By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer

It is not the change many were hoping for. Josep Maria Bartomeu was re- elected as Barcelona president when the votes were counted on Saturday night, beating former favourite Joan Laporta by a significant margin. But after winning the treble in 2014-15, his most important work starts now.

Laporta had started out as the man to beat in the race for power at the Catalan club, but Bartomeu gained approval for the turnaround last season, when Barca put poor performances in the winter months behind them to secure La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

That changed the course of the campaign and in the end Laporta had his doubts about standing at all. When he swept to power in 2003, Barca were without a major trophy in four years, down in the doldrums and very much in the shadow of fierce rivals Real Madrid.

But not now. Problems off the pitch had blighted Sandro Rosell's reign and when he resigned as president in January 2014, Bartomeu ultimately opted to call early elections due to the disillusion and discontent at Camp Nou.

That calmed the storm and even though Bartomeu has been charged in court for his part in the alleged fiscal fraud surrounding the transfer of Neymar in 2013, positive results on the pitch last season seem to have convinced the socis that he is the right man to steer the club forward for the next six years.


Laporta's campaign was built very much on the possibility of signing Paul Pogba and the close relationship with Lionel Messi. But Barca fans saw the Argentine return to his brilliant best in 2014-15 and, unlike in 2003, there was no need for big-name signings this time around. Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are the best around and Bartomeu's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" policy was enough to win the day.

But Barca pride themselves on being "more than a club" and results on the pitch are only part of that philosophy. The image of Laporta may not be squeaky clean, but his first mandate focused on the values of La Masia, the club's Catalan core and Unicef. It also changed the course of Barca's history as first Frank Rijkaard and later Pep Guardiola brought about their most successful spell ever and, under the Catalan coach, the finest football the fans had witnessed.

Thanks to those firm foundations, the Rosell- Bartomeu era also started well with another Champions League win in 2010-11. However, it has since seen the Blaugrana immersed in legal disputes for fiscal fraud, controversial links to Qatar, a transfer ban and very real claims that they had considered selling Lionel Messi.

It is perhaps surprising that Bartomeu has been re-elected amid all of that controversy, with stats showing that the majority of socis between the ages of 18 and 34 had voted for change and that Bartomeu's popularity was with members mostly over the age of 60.
The treble last season was wonderful, but belongs to Barcelona and not only Bartomeu. And while the 52-year-old does deserve credit for keeping faith in Luis Enrique in January and steering the club through troublesome times last season, the challenge now for the club chief is to restore the values lost along the way since 2010.

Those include ensuring Messi remains at the club for the rest of his career, giving greater emphasis to La Masia, the youth teams and local talent, cutting ties with Qatar when that contract expires in 2016 and avoiding legal issues to take the club forward into a new and exciting era. He may have been in charge when Barca won the treble for an unprecedented second time, but for Bartomeu the hard work starts now.

NJ