Ball there, ball here: the direction of Olhanense issued, this Friday, May 5th, a statement in response to the open letter, signed by Luigi Agnolin, president of SAD, where he accuses the Sociedade Anónima Desportiva of having “overbearing people who don't know how to build a football team”.
Like the letter issued by SAD, which followed of a news from Sul Informação, this document is vehement in criticism.
Agnolin's acknowledgment of “responsibility for the defeat suffered in the championship that is about to end does not deserve any comment, but it is only surprising that we are trying to pass the blame for the defeat suffered on to the president of Olhanense, to the mayor and to the members of our club», reads at the beginning of the statement.
In SAD's open letter, the possibility that the team from Olhão would no longer play at Estádio José Arcanjo was left open for the year.
“The president of SAD wants to make us believe that he intended to financially help the club, when in reality, over the course of a year of his administration, he has not paid a single rent for the Stadium. And, the only one that paid, refers to a negotiation broken by SAD itself, in which the club, at the mercy of so much pressure and in order to collaborate with SAD, agreed to reduce the Stadium's income value to the minimum possible values» , defends the direction.
«They do not intend to pay Olhanense the fair value for the use of sports facilities (which include lawns, benches, cabins, press cabins, medical center, gym, various administrative offices, CCTV systems, press room, ticket offices, tourniquets, computer equipment , cameras and equipment used for marketing, website of the club and all an incalculable intangible heritage)”, adds the club statement.
The fact is that, according to the direction, "the price agreed was reduced to the lowest minimally acceptable value, but even so they now come to say that they do not intend to pay".
Also in the statement, the club responds to SAD's accusations against payments of around 200 thousand euros that the Sociedade Anónima Desportiva made, in April 2016, to avoid criminal proceedings committed by the administration led by Isidoro Sousa.
"It is public knowledge that, during the presidency of Isidoro Sousa, he was always sidelined by the Board of Directors, so decisions were taken exclusively by investors," says the board.
«We recall that the climate of tension between the club and SAD began when the board of Olhanense opposed the relocation of the games to the Algarve Stadium and when Isidoro Sousa refused to blindly sign documents on financial and football management, and even when he refused to provide real estate guarantees for the Club, which would serve as a guarantee for the PER (Special Process of Revitalization) of the SAD», he adds.
This mutual exchange of accusations started with Isidoro Sousa, meanwhile re-elected as president of the Olhão club, to guarantee, in an exclusive interview with our newspaper, which had new investors for the Olhanense SAD, in case the Italian administration left.
But, in the letter from SAD, it is said “in the last four years, investors of various nationalities were introduced, Nigerians who did not arrive because they lacked visas, Russians and Chinese who never came, and a Luso-British man who talked during months with Isidoro Sousa, but he disappeared at the request of guarantees and evidence of funds».
In view of this, the board argues: «they refer that, in the last four years, the president of Olhanense presented several investors interested in the purchase of SAD, but that they never appeared, putting a clear doubt on that fact. However, Isidoro Sousa has proof that he will show at all times that investors exist and that his interest was real. We don't play with serious things, nor do we lie to put pressure on anyone».
"Cocurred debts of more than 3 million euros in just four years, without prior knowledge of Olhanense, and now they want the club and its members to pay 20% of it. They commit all kinds of atrocities and follies for four years and then, when they don't see even a light at the end of the tunnel, they come to say that they are going to ask for an urgent meeting with the Chamber of Olhão", he adds, in a tone of strong criticism, the club statement.
According to the direction, over these four years, measures were taken by the club for financial self-sustainability, with the reduction of costs at «staff level and at the level of social security, as well as the changes that were made in the operation of bingo and the benefits obtained with the approval of the second PER».
This club body also makes reference to the “results achieved in grassroots football, which are today one of the best in the club's history”.
To conclude… more accusations: “Who, after all, traced the hostile climate? Wasn't it the SAD that stopped asking President Isidoro Sousa and his leadership for opinions? Wasn't it also SAD that took football from Olhão to the Estádio Algarve? It wasn't SAD that ended up with one of the best departments in marketing from the country? Wasn't it SAD that moved the approximately 6 members to the current 500/600 members? They didn't end up with elements that intended to link the club to their land as the mascot moss, the interaction with schools and streets around the city on weekends of games to promote the same and the proximity of the football team to its fans?».
After having already confirmed his descent to the National Championship at the professional football level, the open war between the club's management and SAD's administration is predicting even more difficult times for the emblem of the city of Olhão.
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