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| Wednesday, 30 May 2012 10:37 |
Leonardo Jardim leaves BragaCoaching merry-go-round to follow? Braga have this morning confirmed the departure of coach Leonardo Jardim after just a single season, by mutual consent. Despite leading the Arsenalistas to a 3rd-place finish in the Liga, and securing Champions League qualification, a reported fall-out with President António Salvador over a newspaper interview has seen Jardim exit the Quarry; with a flurry of changes at other Liga clubs reported to be in the offing.
For a club as efficiently-run as Braga, today's news comes as something of a shock. Last week Jardim gave an interview to O Jogo, in which he described his relationship with President António Salvador (the man widely credited for Braga's rise to the top table of the Portuguese game since his election in 2003) as "strictly professional", and stated that the two had "little or no contact outside the context of the team."  Salvador (pictured) returned from a business trip in Mozambique on Monday, and the two met for crisis talks at the Quarry yesterday morning. The President left without speaking to the assembled journalists, whilst Jardim informed them that it was Salvador's responsibility to explain what was discussed. Today's announcement, which appeared on Braga's website, solves any remaining mystery. It appears that Salvador views Jardim's interview as a breach of trust, and has acted accordingly. Jardim arrived at Braga last summer, having taken Beira-Mar to the top flight and guided the club to a comfortable Liga position before resigning in February 2011. At the time, speculation that he would join Porto in the close season was rife, but Jardim chose Braga and broke a number of club records in 2011/12, including Liga wins in succession (thirteen). In doing so, he led his team to a title challenge that eventually faltered, but marked him out as Portugal's latest coaching prospect. Jardim in, Pereira out? Now, the Porto rumours have resurfaced. With current coach Vítor Pereira the subject of intense interest from Olympiakos, many have already arrived at the conclusion that Jardim will indeed coach in the Champions League next season - but with a team that plays in blue and white, rather than red and white.This scenario clearly depends on whether Pereira is inclined to leave the Dragão, but with Olympiakos having reportedly returned with a wage offer three times the size of their opening gambit, he could well be tempted. If Pereira does remain, Jardim has also been mentioned as a possible target for the Greek outfit, who have already been rebuffed by former Braga and Sporting coach Domingos Paciência this summer.  As for Braga, the early frontrunner to replace Jardim appears to be Sérgio Conceição, who has impressed since taking over at Olhanense in January. The former Portuguese international would undoubtedly fit the Salvador coaching mould: young, ambitious, and with previous Liga experience. Académica's Pedro Emanuel, Gil Vicente's Paulo Alves, current free agent José Peseiro, and even the aforementioned Domingos have also been mentioned in the last 48 hours. Departure number three Jardim becomes the third Liga coach to leave his post before May is out, with Paços' Henrique Calisto and Rio Ave's Carlos Brito also exiting in recent weeks, having both managed to secure top-flight survival. Calisto has spoken of returning to the Asian scene, whilst Brito appears to have been worn down by the constant pressures of coaching with increasingly strained resources. The new man at the Mata Real is Paulo Fonseca, best known for leading II Divisão side Pinhalnovense to the 2010 Taça de Portugal quarter-finals. Fonseca joins Os Castores having narrowly missed out on promotion to the top flight with Aves in 2011/12.  Meanwhile Rio Ave have brought in former Porto goalkeeper Nuno Espírito Santo, who retired from the professional game following that 2010 final. Since then the São Tomé e Principe-born 38 year-old has been under the wing of Jesualdo Ferreira at Málaga and Panathinaikos, and will make his head coaching bow at the Estádio Arcos. Ben Shave |
By some of the comments I saw, they didn't seem to be bad. I only read that Jardim said that he didn't speak with the President outside of futebol and that they weren't friends outside of squad/club talk. Why is that bad? If that was it Salvador has some explaining to do. Then again I doubt we'll get any explanation.
As for Braga, it would be hard for me to condemn them since they totally proved me wrong this season. I really thought they were going to struggle but they did better than just compete.
I will add that I think they need invest in the squad this off season. They have experienced veterans, but should they falter in the CL playoff it could hurt the rest of the campaign. Then again, will they continue their resiliency.
He gets them to the Champions League, mounts a decent title challenge etc and he still gets the boot.
Braga will find a way as they have for the past 3 years.