Rui Borges shouldn’t last much longer as Sporting’s coach. The 45-year-old coach will guide the Lions on Tuesday night, against Marítimo, in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, but he finds himself in a time-limited situation and a new defeat could mean goodbye to Alvalade, according to the newspaper A BOLA.
The defeat against Académico de Viseu (1-2), on Sunday, was the last straw for the fans, who already see FC Porto in the lead and with a nine-point advantage. However, the white scarves seen were just another symptom that the atmosphere in Alvalade had not been the best for some time, more precisely since the draw with Arouca, even before the break for the national teams’ commitments in September.
The victories in Braga and against Lens gave Rui Borges a new lease of life, but the home defeats against LASK Linz and Académico ruined everything.
Rui Borges was, nevertheless, confident that he could reverse the course of events, but on Monday he spoke with President Frederico Varandas about a complicated moment.
At this point it will only be a matter of time before Borges is fired by Sporting’s management, barring some miracle that puts the Lions back on the title track. In this sense, there are already some names in the pipeline and two of them live on the other side of the Atlantic but need no introduction: Leonardo Jardim and Abel Ferreira.
However, both Portuguese coaches, who have a background in Alvalade, will only be available in December, when the season in Brazil ends. At this point, Jardim and Abel are in full fight for the Brazilian title, with Flamengo having one more point with six rounds to go.
Until then, Rui Borges will try to hold on to his place, but he knows he is always dependent on the results. So far the balance is not the best: two defeats and three draws in a total of 12 games spread across the I League and the Champions League. Fans’ memories also include the Portuguese Cup final lost last season, against Torreense.
Dias Ferreira comes out in defense of Borges
Despite the protest of a significant part of the fans, there are those who consider that the possible dismissal of Rui Borges is not a solution. This is the case of Dias Ferreira. Speaking to Desporto ao Minuto, the former president of the Board of the General Assembly of Sporting and former candidate for the club’s presidency came out in defense of the Mirandela-born coach.
“In my opinion, he has the conditions to continue. He is the same coach who was already a champion, who did what he did last year in the Champions League. This year he has also played two games in the Champions League that were successful. Therefore, I cannot attribute all the blame to him, because, if the coach is good for some things, he is also good for others. But the problem is certainly not just him”, Dias Ferreira began by saying.
“This new modality created by some media outlets, which is the ‘Tiro ao Borges’, aims to reach higher than Rui Borges. Because there are people who, when Sporting started to make all this progress, there were targets to hit… Therefore, this is part of a joint maneuver by several parties. Those in the media sell themselves for a plate of lentils… But that’s what we have”, lamented the former Sporting director.
