The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has made a surprise about-turn over his support for the candidates in the running to replace him when he steps down in June (read article in Castilian here, La Vanguardia). Although the official campaign for the presidential elections isn’t due to start until May, six pre-candidates have already come forward to announce their interest in running for the post, several of them current members of the Barça board. Until yesterday, Laporta had thrown his weight behind current vice-president of the sports club, Alfons Godall, as a ‘continuation’ candidate. However, during discussions at the weekend, Godall told Laporta that he was unsure of the success of his campaign and as such wanted to make an agreement with another pre-candidate Ferran Soriano, the president of Spanair, whose opinion poll showings are significantly better than Godall’s, news that Laporta did not take positively. The Barça president met yesterday with part of the FC Barcelona board where he tried to convince other members to lead a ‘continuation’ campaign, but none of them wished to take up the baton. Therefore, Laporta has now openly come out in support of another pre-candidate from the current Barça board, Jaume Ferrer, despite the fact that Laporta had in the past tried to convince Ferrer not to run in the campaign as it would mean splitting the vote of those who want a continuation of Laporta’s regime. Godall is said to have stepped down from participating in the elections, but it remains to be seen whether those who would have supported him, both amongst the public and the FC Barcelona board, will change their support to Jaume Ferrer.