FC Barcelona Joins The Clubs Fighting To Clear Stains Against Their Names

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta’s reply was of little surprise.

In response to the club being hit with corruption charges, the team’s most powerful figure leveled some allegations of his own.

“You can be calm,” the Catalan businessman told FC Barcelona fans directly, “Barça is innocent of the accusations made against it and is the victim of a campaign, that now involves everyone, to harm its honorability.

“It is no surprise, and we will defend Barça and prove that the Club is innocent. Many will be forced to rectify,” he added.

Laporta made the statement after the public prosecutor’s office announced the club, along with two former presidents Sandro Rosell and Jose Maria Bartomeu, was being accused of corruption concerning payments to the former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

“Through presidents Rosell and Jose Maria Bartomeu,” a statement to the local press from the prosecutor’s office said, “Barcelona reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the defendant Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the refereeing committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions aimed at favoring Barcelona in the decision making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and thus in the results of the competitions,”

The sums involved, it is alleged, total more than €7.3 million paid between 2001 and 2018.

It’s not only the prosecutors Barcelona has to worry about, La Liga president Javier Tebas has expressed deep concerns over the scandal and called for Laporta to resign if he was unable to explain the situation adequately.

Meanwhile, bitter rivals Real Madrid said it was ready to join the legal action “when the judge opens it up to the affected parties.”

The denial from FC Barcelona, however, is categoric.

“Barca have never bought referees nor influence,” Laporta said before the charges hit, “that was never the intention and that has to be clear. The facts contradict those that are trying to tell a different story.”

This narrative from the president has been consistent. Laporta has steadfastly maintained innocence whilst simultaneously suggesting there is some greater nefarious scheme at play.

“The recent report that Barca paid a referee for an investigation? It’s not a coincidence that this information comes out now when Barca are doing well,” was his reaction when the story first emerged.

“Anyone who tries to tarnish the history and image of Barcelona will receive a strong response,” he said after Tebas’s comments.

The references to ‘honor’ and ‘image’ demonstrate what must be a deeper frustration for the president that, regardless of the outcome, shedding this scandal entirely will be almost impossible.

He knows that, especially in a social media age where the unfounded smear spreads like wildfire until they are accepted facts in the eyes of the less discerning, such allegations will be used to attack the club for perpetuity.

In the tribalistic world of soccer fandom, and to many extents administration, there is no ‘innocent until proven guilty’ it’s ‘every club for itself.’

Should Laporta need further evidence of this he need only pick up the phone to one of his old executives from his first spell at Barcelona, Ferran Soriano or ex-sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who currently run Manchester City.

Manchester City ‘already sentenced’

When Manchester City was charged by the Premier League earlier this year over allegations relating to financial misconduct manager Pep Guardiola summed up the feeling at the club about whether it would be treated fairly.

“My first thought is that we have already been condemned. We are lucky that we live in a marvelous country that everyone is innocent until proven guilty [but] we didn’t have this opportunity. We were already sentenced,” he told reporters.

It was clear, even a complete acquittal would not alter the damage done by the charges themselves.

As much was admitted by British newspaper journalist Andy Dunn in a column for the Mirror, “In a legal sense, Manchester City CAN clear their name, obviously, but that will not alter the perception in some people’s minds that the club has done something wrong.”

Publicly the club’s stance is similar to Laporta’s. It claims the truth will out and it will be those responsible for the unfair allegations forced to admit they were wrong.

“The club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position. As such, we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all,” its oft-repeated statement read.

Were such events taking place at the Premier League champions and La Liga leaders alone that would be remarkable, but 2023 has also seen the most dominant force in Italian soccer, Juventus fighting a battle to clear its name.

Juventus’s ‘unfair allegations’

In January, Juve was hit with a 15-point deduction and the prospect of further legal sanctions for allegations relating to its financial disclosures.

Stepping up to the mic to defend his team, Juventus Chief Executive Officer Maurizio Scanavino’s messaging had echoes of both City and Barca.

“We believe this sentence is completely unfair,” he said, “We believe we’re in a strong position and we’ll continue down this path.

“It’s not just Juventus and our fans that think this is an unfair ruling. I must also thank the supporters of other clubs, as well as people who’ve been working in football for a long time and famous faces on TV and on social media who have shown that they understand the unfairness and exaggerated nature of these decisions.”

The Italian giant has the additional frustration of hearing the less well-informed mention the current debacle in the same breath as the 2006 Calciopoli scandal-which was about the undue influence and inappropriate relationships with referees and saw the club relegated.

Fighting to clear your name when faced with both the present allegations and historic accusations is even harder than the situation faced by City and Barca.

The obvious conclusion is, ultimately, the sport will suffer from these allegations against its most powerful clubs, but the brutal truth is such scandals rarely diminish interest in the game.

Fans of Real Madrid, Liverpool or Inter Milan will feed off these accusations for decades, but to the casual observer or less tribalistic fan, it blends into the background pretty quickly.

The wounded executives at Barca, City and Juve will be well aware of this too. The soccer news cycle is immediate and all-consuming performances a fortnight early are swallowed up by the ever-developing agenda let alone complex allegations going back years.