IMO it's just a case of "don't give an inch unless you are absolutely forced to and if you're forced to then pretend you've been there all along". Unfortunately this seems to be a standard by most PR companies in such situations.
Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!
- Thread starter The Boy
- Start date
Have we been sold already then? I missed that...
At worst they'll still not get rinsed by Chelsea like you lot currently are.
Well, first the demand-legal action has to take place (it is about to happen).
Then, they have to be found guilty. According to this lawyer, and the Spanish Supreme Court precedent, for that it has to be proven that:
--There was "promising", "offering", "granting", "receiving", "requesting" or "accepting" benefits or advantages of any nature, not justified and in breach of their obligations.
--It happened with the purpose of deliberately and fraudulently predetermining or altering the result of a test, meeting or sports competition.
If this is proven then the possible penalties are:
To the involved people: between 2 years and 3 months and 5 years in prison.
To the club: the prohibition of continuing activities from 1 to 5 years, closing of facilities, dissolution of the club, or a fine of thrice the benefits that they got from it.
UEFA's sanctions (if there were any, they haven't started any investigation yet) could include a ban from European competitions, like the one to Anderlecht.
FIFA's can give harder sanctions like relegation to a lower division or expulsion from a competition in progress or from future competitions, but they haven't even started any investigation yet)
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According to this recent article Negreira offered his services again to Barca in 2020 (they stopped paying him in 2018).
"I can help you with the VAR, with me you would have done better" Negreira proposed.
"If you are interested, get in touch" but the Barcelona directors ignored the proposal.
"I can help you with the VAR, with me you would have done better" Negreira proposed.
"If you are interested, get in touch" but the Barcelona directors ignored the proposal.
By individuals, sure, but organizations? Doesn’t they always throw someone under the bus?
That is pretty explosive…
Today is the 6th anniversary of the 6-1 against PSG. The memory of it still makes me smile. Those emotions in that moment with Roberto's goal exceeded every CL win. It was so unbelieveble, especially after they scored and we needed another 3 goals after. Neymar still says it was the favorite game of his career 
. Sadly it was probably also the last time we were happy in the CL 
. Sadly it was probably also the last time we were happy in the CL How much did the officials in that match cost do you think?Today is the 6th anniversary of the 6-1 against PSG. The memory of it still makes me smile. Those emotions in that moment with Roberto's goal exceeded every CL win. It was so unbelieveble, especially after they scored and we needed another 3 goals after. Neymar still says it was the favorite game of his career
One of the finest performances of a ref for you guys in Europe, indeed - and the bar is quite high! Very apt to be celebrating this with what's currently going on.Today is the 6th anniversary of the 6-1 against PSG. The memory of it still makes me smile. Those emotions in that moment with Roberto's goal exceeded every CL win. It was so unbelieveble, especially after they scored and we needed another 3 goals after. Neymar still says it was the favorite game of his career
What's that supposed to mean? It's forbidden now to remember and enjoy one of your, if not the best fan moment in football? Should I feel miserable now and delete my memory because Aytekin was a bad ref? Then every third game before VAR loses its value. I will feel good about it my whole life, no matter how many of you want to badmouth it.
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Would you be proud of winning a race against your friend if the judge, instead of shooting the starter pistol in the air, shooted your friend's knee off?
Feel free. Just dont expect anyone else to have any regard for anything they've achieved in 20+ years of football. Its less than worthless.
They're so lucky that Perez needs them for the Super League. 0 pressure from Real Madrid. Other La Liga teams want blood..
Three things are at stake for Barca. Firstly, sanctions of different kind. Secondly, the club’s reputation. Thirdly, the future of the club.
It must at best be extremely close for Barca to face some kind of suspension from CL play or domestic leagues. The other clubs can also come together and vote to have Barca expelled. This is what the PL clubs have done in relation to City, find out what shady things they did, then change the rule book so they can be convicted. If a court fund that Barca have been involved in corruption, it’s the most serious offense. They will of course ban Barca for at least a couple of years.
Can Laporta save Barca from these charges? I think that it is very very doubtful. He can obviously convince the Barca fans of that it is just a conspiracy, and the Barca community obviously lacks the necessary spine to correct him. No matter how you twist and turn it — everything that has happened is of course an extremely long way past what is acceptable. Like if it was proven that MUFC board of directors had brought in a 15 year old prostitute which they all had sex with during a board meeting — and the crime solicitating a prostitute was time barred but not child rape — would MUFC Twitter go nuts about ‘she looked like she was 18’? It is beyond…
Look, the worst, irreparable, damage is done. For decades to come, the integrity will be questioned. They (UEFA/FIFA/RFEF) just cannot let it be. I can’t see it. No matter how bad the other alternative is (a sanction) — the alternative of sweeping it under the carpet is worse. So no, I cannot see Laporta clearing Barca.
Secondly, until this is dealt with, the Barca brand will continue to get hurt. Twitter is a great status check in this regard, in every thread on the topic, someone shows up going like ‘you anti-waxer/conspiracy theory lover are unbelievable, you seriously think Barca would bribe the referee body’. UK newspapers barely reports on it. They are afraid for a back lash, can they really believe what they see and hear? Better to wait a bit.
But it’s never going away. And the longer it goes on, the more upset the masses will become.
Barca can — easily — deal with this. In a really painful way for the club? Of course. But hang out the guilty few, blame them, take action. Juve did it and came back.
Thirdly, the future of the club — in its current shape — is totally screwed and beyond being saveable. They need a magician act to save it — despite he biggest scandal ever. With it, they can never make it.
So what can they do? The brand will of course survive. They should plan for that.
It must at best be extremely close for Barca to face some kind of suspension from CL play or domestic leagues. The other clubs can also come together and vote to have Barca expelled. This is what the PL clubs have done in relation to City, find out what shady things they did, then change the rule book so they can be convicted. If a court fund that Barca have been involved in corruption, it’s the most serious offense. They will of course ban Barca for at least a couple of years.
Can Laporta save Barca from these charges? I think that it is very very doubtful. He can obviously convince the Barca fans of that it is just a conspiracy, and the Barca community obviously lacks the necessary spine to correct him. No matter how you twist and turn it — everything that has happened is of course an extremely long way past what is acceptable. Like if it was proven that MUFC board of directors had brought in a 15 year old prostitute which they all had sex with during a board meeting — and the crime solicitating a prostitute was time barred but not child rape — would MUFC Twitter go nuts about ‘she looked like she was 18’? It is beyond…
Look, the worst, irreparable, damage is done. For decades to come, the integrity will be questioned. They (UEFA/FIFA/RFEF) just cannot let it be. I can’t see it. No matter how bad the other alternative is (a sanction) — the alternative of sweeping it under the carpet is worse. So no, I cannot see Laporta clearing Barca.
Secondly, until this is dealt with, the Barca brand will continue to get hurt. Twitter is a great status check in this regard, in every thread on the topic, someone shows up going like ‘you anti-waxer/conspiracy theory lover are unbelievable, you seriously think Barca would bribe the referee body’. UK newspapers barely reports on it. They are afraid for a back lash, can they really believe what they see and hear? Better to wait a bit.
But it’s never going away. And the longer it goes on, the more upset the masses will become.
Barca can — easily — deal with this. In a really painful way for the club? Of course. But hang out the guilty few, blame them, take action. Juve did it and came back.
Thirdly, the future of the club — in its current shape — is totally screwed and beyond being saveable. They need a magician act to save it — despite he biggest scandal ever. With it, they can never make it.
So what can they do? The brand will of course survive. They should plan for that.
Cool beans bro. It means what it means. Maybe celebrate it on a Barça fanboard or with your other indoctrinated pals if you don't want people taking the piss?
Based on their dealings in the past summer with the levers, I don't think they have the stomach to accept the hit and then come back from it. They could not accept a period of not competing with the best and leveraged their future. No way would they accept this that easily.
It probably is the best way to handle it, but I can't see it happening.
I agree with the whole post. But this does not seem so easy to me.
The guilty few are all Barca boards since the 1990s. Except for the few interim presidents all were rightfully elected by the socios.
Doesn't matter what they do, if they are deemed guilty the club is gonna get tarnished forever. They cannot pretend to blame the boards and just get along with it.
Come on mate, don't try to pretend that the mistakes made in this game were comparable to what we see "every third game". It's in the top 3 of the biggest ref shames in the last 20 years.
You have the right to have fond memories of what you felt at the time but considering how it went and the current situation regarding Barcelona and refs, i'd keep it quiet. Very quiet.
One of my proudest moments is beating my best friend in a race. I was in a car and he was on foot but it still counts!
Reminded me of Uganda’s former dictator (known for ordering around 300,000 people to be killed) racing his bodyguards in the pool:
Other La Liga teams should have joined Ramon Mendoza and Jesus Gil when they complained about Negreira's actions in the 90s or Florentino Perez himself when he questioned the opaque system that rates referees performances as well as their designation for the games. Since those other La Liga teams also supported "the actions of La Liga in response to the work demonstrated and carried out during these years to preserve the integrity of the competition" in the latest statement, I have my doubts on whether they actually want blood or they just pretend they do.
Today is also the 12th anniversary of RVP being sent off on the Camp Nou.Today is the 6th anniversary of the 6-1 against PSG. The memory of it still makes me smile. Those emotions in that moment with Roberto's goal exceeded every CL win. It was so unbelieveble, especially after they scored and we needed another 3 goals after. Neymar still says it was the favorite game of his career
Well said man, well said.Yeah, the poor old Van Persie sending off, what a travesty it was.Today is also the 12th anniversary of RVP being sent off on the Camp Nou.
Let's disregard the fact that with a competent referee during the first leg Barcelona would have probably been 4-0 up during the first half in England.
Honestly whenever somebody even mentions that sending off it is a literal proof of an agenda, which is nothing less I would expect from an Espanyol fan so that's hardly a surprise.
The agenda is "having common sense and not being an insane person."
The other day I read a very interesting post in this thread from a user who had worked in compliance areas for his law firm. He and @FreckBarca might be interested in this article which says that the last four Barcelona compliance officers have been sacked in quick succession in just three years.
https://elcierredigital.com/pizarrr...fc-barcelona-despedidos-investigar-pagos.html
https://elcierredigital.com/pizarrr...fc-barcelona-despedidos-investigar-pagos.html
I think you are talking about @Messier1994. I only heard about one of those sackings but sounds about right.
Laporta's internal investigation was centered about their compliance team so I guess we will learn about them soon enough.
Finally this is getting some attention. I wasn't aware that there was a current investigation about the deal that took the Spanish Supercup to Saudi Arabia.
Well, now the judge has asked Piqué for the contract regarding this affair to see the possible justification of some payments. Article from today
Just another Barca shady deal.
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Robontada! One of the most remarcable examples of a referee benefiting Farça. UEFAlona at its finest.Today is the 6th anniversary of the 6-1 against PSG. The memory of it still makes me smile. Those emotions in that moment with Roberto's goal exceeded every CL win. It was so unbelieveble, especially after they scored and we needed another 3 goals after. Neymar still says it was the favorite game of his career
Shame on you for celebrating a robbery.
So are UEFA and FIFA holding back until they see what happens with this investigation first?
As far as I know they haven't said anything publicly. So far, this is strictly centered on the Spanish Referee Committee.
According to this article UEFA can only get involved if it had any European ramifications or if Barca are deemed guilty for corruption.
My take is that they are waiting until the resolution of the investigation. At the same time that have asked the Spanish FA for all the info to make sure European refereering wasn't involved.
According to this article FIFA would initially delegate to the Spanish FA to take any needed disciplinary measures and under some circumstances they could get involved, such as:
'FIFA's judicial bodies reserve the right to investigate, prosecute and penalize serious infringements that fall within the scope of application of this code and within the jurisdiction of the confederations, federations or other sports organizations if they deem it appropriate in a given case. In particular if the confederation, federation or sports organization does not prosecute a serious infringement within a period of three months from the moment the infringement is reported to the Disciplinary Commission'
The infringement has already been reported to the Spanish FA integrity Department but they can not take action as it has prescribed according to the Spanish Law of Sports. So I guess the last condition will be met in case they want to take action.
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It is now official.
FC Barcelona, Negreira (former ref VP), Rosell and Bertomeu (fomer Barca presidents), Óscar Grau and Albert Soler (two fomer Barca executives) have been charged with:
-continued business corruption, in its sports fraud version.
-breach of trust
-false business records.
The Prosecutor's Office points out: "through the presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Barça reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the accused Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the referee technical committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions tending to favor Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the Club, and thus in the results of the competitions; referees whose designation for each match of the official Spanish competitions is carried out carried out within this referee committee. This committee is also in charge of the evaluations -in which the defendant participated- for the promotions and demotions of the referees as well as the proposal of candidates for international refereering".
Other presidents such as Laporta, Gaspart and Nuñez are equally involved but are not charged as It has prescribed. Laporta and Gaspart have been called to testify.
Barca paid 6.6M€ to Negreira since 2001, but only the 1.2M€ they paid him between 2014 and 2015 and the 1.6M€ they paid him during 2016 and 2018, for a total of 2.9M€, have not prescribed.
Little extra info coming from this tweet.
Between 15/16 and 17/18 (114 games) Barca paid 1.6M to the ref VP. They had:
33 penalties for them 3 penalties against
23 red cards in favor 4 expulsions against
Between 18/19 and 20/21 (114 games) Barca made no payments to the ref VP. They had:
23 penalties for them 14 penalties against
15 red cards in favor 10 red cards against
TL;DR: during the whole golden age of Barca they have been paying millions to the ref VP. They are only being charged for some of it as the rest has already prescribed.
FC Barcelona, Negreira (former ref VP), Rosell and Bertomeu (fomer Barca presidents), Óscar Grau and Albert Soler (two fomer Barca executives) have been charged with:
-continued business corruption, in its sports fraud version.
-breach of trust
-false business records.
The Prosecutor's Office points out: "through the presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Barça reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the accused Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the referee technical committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions tending to favor Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the Club, and thus in the results of the competitions; referees whose designation for each match of the official Spanish competitions is carried out carried out within this referee committee. This committee is also in charge of the evaluations -in which the defendant participated- for the promotions and demotions of the referees as well as the proposal of candidates for international refereering".
Other presidents such as Laporta, Gaspart and Nuñez are equally involved but are not charged as It has prescribed. Laporta and Gaspart have been called to testify.
Barca paid 6.6M€ to Negreira since 2001, but only the 1.2M€ they paid him between 2014 and 2015 and the 1.6M€ they paid him during 2016 and 2018, for a total of 2.9M€, have not prescribed.
Little extra info coming from this tweet.
Between 15/16 and 17/18 (114 games) Barca paid 1.6M to the ref VP. They had:
33 penalties for them 3 penalties against
23 red cards in favor 4 expulsions against
Between 18/19 and 20/21 (114 games) Barca made no payments to the ref VP. They had:
23 penalties for them 14 penalties against
15 red cards in favor 10 red cards against
TL;DR: during the whole golden age of Barca they have been paying millions to the ref VP. They are only being charged for some of it as the rest has already prescribed.
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I think the literal proof comes in them being charged for actual corruption. So maybe don't get too angry that people are shitting on Barcelona right now.
The club needs to be torn down and built again. How much longer can their own fans ignore the growing list of irregularities and blatant corruption coming out of that club. It’s absolutely vile.
What a terrible and pathetic club.
This committee is also in charge of the evaluations -in which the defendant participated- for the promotions and demotions of the referees as well as the proposal of candidates for international arbitrators
So it turns out he did participate in the evaluations.
Who would have thought, right?
Also the last part regarding internacional refereering might be important for UEFA-FIFA reasons.
Nothing to see here
Wonder if they paid the ref for the 06 final against arsenal when lehmann got sent off.
How far back does the corruption go?
How far back does the corruption go?