Hams, seafood platters or appetizers: Negreira’s gifts to referees with Barcelona’s money

Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira He distributed the money from Barcelona to the judges. In the list of deductible expenses of the Dasnil company, which the Tax Administration, owned by the former vice-president of the Technical Referee Committee (CTA), had access to, the largest part consisted of gifts sent to the first league players, as stated. the newspaper World.

According to documents from the Ministry of Finance, Among other things, Negreira acquired 1,500 red and yellow cards, which he distributed to members of the arbitration body. for which he paid 4460 euros, in addition to hundreds of coins for drawing the field for which he paid 2032 euros.

In addition to this type of gift, Enríquez Negreira also bought hams for the amount of 10,000 eurosas well as Match tickets that you will distribute to your “clients”. As the former vice-president of HUP himself explained to the Tax Administration, these gifts came about due to attention to obligations and that the ticket recipients repeatedly paid him back in money through a courier. Of course, in cases such as the Copa del Rey final, Negreira stated that these were “invitations”.

Another of the gifts that Negreira distributed to the members are beach shovels, umbrellas, cooler bags, corkscrews, toasters, sandwiches… In addition, also He invited various judges to eat in fish restaurants in Madrid and Barcelona. Feasts for which everyone came to pay more than 2000 euros.

“Take good care” of Gil Manzano

Former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, and his son They advised Barcelona in May 2016 to “take good care” of its relationship with referee Jesús Gil Manzanosince he will be directing “important games for multiple seasons” due to his youth and projection.

This is stated in one of the reports on the courses that Negreiras prepared for the Barça club in exchange for millions, according to the summary of the case of alleged sports corruption. A judge tasked the Civil Guard to investigate the “reason or business” for Barça to make the payments to Negreira and his son, after prosecutors accused Barca, Rosello and Bartomeu of reaching an “oral agreement of strict confidentiality” so that the former HTA vice-president is in exchange for money, “performed actions that tended to favor Barcelona in the decisions of the referees” and in the results of the competition.

As the summary states, in one of his reports, prepared in May 2016 on the occasion of the derby between Barcelona and Espanyol, for which Gil Manzano was appointed, Negreiras pointed out that he is the referee “with the greatest projection of Spanish football”, although at that time, despite because he was well regarded, his level was “just good”. “It is also interesting to take care of the club’s relationship with him because of his high level and youth. Many seasons will referee important matches. He is kind, smiling and simple,” the report said.

In the Appendix, Negrerias recommended that, ahead of the derby, he should be treated with “care” and be given a “pleasant arbitration”.. “He has a clean, aesthetic style and is far from authoritarian gestures. He will maintain a serious and distant attitude, judge rigorously”, according to the report, which highlighted his “great personality”. “If a conflict arises, he quickly intervenes to avoid it without losing his cool. he doesn’t like to be touched, and he especially avoids it,” the technical report points out, which also points out that Gil Manzano normally did not argue with the players and that he avoided warnings in the first actions of the match. ,” it can lead him to lose control of the game.

Before applying VAR, report warned Gil Manzano made “penalty mistakes by default”that he was “too strict” with positional offsides and that his assistants made “numerous mistakes” with offsides.

About Mateo Lahoz: “He is better now with Messi”

In another report, Negreiras discussed the species arbitration by Mateu Lahoz, who is noted as “constantly seeking personal treatment with players”, since he “needs to be trusted”, which sometimes led him to “explain too much”. “Keep playing with intensity. He does not hesitate to admonish the simulations. He will not be fooled by simulation, which he warns against, and stops punishing violations if they are excessive. Fighting in that area is usually whistled in favor of the defense,” the report warns.

The Lahoz report also recommends that players monitor all plays “no matter how clear the fouls seem” because they can turn into counterattacks if you don’t whistle them. “It is recommended to play noble but aggressive and commit more fouls than usual,” he pointed out. “He treats every player differently and every footballer should know how to treat him. It’s easy for Jordi Alba to not allow any protest or immediately warn Piqué or Mascherano for tickets. It is also common for him to stop showing fouls on Neymar. He is better now with Messi,” he emphasized.

The summary also contains reports on the course Fernando Teixeira Vitienes -on the occasion of the Barça-Elche match in August 2014- whom he warned that he avoided cautions for attacks or pushing if the game allowed it, that he would not award a penalty if it was not clear and that instead he would not hesitate to warn protests “obviously” gestures towards him or his assistants.

Another of the judges analyzed by the reports was Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, who had to manage Barça away at Deportivo de la Coruña in April 2016, whom he described as “very approachable and easy to deal with people”who devoted himself to “easy whistling” and who emphasized only “what is very clear to him”.

In this report, Negreiras noted that the CTA recently instructed referees to distinguish between natural actions in the game, such as collisions, bounces and accidental hands, and intentional actions, such as tackles, untimely tackles and elbows. , before which they would be “rigorous” until the end of the season.

About the faculty Fernandez Borbalán, Negreiras noted that he was in a good physical and mental moment, which allowed him to “relate calmly” with the players, that he would try to avoid conflicts with the footballers, and that he was otherwise “permissive” with small mistakes, “which harms Barca”.