The Justice recognizes that Pancho Schröder was unfairly dismissed, but stops his intention to collect the bonuses separately
He was the manager who in 2016 commissioned an investigation into payments to Negreira companies
The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia has sentenced Barcelona Football Club to pay 300,000 euros to Pancho Schröder, who was financial director during the Josep Maria Bartomeu period, but has stopped his claims to collect even greater compensation after being unfairly dismissed just three months after Joan Laporta became president of the club in 2021 The former manager, who in 2016 began an internal investigation within Barça for payments to companies Enriquez Negreirareceived almost half a million euros during his last year in office, as El Periódico de España, from the Prensa Ibérica group, has learned.
According to that sentence to which this newspaper has had access, Schröder was unfairly dismissed on June 18, 2021, and, therefore, Barça must pay him 296,450 euros as compensation.
An amount in which Justice understands that the agreed concepts are recognized, that is, the Fixed annual salary plus 30% of the variable, while the former financial director maintains that the agreed bonuses should also be accounted for to increase that amount. Against the opinion, which confirms a sentence of the Social Court number 32 of Barcelona, there is still room for an appeal for the unification of doctrine before the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court.
Schröder, who for the moment has not achieved his objective of increasing the severance pay for his dismissal, was one of Josep María Bartomeu’s strong men during his six years at the helm of the club and the person in charge of the ‘caja’ of Fútbol Club Barcelona in the years in which the relationship with José María Enríquez Negreira was severed.
He asked to investigate the payments to Negreira
In November 2016, according to ‘Infolibre”, Oscar Grauthe then executive director of Barça, ordered the payment of an invoice to one of the companies in the Negreira case to be halted until he spoke with Albert Soler, Director of Professional Sports. A few days later, Pancho Schröder, in his role as financial director, asked the head of administration for a history of the club’s payments to the three companies linked to number 2 of the referees.
This did not translate, however, into an immediate cessation of the relationship, since Barcelona and Enríquez Negreira did not part ways until 2018, precisely at the moment
In the framework of the investigation of the Negreira case, Pancho Schröder is not one of the executives denounced by the prosecution, but Óscar Grau yes. According to the letter presented at the beginning of March, to the former CEO of the club, that is, CEO, the accusation attributes alleged crimes of corruption between individuals in the sports field, unfair administration and documentary falsification. In total, Grau could face a maximum of 10 years in prison, the same as what happens with Josep María Bartomeu and Albert Soler. For their part, for the crimes attributed to Sandro Rosell and José María Enríquez Negreira, the sentences can reach seven years in prison.
Salary of almost half a million last year
According to that ruling of the First Section of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia to which El Periódico de España has had access, Pancho Schröder’s fixed salary went from 190,000 euros in October 2015, when he was hired, to 220,000 euros in the moment he was fired by Joan Laporta in 2021.
However, the variable and bonus part of the CFO contract was just as important, or sometimes even more so, than the fixed salary. For example, in the year prior to his dismissal, as this newspaper has learned, Schröder received €462,044. Of these, 200,000 euros were for generic bonuses, around 17,400 euros in variable remuneration and another 14,800 euros were justified on his payroll as “retro listing bonus”, which could refer to compensation for the Copa del Rey that he raised Barça in the 2020-2021 season.
The former manager, who is currently president of the Real Club de Golf el Prat de Barcelona, was one of those in charge of launching the search for financing for the project Espai Barça stadium remodeling.
On December 23, 2019, Fútbol Club Barcelona included in Schröder’s contract a three-year bonus of 90,000 euros and a special section dedicated to the new Camp Nou project: 145,200 euros commission when the refinancing structure is approved in the assembly and another 74,800 euros if the 25-year structure was refinanced again after four or five years. Total, an equivalent to an ‘extra’ fixed annual salary of 220,000 euros that this newspaper has not been able to confirm if it was collected or not, since the approval of the assembly to the 1,500 million euros of financing for the Espai Barça did not arrive until four months after his unfair dismissal.
“Sewer Rat”
Schröder is also one of the participants in the WhatsApp group of directors of Josep Maria Bartomeu in which, according to the Mossos d’Esquadra, part of the case was fabricated barçagate that investigates a possible revelation of secrets due to the leaking of the contracts of Leo Messi and Gerard Piqué.
According to this investigation, in this group were the CEO Óscar Grau, the director of Strategy and Innovation Javier Sobrino, the financial director Pancho Schröder and the then head of the legal department of the Fútbol Club Barcelona, Román Gómez, together with the president and other managers. Ponti.
In those chats revealed exclusively by El Periódico de Catalunya, from the Prensa Ibérica group, Ponti dropped the possibility of filtering the contracts of Messi and Piquéwhom he described as a “sewer rat” to the first and “great son of a bitch” to the second among other disqualifying words.