Paulo Alves was introduced this afternoon as coach of Olhanense. The former Gil Vicente coach, who had been out of action since the end of last season, succeeded Abel Xavier and is ready for the challenge presented by SAD rubronegra.
«It is a very big challenge to be here and I will do everything for Olhanense to achieve the success he wants». The former Portuguese international promised a lot of work to achieve this success. “Lack of work will not be a reason not to achieve it. It's a difficult challenge, but it doesn't scare me», added Paulo Alves.
With a game scheduled for tomorrow, which defines the club's continuity in the League Cup against Sporting da Covilhã, Paulo Alves says that the last hours were used to learn about the squad, even because the new coach from Rubronegro wants to make good performances in the “Cups ”.
“It was a situation that came up quickly. The last few hours were spent absorbing as much information as possible about the squad and how Olhanense plays. I'm aware that the squad has some needs, but it has quality players. In relation to the Cups, I don't make it easy. The ambition is always high. Sometimes in clubs outside the orbit of the big three you don't think it's possible to beat them, which ends up depriving them of importance, but with me that won't happen. These are tests of utmost importance, where I have the ambition to go as far as possible», he said.
Paulo Alves will find a squad with players of various nationalities in Olhão, but that's something he's not worried about.
“Football has a universal language. There are situations that sometimes even in a simple exchange of eyes, player and coach can be understood. Besides, I speak English and French well, I'm comfortable in any of the languages», he clarified.
Olhanense president Isidoro Sousa clarified some details about the departure of Abel Xavier, stating that the coach's departure had already been decided before the last two games.
“It was a decision that had been taken for some time and was not going through the last two victories. The decision was already thought out independently of these results. The timing of the departure helped us to find a Portuguese coach for the club, which was a consensual choice for SAD».
Igor Campedelli, vice president of SAD and one of the main investors, also spoke to journalists to ensure that SAD “works to improve the club and for the good of Olhanense. We believe that replacing Abel Xavier with Paulo Alves was the right choice to improve the team's work and results, and that was the only motivation that led us to make the switch. Now it's up to football and the game to decide whether this solution is better than the other. Here we work to give sporting results to this team», he concluded.
Paulo Alves' remaining technical team is made up of goalkeeper coach Fernando Batista and physical trainer Ricardo Vaz. These are joined by Telmo Cunha, who was already at Olhanense.
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