Ex-vice president Vitor Ferreira (during early BdC era) said today that the ex-president once called him to a meeting in which he discussed gifting Juve Leo 15K euros a month "off the books". He disagreed with the suggestion and they never discussed it again, although shortly after Ferreira left the club and became one of BdC's earliest critics. Pretty serious accusation if true.
I vaguely remember a Cisse who was signed in the early BdC days but flopped, ended up mostly in the B team before leaving. I think we paid under a million for him, yes he was a flop but by no means the worst flop we ever signed.
Yea I thought it was Salim Cisse but disnt remember him costing very much. Thought it was weird to make a big deal about that
BdC and Mustafa finally being heard by the judge 3 days after being arrested. Also it's been leaked that 3 of the detained elements pointed fingers at BdC, one of the reasons why they went ahead with the warrant search and arrest on Sunday. One of 3 people seems to be Nuno Torres, the infamous driver of that blue BMW.
Tell these people that. They've been chanting outside the court room the whole day and now night. And there's still a big group of people that believe this whole thing was orchestrated to bring him down.
Probably true. I bet this whole time he dind't even know someone was posting on his behalf on Facebook. All a huge conspiracy.
Maybe if he stays in prison, he'll write a book for his followers... call it 'My Struggle' or something.
Catio Balde, the infamous agent of Bruma, told quite an amazing story which is sure to be headlines tomorrow. Basically he says that hooded Juve Leo members were used to attempt to kidnap the player to bring him to a meeting with BdC in order to sign a new contract. He says that Bruma managed to get away, and later it led to the player ultimately leaving to Galatasaray. The whole story is here: https://www.abola.pt/Nnh/Noticias/Ver/759425 Not sure how credible this guy is, but this is sure to be another headline story.
amazing how everyone is coming out of nowhere with stories. This one in particular is interesting. He better have proof. What I find laughable about all this is the timing. The papers and tv stations are covering BDC's every move. If you watch CMTV, you'll know exactly how many times BDC went to the bathroom, whether it was a crap or to take a leak. 24/7 coverage conveniently when Benfica's touperia cases commence. Nobody is talking about that though. TVi invites Pedro Guerra to comment on the entire BDC fiasco. The same Pedro Guerra who's being investigated with SLB corruption. Gotta love the social communication in Portugal.
BdC and Mustafa both set free this morning. The judge determined that the prosecution did not have enough evidence to charge them with the crimes mentioned, with the exception of the drug trafficking charge to Mustafa. They were ordered to pay 70k in bail and attend daily meetings with police, and they are not allowed to leave their residence for more than 5 days without advising when and where they will be, in case they are summoned again. Basically they got off with the lightest deal in these sorts of cases, the most severe being denied bail and staying in prison. BdC went to the window to wave at his adoring fans who were clearly ecstatic with the decision. He didn't say anything to the reporters. Mustafa did say that he is neither a trafficker nor a terrorist, and if he was, he wouldn't be walking out of the courthouse. We'll await and see what will happen next. Media were convinced that he would be in jail like the rest of the attackers, but seems they got it wrong. What I know for certain is that the divisions within the club will continue for a long time yet. This doesn't mean that the case is over. Since its a complex case involving so many people, this may take months or years. But it does mean that these 2 are not locked up in jail like the rest. The judge mentioned that BdC Was brought in because there was a danger that he could flee the country (he was born outside of portugal) but apparently its not enough to hold him. Now as heavy mentioned above, hopefully they return to talking about the e-toupeira case.
Get ready for a laugh. Lille director said today that they won't pay anything for Rafael Leao. He says the reason this case is different than the one involving Rui Patricio is because the player's contract expired on June 30th so he was free to sign a new contract.
The rest of the attackers are in jail? It'll be interesting to see if Mustafa keeps his spot as president. Drug trafficker, terrorist, and overall petty criminal being so heavily associated with the club is not a good look.
Yes they are. It's interesting, the guys who denounced BdC and Mustafa are being held in prison, yet the alleged masterminds aren't kept there because of lack of proof. Lol he already went to a game today and his fellow supporters cheered for him and chanted his name. I think he's coming out of this stronger than ever.
Today there is an assembly where there will be a vote on suspensions from the club for BdC and the other board members. BdC had a chance to make a speech but chose to be represented by his sister.
BDC launched a book about his 5 years as president. I'm sure the next few days will contain lots of interesting quotes.
Our club announced that this Friday there will be a press conference where the current board and it's president will finally expose the club's situation publically since taking power in September 2018. The external audit that was promised should be finalized by now, so it's expected that the results will be revealed on Friday. The communique mentions that it was the board's firm conviction to be silent these last few months until the club's situation was fully investigated. The rest of the communique speaks about the need to unify, at a time when there is a lot of division in the club. Coincidentally this comes after BdC's book was released, containing lots of interesting and controversial statements made by him about his 5 years as president, taking shots at former staff. Link: https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias...9-02-16/comunicado-sporting-clube-de-portugal
Former president Bruno de Carvalho has been expelled as a club member. The decision was made by the club's disciplinary committee, an investigation that has been happening for several months. His former right hand man Alexandre Godinho was also expelled, while several other ex-directors received lengthy susensions. This of course means that BDC can never vote or campaign again, unless the decision can somehow be revoked by another board of directors down the road. Hopefully now we can try and move on from all this. Although the media is always pushing him into the spotlight (which he craves). Official announcement: https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias...ho-fiscal-e-disciplinar-decisao-do-processo-7
Its been 1 year to the day that 50 masked hooligans invaded our academy and physically assaulted and threatened players and staff. A year later, we have a new president, a new coach, and an unbalanced squad and a divided fanbase. Those hooligans are still in prison awaiting trial (yay for portuguese justice system) the former president is free but could still face a trial. Looking back though at what we all feared was going to be an SCP squad with no good players and fighting to even be midtable, what we saw was a 3rd place finish (same as last year), a league cup win (same as last year) and a shot at winning 2 cups this season. Thanks in large part to one star player. We'll see what the future holds but hopefully its bright.
I'm surprised we have done so well to be honest.... If you would have told me we would finish in 3rd and have gotten 75% value from all the players that bolted (minus Leao who is still up in the air) I would have taken that deal last year .... As it could have been muchuch worse... Part that sucks is we are still a distance 3rd and the Portuguese league has turned into a 2 team league
We'll see what happens this summer to close the gap with sales/signings. #1 thing is we can't choke against teams like Tondela or Guimaraes if we want to win the league - winning those 2 games we would be level with Porto right now with a shot at leap frogging them. We definitely need quality depth because January-February are hectic. Looking at our rivals, Porto is about to have a mass exodus. Herrera and Brahimi contracts are up and they're not staying, Felipe is going to Atletico, Militao gone to Real, Casillas is likely retiring, Marega seems set to go to England, and even their coach is up in the air right now. They'll have lots of money to re-invest, but having your core team leave is tough to replace. With a bit of luck maybe we can be ahead of them. Benfica is a different story. Lets not even talk about outside influences - strictly looking at the players they have they're by far the most stable of the big 3 and it will be very tough to dislodge them from 1st place.