What's the latest with this shit show? I'm out of the loop. Anyone got a TL;DR?
Official: FC Barcelona charged with Corruption over payments to former referees chief | UEFA open investigation
- Thread starter Kush
- Start date
Barcelona on the counter attack. An article came out accusing Tebas of making false accusations against Barcelona directors.
It proves or disproves nothing though, there are still 7.3 Million reasons to prosecute them.
Basically in the process of gathering evidence, a handwritten note addressed to two people but not mentioning surnames was discovered. Because those first name addressees corresponded to influential people at Barcelona, it was submitted to the prosecution by Tebas and La Liga so as to be evaluated for relevance. According to recent reports, it turns out this note was innocuous - but Barca and their flock of sheep have apparently seized on this completely normal approach to a criminal prosecution to claim that they are the real victims here and that the system is biased against them.
It's classic whataboutism / distracting bullshit - obviously many possibly relevant documents were evaluated for relevance. It's much ado about nothing to try to distract from the fact that they paid the guy who was involved in evaluating referees and had direct input into which referees maintained their position in the top flight or were graded poorly and given lower league fixtures.
A masterclass of telling wrong information, missing relevant data and making assumptions that, at the very least, are contested.
Congratulations man, that's a good achievement for such a short message.
Nope, everything I've said is 100% accurate - which is the only "relevant data" that I care about!
Or wait sorry - are you going to cry about the league titles you didn't win because the no-good, awful, horrible, naughty league boss had it out for you?
No, it is not accurate. It is VERY FAR from accurate.
2nd phrase is just pathetic. Like some kind of dark cult pathetic.
- There are not 2, there are like 10 names/last names (I don't even know why you are so explicit about no last names being mentioned). LaLiga mentions them and another FC Barcelona worker, not just the presidents.
- The document talks about banks/investment funds that closed decades ago. Document is from 80s/90s. Bartomeu/Rosell were 20 something.
- The document is from another unrelated process (Soule case, who has been in instruction for almost a decade by the way).
- Barcelona says nothing about the "system", in fact it defends it instead of the "social justice" that people like you spread.
- Barcelona talks about Tebas. You have been under a rock the last few years if you don't know about the Tebas-Barca (and Madrid) war about CVC and Superleague. Including anti Barca changes in the FFP rules.
- Nothing you say about "direct input" or "poor grades" is proved, it is actually quite contested. He had 0 decision power in referees assignment. It is yet to be proved he had any power in referees relegations. You can find tweets defending it anyway.
It is obvious that Tebas knew that this document was irrelevant, but he sent it anyway (including some media traction, that is the main thing here) just to create noise, as he usually does against Barca due to the CVC-SuperLeague fights. Nothing new. Nothing relevant regarding Negreira.
Yes Tebas is a clown (hardly news) but more importantly who did Barcelona pay today?
Who did Barsa pay today
I'm sorry, you are incorrect and everything I've said is 100% accurate. Possibly the problem though is that you seem to lack any ability to think critically? So that may be preventing you from understanding things that are obviously true and correct.
I understand that you have a grudge against Tebas because SHOCK, HORROR - he tried to enforce the previously existing long-standing salary cap rules against Barcelona who obviously should be allowed to flaunt them with reckless abandon. Imagine that he might follow normal procedures to submit a potentially suspicious document to be evaluated by prosecutorial bodies!
It's very funny for Laporta to come out demanding explanations from Tebas today. He's on day 48 or so of not answering jack fecking shit about why he was paying off the ref man.
How dare you actually pay attention to the genuine crux of the matter and not fall for the obvious bullshit spat out by Barcelona and then regurgitated by their fanbase of simpletons?
according to tebas? Literally his mom at this rate, anything to cause an uproar
He nailed it, CampSnooze.
That cnut just lawyered up and has likely been advised not to say anything. However the fact that his legion of cult followers continue to defend his position with this weird notion that they await his conference to explain everything shows how brainwashed they are. At this point he could pass around the koolaid and they would drink it.
Doesn’t matter though. CampSnooze is now part of the conspiracy.
At this point I genuinely believe that it reflects very badly on the caf that these shills are still allowed to post their disinformation on here. Each and every post gets more ridiculous and it stopped being funny about three weeks ago.
Not sure if it's the usual case of muddying the water or watering the mud but one of them has been the aim.
Mix of the two it seems, and your post was a grand way of wording it.
I may be misremembering things but wasn't one of the Spanish club fans (maybe Niemanns, hence the comment as the Barce fans have now turned on him) singing the praises of Tebas and the Spanish League when it came to their financial management rules (basically in a roundabout way of saying La Liga was better financially than the Premier League).
Edit - in the other Barce thread about levers, can't be bothered to search it as that is another cesspit of whataboutery from our cule friends.
Edit - in the other Barce thread about levers, can't be bothered to search it as that is another cesspit of whataboutery from our cule friends.
No you remember right it was Niemanns. Though I don’t know what his current view of Tebas is. However Laporta making things about Madrid and Tebas is Trump level deflection. The cultists should leave CAF and join truth social
It is obvious that Tebas bears a grudge against Barca for their role in the Super League and would like to get one over him. And that he likes fuelling the media circus to amplify his narrative. That was clear before this story came out.
There’s no reason to hide that reality because the bribes speak for themselves.
There’s no reason to hide that reality because the bribes speak for themselves.
Oh, how I'm enjoying this 
I don't think it's a surprise that Tebas, or anyone involved in the management of La Liga, holds a grudge against Barcelona with all the recent scandals. La Liga had an image problem for years related to financial and legal issues, then along come one of their biggest exports making a mockery of their attempts to fix the debt issue, trying to leave the league for the SL and now paying referees. Maybe the alleged issues with Tebas predate the current scandals, but the latest issues would be enough to test the patience of a saint.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Interview with Jaume Llopis, former director of
@FCBarcelona_Es
️ "As long as Laporta is president of the team, Messi will not return. It's impossible."
️"I'm worried about the institutional and economic situation of the club."
️ "The stain is indelible, we are going into a dark tunnel, destined for the abyss"
️ "The club, the members and the investors are aware that the Espai Barça must be financed".
️ "Playing in Montjuic is an economic disaster".
️ "Barça's main problem is Laporta".
️ "Guardiola advised him and told him that he had to rely on the academy and he has done the opposite".
️ "The irreversible situation will come in the 2025/2026 season"
️ "There will be a debt of 3,000 million euros".
️ "There is no transparency in Laporta's management. We don't know anything.
️ "We don't know the debt, nor the small print of the contracts, nor the financing of the Espai Barça"
Right on, Laporta is mortgaging the assets of the club to finance players they can‘t afford, the next presidents will pay the price.
Gawd knows he‘s funneling money away from the club to himself and his friends as well.
That's cute, a Real Madrid outlet invites a former member of the Espai Barca commission to an interview. By the way, he resigned because Laporta didn't listen to his advice and let Messi go for financial reasons. He even published a farewell letter where he directly attacked Laporta for it.
Surely they invited him just to hear some unbiased information, not just to listen to an angry old man who holds a grudge against Laporta for the reason mentioned. It's his neutral, unbiased opinion that Laporta is the devil himself and barca will be buried under his leadership. Messi surely told him personally, that he won't join as long as Laporta is president. Who cares, that the vice president confirmed contacts and negotiations with Messi's entourage.
By the way, has anyone seen the news about Barca's communicado regarding Tebas' fake evidence in his favourite outlets El Mundo and El Pais for example?
https://www.elmundo.es/deportes/futbol/primera-division.html
https://elpais.com/noticias/futbol/
That's strange, both media even quote Tebas' caretaker and cleaning woman in the Negreira case, but didn't publish anything on it? All I can find in yesterday's news is Ceferin also opening an investigation.
This has to be a coincidence, because there is no Tebas driven agenda against Barca!
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You don't have to listen to it if you don't like it and nobody is forced to believe his words (I don't have to believe him either). I found it relevant because he speaks with relevant knowledge of the facts given his former position in the club
Yes, you can see it here:
That is in a piece of news where Ceferin says the situation is extremely serious.
https://elpais.com/deportes/2023-04...a-la-situacion-es-excepcionalmente-grave.html
I cannot check every news because I am not a subscriber.
PS: this "everyone is against me" strategy from Barcelona is not going to work. The focus is on the payments to Negreira and rightly so.
Above all, he speaks with full hatred of Laporta.
My bad. I missed that one liner inside an anti barca article, that even left out what kind of evidence we're talking about. I just expected them to publish at least an article, given their usual work ethic in publishing every anti barca article and quoting every person no matter how reliable, if they just speak against barca. But then again, among other things Tebas spends a lot of LaLiga's money on media according to Jorge Calabres. One might think his "influence" is paying off.
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It is amusing to insinuate a Tebas conspiracy because his 'two favorite outlets' El Mundo and El Pais didn't report on something.
El Pais and El Mundo are the two largest newspapers in Spain. Like saying 'my two favorite newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.'
El Pais and El Mundo are the two largest newspapers in Spain. Like saying 'my two favorite newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.'
"At first..." well... no...
https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futb...-secret-contreras-citaba-rosell-bartomeu.html
March 23th. They clearly say that it is IMPOSSIBLE that it has nothing to do with Rosell/Bartomeu. That the banks closed decades ago, etc.
This topic was "kind of popular" in media and some newspapers (maybe even you posted about it), and that was the intention, because it should be obvious for LaLiga that it wasn't them.
They had the document for a long time because it is from another case where they are involved, and they should know better than a random twitter user who will post this frantically.
It starts like this...
This week, within the documents that were leaked from the summary of the 'Negreira case', a handwritten note that Josep Contreras, a member for many years of the sports commission of the Barça subsidiary team, kept in his safe, took a great media flight. Contreras, now deceased, wrote down in that note a series of instructions for his family. Today, in his column, Santi Nolla, director of Mundo Deportivo, has revealed the real keys of that note, dismantling the versions that framed it within the 'Negreira case' and that implicated two former presidents and a former employee of the club.
Contreras' document, which bears the name 'Top Secret', reads: "Clause: it is only possible to open it in the event of the greatest misfortune in the world for us",
Probably that part of the document, those words, that look shady and misterious were the reason this was presented to the Prosecutor, they would make noise even it was clear bs. Make noise that something will remain...
I'm correct as I've demonstrated. You are lying as I have demonstrated. Plain and simple. Your problem is probably your pride, I don't know if lack of ability of critical thinking. Basically because I find impossible that somebody does not know the difference between a name and a last name, the difference between 2 and 10. You comment is basically 100% false. Even the smaller details as differentiation between names and last names.
Again, the 2nd part of your comment is idiotic.
Many Barca fans (as myself) think the Tebas FFP was necessary. It has nothing to do with the decisions he has made in the last few years (since the pandemic), which are either bad for LaLiga itself or targeted against Barca (well... Laporta's Barca).
- LaLiga was the only European League who had close to 0 FFP measures regarding the pandemic. Rules were too harsh in LaLiga (unlike any other european leagues) and most of the teams were in a "Barca situation". LaLiga teams had to sell A LOT. The strength of LaLiga declined a lot that year because FFP was barely relaxed. Many teams were under the 1/4 rule and forced to sell good players to be able to sign what they needed (and way cheaper obviously).
- SuperLeague, where Madrid and Barca are also against Tebas. Nothing else to say.
- CVC: Tebas was desperate Madrid and Barca (and Athletic and I think Ibiza) to sign CVC. Bartomeu was going to do it, Laporta avoided it. CVC represents a war between Tebas and Barca, but also Real. Tebas is even more angry with Laporta because he didn't want to sign it, when Bartomeu was happy to do it.
- Since then, Tebas has put all the rocks in the Barca way he could...
For example:
* You could use a % of CVC to improve your squad (signings and salaries), I think 15%.
* Barca used the "levers" (which is basically the same as CVC but with better conditions). LaLiga denied Barca the possibility that they gave the teams who signed CVC.
* LaLiga told in summer that Barca didn't have available FFP. It killed the signing of Azpilicueta for example, who didn't want to wait more. LaLiga recognized last week that Barca did have available FFP.
* LaLiga did the same in winter. However, in this case, LaLiga waited until literally the last day to say that yes, Barca had, in fact, FFP space. It avoided some potential signings (like Amrabat).
* LaLiga has decided that a club cannot sell something and include it as a income to meet the FFP rules (this is directly against "levers", which is just basically selling part of the club, well... part of the future income).
Barca and Real would be very happy to see Tebas leaving, and it has nothing to see with the initial implementation of FFP.
You can read my previous answer if you are interested in the Tebas - Barca(Laporta) and Madrid relationships.
And talking about cultists who should leave the CAF and join Wagner... don't worry, Prigozhin will happily hand you a spot in the front.
I'm explaining above why some Barca fans might changed their mind about Tebas or his FFP.
I don't know about that thread but Levers are basically the same as CVC, which the vast majority of LaLiga teams signed (38/42), but with better conditions.
It was that of selling the club itself. Aside from the obvious case that it is far from ideal (as it is not ideal having a huge debt), I cannot see the problem.
Barcelona fans thinking they can resign Messi 
Nope, you are wrong. It's probably because trite things like "reality" and "facts" obviously have a well-known anti-Barcelona bias that you are so upset and spazzing out about inhumane treatment that includes being held accountable.
It reeks of herrings in here. Red ones.
Yes, selling off every valuable asset, what a credible business is all about. Once they’re in the bottom tier of Spain as an AFC team they’ll be training in the local park and they’ll still have everyone turn out to blame Tebas.
You say this, then immediately change tact in the next sentence and pull apart everything that FFP is meant to stand for.
You're either a paid troll or completely delusional on what Barca have been doing.
Poor little Barcelocas know only to cry and play victim. The are so indoctrinated that they still maintain that what the did isn’t shady. Team of cnuts!
Have nothing against their team. Their fans though, they’d follow Jim Jones.. I mean Laporta to the grave.
I guess you read what I wrote... but did you try to understand what I told?
I support democracy in my country but it does not mean I need to be ok with all the decisions the government makes. Do you know that it is possible, don't you?
So yeah, FFP was necessary, not relaxing it in COVID or changing rules on the fly to target a team is not "necessary" from my point of view. In fact, it goes against what FFP is meant for.
If you think that it is "troll" or "delusional" content... ahammm ok?
I'm not wrong as I proved. You lied plain and straight even in the minimum details. I'm not going to repost but it is there. It is obvious and only your hate and pride prevents you from recognizing it. And since this is an echo chamber with default hate you will be fine.
It is actually very fun to read a Chelsea supporter talking about "reality", "facts" and "bias" when your fanbase have been defending a known corrupt for decades, even after it was fair and square that he wasn't just a corrupt, that he was a supporter with his behavior of a war criminal and a genocide. This has been ongoing even after the war started. So yeah...
It is very sad that you are in a forum of your team and literally more than half of your posts are related to external teams only to insult without any other purpose.
Hardly true when Laporta was already kicked out and he will again. However, you have been defending Abramovich even after the war started.
It is actually more exact to tell that Chelsea fans would follow Abramovich to the grave, you were one step from joining Wagner, and we all know that Prigozhin does not care a lot about the lives of his "comrades". So yeah, supporting russian oligarcs gets you closer to graves
Yes, good business, not like hoping for a corrupt war criminal to burn 100 million euros per year for decades. That is FANTASTIC. Something you cheer on.
Wagner wants the help back btw.
According to this article Barca will have to pay €300k as compensation to Bertomeu's board finantial director, who was improperly sacked by Laporta.
Apparently this guy, Pancho Schröder, ordered an internal investigation in 2016 regarding the payments to Negreira. But that didn't stop them from paying him until 2018 when he stopped being the ref VP.
Apparently this guy, Pancho Schröder, ordered an internal investigation in 2016 regarding the payments to Negreira. But that didn't stop them from paying him until 2018 when he stopped being the ref VP.
Barca fans listing every coincidence that's ever happened in 3..2...1......Once Barça goes belly up, you can become a troll for the Russians. I‘m sure they will love you.I guess you read what I wrote... but did you try to understand what I told?
I support democracy in my country but it does not mean I need to be ok with all the decisions the government makes. Do you know that it is possible, don't you?
So yeah, FFP was necessary, not relaxing it in COVID or changing rules on the fly to target a team is not "necessary" from my point of view. In fact, it goes against what FFP is meant for.
If you think that it is "troll" or "delusional" content... ahammm ok?
I'm not wrong as I proved. You lied plain and straight even in the minimum details. I'm not going to repost but it is there. It is obvious and only your hate and pride prevents you from recognizing it. And since this is an echo chamber with default hate you will be fine.
It is actually very fun to read a Chelsea supporter talking about "reality", "facts" and "bias" when your fanbase have been defending a known corrupt for decades, even after it was fair and square that he wasn't just a corrupt, that he was a supporter with his behavior of a war criminal and a genocide. This has been ongoing even after the war started. So yeah...
It is very sad that you are in a forum of your team and literally more than half of your posts are related to external teams only to insult without any other purpose.
Hardly true when Laporta was already kicked out and he will again. However, you have been defending Abramovich even after the war started.
It is actually more exact to tell that Chelsea fans would follow Abramovich to the grave, you were one step from joining Wagner, and we all know that Prigozhin does not care a lot about the lives of his "comrades". So yeah, supporting russian oligarcs gets you closer to graves
Yes, good business, not like hoping for a corrupt war criminal to burn 100 million euros per year for decades. That is FANTASTIC. Something you cheer on.
Wagner wants the help back btw.
https://www.epe.es/es/deportes/20230410/caso-negreira-sobresueldos-directivos-barca-85677698
The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives
The progress of the investigation dilutes the initial suspicions that the azulgrana club may have bought referees, in favor of the theory that part of the millionaire payments went back to people at the club.
On February 21, a month and a half ago, Joan Laporta broke his silence on the Negreira case, uncovered six days earlier by Cadena Ser. That day, at the Camp Nou, he announced two things: an external investigation and an explanatory press conference on his part. The first of these initiatives is underway. It is assumed. There is still no news on the second, despite the fact that the case has advanced to the point that a Barcelona court has accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.
During all these weeks, in which multiple details of the relationship between Barça and Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 have been known, Laporta has encouraged victimhood and an alleged conspiracy against the club. All this from a sentence that he has turned into the motto of his defense before the public opinion: "Barça has never bought referees".
Proven facts of the Negreira case
It happens, in fact, that the fact that he denies, which at the beginning seemed white and in bottle, is losing followers even in his staunchest enemies. It is evident (because it is proven) that Negreira received money from Barça, that a large part of the services he allegedly provided in exchange (advice and refereeing reports) lack documentary support and that the supplier was in those years vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the RFEF. But the thesis that the money, or part of it, ended up in the pockets of some referees to favor Barça on the field of play is losing strength.
Firstly, because, despite the social pressure to which the collective has been subjected, not a single one of the dozens of First Division referees in those almost two decades has suggested that this practice could exist. Neither by giving their name and surname to a confession nor by doing it anonymously. So far, not a single journalist following the case (and there are a lot of them) has published any information pointing in that direction. And there is not one who has not looked for it. Nor has the Treasury found any evidence in this regard.
The denunciation of Estrada Fernández
Only Xavier Estrada Fernández, Catalan and, therefore, never referee of a Barça match, has broken the unity of the group and it has been, precisely, to denounce Enríquez Negreira in court. His figure and his role in the case continues to generate controversy. The CTA is silent, so is he, and around him theories about who is behind his movement, if there is anyone. There are those who see Barça's hand behind the referee, but it is only a conjecture. Like the one that says he wants to take revenge on the CTA and the RFEF because he knew they would not renew his contract for next season. Then, however, he will be a councilor of the city council of Lleida for ERC if the May elections do not say otherwise.
Nor does it sit well with observers directly concerned with the case that there is a large referee scheme. In a League of 38 referees, they claim, a club would have to buy a large number of referees to ensure a behavior that would be meditatively beneficial to its interests. And maintaining this 'omertà' for so many years borders on the impossible.
Negreira's role in the CTA
And it cannot be overlooked that those who participated in those years in the refereeing profession emphasize that Negreira's role was residual, that he neither participated in the assignment of the referees nor decided on promotions and relegations, since he limited himself only to inform about them to the affected ones. And although this version generates doubts, it is clear that Negreira was a second-rate figure in the refereeing government.
So why did Barça, with four different presidents (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) pay at least 7.2 million euros to Negreira? The thesis that is gaining more strength in recent days, from the analysis of the documentation that the Prosecutor's Office made available to the court, is that the former vice president of the CTA was a vehicle for Barça executives to collect, indirectly from the coffers of the club itself, bonuses in black money. Executives who, by statute, cannot receive a salary from the Barça entity.
The Tax Agency itself, in the report that it transferred to the Prosecutor's Office (and this, in turn, to the judge) already reflected that Negreira withdrew in cash 28% of the money he received from Barça between 2016 and 2018, the period initially investigated. An amount that amounts to 557,871 euros in those years and that the Treasury believes could have been destined to third parties linked to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico de Cataluña, of the Prensa Ibérica group.
The role of Josep Contreras
The role of the late executive Josep Contreras, intermediary and commissioner of the agreements between Barça and Negreira, reinforces this theory. According to this thesis, outlined by the Treasury in its report, the money that came out of Barça's coffers would be shared between him, the former referee and, possibly, those third parties linked to the club. Some of Barça's main detractors are convinced that this was the case.
A priori, this possibility has two weaknesses. A refereeing official seems to be the least suitable person in the world to act as a vehicle to collect a salary in 'b', because in addition to the crimes of this practice, one can easily add the crime of sports corruption, as is happening. If the front man had been someone else, Barça's participation in the next Champions League would not be at risk right now.
The termination of the agreement with Negreira in 2018.
But Negreira could indeed have served as an alibi to justify the amount of those payments internally. "Barça wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against the club, that everything was neutral," he told the Treasury. That would also serve to explain the second weak point of the theory of the overpayments: the suspension of the agreement in 2018. Because if Negreira was no longer vice president of the CTA (Rubiales dismissed him as soon as he became president of the RFEF), paying him to "make everything neutral" ceased to serve as an internal alibi at Barça.
The work of the Guardia Civil, to whom the judge has entrusted the investigation, is now to find proof and evidence to fit the puzzle to discover if, as Laporta and also many of his enemies defend, "Barça has never bought referees". And if any of the directors of those 17 years ended up keeping part of the money that Barça paid to Negreira for reasons that the club has not wanted to talk about.
Maybe in a press conference. One of these months.
The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives
The progress of the investigation dilutes the initial suspicions that the azulgrana club may have bought referees, in favor of the theory that part of the millionaire payments went back to people at the club.
On February 21, a month and a half ago, Joan Laporta broke his silence on the Negreira case, uncovered six days earlier by Cadena Ser. That day, at the Camp Nou, he announced two things: an external investigation and an explanatory press conference on his part. The first of these initiatives is underway. It is assumed. There is still no news on the second, despite the fact that the case has advanced to the point that a Barcelona court has accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.
During all these weeks, in which multiple details of the relationship between Barça and Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 have been known, Laporta has encouraged victimhood and an alleged conspiracy against the club. All this from a sentence that he has turned into the motto of his defense before the public opinion: "Barça has never bought referees".
Proven facts of the Negreira case
It happens, in fact, that the fact that he denies, which at the beginning seemed white and in bottle, is losing followers even in his staunchest enemies. It is evident (because it is proven) that Negreira received money from Barça, that a large part of the services he allegedly provided in exchange (advice and refereeing reports) lack documentary support and that the supplier was in those years vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the RFEF. But the thesis that the money, or part of it, ended up in the pockets of some referees to favor Barça on the field of play is losing strength.
Firstly, because, despite the social pressure to which the collective has been subjected, not a single one of the dozens of First Division referees in those almost two decades has suggested that this practice could exist. Neither by giving their name and surname to a confession nor by doing it anonymously. So far, not a single journalist following the case (and there are a lot of them) has published any information pointing in that direction. And there is not one who has not looked for it. Nor has the Treasury found any evidence in this regard.
The denunciation of Estrada Fernández
Only Xavier Estrada Fernández, Catalan and, therefore, never referee of a Barça match, has broken the unity of the group and it has been, precisely, to denounce Enríquez Negreira in court. His figure and his role in the case continues to generate controversy. The CTA is silent, so is he, and around him theories about who is behind his movement, if there is anyone. There are those who see Barça's hand behind the referee, but it is only a conjecture. Like the one that says he wants to take revenge on the CTA and the RFEF because he knew they would not renew his contract for next season. Then, however, he will be a councilor of the city council of Lleida for ERC if the May elections do not say otherwise.
Nor does it sit well with observers directly concerned with the case that there is a large referee scheme. In a League of 38 referees, they claim, a club would have to buy a large number of referees to ensure a behavior that would be meditatively beneficial to its interests. And maintaining this 'omertà' for so many years borders on the impossible.
Negreira's role in the CTA
And it cannot be overlooked that those who participated in those years in the refereeing profession emphasize that Negreira's role was residual, that he neither participated in the assignment of the referees nor decided on promotions and relegations, since he limited himself only to inform about them to the affected ones. And although this version generates doubts, it is clear that Negreira was a second-rate figure in the refereeing government.
So why did Barça, with four different presidents (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) pay at least 7.2 million euros to Negreira? The thesis that is gaining more strength in recent days, from the analysis of the documentation that the Prosecutor's Office made available to the court, is that the former vice president of the CTA was a vehicle for Barça executives to collect, indirectly from the coffers of the club itself, bonuses in black money. Executives who, by statute, cannot receive a salary from the Barça entity.
The Tax Agency itself, in the report that it transferred to the Prosecutor's Office (and this, in turn, to the judge) already reflected that Negreira withdrew in cash 28% of the money he received from Barça between 2016 and 2018, the period initially investigated. An amount that amounts to 557,871 euros in those years and that the Treasury believes could have been destined to third parties linked to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico de Cataluña, of the Prensa Ibérica group.
The role of Josep Contreras
The role of the late executive Josep Contreras, intermediary and commissioner of the agreements between Barça and Negreira, reinforces this theory. According to this thesis, outlined by the Treasury in its report, the money that came out of Barça's coffers would be shared between him, the former referee and, possibly, those third parties linked to the club. Some of Barça's main detractors are convinced that this was the case.
A priori, this possibility has two weaknesses. A refereeing official seems to be the least suitable person in the world to act as a vehicle to collect a salary in 'b', because in addition to the crimes of this practice, one can easily add the crime of sports corruption, as is happening. If the front man had been someone else, Barça's participation in the next Champions League would not be at risk right now.
The termination of the agreement with Negreira in 2018.
But Negreira could indeed have served as an alibi to justify the amount of those payments internally. "Barça wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against the club, that everything was neutral," he told the Treasury. That would also serve to explain the second weak point of the theory of the overpayments: the suspension of the agreement in 2018. Because if Negreira was no longer vice president of the CTA (Rubiales dismissed him as soon as he became president of the RFEF), paying him to "make everything neutral" ceased to serve as an internal alibi at Barça.
The work of the Guardia Civil, to whom the judge has entrusted the investigation, is now to find proof and evidence to fit the puzzle to discover if, as Laporta and also many of his enemies defend, "Barça has never bought referees". And if any of the directors of those 17 years ended up keeping part of the money that Barça paid to Negreira for reasons that the club has not wanted to talk about.
Maybe in a press conference. One of these months.