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President Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa granted an interview to Porto Canal on Monday night, on the day that the 127th anniversary of FC Porto is commemorated and during which he presented the Golden Dragons to the 2020 winners.
The top manager began by talking about the Golden Dragons. “It was with great regret that we were unable to hold our gala as scheduled to deliver the Golden Dragons, in an environment more in line with the winners. But, in this impossibility, we think that we should not stop attributing them and deliver the Golden Dragons“, he began justifying Pinto da Costa, continuing:” So we consider that today he was giving them all [segunda-feira] in the different facilities of the club and the SAD, whatever was most appropriate in view of the winner’s CV. We start at 10 am and deliver until 8 pm. We were able to deliver 16 trophies in a pleasant atmosphere, with moments of great emotion, which for me was a source of great satisfaction, especially to see that people continue to feel FC Porto. Everyone showed enormous joy, some even some emotion, and they were beautiful moments that helped me strengthen my spirits and feel proud to have so many people to deserve an award.
Sérgio Conceição was one of the distinguished ones, having received the third trophy, one as a player and two as a coach, whom Pinto da Costa compared with José Maria Pedroto, a benchmark in the club and in national football. “There are no people the same, there can be people more similar to each other, naturally When I compare and say that Sérgio Conceição has similarities with José Maria Pedroto, always longing for us Porto players and me as a friend of mine, I have to consider that he praises Sérgio Conceição a lot. But I said it and I keep it, because it is what I think and what I have found over the years that I lived closely with José Maria Pedroto and I have also lived with Sérgio Conceição for many years, because he came to FC Porto to the 16 years and today, after all these years, I have followed his entire career. I was his football director, I was his president while he was a player, I am president while he is a coach and I have, as I said, a fraternal friendship for him ”, the coach stressed.
And he continued talking about the coach: “I do not see him as a son, because children, his parents are irreplaceable and he has parents that he adores and that still [segunda-feira] he remembered with emotion and that’s why I won’t name him. I’m just going to say that I have a brotherly friendship with him. But I see many similarities in his determination, in the passion with which he dedicates himself to working, in the rigor he has towards himself and towards everyone who works with him, both the players and everyone who collaborates in the section. He is extremely strict with everyone. But always with rationality, with interest and putting the interests of FC Porto above their own or those of others. He at FC Porto, like José Maria Pedroto, is capable of entering any war, He is not afraid, he is not afraid and he really falls in love with what he does. In that regard, being different people, of different origins, they have a lot in common in everything that is their work, their passion and dedication and the insurmountable desire to be on the side of FC Porto and always defend the interests of the club. “.
Pinto da Costa addressed the continuity of Sérgio Conceição and argued that just as the head coach took over the team in difficult times, it is also “fair to stay in easier times.” “I wish I could coach FC Porto in the future“, stressed the president.
When Pinto da Costa became club president, he had only 16 football titles, adding 62 more in the last 38 years. “When I joined FC Porto with José Maria Pedroto, the club was totally dominated by centralism. It is not that now there is not the same centralism, perhaps there is less daring. There is more coverage by the media, perhaps because there is more, although some with less quality, but there was a permanent subjugation, Lisbon sent and we had to accept. And we fight it“recalled the president of the dragons.
And he highlighted: “On April 25, which ended many things that had to be finished, he came to restore the truth in many sectors and one of them was football“.
The top manager of Porto also spoke of the growth of the club in terms of the number of members (in 1977 it had 52,800 members and currently has 137,750) and how these are no longer concentrated only in the Porto region and pointed out the reasons for this “boom” : “The victories always attract the youth and a child begins to hear about football and see a club win, have parties and, above all, have international victories, and that wins the sympathy of these children and young people. This was also very influential. So the dynamism with which they tried to impress goes against the way of being and the character of the people of the north and FC Porto, of course, was implanted. Being a club FC Porto is not national but international, just look at the achievements and victories ”.
And continued: “FC Porto have seven international victories since 1987 and since then no one has won anything. Obviously, this attracts everyone’s sympathy and attention. Today we are very proud not only to be a national club, but to be an international club and we are very proud to say that we cover the entire country from north to south. With that, we don’t want to lose our roots and our characteristics as a club in the north and as a club in the city of Porto ”.
“We are not just a Porto club, we want to have fans and supporters everywhere and we are proud to know that the Golden Dragon of the year branch was unanimously awarded, by choice of management, to Casa do FC Porto in Lisbon, for the activity it has had during these 50 years and it is very strong. It is managed and has many associates and regulars who are people from Lisbon and the south of Lisbon. And we love them as much as those who are from Porto, because we are a national club and everyone is welcome, as long as they have the spirit of a dragon and love FC Porto very much, as they show that they love it and that they were received in our museum “, praised Pinto da Conta, advancing:”I was extremely proud to present you with the Dragon as the house turned 50 this year and unfortunately I am the only person still alive and present at the opening ceremony of this house. There is a photograph of that moment and everyone has already left, maybe they forgot about me and I go behind the line and stay here“.
On the absence of public in the stadiums, of which he is very critical, Pinto da Costa assures that “he does not know if he speaks alone or not.” “When I speak, I speak for myself and not for the minds of others and I find it curious if I speak to myself. Because when I am with people, they all tell me that I am right, that it cannot be, that I have to do something. But I don’t know if he’s talking to me or not, because I don’t read the newspapers much, but I understand that this can happen because many people tell me ‘only the president speaks, no one else speaks, this is a shame’. I speak through my head and what I feel and I think what is happening is totally unacceptable. There is a lack of sensitivity of the people who govern in relation to sport and there is a lack of sensitivity of those in the General Directorate of Health, who do not even know what sport is. That is why it is impossible and ridiculous to accept that in a football stadium with 100 boxes, these must be empty “, criticizes the president of FC Porto, adding:” Even if they said that only one person could go to each box, but they cannot and they are closed. It’s ridiculous. And you can see in the bullfights that they are full, that people do not even leave the space of two seats like in football. There are still days at a PS congress or meeting in Coimbra, the room was full, everyone sat next to each other, most without a mask and there was no problem. Now they started with football. “
“In times they bragged about the miracle that was in Portugal. The miracle has disappeared. And is it the fault of football?” Asks the Blue and White leader. “If the miracle disappeared and became a nightmare and a mortal sin, it is not because of football. Maybe it’s because of the bullfights, because of these conferences, because of the open cinemas, because of the comedians who do shows, it’s because of the concerts in closed spaces. maybe it’s because of all that. And is football paying?“said Pinto da Costa.
Unlike FC Porto, which attacks DGS, Benfica has been criticizing the Portuguese Professional Football League. “I don’t think it makes sense to attack the Club League, but understanding it, From what is said every day in the newspapers about the Benfica situation, perhaps Benfica would do well not to attack the Government. They must know why they don’t attack“, Pinto da Costa.
“There is a lot of incompetence, it is not incongruous. The Secretary of State for Sports was not elected because he is a figure linked to sports, who had always played sports, but in politics and in governments when there are several currents or factions, a secretary of state who belongs to the Aveiro and São João da Madeira group has to enter and then another who comes from here and there and sometimes people who do not have the quality minimum for the positions they occupy. It is ridiculous that the secretary of state says that the return of the public is going to be involved, then a lady comes [Graça Freitas] say otherwise. It is said that the epidemic has increased, but it was not because of the bullfights, the Avante party, because of the concerts, the truth is that it has increased and because of football, surely not, ”Pinto da Costa stressed.
The FC Porto leader recalls that in Germany, Belgium and the countries of northern Europe the stadiums have already been opened to the fans. “Only in Portugal there is no public in the stadiums. In the Azores and Madeira there are already audiences at sporting events and the number of infected cases is not increasing. They look at football in a different way with everything imaginable. Everything is allowed, restaurants, cinemas, bullfights and shows have opened, you can have parties with thousands of people, but not only football. Now they cannot say that it was soccer that increased the number of infected, because soccer does not exist, ”he shot.
And he continued: “If the Government had done a little bit of nothing, it would have done more. Clubs have their obligations, they have their employees, and they have everything they can’t afford, but they still have to pay taxes. The clubs have no income. FC Porto for not having an audience in the stadium, with the lack of a box office, with the captive seats that it did not sell and with the boxes, it has a loss of 27 million euros, but the taxes must be paid anyway. And the government has never remembered to think that we may not be able to pay taxes and if we do not pay we will see fines and threats. This Government will be linked to the bankruptcy of sport in Portugal“.
Pinto da Costa also tackled the departures of Fábio Silva and Vítor Ferreira for the English from Wolverhampton. “They are two young people with talent and a future that we consider very promising, but they were not indispensable pieces in the team’s success, because last year they were here and in the championship they practically did not play and it was not because of their lack that we would affect each other and, on the other hand . On the other hand, what we could benefit from was getting other players and still partially composing our accounts. We did not give up any player from that core of 16/18 players that the coach considered essential. We cannot prevent a club from arriving here and paying the termination clause.“, he said.
Regarding the businesses that had Jorge Mendes as an intermediary, the Blue and White leader highlighted the importance of entrepreneurs “for the clubs and for their finances.” “There is no club that says that Jorge Mendes damaged a business, but there are others that, with their greed, demand to earn the same as the players. I don’t want to be explicit, but in this market this has already happened,” he added.
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