Barcelona's biggest battle is about to begin - and it won't take place on the pitch

The man known as George in England is the Catalan patron saint and Barça’s players get in on the spirit of the day, buying the ladies in their family a red rose. In return, they hope to receive a book.

Poorly produced footballer hagiographies of which Saint George would have been proud are rushed out to sate the demand for books which every male should be given.

As the weather warms up and the light nights get longer, there’s a feel good factor around Barcelona ahead of Saturday’s derby between Barça and Espanyol.

Barça are flying and favourites to win a fourth European Cup in nine years, the Spanish title and Copa del Rey, their latest fine display came as they outclassed Paris St Germain 5-1 over two quarter-final legs.

Of course not everyone is happy in Catalonia, where impossibly high expectations are continually applied and a failure to win every competition playing exhilarating football brings criticism.

Boss Luis Enrique is doing well in his first season in charge and has the confidence of the fans who sang his name during Saturday’s 2-0 win against Valencia and the victory by the same scoreline over Paris.

Yet one defeat will bring deep criticism and awkward comparisons with Pep Guardiola’s side from cules who forget the barren years before Johan Cruyff arrived at the club.

It was after one such wobble in January following a defeat at Real Sociedad that pressure intensified so much that the club president Josep Maria Bartomeu called an early club election, the date of which is set to be announced imminently but it has to take place before June 15th.

He also dismissed the sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta. Bartomeu did so to “lower the tension at the club right now…because all of this affects the team.”

The president’s decision took the heat off himself and a winning run has ensured that the heat has stayed off. And that’s the problem with most football fans.

Everything else comes second to results and while the democracy and fan ownership long operated by Barça is praised - especially compared to clubs who’ve been saddled with debts as they’ve been taken over by outsiders in highly leveraged buy-outs - the constant shifting plates of power can have an unsettling effect on the club.

An overdue Camp Nou redevelopment slated to begin 2017 could be postponed or cancelled by a new president. The plans involved increasing football’s biggest stadium even more to hold 105,000, plus cladding and covering the whole stadium.

Similar versions have been around for a decade before being ditched by presidents who deem them too expensive and prefer to invest in the quick fixes of first team players instead.

That means their four-year tenure can be judged as a success for what happened on the field, but such short blocks of time make planning for the longer term difficult.

Official campaigning will start six weeks before the election, delighting the sport media who have little else to write about with no World Cup or European championships in June. Candidates – usually around 15 – open their base in the centre of Barcelona, usually from a well-located office or shop front rented on favourable terms. They do all they can to get fans to visit and pander to them – Rosell offered free haircuts and shaves ahead of receiving a record 35,021 votes in 2010.

As they jockey for position amid daily polls, objectivity can be blurred as newspapers go with their preferred candidates and against their rivals. It leaves fans scratching around for ‘the truth’ and can be unsavoury for sponsors of a club with an annual €480 million budget who don’t like their brands associated with scandal and mudslinging, but Barça attempt to keep the two apart.

It’s not always possible. One candidate, Agusti Bendito, who was second and 27,000 votes behind to Sandro Rosell in the 2010 election, has criticised the shirt sponsorship with Qatar Airways which pays Barça €35 million per season. He claims that the state behind the airline, which is owned by the gulf emirate’s royal family, are funding Islamic terrorism and behind ISIS.

It's a strong line, but more moderate Barça fans have been uneasy with their sacred shirt having a sponsor at all. The problem is that it pays the wages of Lionel Messi and leaves enough to pay Luis Suarez’s too.

Another candidate promises to work at bringing Pep Guardiola back to the club when his contract at Bayern Munich expires and blames the past board for letting him go. Guardiola is a Barça socio himself and attended the recent win against Manchester City, not in the presidential box, but sitting next to his dad in seats the family have held for decades.

Bartomeu will stand to be elected president, something of a first for he was elevated to the post after Rosell stepped down to face charges of tax evasion around the transfer of Neymar. That followed other scandals at the club, of which Bartomeu claims he played little part.

Barça’s 160,000 members will be entitled to vote in person at the Camp Nou. They’re also allowed to stand for club president, widely regarded as the most prestigious and high profile job in Catalonia, but candidates must have a security of 15% of the club’s turnover - around €50 million.

That’s beyond the reach of all but a few wealthy or well-connected members with enough time to run the club unpaid. They also need 2,534 signatures from members.

Candidates must build a power base of influence and support, but even now they don’t know who they're up against. Candidates must only confirm six weeks before the election and Joan Laporta, voted president on a promise to bring David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003 (Beckham had no intention of joining Barça, who signed Ronaldinho instead) is expected to stand.

As other candidates press the flesh at supporters’ clubs and build influence, Laporta’s silence has so far only increased expectations around his candidacy.

The lawyer’s successful seven-year tenure as club president saw Barça lift their second and third European Cups, the second after Pep Guardiola, the man he appointed, built an outstanding team dominating European football.

As with many candidates, Laporta courted Johan Cruyff, a man with power but no position at Barça. Cruyff’s blessing gives a significant boost to candidates.

Laporta, who became a pro-Catalan independence politician after leaving Barça, remains popular with fans because his tenure brought them trophies. His pro-independence stance is also popular with match going fans who chant for independence 17 minutes and 14 seconds (Catalonia ‘lost’ ‘independence’ in 1714) into each half of every Barça home game.

A wily operator, he could call on one of his powerful friends to help him stand for election – though he may be pushed getting Guardiola as the coach would get a fine for supporting a non-sporting nature. He’s expecting one after wearing a t-shirt in support of an Argentinian killed during the World Cup in Brazil last year.

Guardiola could even be Barça president himself one day, but for now he’ll let others fight out what’s sure to be a dirty battle.

Unfortunately, Saint George on his charger isn’t on hand to help any of the candidates.