Being palmeirense is never having a dull moment. It’s a nonstop rollercoaster ride, wearing you down at times as if draining strength from your body and mind. Deal with it or look somewhere else for cheaper thrills.
On Friday, the DOCUMENT was finally signed by president Tirone, settling the issue with WTorre that was haltering construction on the New Arena. A couple of changes – insignificant and ridiculous (15 parking spaces and a VIP cabin for the directors) – were made to the original agreement. Conclusion: weeks and months of “negotiations”, trash talk in the press and added tension between Palmeiras and WTorre served as pretext for an attempt to promote Tirone as a serious and tough negotiator, determined to adjust contractual clauses overlooked by the former (Belluzzo) administration. In the end, I’d say the opposite was achieved.
Tirone gave an exclusive interview to the Jornal da Tarde moments after signing the document; an interview that proved perfectly timed to divert any excitement and commemoration as its content stirred the immediate fury of all Palmeiras supporters. In conversation with the reporter, Tirone airs several opinions: that Valdivia and Lincoln cost more than they contribute (he even labels Valdivia “an awful investment”), that Valdivia parties too hard and that Tirone, if made the offer, would swap him for Dagoberto (of SPFC); that Felipão sometimes loses his posture in a way that Mano Menezes (coach of the Brazilian national team) never does; and that both Felipão and Frizzo complained too much in regard to the PC Oliveira incident (the referee chosen for the Palmeiras vs. Corinthians game in the Paulistão), making it impossible for Tirone to revert the situation. In addition, he commented on specific player salaries (Assunção and Lincoln) among other things.
Tirone’s statements are not compatible with his position as president of Palmeiras. He damages the institution by exposing players, coach Scolari and others. Tirone himself seems to understand this in hindsight, as he on Palmeiras’ official site offered up an “alternative interpretation” of his wordings. According to Vicente Crisco of the 3VV, Tirone has also been in contact with coach Scolari in an effort to set things straight and even with some supporters of Palmeiras to personally apologise. Let’s see if Tirone is able to ride this storm out: many are asking for his head without delay.
We had some additional sources of joy this week. As expected, losing 6-0 to Coritiba in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Brazilian Cup proved too difficult to revert. Palmeiras beat Coritiba 2-0 at the Pacaembu on Wednesday (watch the highlights below), but the result was obviously not enough. Eliminated from the Cup, the victory at least brought back the self confidence and some of the respect lost with supporters. On the negative side of things: Wellington Paulista, in his first game in Palmeiras’ starting eleven, fell badly on his right shoulder, forcing it out of position. The player will stay off the pitch for 2-4 weeks. The same goes for Lincoln, who felt his thigh again (Lincoln and Valdivia have a side bet related to their thighs) and will miss out on the first rounds of the Brasileirão.
— ooo —
Congratulations to Santos – Paulista Champions 2011 – beating Corinthians 2-1 (0-0 in the first leg) in the finals. Mind you, the centenada continues!
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 
To Kristian Bengtson,
Thank you for bringing the Palmeiras universe to the rest of the world, I’m a Palmeiras fan living in the US and I appreciate your articles always on the money in regards to what happens to the team. Keep it up.
Beto
Beto,
Many thanks for your valuable feedback. As I’ve written before: it’s comments like these that give me fuel to keep the blog up and running. : )
Your help to spread the word about Anything Palmeiras is deeply appreciated. My dream is one day be able to do some sort of mapping of Palmeiras supporters around the globe.
Cheers,
Kristian
Sometimes I think that Palmeiras presidents live like the movie The Godfather. I thought that Tirone was going to be more reasonable than Belluzo, but figures…
Flávia, I think he WISHES to be like the Godfather, but doesn’t even come close. The Godfather has integrity, respect, power, posture, strikes fear in his enemies (and even in his allies). Tirone? This whole Arena incident just made him look ridiculous. At least, that’s my opinion.
Thanks for commenting, hope to see you a lot around here! : )
Abraços,
Kris
Hi Kristian,
You are right and the worse thing is that the journalists are loving all that. I’m a Jornal da Tarde reader and while they love criticize anything and everything regarding Palmeiras, they are positively loving their supposed “scoop”.
Hi Flavia,
I can imagine the excitement at JT. And, in a sense, it was indeed a scoop. Noone was talking about anything else but Tirone’s bombastic “interview”.
My wife’s a journalist. It’s clear to me – and more so for each day – that there are a lot of hidden agendas and distortions wherever we look. Not at all easy to filter.
I knew this guy was no better than the last; he just smelled like slime from the second he announced his candidacy. I wanted Nobre to win, a young guy with different ideas would have done wonders for the club.
Although, I agree with him in the sense that Validivia was damned expensive and needs to get healthy and begin to play well to justify Palmeiras’ huge investment in him; and partying nights with Mancha Verde is not the way to go about things.
Nobre was my man too. Unfortunately, he was rather naive politically. But the mumies are losing power as young and dedicated supporters are filing their memberships and run to fill up council positions. In a few year’s time I believe major change is inevitable.
Valdivia… He is indeed expensive. But every time he’s on the pitch, he puts on a show. And I do believe that he loves Palmeiras and the supporters, wanting to contribute. He’s been struck by a bad spell. But yes, I agree: he should focus even harder on getting well before anything else. I think the partying was wilder some time ago, Valdivia’s moving in the right direction (if my sources are as reliable as I hope they are).
Nice to hear you’re sourced, Kristian. Keep us updated on our great Verdão with your top-notch reporting.
It’s so sad to read interviews like Tirone’s one. It was a magic moment for us to have our New Arena, and this stupid came and screwed everything up! It was always hard do be Palmeirense, but nowadays it’s becoming disgusting! See those guys fighting for power and money, forgetting the main cause is sucks!
Kristian I still visiting your blog, however I stopped to comment… keep in this line, always with nice comments!
Regards,
Victor
Dear Victor,
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. And who knows, one day I might get an interview with Tirone himself and post it here. Although I’m not sure I dare even propose it: there’s no way knowing what the man can say at any time. He’s indeed what the english call “a loose cannon”: totally unpredictable!
Cheers, take care!
Kristian