything I 've said before, and much more. It represents to sell our soul and the club is not a Corporation. Barca is something ( much) more than that and, you can't play with feelings.

A final consideration. I am neither "pro" nor "anti" anything or anyone. In 2003 I voted Bassat ( He had Pep Guardiola as Technical Director). In 2007, I voted Laporta, because I understood that he was doing very well. When the non-confidence motion, I gave support to it , because I thought that the image he was selling was too far from the one that the President of Barça must show. I voted Rosell when he submitted, because I thought he was the best of all candidates and, if tomorrow we have a new motion of non-confidence to vote (something almost impossible with the new By-Laws, but that's another story), also I would support it. So clear.

Let's be clear. I will vote NO to this reform because we do not deserve it.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

P.S. By the way, does anyone remember if yesterday there was any comment about the kids?

THE REFORM OF CAMP NOU

Tomorrow, Monday, January 20th, 2014, the Board of Barça will meet and, apparently, there will be a decision about the future of Camp Nou: Reform or New Stadium. So far, the arguments that have appeared in the press could be signed by a 4 year old kid: "If San Mames was demolished, why not the Camp Nou", "It will be much more comfortable", "This is very old " "The renovation work would be an inconvenience for the Socis (Share-holders)", etc.. The fact is, however, nothing has been said about this reform: what will be and, or how it will. All we know is the approximate price: Reform: 600M€; New Stadium: 1200M€.

I shall not value what the Board said when elections on reforms and similar. Not my idea. I'm much more on what and why, in my view should be made to adapt the Camp Nou to the current requirements .

The first thing to consider is that the "letitmotiv" of Football stadiums were to watch games. Nothing more. This has changed: now, they are places to do business or, bring the family to spend the day. Therefore, what is needed is for people to be 1-2 hours before and to leave 1-2 hours after the game.

I've been in some stadiums in Europe. The first thing about the Camp Nou in favor is the immense space around what is the building itself. Neither Alvalade XXI, nor St. Jakob, nor Old Trafford, nor Aviva (Dublin), etc. have it. The esplanade behind the area "Lateral" (opposite the Main Grandstand), does not exist in any of these venues. And, this should be exploited. I recommend that anyone who can, go to Oslo, at the National Stadium, where, incidentally, Barça played this summer, and you can see that even there is a Hotel behind the stadium, which communicates with it and is used for the concentrations of the National team. It was a place to have a very clear idea of ​​the things you could do with the space around the stadium.

Then we have the lower side of the Stadium. In all these places, this area is full of shops, bars and restaurants. But, at Camp Nou, the area is just to access the seats and many of the doors are closed (for this about saving money). Couldn't they reorganize these spaces? The non-used gates are removed, 4-5 gates are put together and the remaining space can be used.

Let's go inside. The "Lateral" area (which is the one I know best), historically had 22 seats per row. It was right. The previous Board (Joan Laporta ), decided to put one more seat per row. They are 23. Now it is quite uncomfortable (tight). The worst thing is that the current Board (Sandro Rosell ), has not changed it. If you want commodities, 21 would be a suitable number, 20 would be more than fantastic. Today, you can not even move without taking a hit to the neighboring seat .

Then there is the whole area inside the Camp Nou, under and behind the stands. Today (and always), there are only 4 bars with exorbitant prices, with quality and quantity of a product that are not up to what the modern stadiums need. In all these places we have said (and many more) , all these areas are closed, with Restaurants and Bars with chairs and seats, where people can talk freely before and after the game. Where you can eat (snacks, meals, etc.), sitting comfortably and with prices (taking into account the difference in living standards between most of these countries and ours), far more affordable than here. But far more. And they remain places of passage to go from one part of the Stadium to another. That is, that the function of corridor is not lost. This is the more wasted space in the Camp Nou and the most exploited elsewhere. Given that the Camp Nou has three levels (rings), imagine the amount of dead space at the stadium. By the way, taking advantage of this, you could make a much more suitable toilets. Some 3rd Division stadiums have them much better.

At the time of Núñez, some "VIP Boxes" were built in the area of ​​the 2nd level. In many of these stadiums we have said, these areas for Sponsors and similar have a previous space where this people can sit quietly and do business or talk about what is appropriate. As we are saying, is about taking profit of all the spaces. Do we have to demolish some stairs or change them of place? Let's do it. Rearranging interior spaces is, as already stated , the great problem of Camp Nou.

In the main stand behind the bench, there is a kind of " VIP Box", since the capacity of the "Honour Box" is not very large. In every stadium that I know, these areas are located on the back, not in front. Basically, for two reasons. One is that, if it rains, people do not get wet. The second, that they have access to the Bar where they can take a drink quietly and watching the game if appropriate. Again, use of interior spaces.

There is a point that has also been discussed many times: Cover or not cover all the stands of the stadium. I support it. First, when it rains or is cold is much better. And if we are talking of commodities for the people who will watch the game, this is one. It is true that we do not have the weather they have in all these places located farther North, but to be under the rain, when you can not even open the umbrella because you are annoying your neighbor (back to the 23 seats)... The second reason is the sound effect. Any of these stadiums I have said have an incredible sounding. One of the reasons that makes listening to "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Anfield or Celtic Park, and the songs of the supporters of Borussia at the Westfalenstadion put the willies is the wonderful sound effect, as the cries of the people bounce off the deck and back into the field, multiplying the effect. At the Camp Nou, much of the noise is going to air. And surely, the neighborhood  would also appreciate, as it would a lot less of noise going outside.

All of this, however, nothing has been explained at all. Only that the reform will bring inconvenience for the fans. We already know all. But if it is not explained why and how you want to do, it seems that this is the excuse for a new stadium.

And if it is really needed to do it, let's do it. But it seems that there is no interest in adapting the Camp Nou to European levels. It seems that it has to be new, yes or yes, and I do not buy that. They have to show us all drawings, studies, etc. because after all, as I have said many times, the "owners" of the Club are we, the Socis.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP