“Cold relationship” mentioned by Pedrinho is not the first friction between the club and Vasco SAF; see others | Vasco

Despite repeating the phrase “I can’t speak” many times during Wednesday’s press conference, Pedrinho managed to make clear his dissatisfaction with the SAF in more than 1 hour and 20 minutes of conversation with journalists. The president’s speeches showed that the associative club is experiencing a crisis with the company that controls Vasco football.

Pedrinho analyzes his partnership with Vasco’s Saf: “Cold relationship”

But this is not the first. The interview is another episode in a relationship that, although short, has had moments of turbulence between the associative club and SAF.

Since the sale of football became a reality, in September 2022, some frictions have marked the relationship between the association and SAF. Ge remembers what happened below:

The first crisis between club and company began a few months after 777 took over Vasco. The problem had a first and last name: Luiz Mello, CEO of SAF.

Before being the main name of 777 at Vasco, Mello already served as the club’s CEO. The executive has been at the forefront of the main decisions since the beginning of 2021, actively participated in the transition to the company model and gained strength with the arrival of the Americans, when he began to collect enemies in the association.

Then-president Jorge Salgado, pressured by vice-presidents from the former administration, had made the decision to fire Luiz Mello when 777 appointed him CEO of SAF. The club reported dissatisfaction with the company, which decided to act as director.

See Luiz Mello and Paulo Bracks’ statement after another Vasco defeat

In 2023, with the disastrous start to the Brasileirão, the association began to criticize Mello more frequently for the 777. The internal pressure gained momentum with the dissatisfaction of fans. Debts owed to clubs and businesspeople, incurred when purchasing players, fell into the manager’s account.

The path of Jorge Salgado and his peers was to take the concerns to the meetings of the SAF Board of Directors. The pressure generated the result the club wanted and, at the time, the relationship improved with the appointment of Lúcio Barbosa, previously financial director, as CEO.

With Mello’s departure, Vasco Associativo and SAF experienced one of the rare moments of truce in their still short relationship. However, it wasn’t long before new friction arose. In the second half of last year, 777 Partners delayed the contribution foreseen in the contract for SAF. The money, around R$100 million, was supposed to reach the club’s account by September 5th, but there is a 30-day grace period – therefore, October 5th was the deadline.

Vasco fans protest in front of the 777 office in Rio de Janeiro

When the lights went out, on the night of October 5th, 777 informed Vasco that it had deposited a portion of the money, and the remainder would be paid in the following days. What actually happened. However, the delay bothered the club, and Jorge Salgado even considered notifying the company.

The third act of the club’s discontent occurs during Pedrinho’s management. Two months after taking over the association, the president is unable to get along with the company and is critical of SAF’s management. The relationship between the parties is cold, sporadic and full of pending issues.

– I’m not bothered that I’m not participating in football, I’m bothered that I could be helping. If I have a partner that I wanted to hire back there and I’m not performing sportingly, it would be natural for me to have a conversation about that – said the club president in a press conference on Wednesday.

Pedrinho understands that, as a minority partner, he does not have the final say, but he would like to have more dialogue and access to information. The association wishes to be heard about the destination of the investment and believes that Lúcio Barbosa makes a mistake by reporting only to 777, the majority shareholder. “He is also our employee,” said a person recently interviewed by ge in reference to the 30% that the club holds in SAF.

777, as the holder of 70% of the shares, has the power to make decisions in Vasco football. The associative club is responsible for monitoring compliance with contractual clauses such as, for example, financial contributions and payment of debts, which are up to date. SAF understands that some political wings of the club have not yet assimilated Vasco’s new moment and that it is not the change of a president that will put pressure on the business model.

Pedrinho denies leaving 777, but highlights: “I’m interested in giving Vasco a new direction”

The club president wants to resolve the dissatisfaction directly with 777, which made itself available for a face-to-face meeting with Pedrinho. The two parties, however, have not yet been able to reach an agreement on the date of the meeting.

At the press conference, Pedrinho responded, nine times, “I can’t talk”, to justify clauses that prevent him from exposing internal issues and possible disagreements with SAF football managers.

“I can’t talk” – Pedrinho at a press conference at Vasco

The “caution” occurs because, at the beginning of February, SAF notified Pedrinho alerting the club president about the exposure of information contained in the contract with 777 Partners. At the time, the company warned that the president could be fined for leaking information.

The former management was also alerted about the contract’s confidentiality clauses even at the time when Luiz Mello was the CEO of SAF. Last year, Jorge Salgado gave an interview to gein which he took stock of his three years in office and spoke about various issues related to the SAF.

Watch everything about Vasco on ge, Globo and SporTV: