Former referee José María Enríquez Negreira threatened FC Barcelona in 2019 in a burofax where he assured the club that "if there is no agreement, all the irregularities will come out", as revealed by the newspaper El Mundo this Friday. The vice president of the Technical Committee of Arbitros thus criticized the club's decision not to continue paying.As La Vanguardia has learned, in addition to this communication, Negreira himself had a conversation with president Josep Maria Bartomeu to convey the same message to him.
The content of the burofax expresses a clear threat to go to court: "I do not profess animosity towards anyone from the club and I have no desire to publicize all the irregularities that I have known and experienced first-hand in relation to anyone from the club. But you (for Bartomeu), will force me to do so if you do not reconsider your decision and comply with the agreement we had to continue counting on my services until the end of the presidential term".
"Dear Mr. Bartomeu
I am sending you this letter after being aware of the response that the Club has sent in relation to the request that you file through my law firm.
My surprise and disappointment has been huge. After all this time together I take it as an absolutely unjustified personal insult.
I have the firm intention of filing a complaint before the Courts, which will surely have negative consequences.
Up to now I have not initiated these actions to, precisely, avoid serious consequences, harboring the hope of reaching a proper understanding in relation to my claim since I do not believe that another scandal will favor the Club, much less Mr. Rosell given that the judicial situation that both he and Mr. Contreras are facing, who is no better off than Mr. Rosell either, given how the latter billed the Club or the latter billed him.
To date and taking into account the reciprocity in the treatment received by you, the rest of today's former presidents and the Club, I have considered that I owed myself to the respect and decorum received. However, his current action towards me, with the injury and prejudice that this entails, unfortunately, frees me from such self-imposed obligation, forcing me to have to involve Mr. Rosell and Mr. Contreras in the legal proceedings that I will initiate to defend , logically my interests and rights that the Club, without decorum or respect, has allowed itself to trample with impunity.
Despite this, and despite being within my right to publicly inform the authority of everything that I know and can prove and that perfectly contextualizes the scenario in which I have moved and related to you and the previous presidents I do not want to pass up the opportunity to reach a fair agreement for both parties and not disproportionately unfair to which the club wants to submit me.
I do not profess hostility towards anyone from the club and I am not willing to publicize all the irregularities that I have known and experienced first-hand in relation to anyone from the club, but you will force me to do so if you do not reconsider your decision and comply with the agreement that we had to continue counting on my services until the end of the presidential mandate. Both you and Mr. Rosell, as vice president and president and vice versa, not to mention more, agreed with me on the agreements that today you intend to break with impunity.
Unfortunately, in the face of such a proposal I cannot sit idly by. My work and services provided to you have been faultless, neither the CNA nor the RFEF can and will not reproach me for anything in this regard.
I ask that we hold a private meeting between the two of us, absolutely confidential, in order to resolve this matter definitively for and for the good of all.
I am waiting for you to summon me in this regard urgently. Otherwise, I will understand that you not only force me but also provoke me to do everything in my power to defend my interests, without regard."
