Candidate for the presidency of FC Porto in the April 27 elections, André Villas-Boas said in a clarification session with around 70 fans that he wanted to reinvigorate the club’s association, which he says is very tied to the districts of Porto, Braga and Aveiro, where they are located. 88% of members. “The rest of the country is a desert in terms of members. We are a very strong club, with many achievements, but which does not express itself in terms of association. Outside of Porto, Braga and Aveiro, there are very few of us. These 12% are the brave ones, because they resist,” he said.
AVB wants FC Porto’s homes to be professionalized. “They need to be our banner for the growth of associations”, he emphasized, criticizing the management of ticketing, one of the topics most discussed by those present. The candidate wants profound and immediate changes to avoid injustices in access to tickets.
Villas-Boas highlighted that the fans’ sense of belonging has disappeared and it is necessary to recover it. The club “is now up for debate” and the fans “are keeping their eyes open”, he warned.
Questioned before the session by journalists, he did not want to comment on the advances in the future Academia da Maia, with machines already on the ground, stating that he will present his concept for a high-performance center, scheduled for Vila Nova de Gaia, on April 2, in Lisbon. He told the members that he does not want to divide the club into three poles (Olival, Maia and Dragão).
Regarding Pinto da Costa’s praise for the other candidate, Nuno Lobo, for not having rejected the club’s accounts, unlike him, he was short and direct: “In those accounts there is nothing to approve”.
One of the members present wanted to know whether Villas-Boas, given the existence of two very strong candidates, feared or was prepared for the club to become balkanized. And the former coach was clear: “It’s not André Villas-Boas who has to be prepared. FC Porto fans are the ones who have to be prepared.”
And then he added: “The path that will lead to everything running more smoothly in the future is sporting performance, financial project, transparency, communication with members, a set of assets and values that have disappeared from the club.”
“This is a new universe, with two very strong candidates. What would you prefer, if that were not the case? Would you prefer 49% of blank votes and 51% of votes for the president?”, he asked, leaving one certainty: “Whatever happens Whatever happens, FC Porto will be more valued. Whoever lived through the hot summer of 1982 – I have no memory, I was five years old – but it was worse than this moment. This is a moment of debate, in 1982 there were players kidnapped, it’s something very different”.
