Barcelona chief exec Ferran Reverter has laid bare the club's financial woes and past suspect practices in a due diligence presentation today.
Reverter's presentation was a commitment made by president Joan Laporta before winning the club's election earlier this year.
He revealed, "This is an exercise in transparency. It was a compromise of Joan Laporta when he came to power. Many of you may have thought that this due diligence has taken a long time to complete. The reason, it has been quite difficult to find documentation.
"In recent years, when people left the club, after 90 days all documents were erased. In addition, they did not use laptops from the club, but personal ones. On the other hand, emails were sent, but they were diverted to personal emails.
“We have found a negative net worth. If it were a corporation, it would be cause for dissolution. We found zero operating cash flows so we had difficulty paying payroll. Debt and future commitments were 1,350 million euros, so we had to do an urgent refinancing."
Reverter also revealed huge salaries, transfer fees and commissions paid by the past board were a major reason for the club's debt.
He continued: "The causes of the economic situation: the new players (three of the five most expensive in history) increase salary and amortization. New contracts and renewals, with rising salaries. New concepts and remunerations, such as loyalty bonuses, end-of-contract bonuses ... And commissions for non-habitual intermediaries. The normal thing is a commission of 5% to 10%. They were giving 33%."
Amongst the revelations from Reverter were also payments to members of the media: "There have been unjustified payments to journalists who have come from the club and from the Confederación de Peñas."
Significantly, Reverter also insisted: “This board is very clear that conversion to a SAD is not on the agenda. We have a reliable plan that financial institutions buy from us. It is a deep exercise, they are drastic decisions and we are taking them. We will continue working on it."
