Josep Maria Bartomeu has won the FC Barcelona presidential elections with over half (54.6 percent) of the votes cast in his favour. Former president Joan Laporta finished second with 33 percent, Agusti Benedito follows in third with 7 percent, and Toni Freixa fourth with 3.7 percent. With the contest settled, here are some of the early conclusions that can be drawn from results.
1. Preparation trumps improvisation
Bartomeu has been building steadily towards this victory from the moment he chose to call elections in January. Taking advantage of a unique position among the candidates of actually being in power before polls opened, his work came to fruition with late but perfect timing, as he pulled off a flurry of high-profile contract renewals like those of manager Luis Enrique and right-back Dani Alves in his final few days in office.
Laporta's campaign, on the other hand, has often felt improvised. The last of the four aspirants to officially join the race, the final decision on running was a delayed one, as another candidacy member Enric Masip admitted to TV3 on Saturday night that even positive opinion polls in the spring still hadn't fully convinced Laporta to stand. His tardiness may ultimately have been his downfall: the former lawyer often appeared to be relying more on his charisma than on substance.
Bartomeu's success in turning the tide with tricky deals like the Alves renewal gave off a presidential air that plays well to Barca's typically conservative member base, meanwhile.
2. Pragmatism beats romanticism
The result of the election suggests that the contemporary Barca are less "més que un club" and more another club among others, with finances trumping social and political issues in the list of voters' priorities.
Laporta's campaign placed a great deal of focus on rejecting the presence of Qatar as shirt sponsor, while Bartomeu argued that they were the most viable option financially, the release of a club audit on July 15th which revealed a €15m profit from 2014-15 certainly helping him to get that message across.
The polls don't lie, and if Bartomeu represents a continuation with the current highest bidder wins approach to shirt sponsorship, and Laporta, a return to the more romantic idea of the likes of UNICEF on the front of the kit, then the former ideology clearly won.
3. Trophies talk
It is impossible to overstate the role the Barcelona first team's success last season played in Bartomeu's victory. Opinion polls from as late as March suggested he would only claim in the region of 27 percent of votes, a combination of issues like the club's transfer ban, the Neymar contract saga, and the decline of academy teams contributing to dissatisfaction among members. At that stage, the common wisdom was that Laporta would stroll to victory. Then, Barca won the treble.
A Catalan phrase heard in many variants in recent weeks sums the change in mood up: quan la pilota entra, millor no fer-nos mal which means "when the ball crosses the line, it's better not to hurt ourselves." In other words if it isn't broken, don't try to fix it, and a team that wins every trophy available to it is, in the eyes of many, in no need of repair.
Exit polls suggest that the majority of Bartomeu's vote came from the older age groups, and if we follow the logic that the older you are, the more conservative you are, it's not a huge surprise that they have opted to stick with a leadership that gave them three trophies to celebrate this year. Long-term issues like the still-ongoing Neymar case were not strong enough to sway opinions; voters have opted for the here and now.
4. Bartomeu's mandate now unquestionable
It's worth remembering that despite Bartomeu now becoming president for the second time, this is the first time he has actually been elected to the post, having previously entered the position following the resignation of predecessor Sandro Rosell.
Proposal for the interior of the new Camp Nou #fcblive pic.twitter.com/Wz1f6swiG2
- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 20, 2014
Now fully endorsed by club members at the polls, Bartomeu has the mandate to push forward with flagship programs like the €600m reform of the Camp Nou. While the project was approved in a referendum in April 2014, Benedito promised to suspend it if he was elected president and Laporta called it a farce, suggesting that the naming rights are already lined up for Qatar.
The scare stories clearly weren't enough to sway members: Bartomeu has been elected, construction will begin, and the other candidates must accept that he has the right to do so.