The candidate for the last Barça elections, Víctor Font, who lost to John Laportawas one of the objectives of the management team of Joseph Maria Bartomeu, who did not hesitate to use the media and social networks to discredit him, according to the latest report from the Mossos delivered in the Barcelona court that instructs ‘Barçagate’ on alleged corruption. One of the main promoters was Òscar Grau, who was CEO of the Barça club. The evidence appears in one of the sections of the police report that implicates the former head of the Barça club advisor, Román Gómez Ponti, Grau and Bartomeu himself in the leak to the press of the Messi and Piqué contracts published by El World.
The researchers reflect in their report some conversations between former directors and former executives of Barcelona. In one of them, dated May 14, 2020, Grau, who was CEO of Barcelona, sent a piece of news to Pere Jansà, then head of the social area and director of communication with Sandro Rosell, about the Font de implement an electronic voting system facing the elections for the presidency of the entity and the economic problems of a company specialized in it. Jansà answers: “Have a nice day, Oscar. Yes, from the first hour that we are with this topic. I have already done a little work on the networks”. And she sends him examples of messages that mock Font’s intention reproduced sent on social networks by strange Twitter accounts, such as ‘VinagreFCB’ or ‘Lego Messi.
Grau, however, and always according to the Mossos report, wants more and writes: “Let’s see if communication moves him in the media”. That is, that the news can leak to the press. A few minutes later, that club worker reflects on the lack of a communication director, in reference to Jaume Masferrer, who had been temporarily removed pending the ‘forensic’ report on the contracts with companies that were dedicated to monitoring the social networks and that allegedly had been used to vilify opponents of Bartomeu’s board and team players.
complicity of journalists
“With the management of these things is when the dircom (director of communication) is missing the most. These are issues that have to be dealt with strategically, preparing the story with the journalists who have to broadcast it and with the appropriate complicity. If not, the only thing we will have, hopefully, is for the news to appear and that’s enough”, writes the same head of the area.
In parallel to this conversation, the Mossos have located more messages in another group in which several members of the communication team and Òscar Grau participate, where the same news is shared again. The CEO of the club relates: “Let’s press hard to discredit Víctor Font”. And repeat: “Press: gasss”. Next, she sends the messages on the social networks that the area manager had previously sent her in the other conversation.
The Generalitat police remember that Víctor Font was the subject of various reports prepared by the Nicestream Group, investigated in ‘Barçagate’, with a search and information linked to his person as a candidate for the presidency of FC Barcelona. The researchers point out that it was the first report released by Cadena Ser and that it gave rise to the Barça entity commissioning PwC an opinion on the contracts for this group. “One observes a clear intention to work in the networks against a possible candidate for the presidency of FC Barcelona” to achieve a “backlash” against his candidacy.
