By Chris Wright sport@algarveresident.com
Forty-eight hours is a long time in football. Abel Xavier had guided Primeira Liga outfit Olhanense to their second consecutive win last Saturday but come Monday he was out of a job. New man at the helm is former Portugal international and Sporting Lisbon player Paulo Alves.
It would appear that the Olhanense SAD (limited sports company), who took control of the cash-strapped professional team in the summer, had made the decision 10 days ago that a change of direction was needed.
Italian entrepreneur Igor Campedelli, who heads up the consortium which is financed by British investors, said: “There is no specific reason for the change except that we want to improve the results and style of play.” In addition, former boss Xavier did not have the required Level Four coaching badge required by the Portuguese Professional Football League.
Xavier’s tenure of 113 days resulted in three wins, two draws and five defeats with the team currently in 12th position.
Paulo Alves is a respected coach who took Gil Vicente to the 2nd Division Championship two years ago and has also spent time coaching the Portugal U20 team.
In 1997, he made four appearances for West Ham United while on loan from Sporting Lisbon. Two years previously, the big centre-forward scored Portugal’s goal in the 1-1 draw with England at Wembley Stadium, and fans will be hoping some of his goal scoring magic can rub-off on the Olhanense forwards who have only found the back of the net five times in eight games.
After being introduced to the nation’s TV and press, Paulo Alves said: “I’m very ambitious and it will not be for lack of hard work if we do not succeed. The group has many young players with potential, some of whom have little experience in our league, so it will take a lot of creative work to get the best out of them. There is a wide diversity of nationalities but we will use the common languages of French and Italian and mainly English to ensure everyone is on the same wavelength.”
