Barcelona power struggle amid coronavirus shutdown as president Bartomeu wants to remove four board members

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu wants to remove four board members in a power struggle at the Catalan club amid the shutdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

Bartomeu has asked vice presidents Emili Rousaud and Enrique Tombas to step down and is also ready to dispense with two more directors, Silvio Elias and Josep Pont, Standard Sport understands.

These latest developments follow a series of problems with the board at Barca this season and friction with the players on a number of occasions, most recently in a statement from the squad announcing wage cuts of 70 per cent but accusing the club of leaking false information to the media.

Internally, there were divisions surrounding the dismissal of Ernesto Valverde, with several directors believing the former coach should have been sacked in the summer, and also after the social media scandal in which it was claimed Barca had paid for online posts to protect Bartomeu and criticise other figures, including Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.

Rousand admits he was very critical of that situation and believes that is behind Bartomeu's desire to relieve him of his duties, despite the fact he had been earmarked as a possible presidential candidate for the current board in next year's elections.

“Bartomeu called me and told me he wanted a remodelling of the board and that he had distrust for some directors, including me," he told Cadena SER. "He told me there were leaks which annoyed the players and which placed in doubt the work of the executives."

Barca are owned by their members and club statutes mean he and the other directors cannot be dismissed, but can be demoted or have their positions changed within the hierarchy. In that scenario, Rousand and Tombas would no longer be vice presidents.

"The manner doesn't seem correct to me," Rousand added. "I want to reflect, with calm. I haven't done anything to deserve this treatment. It's fair that Bartomeu wants people he can trust and who won't argue at all, but this is not the way to go about it, in the middle of confinement."

Bartomeu succeeded Sandro Rosell as Barca president in 2014 and won the elections the following year after Luis Enrique's side claimed the treble. His mandate ends next year, when he will be unable to stand for another term as club chief.

"In that famous informal meeting we had in a restaurant in Sant Just, we explored the possibility of moving the elections forward," Rousand revealed. "But we never asked for the president to step down.

"There was a debate between different members of the board. The president said 'we will would do whatever you decide' and even though the majority were in favour of moving the elections forward, in the end nothing happened."

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