João Noronha Lopes reveals who will manage Benfica if he wins the election | OneFootball

João Noronha Lopes has once again stated that he will work with the coach who is in charge at Benfica, should he win the Club da Luz elections, scheduled for the 25th of October. The candidate for the Presidency of the red emblem gave an interview to SIC, this Tuesday, September 17, following the dismissal of Bruno Lage from the technical command of the eagles.

"I will be president on October 26 with a sense of responsibility to defend the interests of Benfica. Whoever is the coach of Benfica will be my coach, with my project, to whom I will create conditions to win. Enough of the instability created by the Board itself. With me, Benfiquistas can count on a sense of responsibility and common sense", began João Noronha Lopes.

The candidate for the Presidency of Benfica also added the following, before answering some questions: "Regarding what happened, it ends up being the corollary of what has been the poor management of Rui Costa. Rui Costa is a President who does not know how to win, who does not know how to manage and who does not know how to defend Benfica. This board is the board of one in four. It won one championship in four years, presented one year of positive results in four and in the midst of all this has been enormously incompetent in managing football. We had five coaches in four years. Benfica is a carousel of coaches and players. Without results, the exits of the coaches are inevitable".

And if José Mourinho is the next coach: "No one questions his quality, I will work with him if he is the coach of Benfica".

Are you afraid it might be a trump card for Rui Costa?: "That's not what worries me. What worries me at this moment is to create all the conditions for Benfica to win and to reach October 25th, win these elections and not prolong what has been 20 years of a nightmare. The Benfiquistas have a unique opportunity after 20 years to definitively change, to turn the page. And it cannot be the people who have been there for 20 years who will turn the page".

Would you have made the same decision?: "I would have had a project, Rui Costa is a mess. The exit was inevitable due to the performances and losing to the 7th placed team from Azerbaijan is not acceptable, so I was not surprised. My project is stability, ambition and competence, with the right people, in the right place and with a long-term idea. The problem is not those who leave, but those who stay, among them Rui Costa, are those who are at the origin of the problems".

Is Ruben Amorim ruled out?: "I will work with whoever is the coach on the 26th. And as I will be president, there must be a sense of responsibility and seek to create the conditions for Benfica to win. Now, when you ask me what I would do, what I would do is have a sports project, which is what does not exist. I have already presented my sports project to the members of Benfica, I was the only candidate who presented a sports project. With people, with organization, with philosophy, with names. Because people have to have the courage to present the projects and the people who are with me also have the courage to show their faces. What I have been doing for several months is working on a sports project, a financial project, a marketing project, an associative project for us to get closer to the members. And what I want to assure the members of Benfica is that we are going to have a change, but with confidence. Benfica can neither have adventurers nor amateurs."

About Bernardo Silva: "I have a contract to present to Bernardo Silva. He is a great player, he is one of the best midfielders in world football. But, besides that, he is someone who brings with him the mystique, the delivery, the claw. And he is a Benfiquista like us, who suffers like us and who lives Benfica like us. And, therefore, he will always be someone who symbolizes what Benfiquistas like to see in football players".

He concluded, reaffirming his plan for the future of the Club: "I have already presented my sports project, which is a long project and is based on three ideas. Stability: we cannot be changing coaches every year. Competence and organization: everyone in that structure knows what they are going to do. Nuno Gomes, Vítor Paneira, Pedro Ferreira, who is my general director and who will arrive from Nottingham Forest, all know what they are going to do. Everyone complements each other. And everyone has been talking for some time. Therefore, people do not fall from the sky. I chose them and I am working together with them. A bet on training: because as much as winning titles in training, it is important to understand how many players from the training we can retain and how many can come to the main team. And intelligent scouting that allows us to get players much earlier and, possibly, in much better conditions than has happened. And, therefore, it is on these three pillars that my football project will be built and it is on these pillars that Benfica will continue. It must have a winning culture, which is what it does not have".

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