FC BARCELONA - NEYMAR AFFAIR - ROSELL RESIGNATION

The Spanish news paper the began looking under the FC Barcelona carpet with the Neymar transfer deal, "El Mundo", continues finding dead skeletons & the "problems" for the Club are spreading to the now put new President Bartomeu who is under the microscope as accomplice to ex-President Sandro Rosell. As the newspaper explains the resignation of Sandro Rosell still leaves all the questions without answers. What is assured is that this whole "affair" is going to get hotter & hotter & we will be in for more big surprises.

Meanwhile "El Mundo" puts up today this cartoon to put some humour ( sarcastic ) into the whole affair. I think it depicts well in a very quick way what the issue is:

As you can see "Ricardo" splits up the supposed payments in the Neymar transfer deal. The missing "37,9" - the "other costs" - is the price of the head of ex-President Sandro Rosell in this cartoon. As things come to light those missing 37-40M€ is the money that was paid directly to the Father of Neymar as "commissions".

Some local Football observers are speculating that the transfer price could be as high as 150M€;  a big difference from the official Club statement of 57,1M€

Stay tuned.

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FC BARCELONA PRESIDENT ROSELL RESIGNS - LEAVES THE PRESIDENCY

A few days back a post was uploaded here with the title "NEYMAR TRANSFER COMMISSIONS TIME BOMB | FC BARCELONA PAID 95M€ NOT 57M€ ?". Here was alerted the first signs of possible existing irregularities in the signing of Neymar by FC Barcelona this summer. There are indications of possible undefined commissions with an important difference between the said cost of 57,1M€ & the unofficial cost of more than 95M€ ( some say +120M€).

A FC Barcelona member Mr. Jordi Cases filed a lawsuit against Club President Sandro Rosell & his Directive Team. This lawsuit has been taken up by the Spanish Anti- Corruption Authority under Judge Ruz who sees evidence of possible "wrong doing" & contractual manipulation & will investigate the case.

The above post said that this would have a snow-ball effect & that President Sandro Rosell & his Directives were sitting on a time-bomb awaiting to explode. Well that "time-bomb" has exploded & the shock waves are now shaking Spanish Football & World Soccer.

FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell called a Press Conference this afternoon to announce his resignation as President. Until this moment President Sandro Rosell has kept to the "Official Club Line", that everything concerning the signing of Neymar is legit, transparent, that it´s a Madrid lead "conspiracy plot" & that Neymar cost 57,1M€, he even called onto Judge Ruz to call him as soon as possible to the stand to enable him to "break" contractual confidentiality clauses to explain the whole "reality". The overwhelming evidence that has appeared in recent days goes directly in the opposite direction of what has been said & has forced the Club President to take this drastic decision tonight.  Sandro Rosell leaves with arguments about "outside influences" & pressures on his family, that the Club is above any personal interest.

The decision makes Vice President Bartomeu the new President of FC Barcelona who announced that the Directive Team will continue until 2016.

President Rosell falls from grace partially because he himself dug his own grave by not being transparent to the Club members & media & allowing doubts over the "Neymar Affair" to linger in the air ( as they still do ). Also Rosell has made enemies within the Club & he has sacrificed himself as the "scape goat". Tied in with all this were personality traits that worked against his favour like over confidence & perhaps a lack of humility that would have served him better. I personally have no doubts that there are "Wolfs" within his own team of Directives that went in for the "kill" tonight & left their President wounded to be preyed on by the scavengers. A "dirty lesson" indeed for Sandro Rosell & a reality check on ruthless Football Politics. 

The next coming days, weeks & months will see more news,  & insights will arise from the "Neymar Affair" along with all the back-room manoeuvring & politics. Dark moments at "Camp Barça" which Barça fans hope will not effect their Football Team in Liga, Spanish Cup & Champions League.

Stay tuned, this isn't finished yet!

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NEYMAR TRANSFER COMMISSIONS TIME BOMB | FC BARCELONA PAID 95M€ NOT 57M€ ?

How much did Brazilian player Neymar Jr cost FC Barcelona?

The FC Barcelona President Rosell says 57M€, however other sources put it closer to the 100M€ & Brazilian Club Santos around the 140M€. This discrepancy in the figures has lead a Barça Club member, Mr Jordi Cases to file a law-suit against the FC Barcelona Directives which has been taken up by Spanish Anti-Corruption Judge Ruz who is investigating the issue. The Judge has solicited the Neymar contracts to see if there were irregularities & today Spanish paper "El Mundo" poured more gasoline onto the fire claiming the reality is Neymar cost 95M€ according to their journalistic investigations. The difference between the "official" 57M€ & the 95M€ is apparently due to commissions of all kinds that include:

• helping local favales ( "slum areas")
• Santos players preferences
• Friendly matches between Santos - FC Barcelona
• 10M€ signing bonus 
• 11M€ commissions ( Father of Neymar )
• Publicity 
• & other inventive clauses

In all cases there are no legal clauses that mentions the need to exercise said terms. They just appear on paper as justification for commissions. 

The alarms already sounded earlier last summer when Real Madrid President Florentino Perez was asked by press why Real Madrid did not sign Neymar. The casual reply was that Real Madrid was not prepared to pay around 150M€ for Neymar. This radically contrasted with the said FC Barcelona price of 57M€. Why would a player sign for a Club that offered far less?

The Brazilian Club that "sold" Neymar, Santos, has said via their President Odilio Rodrigues to ESPN that they are considering - along with DIS ( a Brazilian firm which had shares in Neymar ) - going to court after knowing the accusations from Spain that FC Barcelona may have paid commission to the Neymar family outside of their "Club-DIS- agreement". The Brazilian Club sets the transfer price at 140M€ which coincides more or less with the Real Madrid version of the Neymar signing attempt.

FC Barcelona are categorically denying everything & have said that the Neymar transfer deal is totally transparent & cost 57M€. The evidence at this stage seems circumstantial as the Spanish Anti-corruption Authorities continue investigating further to gather solid evidence. Barça claim  a "Madrid based" conspiracy theory lead by the dark forces of Spanish national newspaper "El Mundo" & their satellite interests political in some cases. Whatever the case for now, FC Barcelona is innocent until it is proven.

What is clear however is that this story keeps growing week by week & the opened can keeps spitting out worms. The hidden ghosts in the Barça wardrobe seems to be appearing & scarring many into asking very sensitive questions. How long can this be kept under wraps at Camp Barça? Who knows, but President Sandro Rosell & his Club Directives are sitting on a time bomb about to explode at any moment. The explosion & aftershock could be devastating.

Stay tuned!
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SPANISH FOOTBALL | MATCH FIXING IN LA LIGA ?

Sports betting is a multi-million dollar business. Betting on Football results, goals & what not drives thousands of punters into a betting frenzy every weekend in order to make a quick buck, pound or euro. It seems SPANISH FOOTBALL is not immune to the "side-effects" of a business which operates on the thin line between good & evil. 

Sad to read today that Spanish late-night Sports radio programme from the "Cadena Ser" reported last night that the "Liga Football Professionals" ( LFP ) - Football Clubs Representatives - has reported to the "Anti-corruption Commission" the possibility of "match-fixing" in the later part of " LA LIGA " this season ( with Real Sporting de Gijon mentioned in their match this weekend against Espanyol).

A serious accusation which may need to be investigated by local Authorities & UEFA as it seems - if proven - that the "long shadow" of Sports betting may hang over Spanish Football. With Clubs near bankruptcy, many players not being able to get paid their salary & the economic crisis happening at this moment, the temptation of making a quick euro seems to be enticing to the weak minds & souls of Spanish Football.

As most investigations,  & string pulling, punishment will depend on who & whom is at the end of the string. Having said this, we will keep an eye on developments & of any surprises. 

Already the LFP today has denied any charge - or report - of corruption as announced by the radio station. Real Sporting de Gijon, one of the Clubs accused is threatening to sue the radio station & any media, as they categorical deny being part of any match-fixing action. To defend Gijon they did win Espanyol 3 - 0 which is hard to understand the accusation.

Spanish Football Sport believes in the innocence of any person or institution until proven guilty in a court of law.

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REAL MADRID PRESIDENT RAMON CALDERON RESIGNS

It´s official, its just been announced, REAL MADRID President RAMON
CALDERON has RESIGNED.

After meeting with his Board members this morning, Calderon has seen
that he has no option but to leave the position after the series of
accusations hailed at him which were backed by evidence of:

.Using the Clubs credit cards for personal use
.Allowing persons to jump the waiting lists to gain membership to the Club
(favouritism)
.The selling of tickets & VIP places, outside the normal official channels.
.Inflating transfer of player commissions.
.Placing non-Real Madrid members or members without voting rights in
the Budget Assembly to have them vote & gain the numbers he needed
to have his 2009 Budget approved.

This last accusation was the breaking straw.

He defended himself by saying he knew nothing & did not now the persons
said to have helped him with voting in the December 2008 Budget Assembly.
This proved to be a lie when Sports daily “Marca” published photos of the
“infiltrated” persons with Calderon family members & the President
himself.

The scandal & corruption was of such proportion that Calderon has had
no option but to resign when his Board members threatened to resign in
block. His original idea was to weather the storm, but the backlash has been
so strong that he has had to go.

Calderon will give a press conference this afternoon at 18.00 (Sp.Time) to
give more details. The new President will be VICENTE BOLUDA who
was his Vice – President.

From Barcelona paper "Mundo Deportivo" comes this cartoon from
"KAP" to describe things.

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REAL MADRID PRESIDENT LIKELY TO RESIGN OVER SCANDALS & CORRUPTION

The shit hit the fan & on REAL MADRID President RAMON
CALDERON´s face. The apparent scandals, favourtism & corruption
that have been brought out to the public eye - specially by Spanish Sports
paper "Marca" - is so heavy with evidence that it is speculated that
Calderon will announce tomorrow his resignation from the Presidency.
Having said this, Calderon is still saying he is not moving, unless his
Board force him too, & this is what the press tonight speculate that the
Real Madrid Board will do tomorrow: force it´s President to resign.

Spanish Football & Sports made the comment of the scandals here
a few days ago - go down the posts & see - with serious accusations
of corruption & commissions. However, the straw that broke the camels
back was the voting of the Clubs 2009 Budget last December 2008 were
evidence supports that Calderon & his "men" brought in false non- Real
Madrid members into the Clubs assembly to assure that he won the
voting on for his 2009 Budget. People were seen voting who are not part
of the Club & without rights that allied with Calderon, something he has
denied all this week alleging he does´nt even know them at all.

False! Marca has published photos of the false Real Madrid members
with Calderon family members & with the actual President.
























With the heat burning on his ass, Calderon has called an
extraordinary morning meeting tomorrow of his 12 team directive
Board where media speculate tonight that he will announce his resignation.
Papers like "Marca, AS, El Mundo..." say his own Directive team
has forced the situation threathening to resign in block if he does´nt
go. The fact is that the evidence has mounted up so much that it
makes it nearly impossible for Calderon to stay & a Club of Real
Madrid´s status cannot withstand such scandals any longer.

It´s cited that the current Vice- President VICENTE BOLUDA will
take over & later decide if the current team continues onto the due
election date in 2010, or anticipate the elections for this year.

It is hotly rumoured that ex-President FLORENTINO PEREZ will
run again & try to comeback as the "new messiah". The rumours are
that he & his team have been working in the shadows & say that they
may have tied for next year CRISTIANO RONALDO & /or KAKA.

Deep shit, huge CRISIS at this moment & a more than likely resignation
by President Calderon tomorrow. Stay tuned & see what happens. Will
he stay against all Clubs desires or resign as speculated? Tweet

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