Barcelona presidential candidate Victor Font: ‘Flick will be my coach, but Deco will not be my director’ | OneFootball

As the presidential elections approach, uncertainty once again looms in the air of Catalonia as to who will be the club’s next elected representative and leader.

Joan Laporta continues to be a strong favourite after the team’s achievements last season and the improvement under Hansi Flick, but there are several valid reasons to believe that he can be replaced.

After all, Laporta’s tenure has not been all clean either, and competing pre-candidates have all come out to call for a change in the project.

Victor Font, one of Laporta’s biggest competitors and the second most voted candidate of the previous election, spoke on RAC1 (h/t Mundo Deportivo) and explained his project and ideas.

“[It is] the first truly transversal alternative that has been put together,” he began, making a strong statement on what he brings to the table.

On backing Flick

The presidential candidate opened up on the idea of retaining Hansi Flick as the manager should he be voted to power, but stressed that he would not retain Deco as the sporting director.

“Hansi Flick will be my coach, but Deco will not be my sporting director. We will make the structure fit better with Hansi Flick,” he began.

“We will ensure there isn’t a figure like Alejandro Echevarria, who holds no official position yet exerts influence. Deco is a trusted appointment of Laporta and Alejandro Echevarria,” he added on Laporta’s known close aide.

Victor Font intends to get rid of Deco if he is voted as Barça president. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

When asked to reveal his candidate to be the sporting director, Font said: “[I can’t] because he is currently under contract.”

“What we will see in the coming days is a thoroughly worked-out football project. We’ll get to know it next week,” he added. 

The candidate was then asked if it was feasible to work out a presidential change without affecting the manager, to which he responded saying:

“Flick has said that what he wants is stability. Obviously, he’s happy with Laporta because he brought him in, but Pep stayed on with Sandro.”

“What matters to a professional is stability. What Hansi doesn’t want is for Iñigo Martínez to leave a week before the season starts because we need to reduce the wage bill,” he added, taking a dig at Laporta.

On why he must be voted to power

Elaborating on why the members must opt for him to be in charge over Laporta, Font spoke on the need for a new model.

“Members have to choose between a presidentialist model of running the club like in the 1980s and 1990s or a professional management model,” he said. 

“For many years now we’ve had the economic situation we’re in, even during Bartomeu’s era. We’ve now gone five transfer windows without being able to register a single player,” he added.

“We have six women players from the Femeni squad whose renewals we still don’t know if we’ll be able to complete.

“This presidentialism forces us to look for easy money in the Congo or depend on tourists, because they’re not capable of unlocking the potential Barça has,” he argued. 

Taking a swing at the current Barcelona president, Font called out his deficiencies and how he has distanced members from the club.

“With this president, members have never felt more distant from the club.”

Font was critical of the Laporta administration. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

“The supporters’ section is fractured. We’re being told that season tickets will go up by 30%,” he added.

“Members need to understand that continuing with this presidentialism will be synonymous with deception,” he continued, making an effort to win their votes.

He then listed out all the moves under Laporta with which he did not see eye to eye.

“There are thousands of members who don’t agree with paying 50 million euros to a friend to act as an intermediary in the Nike sponsorship.”

“Nor do they agree with a club supplier putting up 350,000 euros to cover directors’ personal expenses, or with being informed via a statement that the telecommunications partner will be the so-called market leader NewEra, which is not a leader in anything.”

He also called out Laporta for the slow work by the company Limak in the Spotify Camp Nou renovations.

“We were told it [Limak] was the fastest and it hasn’t been, that it was the cheapest and we’ve already spent 1.5 billion euros without building the stadium, and how many times have we been told we were at 1-to-1 when it wasn’t true.”

“Now we have an opportunity to choose between a presidentialist way of doing things or turning the page and being proud of Barça legends like Xavi, Messi,” he added.

Laying out his dream project for Barcelona, Font concluded saying,

“I have a dream, which is that Barça continues to belong to its people. This is a very tough road, but I’m going forward with long-term vision and perseverance.”

“Barça is the most beautiful project after the project of independence. I am at the service of the cause,” he added.