Villas-Boas warns Pinto da Costa: “You have eight days to respond to the letter I sent, otherwise I will meet shareholders” – Football

• Photo: Ricardo Almeida

André Villas-Boas

André Villas-Boas warned that Pinto da Costa has eight days to respond to a letter in which he asked questions regarding decisions being taken at the club, otherwise he will meet shareholders and send the communication directly to CMVM and FC Porto SAD.

“FC Porto is already being sold, you haven’t seen it yet. Naturally, to sell part of SAD it would be necessary to raise a topic at the General Assembly. What this management did was sell 30 percent of Porto Comercial. Commercial revenues are 40 to 50 M€. It devalues ​​the overall value of FC Porto, because 30 percent of revenues are already isolated elsewhere. These are bad signs and signs that we look at with concern, which is why last week I, as a partner, decided , shareholder and candidate, address a letter to the management of FC Porto regarding questions that are being taken about FC Porto. The president will have eight days to respond, otherwise I will meet shareholders and then communication will be direct and institutional with the CMVM and FC Porto SAD, requiring the right of response”, he began by mentioning, considering that “selling FC Porto is not the way to go”.

“The members are ignoring the conversation. Selling FC Porto is not the way to go. The way is to understand the competitive advantage it has as a membership club. We have values, we have culture, we have history and legacy. A one-owner club it doesn’t have this value, this culture. Inter Milan was owned by a Thai, then it went to an American. Example: then it goes to a Russian, to an Arab fund and in 10 years we can have a club with four different owners. They are there, They want money, they get a return and the club moves on with others. They don’t care about the sporting project. They want the financial aspect. Member clubs, due to lack of governance in previous years, are in a limit situation and everyone is resorting to support from international banks to restructure debt and reformat the sporting project. It’s happening with Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​which recently raised 1 billion euros to restructure itself financially. It’s happening with Sporting, although with the forgiveness that helped a lot, it’s going to happen with Benfica and it has to happen with FC Porto. José Pedro [Pereira da Costa] has extensive experience in the markets. In the meetings we have had with the international panel, FC Porto had not yet sat down with them. One, either they didn’t look for them, or two, the international banks, due to governance, weren’t interested. There are many funds and banks helping clubs in moments like FC Porto. Nobody wants to help, in the fund banking, when the interests are different and are linked to the commissions. Furthermore, there is the sports project that puts everything into question, because there is a permanent waste of money. We have been well received, we will continue these exploratory contacts, we are confident that it is not that difficult. What seems difficult is to be ethical, transparent, judicious and not make FC Porto hostage to other interests”, he concluded the reflection.