At a lunch at the International Club of Portugal, in Lisbon, attended by businesspeople but also leading members of Sporting such as former club presidents Godinho Lopes and Sousa Cintra, and former candidates for president Pedro Madeira Rodrigues and Pedro Baltazar, as well as prominent lawyer Rogério Alves, a former club director, Jesus spoke on the subject of “Leadership in Multi-culturality”.
Although he is legally bound by a confidentiality clause in his contract with Sporting, Jesus seemed happy to respond to questions from those present.
Reiterating his “passion for the game”, the 63-year-old coach said that he could “guarantee... that my departure from Portugal has one objective: to return to Portugal, I just don’t know where.”
Several times, in various ways, the former Sporting coach was asked about his relations with the current president, Bruno de Carvalho, who has publicly clashed in dramatic fashion with many figures at the club, including several players.
Without directly addressing the subject of Sporting, Jesus outlined his vision of what a coach has to do in today’s football and the implications this has in relation to a club’s president.
“Practical knowledge of any activity has to do with knowhow and interpreting the responsibility you have,” he said. “The task of a president is financial and sports results. The coach today cannot only be a coach on the field, he has to know a lot more. What I can say is there is no good president without a good coach and there is no good coach without good players.” Leadership, he said, “has to be in the DNA” of those who lead.
He ruled out the idea of leaving the field to run for president of a club: “not at Sporting, nor at any club”.
Jesus last Tuesday formally rescinded his contract with Sporting by mutual agreement, after three seasons coaching its football squad, during which he won one Supercup and one League Cup.