Barcelona 'threatened' by former referee chief over payments | OneFootball

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Barcelona had paid a total of £1.2 million to the former vice-president of the Spanish football referees' committee for alleged 'technical advice' on referees across the league.

The payments were made to a business under Enriquez Negreira's (the former vice-president of the referees' committee) control between 2016-2018, and ended when he left his position within the committee.

GiveMeSport VIDEO OF THE DAY

Play Video

The club admitted to the fact they had maintained a business relationship with Negreira, who they claim served in a consultancy role in order to provide technical advice to the club.

Which isn't entirely unusual, as many clubs will work with former referees to some effect. However, to work with somebody still so influential in the role of officiating in La Liga has undoubtedly raised many concerns from parties across Spain.

LaLiga head, Javier Tebas, announced on Thursday that there could be no action taken by the Spanish league because the offences date back further than three years. Therefore, any action taken would need to be taken up by Spain's public prosecutor - and to get a guilty verdict it would need to be proven further that this relationship actually influenced the outcome of matches.

But in a more recent development, Spanish outlet El Mundo reportedly published a copy of a fax sent to Barcelona by Negreira after they dispensed of his services in 2018.

The fax was served as a threat, in which Negreira threatened to 'publicise all irregularities he has known and experienced first hand at the club' should they refuse to come to an agreement regarding continued payments towards him.

He also added in the fax that 'another scandal would not favour the club'.

According to Cadena Ser Barcelona per the Daily Mail, Barca still pay for advice from former referees. Although they currently only spend £22,000-per-year on the matter rather than the fortune they provided Negreira.