Barca board set up committee as no-confidence vote looms

Barcelona have announced that they have created a committee in order to ascertain whether or not they are required to hold a vote of no confidence against the current board and its president Josep Bartomeu.

Earlier this month “Mes que una mocio” (More than a motion), a group of members supported by candidates for next year’s presidential election, gathered over 20,000 members’ signatures in order to set up the vote.

“In guidelines with the Club’s Statutes, a Committee for the Vote of No Confidence, formed by two members of the club’s board, the first two members who signed the petition and a delegate from the Catalan Football Federation has been created,” a club statement said on Monday.

“They will meet on Tuesday 29 September at 9:30AM, and in a maximum of 10 days will check that the motion meets the requirements to hold a vote, especially regarding whether it is filed for the right reasons and the support of the required number of members.”

If the requirements to hold a vote are not met, the motion will be rejected.

The cries for a vote of no confidence came about in the aftermath of talisman Lionel Messi requesting a transfer in August after their humiliating exit from the Champions League, losing 8-2 to Bayern Munich in the single match quarter-final.

Provided at least 16,520 votes are deemed valid by the committee, a 66.5% majority of the club’s 150,000 members is required to see the current board removed.

If the motion goes ahead, Bartomeu will be the third president to face a vote of no-confidence after Josep Lluis Nunez in 1998 and Joan Laporta in 2008, with the vote failing to pass on both occasions.

Bartomeu’s time as club president is coming to a close regardless of whether the vote goes ahead, as he will be unable to contest the elections that will be held in March after serving two terms.