“Rafael Verduga is the person most likely to be a candidate” for the president of Barcelona SC, Carlos Alfaro Moreno, head of the Canarian institution, said on April 14, as a way to practically make official what he has been repeating for several months. : will not seek re-election in next October’s elections.

Alfaro Moreno hinted that the candidate would be Verduga, the current finance vice president, last February when he said: “This administration deserves continuity. It does not go through its own name, we have already discussed that in the directory. There are very capable people.” And he added the following about the topic: “A potential candidate will emerge from this administration (directory) who will continue on a better path, because we are already on our way.”

Verduga claims that he has “received a lot of support from his partners”, but says he prefers to “wait” for the final confirmation. However, everything points to the fact that he will be a candidate for the ruling party, and as a virtual candidate, he is the only one of the others who is thinking about running for office who is in office in the club.

EL UNIVERSO spoke to the manager and in this first part of the conversation he explains why he would like to preside over an entity for which auditor PKF said “there is significant uncertainty about the club’s ability to continue as a business entity or a going concern”. because he has liabilities of several million dollars. Verduga, a businessman from Guayaquil, refuses to be “demonized” for lending money to Barcelona SC.

This 2023 is an election year in Barcelona SC and President Carlos Alfaro Moreno has said that you will be his replacement if he wins the election. Can it be said that you are already a candidate?

We have to wait. This is a topic we discussed internally. We want the continuity of this project because the foundations have been laid for us to have an organized club. In that aspect, there was talk of candidacy, but until the election process begins, we cannot talk about candidacy.

But are you seriously considering applying?

Yes, we analyzed it internally at the club. We are getting the support of our colleagues on the board, the president (Alfaro Moreno) and we hope that when the election process starts, we can make any issue official.

Why should Barcelona SC members vote for you?

I would like to discuss this issue when the election process starts, when we will present the project. In the meantime, we are focused on ending this period as orderly as possible.

According to the conclusions of PKF auditors, in the examination with a cut-off until September 30, 2019, “there is significant uncertainty about the ability of the club to continue as a going concern or going concern”. Do you still want to be president?

The situation is complicated, we cannot say no. There is a very large liability, but it is a situation that we have managed to deal with, at least in these four years, and the idea is to reduce it. I think we could have reduced it a little more if the pandemic hadn’t happened. With the financial support we have and a resume that allows us access to loans from financial institutions, we can support the work of the team.

As vice president of Barcelona SC, what did you do to reduce liabilities, a topic that has been discussed in several boards?

He was putting things in order. Today we have neat and transparent accounts and members have access to information. This is important in order to know the cost, cash flow; Surely we can do better, but for now we have given an order that the institution has not had before. Now, let’s say, the sponsor’s income is directed to the manager’s account or something like that. Everything goes to club accounts.

When this board of directors took over the management of Barcelona SC, what was the actual responsibility?

Let us remind you that an audit of former presidents was also carried out (it was made by the company PKF, with a deadline of September 30, 2029, and paid for by partners such as Jaime Nebot and former presidents such as Nicolás Romero, José Tamariz and Isidro Romero). It was determined that there was a liability of 50.2 million dollars (according to PKF the correct figure was 51,624,789 dollars). As of December 2022, the debt is $46.9 million. The financial statements of Barcelona SC are presented to the partners and all liabilities are recorded there.

The leaders who preceded you said that Barcelona SC is a “critically ill patient”, from a financial point of view, what is the health of the club today?

That “sick person” is on the mend because when we came to office we had about 90% of our debts due and it was a real bomb. In this period, we managed to restructure a large part of the liabilities. There are debts that you get out of. When you sit down with the creditor, in most cases we have achieved significant savings by renovating the debt so that we don’t lose business.

Is it true that there are indications that the former leader had 10 million dollars at his disposal without any cover? What do you know about this?

I know what we all know. There is a forensic audit that we have had a look at as well and what I can say is that it is in court. It is in the hands of justice.

Do you think that the leaders who committed irregularities in the club should be held accountable before regular courts?

Yes, because if someone committed a crime, not only in Barcelona SC but anywhere, they should be punished by the court. This brings us to other important issues such as the reform of the statute. We want to incorporate into them that the manager who comes to the club must support any increase in liabilities with personal assets. What is the use of a directive not to raise the responsibility, to reduce it, and some other leadership comes and increases it? You can’t sue the manager because they put us in debt or increased the debt, and that’s why we have to come up with the legal reform we’re proposing.

What do you say to those who call you a club lender?

At that time I lent (money to the club) and that is clear. It’s like someone lending you their credit card and if you use it you have to pay the principal and interest. It’s exactly the same. In the midst of the pandemic, we did not have the sponsorship of our main sponsor, which is a financial institution. We had no income. Barcelona SC is not subject to credit for the amounts it owes; So at that point it was time for someone to go to the bank, and that was me. I made a loan, an operation of the same and I enabled that flow to Barcelona. When the club charged, through sponsorship, it canceled me and I paid the financial institution. It tends to be portrayed in a harmful way, demonized. I am the one who put my signature, my assets and guarantees for the bank to approve the loan. I did it because I took over the position of vice president for finance and it was duly approved by the board of directors, by the shareholders’ meeting. It is very structured and quite clear. If someone needs me to explain it to them more than ten times, I will do it. (D)