Olten says São Paulo debt hit R$1bn and blasts: “I’m run by amateurs” | OneFootball

São Paulo’s financial crisis took on dramatic proportions after a blunt statement from Olten Ayres de Abreu Júnior, president of the Deliberative Council. In an interview with CNN TV, the executive revealed that the Tricolor’s total debt has already surpassed the R$ 1 billion mark.

According to Ayres, the debt, which ended last year at around R$ 900 million, escalated because of the economic climate and the club’s high operating costs.

“It was hovering around R$ 900 million until the end of last year. Today, we must already be above R$ 1 billion. That’s where I bring the market into the equation. As long as I have to rely on the financial market at the interest rates we are living with in Brazil today, and even if rates — which I don’t believe — fall quickly, over the next four or five years we will still have a very high positive interest rate. The only way we can change and reverse this situation is by raising money in the market,” said the Council president.

The executive’s warning puts São Paulo’s financial health back at the center of attention, exactly when the management is seeking market alternatives to renegotiate debts, cut payroll expenses, and ease cash flow.

Harsh criticism of the management and a call for professionalization

During the interview, Olten Ayres did not hold back in criticizing Morumbi’s political structure and attacked the club’s current management model.

To stop the debt from growing, the Council president pointed to raising funds in the financial market to replace expensive debt with longer-term, more structured interest arrangements as the only viable path.

Despite the severe assessment of the club’s financial troubles, the executive was careful to point out that São Paulo’s assets far outweigh its accumulated liabilities. Ayres highlighted Morumbi and the institutional strength of the Tricolor brand as guarantees of solidity.

“I am presided over and run by absolutely amateur people, and that is what is happening. From the moment I have the ability to professionalize this club, I will have, hypothetically, a stock worth one that will be worth three. So that’s where I think you create an attraction for an investor to come into the market and enter a structure like São Paulo, because São Paulo has a brand. More than anything, São Paulo has a brand, it has assets. The value of São Paulo’s assets — not in liquidity terms, but the value of São Paulo’s assets — must be five or six times greater than the value of its debt. We cannot forget that São Paulo, unlike many clubs out there, has a stadium worth billions and has a brand,” Ayres fired off, defending a radical shift toward professionalization to increase the brand’s value and attract new investors,” he concluded.

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