Abraham: "Colón need passion, but strong leadership is just as crucial" | OneFootball

One of the candidates for president of Colón stopped by ADN Gol ahead of the assembly that will take place in the coming days at Sabalero, and also gave his thoughts on the upcoming election to be held on November 30.

Today at 8 in the evening we’re holding an informational meeting, sort of a project launch for members and for the press.

It’s going to be a pleasant meeting, the idea is for it to be a discussion. We’re going to explain, to outline our project, our ideas for the institution. And well, afterwards we’ll be debating with the members and journalists—if they want to ask anything, we’re open to answering, there’s no problem. Regarding what we plan to do with the 26-27 administration that’s coming up, right?

Well, first of all, let me tell you that I’ve been talking with Mauro Medina for almost a year. He has a great friendship—he has a great friendship with another very important person in our group, Daniel Kosiansky, the owner of the Transyar trucking company, who is one of the main figures in the group, I’d say, if we can talk about main figures, in some way.

Well, Mauro introduced me to him, and we hit it off right away, because we have a very similar synergy in terms of what we think about institutions, about sports, and about the financial and business sides that necessarily have to converge for sports matters to be successful. We made progress, I traveled to Rosario to meet with him, he came here, and well, we kept it somewhat under wraps. He’s going to be part of our proposal, you’ll soon know in what capacity. Over the weekend, he invited us to Paraná for a great, truly great experience, because honestly, it’s amazing to see how the TC teams work. I was amazed, I didn’t think the scale of that category—touring car racing in Argentina—was so big. I think there were about 50,000 people, it was really crazy.

Well, all the sponsorship, all the people around it, and in that context, the truth is we had a barbecue with all his sponsors, who are major companies in Argentina, and well, talking about Colón, many committed their support. Of course, I believe that if we’re in, we’ll have it, especially because of the relationship they have with Mauro, which is personal and goes back many years. He’s a person with an excellent reputation in the world of motorsports. In fact, I think tomorrow—possibly today—he was going to be here in Santa Fe for the presentation. We’ll see, because he had to travel to São Paulo for Formula 1. F1. So, well, last night we spoke on the phone for quite a while, and well, talking about that, he’ll try to be here tonight, depending on the flights—they’re taking a charter to Brazil for Formula 1, so with his team, so we’re kind of depending on that. But, well, in broad strokes, that’s it. He’s a person who I think, not just for us as a group—obviously yes—but for Colón in general, is of tremendous value. I think we can’t afford to waste that.

Yes, it’s a mistake to pay little attention, because then the minorities come in and the minorities don’t fulfill the function they’re supposed to. The last minority that did its job was us, when we had to fight against Lerche’s administration, when we filed complaints and all the things people already know about.

I think that was the last minority that worked. And sometimes, when minorities work, it’s very good, because they save situations or expose situations, like happened to us at that time, where, well, maybe we didn’t let things get out of hand in some situations. That said, regarding the list, yes, let me tell you, Futuro Sabalero is part of Pasión, they’re different groups of people who came together for the previous election.

One of those parts is Futuro Sabalero, that’s why it doesn’t carry the Futuro name, but Pasión, because the name of the list is Pasión. There are other groups of people who have come together and now we make up a single group under the name Pasión, Pasión Sabalera, which represents what all of us are. All people very passionate about the institution, with a lot of experience.

In Mauro’s case, well, he told me, since he was very young, coming from a Sabalero family, even though he didn’t live in Santa Fe, he stayed connected to Colón. That’s Mauro’s case. Then there’s Javier Mercado, who is living in Buenos Aires.

There’s people like Facundo Vercellone, who also has a company in Buenos Aires. There are people who are, perhaps, abroad and are also part of the group, even if they can’t be physically here in Santa Fe. That’s partly why the name Pasión.

It represents what we believe and have always shown in our involvement with Colón. Colón needs a lot of passion, but it also needs a lot of operational and technical capacity from a management point of view. I think management will be fundamental.

(7:12) That’s why we emphasize management so much. And well, to have good management you need knowledge, you need experience, you need all kinds of relationships, and you also need financial resources. I think in those areas we’re totally covered by many people from the business, professional, commercial, and various university fields, from different areas that really, I think, allow us to form a group. I don’t talk about a list, because we have more than 42 people working.

Today I’d say we’re almost 80. So, counting, as I said, people who aren’t in Santa Fe, counting lots of people who contribute. So, that’s why I don’t talk about a list, but a working group. And well, in that sense, that’s how we’re going to work and be, right?

That’s a good question. Look, just yesterday we brought a guy who’s a sociologist into the group and I promise I’ll ask him, because I wonder the same thing. Yes, honestly, I don’t know, I think a lot of times people get carried away (9:26) by what they hear, by gossip, you know? “Oh, they told me this or that about so-and-so,” and they don’t listen to what we’re saying.

I’m going to talk about my group, which has been working for 20 years. We’ve always, over those 20 years, maintained a line of conduct and a philosophy of thought. Anyone who heard us in 2006, and hears me or us, our group now—the speech is the same, the same.

Not a bit to the left, not a bit to the right. We don’t lie to people, we tell the truth. Sometimes the truth is costly, like I told you about Lerche—it cost us three very tough terms of fighting, where people, especially me, attacked me a lot, but they didn’t realize that what we were doing was defending the club.

When they realized, it was too late, and sometimes it’s hard to admit you were wrong. So you have to look for something in the other to keep questioning. And well, I think that’s what happened.

Fortunately, time goes by—like they say, life puts everything in its place. And well, I think in that sense today we’re getting recognition day by day that maybe took us a while to rebuild. You asked me why they didn’t vote for us, that’s why I talked about us.

I think we’re paying the price for that whole Lerche story. Today people understand that they really need capable people, people with experience, which is what I told you before. We have a lot of that, not just me—and I speak in the first person because, well, I’m a specialist in sports law, I’m a specialist in companies in crisis, I don’t like to brag, but it’s the truth.

So people need to know that. So for this moment of crisis, just as I’m here, there are other people on the list with a lot of financial, economic, accounting, and business skills to contribute to the institution, and that’s why we believe we’re the best option. We’re convinced of that and people are starting to recognize us.

Look, we’re very pleasantly surprised, I’d say, because, well, with the invitations we sent out for tonight, honestly, the place is going to be too small for us.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.