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| Saturday, 02 July 2011 17:44 |
Opinion: Sporting’s new beginningAn exciting future in prospect at the Alvalade Something is afoot at Sporting, and it’s a welcome sight. After a disastrous run stretching several years, with the Lisbon club finishing the last two seasons on 48 points and well behind top spot, the Lions appear to have refound their roar. Most importantly, it doesn’t seem like empty promises or lip service this time.
With Bettencourt running the show, Sporting’s strategy appeared to comprise of looking for former glory by tapping into older stars. You can say that they also did everything on the cheap, and it cost them. Maybe the most glaring mistake of the Bettencourt regime was their inability to bring Domingos Paciencia or Andre Villas-Boas to the Alvalade when given the chance.
That all changed with the surprise election of Godinho Lopes. Surprise, because like everything else it seems, corruption might have reared its ugly head in the ballot. The good news is that Godinho has been able to move forward quickly, and it all started with the appointment of Domingos Paciencia as Sporting’s new manager.
New approachRight from the beginning the fans were notified of the huge turnover in the squad. This necessity has turned into a rebirth, and at a crazy pace. Lopes and Paciencia have gone out very quickly and put their stamp on this squad. Most surprisingly for fans is their willingness to sign young foreign players. Unlike Porto and Benfica, Sporting is still looked upon as Portugal’s foremost factory for developing talented youngsters. To say that young foreign talent is a surprise is an understatement in some circles.
What we do know for sure is that excitement is coming back to Sporting. With the signing of Rodriguez, Onyewu, Scharrs, and van Wolfswinkle, the spine of Sporting’s team has been improved greatly. There is both young and experienced talent in this squad. With Perreira and Carrico at the back, Santos and Matias in the middle, a veteran presence and a raft of exciting newcomers, a serious tilt at the championship no longer sounds like an empty promise. Especially with more newcomers being mentioned every day.
Fans being mobilisedThe transition hasn’t been on the field alone. All the talk about putting down carpet in the Alvalade has quietened down. After years of falling crowds, there was a slight uptick at the tail end of last season after the presidential elections. The board has once again begun reaching out to their fans. All new “Socios” who signed up on Friday 1 July, which marked the 105th anniversary of the club, did not have to pay registration. They will also get free tours of the stadium, museum and team bus. This was followed up by a publicity game at the Academy in Alcochete the next day, attended by team veterans, board members and public figures associated with Sporting.
The fact is that Sporting has always been Portugal’s second biggest team, and the fans will all come out again if they have a winning team to get behind. It seems that everything they tried in the last few seasons rebounded back off the woodwork. Well maybe, just maybe, they are shooting on target now. All that’s left to see is if it’s a goal or not.
by Ed Gomes
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as someone who has been to Portugal, north, central, south, and madeira island
believe me Sporting is easily the 2nd most supported team in Portugal, ask anyone.
however Porto does have alot of fans in the north, and ppl under 30 they are pretty popular (i.e. facebook generation)
But in terms of Supporters:
Benfica's page on faceboook has the most supporters, over 600,000 : http://www.facebook.com/SportLisboaBenfica
Than Porto's, page with Nearly 400,000 : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Futebol-Clube-do-Porto/82713049484
Than 3rd Sporting with nearly 200,000 : http://www.facebook.com/SportingClubePortugal
4th Braga with nearly 30,000: http://www.facebook.com/SportingClubePortugal#!/pages/SC-Braga/33478081901
I do believe that Sportinguistas will be out in force when they become competitive. I think everyone realized that they were in trouble going into last season.
Porto has been tremendous and their fan base is only going to get bigger. Fans are generational so you will see an up tick when their new crop of fans have kids, and so on, and so on. Winning brings them in, as it should.
As a tip of the cap to Braga and Guimaraes, they have very loyal fans in the same region, which takes away from Porto.
I think we all agree that fans have an interest in their "local" club, but root for one of the Big Three. Having such loyal Braga and Guimaraes fans in the region hurts them.
Please don't mention how both Sporting and Benfica are in Lisbon. Population wise, its so much bigger. And Sporting and Benfica have rich history, in a sport that honors it. Generations of it.
Regardless, I think that everyone can agree that optimism, at the very least, is in Sportinguistas minds. Not so sure that was there for the last few years.
Regarding Sporting being the second biggest team, we are talking football here. After all it's a football site. In size of sports teams they have a lot of title but the way things work in Portugal is completely different compared to a lot of other clubs throughout the world. There is no doubt that Benfica have the largest support in the country which in the odd year Porto out number them in terms of supporters going to the stadium. When you look at last season and the four teams in the last 32 of the Europa cup with only about 15,000 fans at home Sporting were a long way behind both Porto and Benfica. Some can talk about elections and stuff like that but when your club is in Europe you folllow them no matter whats happening off the pitch. You could go back and forward but there no spin I'd agree with saying they are the second biggest football club in Portugal. Not in modern football in the past 40 years anyway..
Congratulations EGomes and hope you keep making great articles.
Which club still enjoys strong support after going 18 and now 10 seasons without winning a league title
Which club produces most national team players
Why when Sporting won the league titles in 2002 or 2000 more people celebrate across Portugal than a Porto CL or EL win?
We want Sporting to be big, as big as the biggest clubs in Europe - Visconde de Alvalade
Respect is earned through hard work dedication, devotion, and glory
size and status cannot be bought through money, corruption, and bribes
SPORTING SEMPRE
Eitherway I think this season could be very good for our liga if all the big 3 are fighting for the title. Hopefully Braga and Guimaraes put on some good shows to make the top half of the liga very open and exciting.