The embattled president of FC Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu has written a letter to Pere Aragones, the vice-president of Catalonia pleading for delay in holding a referendum that could spell doom for his board.

Although Bartomeu denied knowledge of the letter, it has however been leaked on the internet.

In it, the Barcelona president asked the official to delay the referendum because it puts at risk the health of the club members.

Sports Villages Square via Tribuna.com present the most important parts of the letter.

“Honourable sir,

“I see myself again in the obligation to address you, driven by the exceptional health situation in our country, and it has become clear that the pandemic is worsening as the Council of Ministers of the Government of Spain has declared the state of alarm in accordance with the provisions of the Royal Decree. Indeed, from the moment the No Confidence Voting Board notified our Board of Directors of the fulfilment of the requirements for holding the corresponding vote, our Club has wanted to comply with the statutory mandate of our proposed protocol to be able to carry the voting in a decentralized way with the maximum health guarantees for both our group of club members, as well as four our more than 300 workers who will have to carry the operation of the two days of voting through their presence.

“FC Barcelona has an electoral census made up of 110,000 members to whom our Board of Directors must guarantee without exception the full exercise of their right to vote regardless of their place of residence, and for this reason, it was proposed at first a voting protocol that forced us to carry out large planning with logistical and organizational complexity to design 21 polling stations.

“Despite the club’s effort in designing a decentralized voting process, the delay of one week of the visa of the said protocol and the aggravation of the situation forces us to redefine the plan and vote in a single venue, at our stadium, given the material impossibility of obtaining the necessary authorizations for the proposals which, with the latest measures adopted by the various administrations involved, is simply impossible.

“If to the insurmountable geographical difficulties, we add the particular configuration of our electorate, with an average age of 58, with more than 40,000 members who are over 60 years old or with some kind of functional diversity, making it difficult to exercise their right to vote autonomously and independently, the difficulties guaranteeing the right to vote for our entire census are endless, but nevertheless, for our Board of Directors, our main concern is to avoid any action that may put at risk these groups in the face of the infectious virus.

“In this new context, our responsibility and the gravity of the situation requires us to return to the Government, and in this case to its highest official, to consult you again, given the new legal framework established with the declaration of the state of alar, if to date the appropriate conditions are given and with sufficient regulatory and health security to convene and carry out the act of the vote of censure on November 2, and in this case, given the impossibility of decentralizing the voting in 21 venues, to carry it out in a sing venue at our stadium.

“I have convened a meeting of our Board of Directors tomorrow, extraordinary and urgent, and given the importance of your answer to the present, I am obliged to state that we will consider interrupting the calculation of the term that our statutes indicate for the convening and subsequent voting of the motion when a decision in this regard arrives from the government.

“At a time of great decisions and great responsibilities for all, because we risk the lives and well-being of many people, our Entity has always been by the side of the country’s institutions in a loyal and committed way, and we will continue to be so, protecting the public and adding twists and turns in this terrible fight against the pandemic.

“Waiting for the answer to our request, I remain at your disposal for what you deem opportune and offering you once again all our predisposition and collaboration.

“Josep Maria Bartomeu I Floreta“