Miguel Brás da Cunha, member of the FC Porto Superior Council and elected by the independent list ‘For a Greater, United, Unsubmissive and Eclectic Futebol Clube do Porto’, called for the severing of institutional relations with Sporting, following the public statements made by the Sporting president, Frederico Varandas, after the Portuguese Cup classic. The lawyer believes that boundaries have been crossed and that the relationship with Sporting is now more deteriorated than with the other rival, Benfica.
“There are clear differences with Benfica, and there are also behaviors that we do not consider to be the most correct, but they have not reached this level of lack of civility that is evident in the behavior of the Sporting president. In this regard, there is at this very moment a difference in behavior that, in our view, also deserves a difference in treatment from FC Porto,” said Miguel Brás da Cunha in statements to Record, thus justifying the statement issued on Thursday afternoon by the movement he leads.
“Firstly, we express our total alignment and solidarity with the president of FC Porto, for the way he has managed the club, especially in these more recent times. Secondly, we express total solidarity in light of what we consider to be an attack on the honor of the club president and consequently also on FC Porto, made by the president of a rival club, which is Sporting. This is the most immediate reason. In this context, it seems to us that, in the face of repeated behavior, which previously targeted the honorary president of FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, at a time following his passing, and which now also targets the president of FC Porto, elected by the club’s members, we believe that the club cannot maintain institutional relations with a club that sees itself in this kind of statements and behaviors from its president. We think that effective, formal conclusions should be drawn from the repeated disrespect shown towards FC Porto, in the person of its president. First with Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and now with André Villas-Boas,” explained the member of the Superior Council of the Dragons, stating that “it is not possible to maintain relations” with Sporting.
Miguel Brás da Cunha argues that, more than suspending formal contacts, it is necessary to break off institutional relations as long as this type of conduct persists. “FC Porto, as long as this behavior continues, cannot have at any level, whether sporting or otherwise, institutional relations with a club that sees itself in such uncivil behavior from its president.” He added that when the figure of the club president is belittled, the entire institution is being offended, a situation which, according to him, is happening right now in relation to FC Porto.
The statement from the independent movement aimed to support the president and urge the club to respond to Sporting.
“We show total willingness to, in whatever the president deems appropriate and in fulfillment of our duty as a member of the Superior Council, defend the interests of the club. At the same time, we express to the body of which we are a part that it seems to us there should be a formal intention on the part of FC Porto to sever institutional relations with Sporting. That is why we addressed our statement to the president of the General Assembly Board, with the aim of having the issue discussed in the Superior Council and later, in a broader sense, at the General Assembly,” concluded the lawyer.
