Thread by @Barca_Buzz

Live thread for the press conference where Ferran Reverter (Barça CEO) will show the results of the due diligence made about the situation left by the former board . #fcb

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Reverter: The thing that we will do today is an exercise in transparency that is rarely done in a sports club. The board promised in the campaign to explain to the members the numbers of what has happened these years.

Reverter: Some of you will think that it took a long time. you are right. 90 days after the last board left the emails were deleted. The directors did not have club computers but personal ones where the emails were redirected. The documentation has been hard to find.

Reverter: The Due Diligence is done to know the financial situation of the club in March 2021, when the new board entered. We looked at the contracts and expenses, to better understand how the situation was in March to know the club's commitments to short, medium and long term.

Reverter: We have found a series of activities that we have had to deepen. There were indications, due to lack of documentation, that we have had to go down one more degree. That is why we have made a 'forensic' of espai Barça, department of purchases and player contracts.

Reverter continues: This is done to find signs of something illegal and is then passed to the legal department. This investigation is not over, and we will finish it in the next few weeks and make decisions

Reverter: We found negative equity, if it was an private company it would be in a state of bankruptcy that. We found zero operating cash flows so we had difficulty paying payroll. Debt and future commitments were 1,350 million euros for which we had to make an urgent refinancing.

Reverter: "There was also a breach of commitments with banks, ratios of the League, UEFA and others, which limited the registration of players. Also deteriorated facilities that led to a precarious situation at Camp Nou and Ciutat Esporitva.

Reverter continues: The 'Espai Barça' project was undervalued and seriously lacking. And also a lack of governance and internal control that left a club unemployed that in April could not continue operating because there was no cash.

Reverter now explains the evolution in recent years of income, expenses and net result: Operation like Arthur-Pjanic, for example, cost the club about 8.5 million

Reverter: "During this period (2016 to 2020) income grew by 30% and expenses went up by 55%. When Barça had to prepare for the biggest project in its history (Espai Barça), they were already losing money.

Reverter: The club lost money because of four reasons :
1. Salary increase (+ 61%).
2. Management expenses (+ 56%).
3. Financial expenses (x6).
4. Covid impact (108 million

Reverter: "Without the decisions of this board, the salary mass would be 108% of income, that is, 835 million. In four years, with only four players, Barça added a salary mass of 1,400 million euros. More than 300 million euros per season with only four players. "

Reverter added that there is an inverted pyramid with very veteran players with long contracts and young players with one-year contracts, which made negotiations very difficult.

Regarding the increase in expenses, he says that there was no protocol to register suppliers, which generates brutal costs for the club because each registration is a cost. If you have many suppliers it is very difficult to control whether you buy at the best price.

It occurs for two reasons: to avoid control (such as I3Ventures or Espai Barça) and also for an operational issue. When a club is unemployed and the people look for life and try to find another way, which creates more confusion

Reverter: There is an increase in debt between 2017 and March 2021 of more than 500 million that never went through the Assembly.

Reverter: There was a lack of financial planning. We believe that when they signed they did not plan how they could pay. In the case of Griezmann, the same night they signed him they saw that there was no money and that night they looked for a loan which has opening commissions.

The Coutinho operation, which costs 120 million, ends up costing 16.6 more in financial costs. They bought players without knowing if they could pay them

Reverter explains that the Covid-19 affected Barça in 43 million in the 2019-20 season and in 65 million in 9 months of 2021. Television did not have an impact, no less money was entered. In March 2020 the League stopped and eleven games went to the following finaciap season.

Regarding the net financial debt, he says that the club went from 159 million to 673 - increased the debt by 514. For two and a half years Barça only generated one million euros to pay for the entire investment, all that was done was on credit

Reverter enters into the conclusion of the Due Diligence: We found a negative net worth and we have made a financial viability plan. Given the zero operating cash flows, we have lowered the sports salary payroll from 155 million in this period.

We have focused on the short term with what we could solve now, when there'still Covid. Regarding debt, we changed the financial structure and changed from short to long. We took a refinance of 595 million at an interest rate of 1.98% in 10 years.

In the face of non-compliance, we have opted for the reduction of the wage bill and bet on the young people of La Masia. It is a decided bet. With the facilities we have started to reactivate the investment to update the facilities

As for Espai Barça, he says that they have redefined the project. They made the Camp Nou but they also have the redefinition of the Palau and the Campus in mind. With the proposal that they are finishing, they want to submit the financing proposal to the Assembly.

Reverter explains the closing of the 20-21 season:

631 million revenue
1,136 million of expenses
-51 million of net financial result.

The Covid impact is 92 million according to the criteria of LaLiga

We owe much more (1482) than we have (259) + what other owe us (772)

Reverter: Barça has had many crises throughout history, but they have always come out ahead. This board has a plan, which investors have accepted, which wants to make Barça continue to be the best club. Barça has We have to continue betting on what has made it great.

La Masia and the style of Barça, we must add sporting excellence and high performance, as well as modernizing our facilities. Espai Barça is crucial for FC Barcelona. And finally seek new income, which we will achieve by focusing on our fans around the world.

We have more than 400 million fans, we are number 1. We have to get to know them and change how we interact with them. All this has to be done with sustainability

Reverter ends up saying that if we do all this we will put Barça back in the place it deserves

Question time begins

ON THE MOOD OF THE BOARD: "I see a lot of serenity in the board, we are making the right decisions. I have said it and emphasized it, we have a very important asset that is the Barça brand, which has more than 122 years of history and belongs to its partners...

...If we work in this direction I have no doubts. When a club like Barça is going to look for money in this situation and they are given it, it is because we have incredible credibility. The price of 1.98% is a reference at a EU level. Several clubs called to see how we did it

ABOUT THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION:
As I have tried to explain, we have detected signs but there was a lack of documentation. The 'forensic' has not finished, I know that there are expectations but the work must be finished. Then we will decide the actions that we want to take

ABOUT THE STRATEGIC PLAN: There are basically three initial pillars. To continue being leaders, sustainable and social. In terms of leaders is Espai Barça, the sports strategy and moving the club from a B2B model to a B2B2T model

ABOUT THE PREVIOUS BOARD:
What I can confirm at the moment is that there was a disastrous board before us. As I have tried to transmit there was no planning. It is what I have tried to transmit. Total improvisation

ABOUT SIGNINGS: 1st we have to do our job. We have done a large part, lowered the wage bill, but we have to keep working. If that happens we will be able to sign star players. Barça has 'Fair Play' and next year if we do our job well, the players we want will be able to come

ABOUT MAKING PROFITS AGAIN: We want to generate profits again next year. At the end of this year. It is complicated because it is a Covid year but we work on different levers. We have made a conservative plan for the opening of the Stadium...

...We calculate that we would open an average of 60% of the Stadium. We estimate that from the fifth year the club will have net equity again. We will generate profits from year one

ABOUT THE ESPAI BARÇA AND ITS COST: It may cost 800 or 950 but the figure will not go much from there. But you have to add Palau with about 300 or 400 million, and then add the Campus, we will go to the Assembly with a maximum limit of 1,500 million euros to accept the credit

ABOUT THE SPONSORS: One would say that it is not the best time to go looking for sponsors but here we are always the most pessimistic. We do not realize the importance of the Barça brand, it is a benchmark in the world...

...The club is not in the best moment, but we have more than 400 million followers and that does not change clubs from one day to the next

ABOUT SIGNING IN WINTER OR RENEWALS: Yes, we can sign and renew. The renewals of Pedri and Ansu Fati are on the right track. The last departure of an important player generates a positive Fair Play of more than 20 million so the Barça could sign if it considers it...

...But the work has not finished and we must continue lowering the wage bill

ABOUT BECOMING AN OWNED CLUB: This board is very clear and they constantly repeat it to me that this is not on their agenda. If we have a plan, and we have one, we can reverse the situation. It is a deep and long project. but we are advancing

ON IF THERE WERE UNJUSTIFIED PAYMENTS TO JOURNALISTS: There have been payments for certain invoices, I would not say unjustified, both from the club and the confederation of penyas. Everything that is invoiced we understand that it is justified

ABOUT THE GOODBYE OF MESSI: First, I will say that I will not speak very deeply about this issue because our president has already spoken. I would say two things. Many people think that we knew reality when we entered but we did not know it...

...We have been learning it month by month, day by day. And then I heard comments on the subject of 'Fair Play'. We are all aware that Messi could not wait until August 31 at night. All this sums up what happened

ABOUT THE FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY: There is a grievance between the La Liga and UEFA. It is important because it hurts Barça a lot when it comes to making signings. LaLiga is much more restrictive than UEFA....

...We compete in Europe and in Spain and I am not saying that it is badly done, I am saying that there should be more consensus

ON THE IMPACT OF MESSI'S GOODBYE: There is no doubt that Messi has been the best player ever. We are monitoring how it can affect us. We followed up in the first weeks with the jerseys. Surprisingly, other jerseys like De Jong or Memphis that we were compensated for by sales...

...The issue of impact will be marked above all by the sponsors. Messi has been very important but the Barça brand is very strong and we intent to keep it that way. Today we are doing well. You have to do your job and bring in the best players. We plan to increase revenue

ABOUT THE SUPERLEAGUE: Two things. In the strategic plan we are quite conservative. The Super League is a thing for the future. For us it is a matter of trying to make a more attractive competition...

...We must reflect on what happened this summer. UEFA is ok with injecting money and that is the opposite of 'Fair Play'. We and LaLiga believe in a more sustainable model. If we continue along this path, the state clubs will be favored and that harms the Barça brand

《End of thread》