FC Porto’s General Assembly, which was scheduled to vote on Monday on a relevant statutory change impacting the next election law, due in 2024, was marked by riots and attacks and was suspended and rescheduled for the next election law. Monday (20) due to lack of safety conditions to continue the work.
The PSP, which was alone outside the Dragão Arena, did not register any incident or receive any complaints about the events that for many members bring shame to the nation of Porto. Reactions came from different quarters yesterday, one of the loudest coming from André Villas-Boas, who did not hesitate to assign responsibilities to the club’s governing bodies and therefore to Pinto da Costa. The former coach will even be a candidate for president of the club in the 2024 elections, DN knows, whether these take place in April (as Pinto da Costa wants) or in June (as the Supreme Court suggests). All that remains is to decide when to officially move forward, with whom and against whom, with it almost certain that the current president will vote for a sixteenth term and Nuno Lobo has also announced his candidacy.
“I cannot remain indifferent to the support I feel. Submitting a candidacy is almost a formality. I just want to take safe, strong, judicious and transparent steps, supported by teams of accuracy, high level and credibility. That is what FC Porto deserves.” When I have gathered all the teams, drawn up an election manifesto worthy of what an institution worthy of FC Porto deserves, I will introduce myself,” Villas-Boas said today on the sidelines of the Web Summit, showing that the euphoric way whereupon he was received at the meeting. Magna gave him even more desire to continue.
For the former coach, the sad events of the AG were “an internal defeat for the corporate bodies of FC Porto, which fearlessly and calmly watched as several attacks and intimidations were carried out by a praetorian guard against the employees of FC Porto”.
Villas-Boas, who won the Championship, the Europa League, Taça de Portugal and Supertaça as coach of Porto in the 2010-2011 season, also asked to limit the extraordinary AGM, scheduled for the 20th, to the presentation of the membership card of FC Porto and the accompanying citizen card, “in as orderly and safe a manner as possible, so that people can freely express what they think about the proposed amendment to the articles of association”.
“Attacks by the Praetorian Guard”
The former coach has taken varying positions on the club’s management, including the remuneration of SAD administrators. Yesterday, hours after the events, he regretted the attacks and more. “The images of a 19-year-old boy, probably disenfranchised, crying and embarrassed by his club are a reflection of the situation we are experiencing. We are hostage to a praetorian guard that persists in intimidating some members of FC Porto, who show that they want to exercise their right to vote, express themselves and be free,” he said, asking for “a reflection by the High Council for yourself” so as not to become a figurative body.
Villas-Boas also addressed the authorities – the Public Prosecution Service, the Ministry of the Interior, IPDJ and the Secretary of State for Sports – to “urgently request images from surveillance cameras outside the stadium and the Dragão Arena,” and to launch an investigation to carry out the assessments. and barbaric acts”.
Something that the club also promised to do internally, through a statement: “The management of FC Porto will use the resources at its disposal to identify those responsible for physical attacks and will mobilize the remaining corporate bodies with a view to opening disciplinary procedures.” Something that is provided for in the statutes, since, according to Porto’s leadership, they are responsible for “reprehensible acts” that “contaminate a centuries-old history of democratic culture”.
Villas-Boas was not present at the clashes at the Dragão Arena. He decided to leave the main meeting when he realized that there were no conditions for holding it. “From the moment a General Assembly is scheduled for a room that seats 300 people and there are four thousand people queuing there to try to get in… Suddenly they change location, to the Dragão Arena, how do you want those members to be counted? That’s when I decided to leave. There were no conditions to conduct an AGM where the counting is done by eye, and by eye. Especially in measures where there is no regulations are in the register, where bracelets from one side are passed to the other, where there are moments of clear intimidation,” he explained, reassigning responsibility for the decision to the Chairman of the AG Board, who decided not to call the authorities.
The future candidate also denounced other irregularities, such as “references passed to non-FC Porto members”.
What was on the agenda for the AG’s vote?
Even before the AG’s suspension, Pinto da Costa addressed members to speak out against three of the most controversial changes proposed by the working committee established within the Supreme Court. Including the change in the election date, which could shift from April to June in the 2024 elections. And also the possibility of electronic voting and voting by post, a minimum membership for seniors of 15 years, instead of the current 10, to determining whether to run for president or access to voting rights after two continuous years as a member are among the changes under discussion.
In addition to the permission of the governing bodies, they may, directly or through an intermediary, do business with the club or with a company in which the club has a dominant influence, as long as these matters are in the ‘manifest interests of the club’. “or has obtained a “prior favorable advice from the Fiscal and Disciplinary Council”.
Any amendment to the articles of association requires two-thirds of votes in favor to be approved. The change takes effect on the day after the publication of the public deed, which must be executed at the commercial register within 30 days.
Petition to remove Madureira from partner
Following the incidents at the AG, a public petition was drawn up, addressed to FC Porto members to remove Fernando Madureira, leader of the Super Dragões, as a member of the club. The petition explains that the cheerleader’s actions have “raised serious concerns” regarding the club’s ethical, moral and sporting values, whose “inappropriate conduct” is causing “damage to the club’s image.” By the beginning of the evening there were already more than five thousand signatures.
Source: DN
