André Villas-Boas: “Stronger than the traps” | OneFootball

Read the editorial of Revista Dragões signed by André Villas-Boas:

“While launching structural investments in Gaia and Porto and strengthening the role of the FC Porto Houses, the Club does not shy away from denouncing imbalances in refereeing and scheduling, maintaining an unwavering focus on the title.

FC Porto faces a challenging moment, but also one full of opportunities to reinforce its position as the leading reference in sports and Portuguese football in particular. We approach the future with the conviction that continuous work, combined with a rigorous and realistic Club strategy, will lead us to new cycles of success.

One of our most ambitious structural projects is the construction of the High Performance Center (CAR) in Olival, a fundamental investment for the future of FC Porto, long desired, given its recognized strategic importance. This facility, adjacent to the Jorge Costa Training and Sports Development Center, will occupy about 31 hectares, include five training fields, a hotel/residence to serve professional athletes, a mini-stadium, and other top-notch support equipment, adapted for high-level training and the comprehensive development of the main teams’ athletes, in an environment that allows them to evolve both technically and as individuals, immersed in the values of a world-class Club. We count on the decisive support of the community that welcomes us, led by a new municipal executive with whom we recently met, who also believes this infrastructure is fundamental for the social and sporting growth of the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia and for further development of the Olival parish.

At the same time, in Campanhã, we will move forward with the launch of the construction of the new pavilion, which will be installed on the grounds of the now deactivated Ramalho Ortigão School, granted for 70 years by the Porto City Council. A historic step towards enhancing our eclecticism. This multi-sports pavilion will be a crucial space for the development of an integrated sports hub for the Club’s sports and youth teams, allowing us to adequately meet the growing needs of our teams and support the expansion of women’s sports and other disciplines, such as futsal, which took its first steps this season. It is also a great source of pride the institutional collaboration we have maintained with the Porto City Council, a committed and responsible partner in supporting this project, contributing to the dynamization and enhancement of sports in the city.

These projects reflect not only our sporting ambition but also FC Porto’s commitment to the social, cultural, and economic development of the regions where it operates, constantly giving meaning to the Public Utility Status that the Portuguese State recognized in us almost 100 years ago, in 1928, which continues to be honored, as well as the distinctions of Honorary Member of the Order of Prince Henry and Honorary Member of the Order of Merit, which we later received for the undeniable relevance we have played in the development of the country and in connecting with our diaspora.

In this vein, the FC Porto Houses, in Portugal and around the world, which, due to the entrepreneurship of their members, make a difference in their communities, have been decisive in the growth of our membership base thanks to the dynamism they bring to these regions at the associative, sporting, and social levels. We recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the FC Porto House of Vale de Cambra, a historic milestone for the Portistas of Vale de Cambra, an example of dynamism in a land that has already given us many athletes, among whom we highlight the late Rui Filipe.

To conclude, I could not fail to say a few words about the recent events that have marked national football. Events that have led us to take tough stances, both publicly and with the agents and authorities responsible for ensuring that the football industry in our country operates within high and demanding standards.

In this regard, we recently met with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation and the President of the Refereeing Council, reinforcing our request to quickly ensure greater uniformity of refereeing criteria, the implementation of professionalization in this sector, greater consistency in the application of meritocracy criteria in appointments for more complex matches and, again, the correct operationalization of VAR technology, operating at its maximum capabilities, standardizing the number and quality of cameras in all Professional League stadiums. Without singling out and always admitting that realities are dynamic and need continuous improvements and adaptations, our indignation takes on new proportions in the face of continued attempts to conceal the evident weaknesses of the refereeing system in Portugal.

Curiously, these weaknesses go unnoticed by the “refereeing analysts” who are present daily in various media outlets, where they only dedicate themselves to carrying out true brainwashing of public opinion. What is evident to the eyes of any neutral football fan too often gains new and fanciful interpretations in the eyes of the “specialists” who seem to have shamelessly lost all sense of shame. The “interpretations of the regulations” and the “approaches and criteria” surpass the “decision support technology,” leading to the most recent analyses being filled with jargon like “English-style refereeing,” “gray area incident,” “borderline line,” and “orange yellows,” always to the benefit of incidents where our direct rivals are inadvertently favored.

To all this is added yet another episode that clearly reflects the waves of alignment that try to divert us from our path. Incredibly, and against a 2-6 vote, FC Porto is forced to play on Monday, December 15, against Estrela da Amadora, on Thursday, the 18th, against FC Famalicão for the Portuguese Cup, and again, on Monday, the 22nd, against Alverca. All normal, the reader might say, were it not for the fact that Sporting managed to convince the others present to get two additional days of rest beforehand: they play on Saturday, December 13, on Thursday, the 18th, for the Cup, and then get another extra day of rest, as they only play again on Tuesday, the 23rd. This is the equity promoted by the League after the famous episode with the scheduling of the match in Arouca. A way of acting in which the same Club is always harmed and in which the holy alliances are shamelessly revealed. We might even see the Lisbon derby end with three points for each side.

It is for these and other reasons that the work, dedication, and effort of FC Porto must always be superior to the rest and, in this regard, our team has been tireless: we completed a victorious cycle in November and are now fully focused on the crucial December cycle. We could not be prouder of this team and the support they have felt from our Members and fans, to whom we are deeply grateful.

We walk strong with our focus on the title, knowing in advance that there will be many traps along the way.”

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