Messi saga: Campaign to remove Barcelona boss Josep Bartomeu gathers pace
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With Lionel Messi deciding to stay at Barcelona, a campaign has been started to force a vote of no-confidence against club president Josep Maria Bartomeu. ‘Mes que una mocio’ (More than a motion), the group supported by next year’s presidential candidates have started a campaign to oust the Barcelona boss and have gathered already 7.500 signatures.
With Lionel Messi deciding to stay at Barcelona, a campaign has been started to force a vote of no-confidence against club president Josep Maria Bartomeu. ‘Mes que una mocio’ (More than a motion), the group supported by next year’s presidential candidates have started a campaign to oust the Barcelona boss and have gathered already 7.500 signatures.
To successfully trigger the members voting process, the campaign needs to acquire at least 16,520 votes by September 17. If the campaign reaches the target and the vote of no-confidence motion is held then two thirds of the club’s 150,000 members would need to vote against Bartomeu to kick him out of the club and trigger an imminent election.
Notably, Bartomeu cannot stand again for elections as he has served two terms. He has called elections for March 2021, three months ahead of the schedule following Barcelona’s humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in UEFA Champions League in August.
The motion of no-confidence was filed by presidential candidate Jordi Farre on August 26, one day after club’s all-time high scorer and six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi sent the burofax saying he wished to leave the Catalan club.
The Argentinian maestro then on Friday said that he would stay for this season as he didn’t want to drag Barcelona – the club he loves – to the court. Messi went on to say that he was telling the Barca chief that he wants to leave the club since the start of the season but his only mistake was not to say it officially.
Meanwhile, Messi has returned back to training on Monday and has been working on his fitness alone.