Whenever a side goes for a big spending either to renovate its home ground or for any other area that needs a major overhaul, obstacles come from every corner and many of them also raise the question over the needs of such renovations at the cost of other basic necessities which could have been done with the amount proposed to be spent over the refurbishment. Yes, we are not talking about ‘any’ club for that matter but the Spanish giant Barcelona who has been one of the richest sides to throw away money in any magnitude if it needs to. Recently, Barca think tank decided to increase the sitting capacity of its home ground to somewhere around 105,000 spectators that requires a big investment which could be as high as 600 million euros and if inside reports of the close sources are to be believed, there is also a plan to revise the hospitality services being offered to rich fans at the stadia. One of the key disapprovals is coming from former Barcelona presidential candidate Agusti Benedito who has openly asked for a no-vote over the issue as this would possibly be the biggest lavishness in club history.
Club memorandum says any such decision needs to be agreed by a referendum which should be participated by its socios; hence around 118,578 votes were cast on Saturday. According to Benedito, the proposal lacks professionalism because it does not contain the detailed layout plans of every important aspect of any such extension and in absence of these materialist details, it would be like throwing away millions of dollars which could have otherwise been used for other essentials. The Catalan entrepreneur said, “We are voting for smoke — there is nothing concrete. How are we capable of weighing up 400 million euros on something undefined? It seems impossible to me to make a budget without the technical details. You could also do a reform costing 200 million euros. This is a dangerous blank cheque.
“There is a propaganda campaign, without any debate,” he added. “There is a blatant hiding of information. With the subject of Qatar, we have already seen how they act. (Bosses) deny that the ‘title rights’ are going there, but I do not believe that. Qatar puts into question our model and values. Conversations we have had both here and in Qatar suggest that they are behind this reform.”