Rui Costa on São Paulo rows: criticism, corruption, exits | OneFootball

Executive director Rui Costa gave a lengthy interview on Monday night (27), already in Bogotá, Colombia, where he is accompanying the São Paulo delegation for the Copa Sudamericana match, and spoke about various — and controversial — topics that have surrounded the club in recent weeks, as always turbulent, on and off the pitch.

Speaking to Rádio Bandeirantes, the Tricolor executive addressed the heavy criticism he has been receiving from São Paulo fans, responded about internal corruption at the club, as well as the controversial departures of Muricy Ramalho and Allan Barcellos from the under-20 team, and, of course, the Arboleda saga.

Check out the main excerpts:

CRITICISM RECEIVED

I don’t know if it’s 20 million people who want me out, maybe it’s a lot. That is a direct burden of working at a big club in the role I hold. I’ve experienced similar pressure at other clubs, and I’ve also enjoyed very calm environments at São Paulo, because I didn’t have the prominence I have today. And that prominence, especially in the environment football lives in today, is very much from love to hate, and this issue of a harsher assessment always prevails.

I have deep respect for São Paulo’s supporters. I know how important they are, how important they were, especially when we won the Copa do Brasil, and I was here, I was executive director when we won the Copa do Brasil. And I had, because I didn’t have the prominence I have today, but I could sense the supporters’ satisfaction, their happiness when I met them on the street in the moments I go out, the small social moments I have, because my life is practically São Paulo.

And today they are dissatisfied, and I have to understand that this dissatisfaction has to be a driving force so that, in my work, as long as the people who run the club understand that this work is relevant and appropriate, I can turn this rejection — which I still don’t know how to quantify, but which is evidently there when the volume on social media is very large, the demonstrations from supporters’ groups, anyway — into even greater energy to reverse this situation so that the supporter, maybe at the end of the year, in a few days, in a few months, can understand that the work we have carried out, that I have carried out here, was work that respected São Paulo’s greatness.

DID YOU SEE ANY CORRUPTION?

I am a professional, I do not take part in political relationships, I have never acted in any political scenario, I have never seen, noticed, suspected or taken part in any corrupt act in the football department or in any setting at the club, because I have no political relationship and there has been no such practice in the football department, neither in the past nor in the present, at least while I have been here with these people.

If later something appears somewhere, well, that’s not for me to assess here, because I am a lawyer, I have legal training, and I would never prejudge anyone. I had a professional relationship with president Casares, as I have with president Massis. I repeat, I have no involvement with any political scenario, any political construction. I am a club professional and I can guarantee to you that I have never seen, taken part in or noticed anything outside what exists in professional football.

MURICY RAMALHO

São Paulo undoubtedly lost, no question about it. I lost a lot, we all lost, because Muricy taught me every day over breakfast what it meant to belong to this club. In the most difficult moments, he was the one I talked to, the one I sought advice from.

And, obviously, his departure affected not only the club and the football department, but especially me, because, I repeat, he was a great mentor to me in terms of getting to know, learning, understanding the greatness and the particularities of the club I arrived at and where I’ve been now, I repeat, for almost six years.

So, from a personal point of view, it was a huge loss for me, but he had already been making an enormous health sacrifice. He lives São Paulo and football very intensely, and he had to take a break to take care of the greatest good a man can have. He is a family man, a grandfather, he has a very solid relationship with his family, very strong.

And São Paulo lost a lot, I lost a lot, all of us did, but I think he gained quality of life, gained more time with his family. I still speak with him almost every week, he is still very present in our routine here. And I hope that one day he can return to São Paulo. Hopefully I’ll still be here, but if I’m not, I’m sure his presence at São Paulo will be something very important for the club, for all of us.

ALLAN BARCELLOS’ DEPARTURE

First, Allan Barcellos was a professional linked to São Paulo’s youth development. I don’t know if the fans are clear on that, and São Paulo has two executives: the executive of professional football and the executive of the academy, who is my colleague (Marcos) Biasotto, one of the great professionals in this area. Allan Barcellos always worked under this process led and managed by Biasotto.

The few times I was with Allan were when he was at the training center, and more specifically when Biasotto, concerned about possible interest from Palmeiras, asked for my help and I obviously sat down with Allan, we spoke with him. Then, already in the second meeting with Rafinha present, we changed his contract very significantly. Allan became, at São Paulo, perhaps one of the highest-paid youth coaches in Brazil.

And after that he made the decision to ask to leave, that is, Allan was not dismissed. Allan was professionally valued and had already been valued before by Biasotto himself. And when the possibility of going to Palmeiras was raised, he said he preferred to stay at São Paulo.

We gave him a very important raise, and São Paulo, which handles these budget issues in a very conservative, very orthodox way, we spoke with the president, president Massis was very decisive on this, and we turned his pay into a salary that, I repeat, placed him among the highest-paid youth coaches in Brazil. And he, after some time, decided to resign. He was not fired, it is important to say that, and once no longer tied to the club, he chose to go to Palmeiras. And those are the facts. The rest is interpretation.

ARE YOU CONFIDENT MASSIS WILL KEEP ROGER?

The president will keep the project going until the moment he believes that this project still stands, and it does not stand because of external pressure, it stands because of the day-to-day he follows here, because of what we do, the reports we share with him, what Rafinha tells him every day, what I share with him, the work we see being taken onto the pitch.

We all know that what keeps us in place is work, and I understand that the work being done here, in a context of great diversity, is positive. Today there is, and I have great respect for São Paulo’s supporters, today there is an animosity or even dissatisfaction that is not directly linked to what happens on the pitch. So when that comes into sync, I believe things will improve.

THE ARBOLEDA CASE

Objectively, the Arboleda issue today is much more legal and sporting, because of something he did, but we are still working so that, from a sporting standpoint, he comes here to report to the club and give his explanations, which from our point of view today, from our supporters’ point of view, would practically be nonexistent. We believe that São Paulo’s relationship with its players has to be one of respect for the club, for its executives, but above all for its supporters.

That relationship is very compromised, but the issue today is legal. He has already been formally notified to report to the club, a new notification has already been made, and we still have a few days for things to move toward a more definitive outcome. But I would tell you, and I repeat, that today the Arboleda issue is much more in the legal sphere than in the sporting sphere.

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