Barcelona president set to speak with the team to clear up the scandal involving the social media company.
Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu is in full damage control as the fallout from yet another stumble by him and the board continues. Cadena Ser revealed that the board hired a company called I3 Ventures to create social media accounts to protect the reputation of the president while at the same time go after the likes of Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.
Barcelona issued a statement denying the report and threatened legal action if a retractment was not issued. Cadena Ser then doubled-down and provided evidence of the non-official Barça accounts the company had created.
📻⚽🚨 EXCLUSIVA @La_SER
— El Larguero (@ellarguero) February 17, 2020
Las pruebas que demuestran que I3 Ventures está detrás de las cuentas no oficiales del Barça
Todos los detalles aquí mismo
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻https://t.co/3aZoQiv8U1
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This time, the club did not issue any type of response. According to Mundo Deportivo, Bartomeu is set to meet with the players and try to convince them that the club had nothing to do with what is being reported.
He might have a hard time convincing them considering the relationship between the club and I3 Ventures exist. In addtion, since the report came out, all the social media accounts created by the company have all been shut down or suspended.
❗️I3 Ventures and NSGroup, websites involved in the Barça scandal, were both deactivated earlier thos evening. [cadena ser] pic.twitter.com/Bl5vBUg8qf
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 17, 2020
The players are not dumb. They know what’s going on and they’ve had to deal with the shortcomings of the current administration ever since Sandro Rosell, and later Bartomeu, were elected presidents. This one might just be the one that broke the camel’s back and it’s not just the players they need to be worried about.
According to Sport, several members of the board are furious with the president because they had no idea of the relationship between the club and I3 Ventures let alone that the company was creating accounts on Twitter and Facebook to disparage current players. They were caught blindsided as the agreement did not go through the proper protocols.
With new information coming out, things are going to get worse before they get better. The stumbles by the board had mostly been quarantined to on the pitch decisions or transfers. Now it involves not only disparaging its own players but trying to influence and destroy candidates set to stand in the upcoming elections.
No amount of damage control is going to change the damage Bartomeu and his inner circle have caused the club. This one goes beyond football and could very well the end of his presidency and a huge stain on an already complicated legacy.