It's been a long time since I was playing amongst the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Messi, van Bommel. Too long and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I have played under legendary managers like your Mourinho's, Rijkaard's, Scolari's. I want to match their achievements - I want to exceed their achievements.


A job has come up in Portugal, a place where I spent the majority of my playing career in. A job opening that is made for an individual like me, someone to turn things around in what has been a sinking ship in recent years.

Who I am talking about is Boavista. Former Portuguese international, of whom I have played alongside, Petit, has left the club after two years in charge in which time he has managed one promotion up to the top division. We all know that everyone reaches their limits and I think Petit took Boavista to the highest he could manage and he knew that himself. He's now handing over the baton to somebody else, and this is where I come in. Of course, I've never managed a professional football team before but I have the belief and ambition to get myself into that position.



It's been fourteen years since Boavista lifted that Premier League title. The construction of a 30,000-seater stadium Estádio do Bessa XXI left a deep hole on the club's finances, and the less money to hire quality players, together with internal turmoil, contributed to the fall of the club.



Long gone are the days of João Vieira Pinto, Petit, Nuno Gomes, Bosingwa and Raul Meireles. The club fell down to the third division for the first time in 41 years in the 2008-09 season. But the re-election of successful president João Loureiro revived the club into a long legal battle to entitle the right for Boavista to come back into the Liga Zon Sagres. So after 6 years in depth of the Second and Third divisions comes Boavista's return to the top flight.

I, Anderson Luís de Souza, known by my common name of Deco, want to bring Champions League football back to Boavista, and if I want to, I want Boavista to
become the greatest club in the world.



Ambitious? Definitely. Realistic? We'll find out.

23rd June 2014

10:00am:

I coast down the motorway in my Land Rover Defender to the city of Porto, where Estadio de Bessa XXI is located. I'm full of confidence in myself. João Loureiro won't be expecting any Portuguese international to turn up at his door will he? No. He simply has to give me the job. I've worked alongside the best of the best in my playing career, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho and I've been influenced tactically by the master that is José Mourinho. He cannot turn me down with a reason. I'm made for this job.

13:12pm:

I park my car a few minutes away from the stadium, at the entrance are two men in suits, presumably guards. I say that I'm here for business and they recognise me as 'that guy who played for Barca'. I reply "yes". All the while this exchange is going on, a certain fan or journalist is taking snaps of me, unbeknown to myself, I'm becoming a Portuguese Twitter trend. I ask the receptionist where João Loureiro's office is after she calls the president to notify him of my presence.

13:20pm:

I walk into the office, it almost smelled of a chairman's office. It had that professional aroma. We greet eachother with a friendly "hola" before getting down to business. He discusses how short of money the club are at the moment, the highest player wage they are capable of offering being just €150. That was a turn off point, but I still wanted this job more than anything before. The media are expecting Boavista to go down, finishing in 17th place at the end of the season with Penafiel expected to be bottom. I want to stave off relegation, that is the main goal should I be given the job.

13:49pm:

After just short of half-an-hour's worth of talking about visions I am the top contender for the job according to Loureira. He said to expect a phone call within a few days concerning an appointment at Estadio de Bessa. Great news for myself.

24th June 2014

11:13am:

The downstairs phone rings, I almost jump down a flight of stairs in excitement and anticipation. I catch the phone on its fourth ring and in a half-greet, half-question tone I say "Hello?"
I then hear "Hi Deco, this is João Loureiro from Boavista". Need I say anymore? The phone exchange was quick and brief, I will take control of training tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning, a routine I will have to get used to.

9:32pm:

I get into bed the earliest I have since I retired last year. It's a new start which needs a fresh me tomorrow and an early night will guarantee that. Inside I'm jumping around in excitement but I keep that adrenaline stored for training tomorrow.

25th June 2014

6:12am:

I rush down to the training ground in my car. Outside I see the president, dressed in his regular suit attire, I think to myself "does that suit ever get washed?" but that doesn't matter. He hands over my tracksuit that I will wear throughout training everyday for the foreseeable future.

9:03am:

The squad have arrived and I have organised a calm, relaxed session for my first one. I figure out my best players from the 11v11 game the team had on the full sized pitch. I will be asking for scout reports on my center back Brayan Beckeles, winger Quincy and striker Christian Pouga after the session.

13:36pm:

An hour after training Loureira called me into his office with a local financial advisor the club hired shortly before my arrival. We discussed that for the good of the club that we stick to the resources we have until we receive a cashflow from elsewhere. It's a tough task as it wasn't what I was expecting from a top-flight side. I need to get the most out the players I have otherwise it could all end in tears. Relegation, financial disarray or good management. I will try my best to bring the latter to the club.

As the club takes a €7.75million bank loan out, new Boavista manager Deco has newly found freedom in the transfer market. The highest wage the Porto-based side could offer a single player was just €170 per week, but with the bank loan in place it allowed a maximum wage of €7,000+ per week. Something manager Deco has now taken an advantage of.

The Brazilian-born former Portuguese international has gotten rid of the Second Division squad that was in place at the time of his arrival and replaced them with a massive ten players, with possibly more to come. Big name arrivals consist of 27-time Russian international Andrey Karyaka, 85-time Portuguese international Simão, 39-year old João Tomás and former Barcelona, Arsenal and Atlético Madrid youth Fran Mérida.

These signings were desperately needed as most of the previous squad was from the old regime of Petit, which consisted of below par players, which the squad is now full of. The new additions seem extremely capable of keeping Boavista in the top-flight with the potential to possibly take them further than first expected.

This is just what The Panthers have been looking for since their demise began in 2003, over 10 years ago now. With Deco coming in as well as internationally known players, it is music to the fans' ears. For the first time since January 2013, when the club was granted the right to play in the top flight again as well as the re-election of João Loureira, Boavista fans can start to look up positively into the future.

Are Boavista the team that was in like the 4th division after being removed by the portuguese fa for something then found innocent and moved back up?

2015-01-12 10:00#205916 pointer4ncfc : Are Boavista the team that was in like the 4th division after being removed by the portuguese fa for something then found innocent and moved back up?

They were relegated to the third division and then about seven years later reinstated in a new look Portuguese Primeira Liga.

Good luck Jack, you know I absolutely love a Portuguese story

2015-01-11 21:00#205916 pointer4ncfc : Are Boavista the team that was in like the 4th division after being removed by the portuguese fa for something then found innocent and moved back up?

They were demoted to the Third Division for intimidation of referees, so yes, but they were automatically promoted into the First Division this season

2015-01-11 21:03#205917 Walter :
Good luck Jack, you know I absolutely love a Portuguese story

Thanks Walter, I couldn't resist starting one

An excellent start to the Deco experience at Boavista came through the form of an unbeaten pre-season spell. New signing (from the Petit regime) Michael Ochubo starred throughout the course of the fixtures, bagging five goals and one assist in the five games he played in. Out of the seven teams the newly-promoted side played, which consisted of Europa League qualifiers BSC Young Boys and Liga Adelante side Albacete, Boavista managed to win five out of their seven games, along with two draws to make the record unbeaten.

The handful of games started with an intra-squad friendly with our under-19's, who fought bravely against our power and experience but ended up losing the game 6-0 with goals from Brito (x2), Leozinho (x2), Michael Uchebo and Quincy Owuso-Abeyie. The following team after that was Swiss side BSC Young Boys, who have qualified for the Europa League this season so the 2-2 draw that the game resulted in seemed reasonable for top flight new boys like us.

Fixtures

Player of Pre-Season

Michael Uchebo


Uchebo was a star throughout the course of pre-season for us. He gelled in excellently with the ten new signings and proved a successful purchase under Petit. The striker earned a 7.72 average rating - one of the highest in the team, bagging five goals and assisting one in the five games he played. I already know he will be a prize asset towards our final position.

We started the season much better than I expected - we played two extremely tough games and pulled through them unbeaten at the end of the month. Although the league table is still very raw, we managed to climb up to fourth place after two wins and a draw. With the bookmakers predicting us to go down, a draw against holders SL Benfica and a win against highly-rated S.C. Braga has seemed to shut them up and we look a very strong force to be reckoned with.

Fixtures

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In September we have a much more stress free month - especially coming off the back of two great results against two top teams, morale is high in the camp. We face Vitória Setúbal first who will definitely fancy themselves against us, the league reckons those results were flukes so they will be keen to put us down. Along with that is a tie against fellow relegation favourites Belenenses at home, a League Cup tie against Second Division side Chaves and we finish off the month at Estadio 25 de Abril where we face newly-promoted Penafiel.

Great results and grats on GOTM & POTM

Good choice in Deco, good start to the season too!

Liga ZON Sagres new boys Boavista have reportedly agreed terms with giant striker Nikola Zigic after Cameroonian striker Christian Pouga spoke of his desire to leave Deco's side.

Following consideration by manager Deco, the Portuguese man has opted to sign the former Valencia and Birmingham City striker after looking at several options to replace wantaway striker Christian Pouga.

The Cameroonian striker took to the press to express his disappointment at not being a first-team regular at The Panthers about a week ago, which led to controversy ensuing at the teams 2-0 loss at Chaves in the League Cup a few days ago as Pouga 'didn't show enough' according to Deco in his post-match interview and that his future 'was in serious doubt'.



This has led to Deco delving into the free agent market as he looks for a suitable replacement and he seems to have found it in 6'8" giant Zigic following his release from English Championship side Birmingham City at the end of last season. His release led to interest from Barclays Premier League side Arsenal as a potential replacement for the injured Olivier Giroud but Arsene Wenger opted for Manchester United man Danny Welbeck.

Boavista have reportedly been speaking to Zigic's representatives several times over the past few days to discuss a potential deal and Deco seems to have finally offered the powerful Serbian international a deal at Estádio do Bessa.

Zigic has been considered a 'flop' by many English football supporters at Birmingham after signing for the club for a still-standing record fee of £6,000,000 in the summer of 2010 from Valencia who had previously signed the Serbian for £15,000,000 three years before. Zigic ended his four-year spell at Birmingham in the Championship with 37 goals in 142 appearances across all competitions. His £50,000+ per week wages was a factor why City were so keen to be rid of the giant.

Well target men don't come much bigger than this guy!

OMGItsToddzy: Thank you very much

Aaron: Thanks Aaron, appreciated

Iconic: We need a big bloke to hit in the box and he looks like our man

After such a bright start, we become pegged back to earth sadly. What a shocker of a month. Three defeats out of four - one to a lower league opposition, we desperately need to improve before our morale is completely lost. I won't lie, we dominated all the matches but just couldn't find the net more than the opposition and that's all that counts at the end of the game.

Fixtures

I did say that this month would be a breeze but I won't tempt fate this time. We have a mixed month ahead of us - we play 17th placed Arouca in our first fixture of the month, then we play Salgueiros 08 in the Taca de Portugal, then we face a real test in Marítimo who're currently 4th place in the table before playing the 2nd leg of our fixture in the League Cup 2nd Phase against Chaves where we hope to hit back from a 2-0 defeat in the first leg.

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