Doctor Joan Soler agreed to head this committee and, on 6 May 1939, he became the first president of the Club in the new era which began after the war.
The directors who helped Soler in the difficult task of relaunching the Club were men who had already worked for Barça; men like Jaume Guardiola, who took on the role of chairperson and Joan Bargunyó, who acted as treasurer. However, on the new Management Committee, there were also three directors, who were falangist adherents, chosen by the regime, whose job it was to exercise strict control over all activities of FC Barcelona. The degree of scrutiny to which the Club was subjected was so extreme that, between 18 May 1939 and 9 February 1940, the police even opened a file dedicated specifically to Barça.
Even in these difficult conditions Joan Soler tried to run the Club with certain objectives in mind; the recuperation of lost members -membership having dropped to 3,486, the reopening of the ground in Les Corts, the reorganisation of Club administration and the rebuilding of the squad. With regards to this last objective, the Barça President strengthened the youth programme and brought in the first manager after the war - Josep Planas -, a home-grown trainer with great knowledge of Catalan youth football.
After being in office for almost one year, the Spanish Olympic Committee and the National Sports Council decided unilaterally to relieve Joan Soler of his post at the head of Barcelona Football Club and, on 13 March 1940, put in one of their own men: Enrique Piñeyro, Marquis de la Mesa de Asta, a man who was totally committed to the regime and with no link to the Club.
