The proposals of the two candidate lists for the governing bodies of the Ginásio Clube Naval de Faro they even go, essentially, in the same direction: financially recovering the club, guaranteeing strict management, promoting a closer relationship with the members and encouraging the sporting part.
Basically, the elections of this almost 7-year-old public sporting institution from Faro, scheduled for next Saturday, January XNUMXth, are a clash between two generations of members.
List A bet on a team made up of older members, some of whom are linked to previous directors. List B, on the other hand, assumes itself as new blood, which wants to change the course of a club that has liabilities of close to 350 thousand euros and has been losing its place in the life of the Algarve capital.
O Sul Informação he spoke with the leaders of both lists and leaves you here the ideas that each defends for the future of Naval de Faro:
List A – «Navigating with Passion, We Will Innovate» – Joao Nuno Mendes
The List A candidate for the direction of the Ginásio Clube Naval (GCN), headed by João Nuno Mendes, who, like other members of his team, has already gone through the club's directorships, assumes as main priority the rapprochement with the members, but also the economic recovery of the institution. For this, it assumes that there will have to be a change in relation to the recent past, in terms of management.
“Our main objective is to give the club back to the members and the city. Because this is a club that will be 100 years old in a short time, it is perhaps the second largest club in Faro and has great responsibility. It should be a reference in the city for the best reasons», he said, in an interview with Sul Informação.
This involves “improving and optimizing the club and its social areas, the entire surrounding space”. “If we go there now, the main thing is there, which is the view, but it has to be made more inviting. On the other hand, the members have to enjoy being one, which is something that the club, until now, has not been concerned with guaranteeing. We have to captivate members to live the club. With that, the club will grow», he believes.
«It is part of our program to conduct campaigns to attract new members. But right now we have a very respectable mass of membership. Therefore, more important than making new members, it will be to bring those who are already back to the club».
To achieve this goal, João Nuno Mendes makes no secret of the fact that the club's financial situation must be reversed. And, despite having already assumed directorships in the Naval, he rejects that he is ahead of a continuity list.
“This issue of continuity has been very popular, some are of continuity, others come to break. Times are different, the challenges are different and the club is in a difficult financial situation. Therefore, there can be no continuity. The management policy must be completely different. There has to be rigor in management and a constant search for the club's sustainability», he said.
“Naval cannot be held hostage by a single source of income, which is the Doca de Recreio. It has to create new sources of income and we have very concrete ideas to achieve this emancipation that the club must have. I don't know if it will be possible at 100 percent, but it has to be more possible than up to now. The club has been asleep on account of a cushion of income that comes from the concession of Doca [de Recreio de Faro] and there was also a lot of misdirected investment,” he added.
«When we advanced to this candidacy, we were studying the numbers, which are public, since Naval is an institution of sporting public utility. We always have to count on Doca's income, it is essential for the club to be what it is. But there are ways to make the concession more profitable, which is bigger than the Doca itself. There is the possibility of increasing the areas that we lease, creating new areas and getting more income from the resources we have, namely our boats».
João Nuno gives the example of the sailing school for adults, «which has been neglected, forgotten», and which can be a source of income, particularly in the summer. «Faro it has grown immensely in terms of tourism and the club is completely oblivious to this growth and that cannot be”, he considered.
“You don't have to be a miracle worker. The club is sustainable, it is viable, but it has to be managed very rigorously. There needs to be a change, which involves a different mentality, a new way of seeing things, which was what led us to enter this challenge», he summed up.
As João Nuno Mendes explained, this list is made up of "a group of members who are already quite old, who join the club with some regularity, even on a daily basis." “The candidacy came naturally, in a logic of succession, since there were elections. We know the club, we have been members for many years and some of us have been linked to other directions», he said.
In this way, "a group with multiple strengths, whose common denominator is the taste for nautical and knowledge of the club and its specificity" came together.
“Our concern is sailing, it's sport. We must not forget that Naval, above all, is sport. But to have sporting activity, the club has to be well managed. It's a hake with the tail in the mouth. Both dimensions have to be in dialogue, in balance», he defended.
And it is also through dialogue that João Nuno and his team intend to resolve the issue of Farense's debt to Naval, following a loan granted by the GCN of Faro to its counterpart. A process in which João Nuno played an active role, which he does not reject.
«I belonged to the management that granted the loan to Farense. If you ask me if I would do it again, maybe I would. Because much is said about this debt between Farense and Naval, but there are few who really know the full outlines of the situation. It was something that happened in a very specific situation and there were a number of things that unfortunately did not happen and that lead to Farense, even today, not having paid a cent to Naval», he justified.
«The loan was made at a time when, in the end, we had two buttons in front of us: one saves Farense, the other closes him. We, as Farenses, kept it. Farense had already turned to everyone and everyone closed the door on him. And we decided that we could save him,” he said.
“This debt must be seen as an asset of Naval. We will not, and never will, finish off Farense. It wouldn't make any sense for me to have been part of a direction that saved the club and now to be part of one that will end it. What we want is to negotiate with Farense, to draw attention to the noble gesture that Naval made towards another association in the municipality and that we believe that the money will be refunded», he summed up.
Even because, he defended, "Naval cannot get out of this situation and, as there are good people on both sides, a solution will have to be found", which should go through "a payment plan". “If they can't pay a hundred, they pay ten, if they can't pay ten, they pay five. But they will have to start paying», he considered.
João Nuno took the opportunity to defend that the comparison that has been made between the value of the loan to Farense and the current liabilities of Naval, of around 350 thousand euros, is «wrong». This is because "at the time, the Ginásio Clube Naval was and was very well financially, it was not ruined" and the members of the board of directors of which it was part could not "do futurology".
List A elements:
President - Joao Nuno Mendes; Administrative Vice President - Humberto Bandeira; Sports Vice President – Jose Dutra; Secretary - Victor Rodrigues; Treasurer - Custodio Sancho; Commodore - Conceicao Pinto; Commodore - Fernando Perna; Substitutes - Gabriel Bexiga and Eurico Alves.
President of the General Meeting - Carlos de Deus Pinheiro.
Chairman of the Fiscal Council - Rosalba Coco Ferro
List B – «New Rudder, New Direction» – Joao Godinho Marques
List B, led by João Marques, is a project for change and wants to bring new blood to the direction of the Ginásio Clube Naval de Faro. At the top of its priorities is the recovery of the club's finances, but it also aims to increase the dynamics of sporting activities, as well as to encourage greater participation by members in the institution's life.
“Our first objective is to promote change. We are talking about an institution founded in 1928, one of the main associations in the municipality of Faro and we think that there must be a change here in the Naval space within the city's own life. There should be more dynamics in the different activities, such as sailing, swimming and rowing, with school entities. All this should be further explored», said João Marques, in an interview with Sul Informação.
For this, the club's accounts must be dealt with, hence the main objective of List B is to “achieve the economic recovery of the club”.
João Marques recalls that Naval «is guaranteed, from the outset, an annual revenue of half a million euros, something that few clubs in the nautical world, in the country, have».
«What has to be done is to manage it well, it is essential to have good management. And this is necessary because the club has a liability of 348 thousand euros with Docapesca and has a one-year concession contract, which does not guarantee that it will continue to have this revenue», he recalled.
“What we have to guarantee, from the outset, is money to pay for human resources. Because the greatest suffering of the people who are there is trying to understand, every month, whether or not they are going to receive their salary. The stability of employees is important for us to have quality of service».
«For that, we have to take everything that Naval is, restructure, and that is why we say that we are a candidacy for change. I believe that, many times, people who have gone through other directions, over time, create routines. And whoever is a little away, when he picks things up, has no problem changing them, as long as this results in a better job for Naval. That's what I understand our team can bring», he summarizes.
Naval also has «several spaces that are explored, which are rents and revenue for the gym», which, in João Marques' view, allows him to have «a much more intense activity, in what are sports activities».
Even because «creating more sporting activity at the club, with the participation of the municipality», is another priority. “There are those who argue that this club the only thing it can and should do is sailing. I don't think Naval's life should come down to that. This club has two Olympic medals, wherever it goes it is recognized. If we can further enhance sailing, swimming and rowing – which is not difficult, as long as the club's doors are opened to partnerships with schools and even other sports clubs – I think a new dynamic can be given to Naval» , consider.
João Marques also defends that the conditions of the Doca should be “improved, as its users provide the club with revenue”, something that, he admits, will have to go through Docapesca and the municipality of Faro. “What is important is to start having a dialogue. Also because, if we are exploring a space that belongs to Docapesca and we are indebted, we also cannot be heard. If, during all these years, it has not been fulfilled, it has to be fulfilled from now on. We have to reach an agreement with Docapesca, which is easily achieved given the income that the club has», he believes.
Also because, with the current conditions, the Doca de Recreio «is becoming unfeasible», because not only can you not go out at high tide, due to the train line, but «you are no longer able to leave with the low tide, because of silting».
On the way, “there must be more dialogue with the partners, something fundamental, which has not existed”. «We are going to call all the members to the General Assemblies and in all important decisions the members will always be asked for an opinion. We are going to call the members to participate in the life of Naval and make them live the club», he guarantees.
It was, moreover, following a Naval GA that List B was born. “Our candidacy came from a General Assembly that we attended and in which we realized that there was a desire to change the direction, that part of the governing bodies were resigning. We were challenged to apply and I extended the invitation to other members, but from a more recent generation, with the objective, precisely, of achieving change. This is with the certainty that the people who have been there for the longest are part of the club and are always needed. Our idea is to give a new air, a new dynamic to Naval and try to help solve the problems Naval has,” he said.
Although João Marques is not a long-time member of the club, "there are elements on our list that practically grew there". “We have athletes from the club and people who practiced rowing and sailing from an early age. I have people who helped found the Nautical Center and people who were already collaborators with Naval. Sometimes, people try to convey the idea that we are inexperienced because we are younger, but age doesn't justify everything», he said.
In this field, the head of the list recalls the responsibilities of previous managements in the loan to Farense, which means that the latter still maintains a debt of 300 euros to GCN.
«These 300 thousand euros were taken from the Naval partners, to give to Farense. This is not a question of the Farense institution, which, like Naval, is a public utility institution with the greatest importance for Faro. What is at stake is what was done and the fact that the current management decided to put Farense SAD in court, a process that won».
“I don't think there should be a point of direct execution of the sentence, but that a dialogue and an agreement should be reached. This brings together two public utility clubs and also brings the municipality together. If we all work for the same purpose, we can find a solution here, which involves the return of this money to the Naval, but with dialogue», he considers.
"I will only know for sure what has already been discussed, if I am elected president of Naval on the 7th. But I know that, at this moment, the boards of the two clubs are in dialogue to reach an agreement," he added, also saying that thinks "that the debt must be paid in full". “But it is curious that, if we received this amount in full now, that would cover the debt we have to Docapesca”, he concludes.
List B elements:
President - Joao Godinho Marques; Vice president - Manuel Martins; Vice president - Jorge Verissimo; Secretary - Miguel Caetano; Treasurer - Rui Martins; Commodore - Albano Lopes; Commodore - João Soeiro; Substitutes - Pedro Guerreiro and Paulo Piteira.
President of the General Meeting - Martha Sancho
Chairman of the Fiscal Council - Joao Pinto Galvao
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