It's not that Joan Laporta drives those who dislike him crazy. Even his own people are asking him to leave. This is the case of Jaume Giró, the trusted man with whom he faced last elections.
48 hours after the electoral victory, Jaume Giró resigned. The Laporta who was now president was a very different person from the candidate he knew, so he left.
Giró was going to be the number two. The strong man of finances, the one in charge of getting Barça back on the right financial track. During the electoral campaign, when there was a debate about the economy, Laporta would send him, his number two.
Jaume Giró: the First Big Lie of Laporta's Second Term
However, Giró left; the CEO left; the general director left; the operations director left.
Now Barça is governed—family-business style—according to the wishes of its president, always applauded and cheered by his group of unconditional supporters.
Jaume Giró was the first big lie of Laporta's second term. To justify his resignation, Laporta said he had found a job in London and couldn't balance it with Barça.
Just a week later, he was appointed councilor of the Government of the Generalitat.The job in London was never heard of again. The truth is that Giró was left with very bad feelings from his 48 hours as Barça's economic vice president.
He expressed this in an article published by Diario Ara:"It won't be long before Barça becomes the laughingstock of the world, if it isn't already."
He strongly criticizes his former friend Joan Laporta: "We're in the hands of tightrope walkers who will soon become clowns," he denounces, while seeing Barça as "a circus."
"The Tightrope Walkers and Jugglers Have Taken over the Company's Direction"
Giró adds: "The nightmare of any comedian in front of an audience is wanting to make them laugh. But there's something even worse: a drama actor who wants to make them cry but instead makes them laugh.
"Barça is starting to look like a club that, entrenched in tragedy, is beginning to stage a farce. It won't be long before Barcelona becomes the laughingstock of the world, if it isn't already.
"If instead of being a soccer club, Barça were a circus, we'd be shocked to see that the jugglers and tightrope walkers have taken over the company's management."
"Convinced of their skills, they apply the same skills to management. They walk on a tightrope without a net, without a stabilizing bar, and, worse, without balance."
"The Current Barça Damages the Image of Catalonia"
"If things continue like this, we'll stop talking about jugglers and start talking about clowns.
The cycle that was once virtuous now points toward an abyss with the remains that won't even make an omelet."
Giró describes the current Barça as "a joke club." He justifies it: "Barça is more than a club, largely because Catalonia is less than a state.
"However, if Barça continues to insist on presenting itself to the world as less than a club, the image of the club and Catalonia will be terribly damaged."