Barcelona members request censure motion against board

The crisis at Barcelona over its poor season deepened Friday as two club members launched a censure motion against the management of the Spanish club that seeks the ouster of is president, Joan Laporta, and his board of directors.

Oriol Giralt Gili and Christian Castellvi Clement delivered a written warning to the board informing them that they had begun the process to request a censure motion, essentially a vote of no confidence, against the board, the club said on its website.

The move comes one day after Laporta announced that reserve team coach Pep Guardiola, a former player, will take over from Frank Rijkaard at the end of the season, the club's second without any silverware.

Barcelona were eliminated in the Champions League semi-final by Manchester United and trail Real Madrid in the Spanish league by 17 points in third place with two games remaining after losing 4-1 to the new champions on Wednesday.

The defeat means the Catalan side will miss out on automatic qualification for the Champions League since they will not be able to finish any higher than third in the Spanish league which has just two rounds remaining.

“More than ever, a censure motion is necessary,” Gili told reporters as he went into Barcelona's headquarters, the Internet edition of El Mundo reported.

Barcelona's club statutes allow for a motion of censure to be officially put in place if five percent of the club's members who qualify as voters — adults who have been members for more than one year — sign a petition.

The club has roughly 117,000 members with voting rights, meaning the petition will need to gather the signatures of around 6,000 members.