September 14 – With the crisis over whether Lionel Messsi is staying or leaving resolved, the club have moved on to the next personnel issue and whether president Josep Maria Bartomeu will stay on, setting 20 and 21 March 2021 as the election date for the club presidency.
President since 2014, Bartomeu has this month faced a campaign by Barcelona fans and members attempting to force a vote of no confidence. The presidential election will be conducted throughout the week due to Covid health issues and postal votes will be allowed.
In a club statement it was also announced that the Ordinary General Assembly of Delegate Members has been set for October 25 – the day Barca play Real Madrid – though if the safety of attendees could not be guaranteed then the meeting will be adjourned until their safety can be guaranteed.
In the same statement Barca also confirmed that it expected a reduction by about 30% in income budgeted for the 2019-2020 season – a drop of about €315 million on the original, pre coronavirus, forecast of just over €1 billion.
“The Board has assessed the set of measures proposed by the Covid-19 Commission to adjust and balance the budget for the 2020-21 season to the loss of revenue caused by the pandemic,” said the statement.
The club had already cut player wages by 70% and is re-budgeting “based on the assumption that club activity should start returning to normal around the start of the coming year.” This will involve cuts to take account of the accrued losses from the Covid pandemic’
“These measures are in addition to those that the club already implemented at the outset of the pandemic, in order to maximise savings to minimise losses due to the lack of revenue in the final quarter of the 2019-20 season,” said the club.
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