9 January 2007, by Marco Pereira

New Beira-Mar sponsors sack coach

Carvalhal shown the door to make way for Spaniard

Beira-Mar have sacked Carlos Carvalhal and appointed their third coach of the season.

The controversial move comes as the club have established an agreement whereby it is to be part-owned by Spanish institution, Inverfutbol. Part of the agreement with the club’s new sponsors involved replacing the current coach with one hand-picked by the Spanish sponsors.

The new man at the helm of the club is Spaniard, Francisco Soler.

Beira-Mar were forced to accept the drastic move owing to financial difficulties and opted to build a partnership with Inverfutbol in order to help them overcome their current crisis.

Carvalhal, who was in charge of the team for less than two months, was caught completely off-guard by the whole process.

“It’s news to me. I thought I would have been the coach in the short and long-term as I had one more year on my contract. Two minutes ago I was speaking to the club about the possibility of bringing in reinforcements. I respect these decisions, but for me it is a surprise.”

After a difficult two months Carvalhal at least ended on a high with the 6-0 drubbing of Santana in the Portuguese Cup.

The club has admitted it is attempting to negotiate the contract of Brazilian striker, Claudio Pitbull. The ex-FC Porto forward is out of a contract at Brazilian club, Fluminense.