FC PORTO DID NOT AGONISE for long when they realised they had blundered in appointing Luigi Del Neri, below, as coach. The Italian was booted out just weeks into a trial period, officially for reporting late for the job, but unofficially for his proposed tactics and training methods that managed to annoy several influential players and were deemed inappropriate by the club’s hierarchy.
Brought from Chievo with a modest record and a reputation for finding unknown talents, that Del Neri could not speak Portuguese did not help his cause. His parting shot, aimed primarily at Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, the chairman, was that the club were afraid of changing the style of play.
So enter, Victor Fernández, everything Del Neri was not — from his suave, sharp image to his style of football. He has the great benefit of not being laden with the tag of being the successor to José Mourinho. Fernández, a Spaniard, led Celta Vigo to a 7-0 victory over Benfica, Porto’s fierce rivals, which went down well. He also coached at Real Zaragoza.
But perhaps he endeared himself to the club officials and supporters most when, on arrival, he said that he wanted to continue to play attractive football. “It would be silly to break with the past when the past was so good,” he said. “We must reinforce what was good and add to it other aspects from my point of view.”
Flushed with nearly £48 million from the sales of Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira, both to Chelsea, and Deco, to Barcelona, Fernández still has the bulk of the line-up that won the Champions League, including Maniche and Costinha. Fernández has brought in Giourkas Seitaridis, the outstanding Greece right back, Diego, the midfield player from Santos, and Hélder Postiga, the forward who never came to terms with the pace and intensity of the Premiership at Tottenham Hotspur. Carlos Alberto, a perceptive midfield player, is likely to replace Deco at the creative hub of the team. “They are young players who will progress a lot so we will certainly have a group of winners,” da Costa said.
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Porto are strong favourites to retain their domestic league title. They have won the Portuguese Super Cup, beating Benfica, lost to Valencia, coached by Claudio Ranieri, in the European Super Cup, but it will be the matches against Mourinho’s Chelsea that will determine early opinions of Fernández.
GARY JACOB