Andre Villas-Boas’ first year as Porto president has come to an end with some horrendous reviews.
Porto currently sit fourth in the Primeira Liga and are on their second coach of the season, while off field finances and battling between ultra groups has made things even worse.
A year has now passed since Villas-Boas dethroned Pinto da Costa in 2024, ending a reign that lasted 42 years.
And on that anniversary, leading club members who have held for and run for leading positions at the club have let their voices be known in a letter titled: “For our Porto, with a full soul and heads held high.”
It said: “Porto fans, a year ago, our membership, with pride and passion, decided to change course.
“They did so with hope in their eyes and with the firm conviction that it was time to renew, to build a future that would live up to our glorious history.
“But a year later… we look at the pitch, the stands, the faces of the fans – and we feel an emptiness. This is not the change we dreamed of. This is not the soul of our Porto.
“The sporting season was, without a doubt, a failure. We failed across the board: in the championship, in Europe, in the cups. And more than the results, we failed in identity. We failed in determination. We failed in ambition, and in UNITY.
“Our club is not limited to its past legacy, just as it is not limited to its current leadership.
“Our club, which has so often challenged the impossible, is today disoriented, without firm leadership, without a spark in the dressing room or on the pitch, and without direction in its decisions. Management has proven to be erratic. Communication has been disastrous. The spirit has been lost.
“In terms of its financial situation, the consequences of the restructuring of its liabilities have not yet been sufficiently clear.
“Despite the policy of transparency, the forensic audit report has still not been published in full, nor is there any known reaction from our Club to the damaging actions that have been uncovered.
“Good leadership must bring in and call on the best and not close itself off, only speaking out in extreme, one-off situations, leaving the future up to everyone to guess.
“A balance between financial management and sporting management is essential, and this is not being achieved.
“Being Porto means resisting, fighting and winning. But, above all, it means never giving up. And that is why we do not keep quiet. Because we love this club with an intensity that cannot be put into words.
We do not accept excuses. We do not accept comparisons with worse times. Porto is not a club that offers “less evils”. Porto is an all or nothing club. And we want everything. Once again.
“The club does not belong to management or figures. It belongs to the members. To those who cry, shout, cheer, suffer and live this emblem day after day. And it is these members who today raise their voices and say: this is not the way forward.
“We want a club with soul, with drive, with ambition. A Porto that makes us dream again. A Porto that recognizes itself on the field, in decisions, in triumphs.
“It is with this spirit that we declare our willingness to build, together, winning solutions.”
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