Laporta promises Barca overhaul

Barcelona presidential hopeful Joan Laporta has promised a complete overhaul of the way the club is run if he is elected on June 15.

The charismatic 40-year-old lawyer, a lifelong Barca fan, has caught the imagination with his efforts to sign David Beckham and his positive outlook has helped him to gain ground on favourite Lluis Bassat, who is seen as a more traditional figure.

Laporta has long been an opponent of the way Barca has been run and was the spokesman for the ‘elefant blau‘ – a platform to voice opposition to long-serving president Josep Lluis Nunez – towards the end of the 1990s.

In the 2000 elections Laporta gave his support to Bassat when he stood against former president Joan Gaspart.

But this time round Laporta, who is being backed by Sandro Rosell, the former head of Nike in Spain and South America, has decided to run himself and is looking to capture the support of younger voters by promising change.

Should he lose he has revealed he will have no part in running the club but should he succeed he will ensure that no-one from the Nunez and Gaspart eras remain involved.

Laporta‘s aim is to revolutionise the club and run it along similar lines to Manchester United, hoping to increase revenue through merchandising which he hopes will include an estimated annual £11m (€15.6m) from shirt sponsorship, to finance big money buys.

His objective is to make Barcelona the best team in the world, both on and off the pitch, within three years, starting with five quality signings, including two world stars with massive media profiles this summer.