Rare: Porto boss to exit after signing new deal with ex-president
Andre Villas-Boas has ended Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa’s 42-year rule as president of Porto with a resounding win.
This has been a long-held goal for the ardent Dragões supporter. He left his managerial position in 2022 to devote himself fully to his presidential campaign.
Villas-Boas, who had a short and difficult time as Chelsea manager in 2011, celebrated his victory by dancing about in a Porto home jersey and a scarf. He had a miserable time at Chelsea, where he had served under Jose Mourinho until being fired in March 2012.
Then, with Tottenham, the Portuguese coach made a swift comeback to the Premier League; the team came dangerously close to qualifying for the Champions League before he departed in December 2013.
Now, more than ten years after his breakthrough, Villas-Boas is back at the club that gave him his name. Upon being chosen president of the club, the former manager couldn’t contain his joy. He won a triple with Porto in his one season as manager.
What did Villas-Boas say?
Pinto da Costa presided over the Blue and Whites as they won 68 trophies, including two Europa League and two Champions League championships.
With 26,741 people casting ballots, the 46-year-old received over 80% of the vote, resulting in a resounding victory. It shattered the previous record of 10,000.
After taking the oath of office, Villas-Boas stated: “I want to convey my gratitude to Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa for everything he has given to our FC Porto, the life he gave to FC Porto and guarantee him that it will always be his home.
“I hope to correspond fully to the demands of all Portistas: to win, to lift trophies and to build a sustainable club for the future. We have a long mission ahead of us. It will take arduous work in a house that has to be restructured, sorted out and reorganised.”
What does it mean for club?
How does this factor into the overall picture? One consequence is that, even though he recently signed a new deal, coach Sergio Conceição will probably leave this summer.
Just before he took over in the summer of 2017, Benfica had won the previous four league championships. It all came to an end in his first season, when he ended a trophy drought of five years and restored Porto’s supremacy. In the time after, he won three Taça de Portugal crowns, one Taça da Liga, and two further Primeira Liga championships.
But the Portuguese club confirmed on Thursday that Conceicao has renewed his long-term deal, which will keep him with the team until June 2028.
Since then, he has been inaccessible to other teams, including AC Milan. Thus, they have had to look elsewhere for an option to replace Stefano Pioli.
Multiple other consequences will affect several sports in addition to Porto’s sports department. Reportedly, Gian Piero Gasperini and Andoni Zubizarreta are the targets of Villas-Boas’ search for a new manager and a sports director, respectively.
Maybe the most peculiar outcome of this is the predicament that Sergio’s son, Francisco Conceição finds himself in. After selling him for $5.3 million, Porto repurchased him for $10.7 million. Also, the ex-president included a 20% resale provision in the player’s own transfer agreement that Francisco might take advantage of.
Photo credit: IMAGO / Atlantico Press IMAGO / Atlantico Press