Luís Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro was in charge of Santos between 2009 and 2013, but had to leave the post following health issues.
Under his command, Santos won the Copa Libertadores, Recopa Sul-Americana, Copa do Brasil and three state-league titles. Talking to Brazilian press, the soon 73-year-old who"s known as LAOR, denied having any problems with the club"s former playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso, and talked about the disagreements with investment group DIS, especially during the controversial sale of the player to São Paulo.
He said: “When he had that injury [knee ligament damage] in Porto Alegre, I was in the stadium, it scared me a lot, he returned to São Paulo, was admitted to Einstein [Albert Einstein Hospital] and underwent the first surgery. One of the first people to visit him in the recovery room was me. I have always had much appreciation, affection and gratitude for him, especially after the 2010 final [Paulistão], where he secured the result with his competence and mastery. He was the only player who had dinner at my house twice, and the only player in the squad for whom I brought my cook."
“So my relationship with Ganso was very good. What he had was that he was greatly influenced by his management [DIS]. We were upset because of a deal made by the previous administration; we challenged in court. There was a point of antipathy. And the player, at any given time, expressed the desire to leave. And I"m a totally liberal person. I said that I would free him, provided that the rights of Santos were respected, that is, pay the fine stipulated in the contract. São Paulo tried to bargain; proposed R$ 12 million, I declined. Proposed 15, proposed 20… and I told the late Juvenal Juvêncio that there is no use insisting. You will lose your time. I will not accept a penny less than the contractual clause. If you want to buy, you come to the Vila Belmiro, because I"m not willing to sell, so I won"t go to Morumbi."
Q: The current board would like to bring back Ganso. The claim is that Ganso"s problem was not with Santos, but with you.
LAOR answered: “No way. I never had any problems. I was the representative of the interests of the club. I respected the fact that the player doesn"t want to continue and just asked them to pay the clause. There"s nothing to discuss. No hard feelings. I just gave three examples from my personal life. I received him in my house. I had no problems with Ganso. It"s those agents that had problems with me. I declined the businesses they had made with the previous administration and was labeled as an enemy of the group that had the right to manage Ganso. Every time they said, in terms of threat, that they had foreign proposals, I"d say, ‘Bring it, if you listen to the interest of Santos, we will not create any obstacle for him to leave." I did not have any problem with Ganso."
Luís Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro was in charge of Santos between 2009 and 2013, but had to leave the post following health issues.
Under his command, Santos won the Copa Libertadores, Recopa Sul-Americana, Copa do Brasil and three state-league titles. Talking to Brazilian press, the soon 73-year-old who"s known as LAOR, denied having any problems with the club"s former playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso, and talked about the disagreements with investment group DIS, especially during the controversial sale of the player to São Paulo.
He said: “When he had that injury [knee ligament damage] in Porto Alegre, I was in the stadium, it scared me a lot, he returned to São Paulo, was admitted to Einstein [Albert Einstein Hospital] and underwent the first surgery. One of the first people to visit him in the recovery room was me. I have always had much appreciation, affection and gratitude for him, especially after the 2010 final [Paulistão], where he secured the result with his competence and mastery. He was the only player who had dinner at my house twice, and the only player in the squad for whom I brought my cook."
“So my relationship with Ganso was very good. What he had was that he was greatly influenced by his management [DIS]. We were upset because of a deal made by the previous administration; we challenged in court. There was a point of antipathy. And the player, at any given time, expressed the desire to leave. And I"m a totally liberal person. I said that I would free him, provided that the rights of Santos were respected, that is, pay the fine stipulated in the contract. São Paulo tried to bargain; proposed R$ 12 million, I declined. Proposed 15, proposed 20… and I told the late Juvenal Juvêncio that there is no use insisting. You will lose your time. I will not accept a penny less than the contractual clause. If you want to buy, you come to the Vila Belmiro, because I"m not willing to sell, so I won"t go to Morumbi."
Reporter: The current board would like to bring back Ganso. The claim is that Ganso"s problem was not with Santos, but with you. True?
LAOR: “No way. I never had any problems. I was the representative of the interests of the club. I respected the fact that the player doesn"t want to continue and just asked them to pay the clause. There"s nothing to discuss. No hard feelings. I just gave three examples from my personal life. I received him in my house. I had no problems with Ganso. It"s those agents that had problems with me. I declined the businesses they had made with the previous administration and was labeled as an enemy of the group that had the right to manage Ganso. Every time they said, in terms of threat, that they had foreign proposals, I"d say, ‘Bring it, if you listen to the interest of Santos, we will not create any obstacle for him to leave." I did not have any problem with Ganso."
