Lluís Fernández Alà (Barcelona, 1967) defends that he was the second pre-candidate to announce that he would choose to preside over Barça. That was more than half a year ago. This businessman has been working on his candidacy for a year and, after supporting the no-confidence motion, says he is “optimistic” in this electoral process, starting by passing the signature cut.
He has been working for a year, but for many partners it is still an unknown face.
It is very different to be a pre-candidate than a candidate, that this will give us much more visibility. A year working means making a lot of oil stain. I think that there is no region in Catalonia where we do not have any volunteers. We have about eighty collection points. If the excels we do not fail, I count that we will have a good time cutting signatures. Leftovers.
He will forgive me, but I am amazed at the widespread optimism in almost every candidacy. They will collect signatures in the middle of a pandemic and with the Christmas festivities in the middle.
I give you the reason, it is very complicated. But that’s why we’ve been working for a year. In two months it is impossible to organize all this, to have people everywhere, to talk to opinion groups or to supporters clubs. We have a lot of acceptance. Now, what scares me are the signatures that may be duplicated, so a partner wants to get along with more than one friend …
How would you define your candidacy?
We set ourselves the goal of making a pre-candidacy as if we had to govern Barça, analyzing what was missing and looking for these pieces. A mixture of professionalism and feeling. We are the candidacy that offers total change. In addition to the fact that we are independent, the other candidates, in one way or another, have already been linked to Barça. They are the establishment of the club. We don’t. We consider ourselves the candidacy of the partner. We want the partner to regain prominence. That supporters clubs have a voice in the board, for example. That we can find a solution to every complaint.
Unlike most pre-candidates, you have been announcing names from day one. In many teams this is kept as a state secret.
Many names have already come out these days and on Wednesday we will present the team. But there are some that we will not be able to tell them because they have a contract in force. Like the technical secretary, for example. The idea was to surround myself with people who were prepared to manage a $ 1 billion budget. And there are not so many companies in Catalonia that bill this. At the economic level, we have the former CFO of Inditex. Or the former general manager of Sony, to be in charge of the Barça brand. I have created a very prepared team in each area.
And how has it been done to convince them?
We may not be as good as the media, but we are well known in our industry. I spent five years leading the economic promotion in Sant Cugat and this makes you know many businessmen and executives. Everything has come through my environment and your contacts.
Would you like Leo Messi to continue at Barça?
Messi and Barça are two names that must be linked. I don’t think his time has come yet, he has three years of good football left. He is a prodigy of nature, like Federer with tennis. It may not score you 50 or 60 goals per season, but it will have a lot of impact. I think Messi must lead the transformation we want to make. Every time his performance has gone downhill because he has not had a good team on his side. A shock is needed. You have to see a competitive and winning project. We have already explained part of the project around him and he knows that a man like Albert Benaiges will return. You will like the names you will find in our candidacy.
He says he has talked to his surroundings. What have they told you?
We know he wants to stay. That he wants a winning project, not the mess of recent years.
And is renewing it compatible with the current economic moment?
I agree that your listing should be reviewed. But you have to be alert. There are many players who earn a lot and, with or without them, the Barça brand does not suffer. With Messi, no. If you take out Messi, the brand loses a lot in terms of revenue.
Have you talked to any other players?
We have a list of 32 players we are controlling. We check it almost every day with the technical secretary and we’ve been talking to representatives. But, of course, as a pre-candidate I have the strength I have, which is little. As a candidate I will have a little more. And when he wins the election …
What would you do with Koeman?
We already said that our bet was Garcia Pimienta. We did not understand that Setión was signed with Pimi in the branch. Now there’s Koeman, who we really like to bet on the nursery and young people. It remains to be seen if your project works. If not, Garcia Pimienta is an option, although we are also looking at other coaches.
Do you defend the cruyffista game model?
I don’t think one should be a Taliban with the system or giving up on things like counterattack goals. But yes, I defend the position game, the dominance of the ball, the game that has made us great. What is needed is to maintain this idea and evolve it, as Rijkaard and Guardiola did in their day.
Do you already have a bank guarantee?
He is ready. It’s one of the first things we did and we got it because of the seriousness of the project. If we win the election, we will be able to present it on the second day.
Will you want to lift the carpets?
Mismanagement is different from fraudulent management. We will try to get as far away from the courts as possible, because it is always bad news to have to go there. But it is a subject that must be studied very well.
How long do you think it will take for Barça to aspire to the trebles again?
The first is for Barça to be Barça again. People are disenchanted. Passion needs to be regained. And also, and very importantly, to regain weight in the institutions, which has been lost in recent years. At the sporting level? The partner must be asked for patience. It will be difficult to reverse the situation in a year.
But do you think that the Barça member has patience?
I make the same parallelism as the 2003 season. The results were hard to come by but people were patient because it looked like things were being done to get the club back. That there was a winning project behind it. We carry this and we know the partner will have patience. But it won’t be eternal, obviously.
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