He wanted to win and then quit and left the club a year later. In an exclusive interview with TVI’s Jornal Nacional, he told us how important it was for Sergio Conceicao to stay to achieve a dream that is now “impossible”.
After being ill for almost three years, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa has once again applied for another spell at FC Porto to fulfil two dreams: to see the club’s academy built and to see another European title reach Invicta.
In an exclusive interview with Jornal Nacional da TVI (from the same group as CNN Portugal), the former president of FC Porto confirmed that he had planned everything so that he would resign, after winning the elections, and call elections a year later, especially because he knew about his health condition.
“The intention was to make it public and eventually hold elections. It was not like they said about putting someone there who would recommend him. I have always said that FC Porto is not a monarchy,” he explained, saying that the people closest to him were aware of his desire.
All this to see the academy already contracted by the Maya City Council and carried out by the architect Manuel Salgado, but the new management decided to thwart it, basing their decision on the costs. A choice that Pinto da Costa did not understand, as it was a “great project that he felt was fundamental to the life” of the club.
And this is another dream: “to see FC Porto champion of Europe again”. He was at the helm of the club in 1987, in winning the first Champions League, then the European Cup, and in 2004, already in the Champions League.
For this reason, he said: “It was necessary to keep Sergio Conceicao”. On this basis, he ensured that he “hired” the coach who was already at FC Porto. The expression is taken from Pinto da Costa: he hired and did not renew the contract. And that is what he also did with Pepe.
But the partners decided to award a landslide victory to Andre Villas-Boas, making the signed contracts, which Pinto da Costa ensured he still had them, lose their effect.
“Andre Villas-Boas criticised me for not renewing Sergio Conceicao’s contract, and he said it was fundamental. You have to ask him about the exit. Whoever said that said it.”
Victor Bruno enters
Betrayal is a strong word, said Pinto da Costa, revealing part of the process of Sergio Conceicao’s departure and the entry of his assistant and current coach, Vitor Bruno.
The former president of Porto preferred to use the word “improperty” to refer to the case, confirming the version previously conveyed by Sergio Conceicao.
“He gave dinner to the technical team and Vitor Bruno said he would train abroad for the Saudis. Sergio Conceicao says he thinks he is very good and the next day, in a meeting between Sergio Conceicao and Andre Villas-Boas, Villas-Boas said that a month before Antero [Henriques] I already spoke to Vitor Bruno.
A situation that Sergio Conceicao did not want to believe – “he thought it was Vitor Pereira” – but which made him feel “betrayed”, as Pinto da Costa put it.
“[Sérgio Conceição] He immediately ended the meeting and said, “From now on we will deal with my lawyer,” continued the former president of Porto, for whom this was a fundamental path to achieving one of his dreams.
According to Pinto da Costa, it will be very difficult to win the Champions League with Sergio Conceicao, but without the coach it is “impossible”. He expected that winning the tournament is possible, especially since he has a good team.
