As usual, @BenficaPodcast keeping it classy with a sober & mature response to the election result. 👏 But I can’t help present my intransigence. The result is bizarre, confusing, incongruent with Benfica’s identity.

The summer’s activity is complete evidence of trying to buy an election result. It’s cynical of me, but it worked once again. And yet look what it brought. The squad is one of the worst in recent Benfica memory. There appears to be no meaningful thought to who was signed.

Replace Bruno Lage? Sure. But for what? I love Jose, he’s a great human. And class. But is he really at the level now to put Benfica where it’s supposed to be? Look at the Champions League table right now for your answer, even adding 3 pts instead for the Qarabag result.

The last 4 years have shown the evidence. Sure, the Schmidt title was great. But to jump the gun too early on a contract extension for the German was stupitd. The decisions snowballed from there. Mainly in the composition & quality of the squad, combined with the manager fit.

While that happened, it is Sporting, not Benfica, who profited from a Porto the weakness of which we’ve not seen in ages. And now Porto. Rebuilding. To the same standard as before? Possibly not. What a missed opportunity. Benfica have themselves to blame. No one else.

To have voted for this is not voting for a future. It’s not even voting for the same. The status quo is gradual regression. The team’s worsening competitiveness in the Champions League is evidence. Benfica’s ambition should be to be competitive at a minimum.

So here’s to Rui Costa (whose footballing legacy is tarnished now, sadly), to prove me wrong. I suspect I’m not alone in the fear & even less alone in the hope that the next term shows progression, not the same & certainly not the regression that has persisted.