Jan's outburst and Victor's level-headedness

BarcelonaOver the last five years, Joan Laporta has become accustomed to being applauded. He entered the village At the Godó tournament, the children of wealthy families applauded him. He walked into a summer party on the Costa Brava, and everyone was taking selfies. He's ended up atop a bull at Mercabarna and on a tractor, he's sung with the gypsies of Gràcia, and he's made macaroni. Many of those applauding him today are the same ones who sneered at him some 10 years ago. Back then, they said Jan wasn't the same as before, that he didn't know what to do with his life after not shining much as a politician. Laporta seemed like a thing of the past, but he was destined to return as Barça president in the 2021 elections.

These past five years, Víctor Font hasn't stood still. Aware that many still didn't know him, he's been constantly on the go. Meetings, gatherings, dinners... He has won the support of many familiar faces in the Barcelona fanbase, from Xavi Hernández to Evarist Murtra. While Jan has paraded triumphantly, Víctor has been building a project to try and dethrone him.

Laporta and Font could have forged a path together, since their starting point years ago was similar: being critical of Josep Lluís Núñez and wanting to modernize the club. But the ten-year age difference has separated them. Font looked with admiration at those jovial, well-groomed businessmen who, in 2003, wanted to modernize Barça. What an era. Ronaldinho, UNICEF, and later, Pep Guardiola. That Barça of virtuous cycles evolved into Laporta's Barça. The executives with whom Font felt closest, such as Marc Ingla and Ferran Soriano (all three were partners in the consulting firm Cluster Consulting), distanced themselves, furious. And Font, who was on his way to Dubai with Delta Partners, went from being an admirer of Laporta to opposing him. The best stories are often these, where love turns to rivalry, where you attack those you once admired.

Twenty-three years after those famous 2003 elections, Font has adopted many of the ideas that Laporta championed back then: a modern, professional club that brings together talent and is less presidential. But Laporta seems to have become something of what he criticized in Núñez, with that club in his own hands. Fate has brought them together until today, when they find themselves in the center of the election ring. On one side, the old champion, the heavyweight of oratory, the president who, when he speaks, seems like a kind of Muhammad Ali with sky-high self-esteem, for whom the possibility of losing is unthinkable. On the other side, the challenger, the cold and calculating businessman who has been building a project with quiet, constant work, learning to take blows and to deliver them, in order to have a chance today with this wave of "change" that he sees as unstoppable. Laporta, for his part, believes that at most this wave will wet his feet. But it won't knock him down.

Laporta and Font: two styles, one country

Two opposing styles for the country itself. Like it or not, Catalonia is a land of debates and entrenched positions. We are the land of judgment and impetuousness, an expression we always use as if both qualities were intertwined, when that isn't always the case. Jan is impetuous, and Víctor, the man of reason. And sometimes it seems that one has everything the other lacks. For years now, everyone has understood that Laporta is a man of action. Many of his voters trust him based on gut feelings and emotional responses. Laporta makes a sausage, and many laugh. If Font made one, he would seem out of place. Jan is the man who knew how to navigate the meetings where anti-Nuñism was organized in the 1990s, eventually becoming its figurehead.

Laporta was touted as the Catalan Kennedy, but in his first year in office, he already wanted to visit the William Wallace monument in Scotland before a Celtic-Barça match. He's a warrior who buried the Nuñista faction to take the throne and usher in the Laportista era. This move hasn't pleased many of Catalonia's elite, who see Jan cozying up to foreign businessmen who were previously unknown to them. The key to Laportista's return is precisely Jan. Things that might seem inconsistent are normal in his world of personal relationships. He sees no problem with it being a Catalanist club, but he's in charge. Much like a Francoist, like his former brother-in-lawHe's fine with having more debt if the ball goes in. He saves Barça with his own style, which is nothing like what they'd teach you in business school, but it works and thrills thousands of Barça fans. If there's one thing Laporta knows how to do, it's to stir emotions. How will they finally pay for the stadium and build the future Palau? We'll figure it out. His triumphant Barça is about winning titles and having passion.

Font represents sanity. And that's why he's convinced several Catalan businessmen. When he was in Dubai, he was already dreaming of coming home. He doesn't hide his pro-independence stance, and he's still a shareholder in ARA. He's seen how many people have told him he has a good project, but that without Jan's charisma, he has no chance. "He's a better debater, Víctor," they told him. "Do you mean you have to run?" they warned him. But Font has never hesitated. He's persistent and stubborn. He's been taking notes, improving his one-on-one skills, trying to distance himself from the image of a businessman "who hides behind a computer," as Laporta criticizes him.

In fact, they both end up criticizing each other for things that could be considered virtues. Laporta's ability to navigate the offices where world football is managed, filled with men with enormous egos, is an asset. And now it turns out that being successful in business, ambitious, and methodical like Font is a flaw. In these exchanges, it's clear that by combining the good points of both, Barça would come out on top. But the differences are too great. The club models they defend are diametrically opposed: Laporta's, where he and his friends call the shots, versus a more professional model, one that isn't so dependent on the president.

However, Font has understood that, whether he likes it or not, the members need to be reached in a different way. In these elections, he's tied his scarf around his neck, surrounded himself with the young supporters from the stands, who have become one of the pillars of anti-Laporta sentiment until Laporta, in another about-face, allowed them back into the stadium coinciding with the election period. It's been one of the latest twists in this Barça cold war that has been escalating until these polarized elections. Blessed club, which allows for opposing visions, debate, and voting. May it last for many years.