António Tavares: “We’ve got a great team, as we showed in the last match” | OneFootball

António Tavares, president of the General Assembly Board of FC Porto, was present at the launch of the book Capitão de Abril by Octávio Lousada Oliveira, which took place this Thursday.

At the launch of the work, dedicated to André Villas-Boas, António Tavares described the book as “balanced” and anticipates that it “will not generate much controversy.”

“It is a book that seeks to bridge what was the previous and the new term in the presidency of FC Porto, it tries to reveal aspects of what happened during the campaign, some of which I had the opportunity to witness, others not. The book is balanced, it was made with intellectual seriousness and I hope that, above all, it contributes to uniting the Porto family. I believe it will not generate much controversy and it is the first of many that will emerge in the future about this new phase of FC Porto,” he emphasized.

“Alternative title? It’s not easy, I wouldn’t call it a revolution but rather a time of change, which is what actually happened. There is a time for everything, the world is changing and football has changed as well. I think it’s indisputable that FC Porto has changed for the better. The sporting results give us a very important message of optimism and certainty that we have a great team, as was seen in the last match. May the game be played within the four lines and not in things outside that are not good for anyone,” he concluded.

“Title comes from a metaphorical premise”

Octávio Lousada Oliveira, the author of the work, clarified the reason behind the title Capitão de Abril: “The title comes from a metaphorical premise, which has to do with the date of the elections, in April 2024, moreover in the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April. Obviously, with this I’m not saying that André Villas-Boas is Salgueiro Maia or that Pinto da Costa was the figure of an autocratic regime, FC Porto is a democratic institution, but the truth is that there was a reign, a leadership, a presidency that lasted 42 years.”

“Only by stretching things a bit could one attribute a non-democratic regime to FC Porto, which does not mean, as can be seen from the book, that there weren’t some things that were unhealthy for the institution and, in this case, for FC Porto. It doesn’t seem normal to me that we had situations like the one at the General Assembly in 2023, it’s not a good sign. That General Assembly and the entire electoral process ended up giving voice to the so-called silent majority. And that is proof of FC Porto’s democratic nature, with 80% of the supporters saying that the path, which had been followed with much success and glory, had reached a stage where management was more haphazard, more improvised. The supporters wanted a different direction and that’s why I say this is an unfinished revolution, because the first year was far from what the club demands,” he continued.

The author also added that he contacted Villas-Boas only once during the writing of the book: “I spoke with him once. I didn’t know him before writing the book, I was the one who took the initiative and made the proposal to the publisher. This is a completely independent book, it has no endorsement from anyone, it didn’t go through anyone’s approval. It was a book made by me, the publisher did its editorial and commercial evaluation. I spoke informally with the president of FC Porto, as I did with dozens of other people. There was a cross-checking of many testimonies, many documents… I really wanted to avoid controversies, as I am the one responsible for what is in the book. What I want is for FC Porto to celebrate another title here [Avenida dos Aliados].”

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