Boavista: Returning to our Former Glory

[Dylan Campbell]

CHAPTER ONE: STARTING AFRESH

The plane had touched down at Porto Airport, the plane skidded into a halt and left the runway. People awkwardly heaved the large suitcases through the crowd of hundreds of passengers in a cluster, all trying to leave at once.

As soon as the crowd had dispersed, and most of them had descended down the stairs, I followed suit. The air was warm, clung onto your clothes and onto your skin tight. As I carried my small suitcase towards the shuttle bus that would take us to the main terminal, I pondered.

Was this the right thing to do? My friends and family back home in Northern Ireland have given me messages of support, but I still wasn't sure. The job was massive, it was great for my coaching career. Finally, a job at a top-flight club in a respectable European league in Portugal.

And, the city the club was based in was massive. Surely, there's plenty of apartments around. But even so, I was worried. All I had taken with me on this long and uncertain journey was a small backpack, a wee suitcase, a couple of hundred euros and a book on how to speak Portuguese.

I stepped onto the bus which quickly whisked us away to the main terminal within minutes. As soon as we arrived, we were led towards an area where guards stood behind protective glass, asking for your passport. As soon as I shown my details to the stern-faced guard opposite to me, I walked towards the exit.

At the exit, there was several people, holding banners and placards of names. Mostly surnames. These people were mainly taxi drivers, who would ferry the tourists to their hotels or apartments. I saw my surname, being held by a short, chubby-faced, bearded man with a younger man, tall and less beardy.

I walked over, and greeted them in Portuguese. They took me to the grey taxi, where I told them where I was going.

The taxi led us away from the airport and onto the roads leading to the city centre.

The short, chubby man asked: "De onde voce e?" For a moment, there was an awkward silence but the younger person translated what he had said in English.

"Manuel says, where are you from?"

"Oh, I'm from Northern Ireland. It's in the United Kingdom."

"Irlanda do Norte"

The short, chubby man nodded. "É o bom tempo na Irlanda do Norte?"

"Is the weather good over there?", the younger man translated.

"No, it rains. Probably that's why I left to come here.", I replied.

Não, chove muito. Provavelmente é por isso que eu deixei de vir aqui.

The small man nodded once again, as he registered what I had said through the translation of his younger colleague.

He looked through the back mirror, his eyes pierced into mine. He noticed the smart suit I was wearing.

This time, the younger man asked. "Are you going somewhere nice?"

"A job interview."

"Before you go, I would put some spray on your armpits. You'll be very sweaty."

"Yeah, I guess I might as well."

"What is this job you're being interviewed for?"

"A job as a football coach. For Boavista."

"Nao." The old man was disappointed. Shaking his head angrily.

"The younger man smiled. He's a Porto fan. For all his life."

"I see."

"We don't mind Boavista as much as we mind Benfica or Sporting. Mainly because Boavista's rubbish."

"Well, they're in the top-flight again. Maybe they'll be challenging Porto one day."

"Good luck with that!", the young man scoffed.

The car pulled up outside the hotel. It was in a rough council estate nearby the city centre, but it would do. "Obrigado.", I shouted out as I left the car. I had used the only good words of Portuguese to my advantage.
The young man shouted back, and soon the taxi sped away back towards the airport.

Well, welcome to your new home, Dylan. It's too late to go back home now. You have to make do with what you have. Even if it's not worthwhile.

 

[Portugal8713]

I had a carreer game with Boavista a couple months ago, it was fun. Got 7th place and won the cup first season. then I got 4th the 2nd year, with no money both years. Then the big boys came knocking for me, and I left...
Good luck mate, it's a fun team to play with for sure. Pouga and Beckeles were my stars for that team!

 

[Dylan Campbell]

I had a carreer game with Boavista a couple months ago, it was fun. Got 7th place and won the cup first season. then I got 4th the 2nd year, with no money both years. Then the big boys came knocking for me, and I left...
Good luck mate, it's a fun team to play with for sure. Pouga and Beckeles were my stars for that team!

Thanks for the advice, Pouga and Beckeles look like quality players. Nightmare trying to search for players who are affordable but don't whinge for so much money in wages. Even so, I like my attack. Will post a photo of the formation and the tactics I'm using.

 

[Portugal8713]

Thanks for the advice, Pouga and Beckeles look like quality players. Nightmare trying to search for players who are affordable but don't whinge for so much money in wages. Even so, I like my attack. Will post a photo of the formation and the tactics I'm using.

I remember I filled gaps by trying to loan players from other Portuguese league teams

 

[Dylan Campbell]

I remember I filled gaps by trying to loan players from other Portuguese league teams

I couldn't sign anyone. No spoilers but the wages that people demanded were too high. I was close to one deal but the player failed his medical. I had to offload fringe players for cheap in order to raise cash to improve our wage budget. Hopefully by January, we can bag some bargains on Bosman transfers or nab a cheeky free transfer or a loan deal. We'll wait and see.

 

[Dylan Campbell]

CHAPTER TWO: TAKING A HISTORY LESSON

I was a right dunce in history. Never bothered listening to the teacher. I was always messing about, chucking paper airplanes at my mates when the teacher's back was turned. I remember one time where I played a prank on the teacher, by sticking superglue onto his seat.

Not the brightest of ideas, because the class was full of touts and the principal had a "no tolerance" rule for reckless behaviour. I was given a week's detention, but I spent most of my time chuckling away.

When I met the Boavista chief executive, he told me that the fans would want to see a manager that has reasonable knowledge of the club, so he told me to research the club and set me up with interviews of former players and coaches.

The coaches and players were fantastic, and with a little bit of help of Wikipedia, I had my facts together. Now, just to warn you. If you don't want to listen, don't.

Boavista was formed in 1903 in Porto, with the city's namesake, FC Porto more popular and successful. It is only one of five teams to have won the Portuguese league, with Belenenses, Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Porto the others.

It has also won five Portuguese domestic cups and three domestic Super Cups, as well as entering the UEFA Cup in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The club's fortunes went downhill after their first ever title win, with corruption scandals and financial problems tarnishing a great period for the club.

In the 2007-08 season, Boavista finished ninth but were demoted to the second division for intimidating referees under the Apito Final scandal. The following season, financial debts meant that they were demoted to the third division, for the first time in more than 40 years.

However, the club's legendary president, Joao Loureiro returned and pressed the Portuguese football federation and the government to allow them back into the Primeira Liga once again. Within months, they were entitled to return to the Portuguese League and its debt was halved.

Then, all the other member clubs of the Portuguese leagues, including Porto agreed that Boavista should return to the first division and after six years, Boavista was promoted from the third division to the Primeira Liga.

Wow, that was a lot of information I had to digest. Spent hours on the computer. Nearly wrote a ****** essay. But nonetheless I had been updated about the club's history.

In our next meeting with the chairman this time, I told him that I had researched the club's history and began to make an effort in learning Portuguese, retaining at least one Portuguese coach from my backroom staff, who could also speak English to act as a translator.

The chairman stated that the transfer budget that we had was small, and that the club's financial difficulties had not finished yet, but TV rights and the ability of the club to avoid relegation in its first season would be key.

I had spent most of pre-season, trying to find a settled squad and trying to find new homes for players that were not in my plans. It was very turbulent. I had already had a full-scale argument with one player, who screamed profanities at me, before being dragged back by the coaching staff.

A signing I had tried to make, a loan signing from Zwolle in the Netherlands, collapsed due to the player failing his medical, due to a sprained knee and the wage budget was too low for me to pursue alternative options who were decent and could fit into the squad.

Already, Portuguese football journalists and critics alike said that Boavista would need a miracle to escape relegation to the second division, and that the fact that they had appointed a foreign manager, would not help them escape the drop.

I was confident though, we had no points deductions, no fines, no difficulties whatsoever. We had a squad of hungry young players eager to get stuck in. We want to play attractive football, football that will entertain people and football that will win us games.

We may win some, we may draw some, we may lose some. Sometimes, everything might go our way, sometimes, everything might go against us. But, we will continue to fight as a unit, through thick and thin.

I may sound like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, but there is a wider point. I want to succeed here, I want my journey from Belfast to Porto to be a one-way ticket, not a return. No matter how bad my history is, or how inexperienced I may be, I will not this opportunity slip.

 

[Dylan Campbell]

CHAPTER THREE: EARLY DAYS

We entered pre-season uncertain of what might happen. The club management had set up pre-season friendlies against mediocre amateur opposition, which had not helped. I decided to test my 4-2-2-2 formation, which had worked well, banging in nineteen goals in two friendlies.

However, I had shown concerns over the way our defense was coping settling into the formation, they didn't seem to fit in and it soon became evident in our first game in the league, against Arouca. We fought well, our strikers were unlucky on the day but our midfield was overran and the wingers were caught way out of opposition, meaning Arouca caught us on the counter for most of the game and we lost 2-0.

Our second game was a battering to the defending champions, Benfica who mercilessly left us to shreds, in the same counter-attacking style that Arouca had displayed in the first game, only this time we at least scored. Only, Leozinho's strike six minutes from time was a mere consolation, as Benfica had scored four before.

Another smacking by Sporting Lisbon, this time we were never in the game as Sporting dominated possession and pressured us as soon as we won possession, earning it back quickly. We lost 4-0, Fredy Montero scoring a brace.

However, good news finally came as we recorded our first win in the league, a 3-1 win over Vitoria Setubal at home. The wingers were more effective, our strikers found the net, our goalkeeper Mika made some impressive saves, and we maintained good width, but our defence was still struggling and we conceded an injury-time goal to prevent us from securing our first clean sheet of the campaign.

A week later, we managed to beat Estoril 3-2 in an exciting match, with our Nigerian striker Michael Uchebo scoring a hat-trick. Our midfield bossed the play and our strikers linked up well and got into promising positions, but the wingers were nullified, the strikers struggled to win back aerial duels and there was a lack of forward runs from midfield.

A week after that, we recorded three wins on the trot as we defeated Nacional de Madeira 2-1. Christian Pouga and Michael Uchebo bagged the goals as our goalkeeper Mika had another storming game, making some impressive one-on-one saves.

In six games, we had recorded 12 wins, three wins and three losses. We had fought back from our demoralising losses against Benfica and Sporting, two of the Big Three in Portugal, with our bitter city rivals Porto the other. Our attack is brilliant, our goalkeeper is brilliant, but our defence is rickety and our midfield is too deep-lying, and not very creative.