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| Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:25 |
Jesualdo Ferreira: Still alive in the middle of the chaosPanathinaikos invite veteran coach to stay on Despite being the only Portuguese coach to ever guide a Portuguese team to three successive titles (FC Porto in 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09) and one of the chief architects behind Braga’s rise as Portugal’s unofficial fourth grande, Jesualdo Ferreira is rarely talked about as one of the nation’s great managers. Greek football expert Kostas Xydias brings us up to speed on Jesualdo’s turbulent time at debt-stricken Athens club Panathinaikos.
On a cold day in November 2010 Panathinaikos announced that a 64 year old Portuguese, named Jesualdo Ferreira, would be the new coach of the club. It would be a lie to pretend that the hiring of Ferreira aroused excitement among the fans. Most of them ignored his previous successes at Porto and had little trust in his coaching skills. Ferreira had to face a team that was coming from numerous disappointing results in the Greek Superleague and in the group stage of Champions League, but the biggest obstacle was the fact that the team was about to enter into a tragic financial era as a consequence of the Greek economic crisis which had started some months before. Father figureThe first season ended with no title for the team but for this failure Ferreira was not blamed at all. He had already shown that he exercises a “calm power”, a coach that could teach the players, and could be a father figure for many of them – especially the younger ones – but at the same time he had no problem at all punishing any disciplinary issue or fiercely criticising the referees if they did not do their work properly. Panathinaikos’ fans changed their feeling towards Ferreira and started to like him. But unfortunately for him, the financial situation of the club not only did not improve – it was getting worse and worse.It was evident that the budget had to be set at about half that of the previous season. Star player Djibril Cisse was sold to Lazio, and as the club did not have funds to invest in major transfers, the management asked Ferreira to build a new team around the most talented of the players left, Sebastian Leto, and to enrich the team with young players. Ferreira drew up his plan and presented his list but the budget was so low that the top players on his list – like Portuguese midfielder Andre Castro from Sporting Gijon – were not affordable. At least the management completed the transfers of two players of his choice: Malaga’s Quincey-Owusu and Portuguese Zeca from Vitoria Setubal. Of course these additions were not enough for more than a reasonable season as the main rival Olympiakos had players of the calibre of Ibagaza, Mellberg, Mirallas, Makoun, Djebbour. European strugglesThe first disappointing result came early on, as in August Panathinaikos suffered from two eliminations in early stages of European Cups by Odense and Maccabi Tel Aviv, two teams without the potential, the brand name and the history of the “Green Team”. But nobody from the board appeared ready to take the responsibility about the low-budget transfers. Ferreira had to do it all alone, with no president, no real general manager, no technical director, not even an active owner. That was a turning point for him and his behaviour.He started to talk a lot, to blame the referees many times, to express his opinion about everything that was happening in Greek football and in general he became a vociferous leader, the protagonist of the team (with Leto of course being the leader on the pitch). The change in his personality provoked different reactions. Panathinaikos’ fans adored him more, as they saw in his face the only person who seemed to care about whether the team was operating properly, but fans of other teams strongly disliked him as they believed he was always blaming others (referees, management, players) for the disappointing results without looking to improve his team. We must admit that Ferreira had to fight with a catapult against atomic bombs and maybe that’s why he was trying to find any possible way to help or to defend his team and players. Injury setbackThroughout the current season the situation did not change and the serious injury to Sebastian Leto undermined any slight chance the team may have had to contend for the Championship. Another season without a title for a top team is a hard fact for the fans to swallow and make the task of coaching it even harder.However, surprisingly, Ferreira seems to be “saved” by the general chaos that prevails in the team as the fans continue to believe he did his best and if he had a better squad the team could play better and obtain better results. That is why the current temporary management of the club has asked Ferreira to extend his contract without even knowing if the team will gain permission from UEFA to compete in next season’s UEFA competitions. Ferreira is still pondering on his answer. Anyone else would do the same. Why put yourself in the middle of the chaos, instead of returning home to Portugal and getting a calm job? Coach Jesualdo has proved he likes tough challenges. Will he accept one more? The question will be answered very soon… by Kostas Xydias |
I disagree with Kostas' statement of a calm job in Portugal. Many of our clubs are struggling to pay their players. The situation might not be as bad as Greece but we're on our way if it continues like this.
Maybe his age came into play, but that's foolish. Actually I thought hat his age would be exactly why he could and should have been a consideration for the Seleccao job. I'm not sure if it was him that removed himself from the possibility.
I do wish him the best where ever he decides to do. I actually wouldn't mind if he came back to the Liga Sagres and was given some sort of budget to work with and lead a club like Guimaraes?