14 December 2006, by Marco Pereira

Naval appoint Barreto as new coach

Former Maritimo boss signs 18-month contract

Naval have announced Mariano Barreto as their new head coach. Barreto takes over from Fernando Mira, who has been at the helm of the team on a caretaker basis since Rogerio Goncalves left to take charge of Braga.

The new Naval coach explained the reasons for taking the position less than 48 hours after his resignation from Dynamo Moscow.

“After Aprigio Santos (the Naval president) explained what he intends and showed his conviction towards this project, I decided to alter my initial plans and to accept to help Naval continue to progress as they have done up until now.”

Barreto also revealed that contacts between himself and Naval went further back than just the last two days.

“Three weeks ago I was contacted and said at the time that it was not possible to accept the position because on December 10th I was going to decide my future, which meant my resignation from Dynamo.”

Barreto has signed a contract for the remainder of the season plus an additional year.

“I want to build a team that maintains the ambition to become better all the time and tries to project itself to a different level, and not just limit itself to surviving in the top flight.”

As for whether a place in Europe fits into the new coach’s plans, Barreto did not want to think that far ahead, saying he wants to take it one step at a time.

“I’m not thinking about that. What I intend is for Naval to grow to a point where it can sustain itself, creating solid roots which will permit the club to consolidate itself as one of Portugal’s better teams.”