1.9 The Rise and Fall of Bruno de Carvalho - The Court Cases: Testimony of the coaching Staff

In our last part we looked specifically at what happened to the Sporting Clube de Portugal players who tried to legally rescind their contracts with the Sporting SAD following the attacks at Alcochete on May 15th, 2018. Nine players took the initial option to rescind citing the same just cause that the club had used to get out of their contract with coach Marco Silva at the end of Bruno de Carvalho's second full season as club president. Three players eventually signed new contracts: Battaglia, Bas Dost and Bruno Fernandes. Over the next four years of legal wranglings deals were struck with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Olympiacos, Real Betis, Atlético de Madrid and Lille over Patrício, Podence, William, Gelson and Rafa Leão. The case of Rúben Ribeiro ended up with him winning but at the cost of nearly four years of his life tangled up in the stress and cost of court cases. So just six players eventually left because of the attacks. It could have been a lot worse and ultimately in all but one case Sporting SAD were compensated for their loss. The deal with the mister Jorge Jesus had been much simpler to achieve, he wanted nothing, Bruno de Carvalho already wanted him gone and so they simply agreed to release him from his €6m a year contract. A huge saving given their failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Now we're all caught up, let's get back to the story…

The game of football, the Jogo Bonito, and the act of violence have been synonymous with one another since the 1960s onwards and that shows no signs of changing. Even just this week fans of Paris Saint-Germain were caught up in violent scenes on the streets of Paris clashing with local law enforcement following celebrations on reaching the Champions League final for a second straight season. So if that happens when they're celebrating, it's not hard to envisage how things turn dark when there's dissent in the ranks. Most violence associated with the game happens in real time in reaction to a catalyst as those who get caught up in an event are swept along by an invisible force guiding them towards trouble. The attacks that happened in Alcochete didn't stem from an incident that escalated into violence. They were premeditated and deliberate, meaning someone had to have orchestrated them prior to them taking place. Those who perpetrated the attacks at Alcochete were definitively premeditated, we know this because the vast majority already had their faces covered before entering the training complex. This wasn't a case that they were going to talk to the players and the situation has escalated into violence. The attacks were always the end goal, they'd succeeded in turn, so the question was now who had orchestrated those attacks?

On November 11th, 2018 it was reported that two high profile arrests had been made in connection with the attacks at Alcochete. We've heard previously about Fernando Mendes a former leader of the Juve Leo but so far we're yet to introduce the name of Nuno Mendes and I should be very clear here, we're not talking about the future star from the academy who'll light up the Portuguese league for one season before being transferred to Paris Saint-Germain the following summer. This Nuno Mendes, more commonly known as Mustafá is the leader of the Juve Leo, oldest and largest of the Sporting CP claques. The same claques said to be responsible for the Alcochete attacks that took place just six days before the Taça de Portugal final and just two days after Fernando Mendes had threatened players at the Madeira airport warning them that they would be coming to pay them a visit at the clubs training complex. Whilst the arrest of Mustafá would come as little surprise it was the confirmation that Bruno de Carvalho was also arrested that would grab all the headlines.

An initial set of arrests had already been made following which 23 people were detained and indicted for the crime of terrorism, in addition to the crimes of kidnapping, aggravated threats, aggravated assault, and arson. A large number of those now held in connection have links to Juve Leo.

An official source from the GNR (National Republican Guard) confirmed both the arrests and that subsequent searches had been carried out at the headquarters of the Claques and it the home of Bruno de Carvalho. What were they looking for? Evidence that it was the then club president that ordered the attacks on his own players and staff. Note the use of the word - then, we'll get to that in a final post specifically on Bruno de Carvalho. Just let that allegation sink in for a while though. Not only was he arrested but would have to spend the night in a GNR cell. It was quite the fall from grace for a man who was once the most powerful at the sporting clube.

De Carvalho was arrested at his home and was present as officers searched his house looking for evidence to connect him to the attacks. At this stage the Portuguese authorities believe they have sufficient solid evidence to support that de Carvalho ordered the attacks which would allow them to seek a prosecution.

The GNR conducted searches of the headquarters of the Juve Leo which was located within the Estádio José Alvalade with Mustafá being present. Further searches were then carried out at his home in Aroeira. It was further reported that during the search 20 grams of cocaine were found along with a large quantity of hashish which was confiscated.

Note that date of both arrests though and when the searches had been carried out. They come just shy of six months after the attack. Now I don't claim to be a criminal mastermind but I would suspect at a certain point that the police would come knocking and before they did, I think I'd have tried my damnedest to get rid of any evidence that connected me to the attacks, if in fact any such evidence existed at all. That's surely just stating the obvious?

Now in Portugal searches at weekends were unusual, especially late at night owing to legal limitations in searches at that time of day. However those limitations do not apply when suspicions of involvement in terrorism are at stake. Being found potentially guilty of ordering the attacks would be damning enough for de Carvalho but given those accused were being charged with terrorism and clearly if those charges stuck, then he'd be looking at a charge of ordering a terrorist attack.

It's worth noting that of those originally arrested in connection with the attacks, not all of those suspected of carrying out the attacks were affiliated with Juve Leo. However it is reported that at least 14 of them did have connections with the group to which de Carvalho himself was a former member.

This wasn't Mustafá’s first dance with authorities. He'd previously been accused in another case which curiously happened to involve another one of the clubs directors Paulo Pereira Cristóvão dating back to 2015. Mustafá was accused of being involved in violent robberies that occurred in the Lisbon district, and was charged with the crimes of criminal association, robbery, kidnapping, possession of a prohibited weapon, abuse of power, violation of domicile by a public official, and forgery of a document.

One person definitely known to have been present at Alcochete was Fernando Mendes and this was known because unlike the majority of the others present who did their level best to conceal their identity by covering their faces, Fernando chose not to. It's claimed he initially assured the mister Jorge Jesus that the masked men's intention was only to talk to the players. Mendes left after the attacks in a BMW driven by Nuno Torres who claimed to have been authorised by the club security to enter the training centre after the attacks.

The case belongs to the Court of Almada but owing to potential security issues and for logistical reasons it will instead take place in Monsanto, Lisbon. On August 1st the criminal investigation judge in the case Carlos Deca ruled that all 44 defendants should face trial on the exact terms of the charge sheet which had been drawn up by the public prosecutors which were led by Cândida Vilar.

Of the 44 who stand accused only Mustafá is still held on remand in prison. After another defendant Elton Camara cut his ankle tag, the judge had at one stage ordered pre-trial detention for him though we'll assume that decision had been reversed. De Carvalho was released on a bail of 70,000 euros.

The defendants believed to have taken part in the invasion face charges of terrorism (as defined in Portugal), the threat of violence, possession of a banned weapon and entering a place barred to the public.

De Carvalho, Mendes and Bruno Jacinto (the clubs liaison officer) are accused as moral authors of 40 crimes of serious threat and dozens of other crimes. Prosecutor Cândida Vilar said the trio were aware of the plan and did nothing to prevent the attack.

In total evidence and testimony would be presented to the court over a period which lasted in the region of six months. For obvious reasons I'm not going to go into every single day of reporting because I'll still be writing when the new season kicks off. Instead I'll try to highlight the evidence provided by players and key staff members where it has the most relevance or interest. As you can imagine some of what is reported is quite graphic in nature to give you forewarning if you are of a nervous disposition. It should be noted in addition that I don't speak Portuguese so I've had to rely on a translation and Google translate is notoriously bad when it comes to Portuguese so any quotes used will not be entirely accurate. Any words changed have not been done on my part with any cause to act in a malicious manner. Similarly if I've missed the evidence of any party out who may have been key, again it's not my intention to wilfully mislead anyone. When researching in English, Google is nowadays as helpful as a chocolate teapot prioritising those posts of companies who pay them and from publications written in the English language.

Certain factors will not be in dispute such as the fact that the time of training was charged on the day of the attacks. The question being one of who ordered the change and why and was it done by a certain party to aid the attackers? It goes without saying that in addition clearly that the attacks happened is not in dispute.

In this opening part we'll concentrate on some of the testimony from the clubs training staff.

Raul José

In the ninth session of the hearings the former assistant coach of Sporting Raul José made claims that it was Bruno de Carvalho's "suggestion" to change the training from the morning to the afternoon of May the 15th, 2018 when the attacks occurred after the former president of the club "informally" fired the technical team. José explained that the technical team, led by the mister Jorge Jesus, met on the afternoon of the previous day with Bruno de Carvalho, Rui Caeiro and Carlos Vieira, at the time, directors of SAD. The meeting lasted two hours commencing at 15:00 hours in the auditorium of the clubs stadium. José said that de Carvalho communicated to the four members of the technical team that "it was the end of the line" and that he "no longer counted" on them, having left "with the notion that they were no longer the coaches" of Sporting.

"I saw the arrival of a first group of individuals, between 10 and 15. They threw flares, there was smoke, they assaulted three, four players. A climate of total panic and terror was generated, in which we had difficulty understanding what happened in those four to five minutes of terror." José was in the corridor leading to the locker room where he confirms was the location of "90% of the squad." José confirmed in addition that he had seen aggressions against the players William, Acuña and Battaglia, the last two "defined targets" by the fans who entered the locker room, who proceeded to punch, slap and push them.

In summary he stated that he lived "four to five minutes of terror" in the attack during which he thought "they would not survive.”

Note - Whilst it's reported that the coaching staff left the meeting thinking for all intents and purposes they no longer were employed by the club it doesn't explain then how they still end up taking training. Unfortunately there are going to be several large holes like this so I'll apologise in advance.

Hugo Fontes

Hugo Fontes the clubs physiotherapist confirmed for the court that he was in the dressing room when the invasion broke out and that in turn he had heard those asking for the whereabouts of Battaglia and Acuña, noting that the latter "tried to take refuge in the locker.” Fontes described the aggressions against the two Argentines, who were met with "kicks and punches,” and testifies that in addition he saw Montero "being slapped", in the midst of "a lot of confusion, threats, smoke and the alarm ringing.”

Fontes stated that the attack was "unexpected and very sudden," which left everyone "surprised and petrified by what was happening.”

Fontes had been present at the meeting held the previous day at the stadium between the members of the Sporting staff and Bruno de Carvalho, in which other members of the Board of Directors were also present. Fontes noted that he was "surprised" when, in that meeting, Bruno de Carvalho "devalued" the Taca de Portugal.

After the session it was noted that the previous testimonies provided to the court by players Luís Maximiano and Wendel, would have to be repeated owing to failures in the videoconference recording.

Virgílio Abreu

In the 12th session the Ex-Sporting doctor Virgílio Abreu who was part of the clinical team at the time of the invasion gives his testimony to the courts. He describes how Frederico Varandas managed to dodge a flare thrown during the attack which ended up hitting Mário Monteiro: "Frederico was almost in front of me and I see the flare pass by that ends up grazing Mário Monteiro."

Sidebar - Varandas, now the current Club President who presided over each of Sporting's three league titles was at the time the head of the medical department.

Abreu testifies that he had participated in a meeting the day before with de Carvalho, in which it was said that "whoever was not with that direction should say so.” Abreu classified the meeting as "atypical" and admitted to having told Varandas to cancel the next day's appointments to be in training, explaining that the clinical director "was not always present at training".

"Frederico, there's something here that doesn't play well, if I were you, I'd cancel what I had for tomorrow and come to training. It seems to me that you better be present", he said.

Abreu, explained how he helped Dutch striker Bas Dost: "I went to pick up Bas Dost from the dressing room, saw that he was injured, and I took him to the minor surgery room. He was hurt physically, but also very hurt psychologically and said: 'How is it possible for them to come to our house and do this?'"

Abreu confirms he didn’t know who captured the photographs that show Bas Dost's injuries, guaranteeing only that "it was not Frederico Varandas" and "that there were several people in the room".

Jorge Jesus

Following former club captain Rui Patrício’ testimony it was the turn of the former mister of Sporting Jorge Jesus now coach of Flamengo to provide his own to the proceedings taking place the next day.

Jesus didn't hold back with his description from the off as he began: "It looked like a war platoon race. I ran after them. I didn't see them enter. I was on the pitch, 85 meters away. Four of them did not have their heads covered, they came behind the group of 20 or 30. There was smoke everywhere in the dressing rooms. It was in the changing rooms that I was assaulted.”

"It was at the entrance door of the locker room that I saw Fernando Mendes and asked him for help," he recalls. "It was before entering the cabin. I asked him to stop that from happening. But they were almost all inside the dressing room booth. A lot of smoke, a lot of screams inside the room. I couldn't get to the booth where the players were. I was assaulted and reacted to the aggression.”

"After they all leave, they start waiting for each other outside the dressing room. An individual also comes out who punches me in the face. I was bleeding from my nose. I didn't fall. He continued to run after the others.”

"Petrovic saw me bleeding. Another individual appeared, who was carrying a cable. He also saw me get punched. But I didn't know who he was. When I spoke to Fernando Mendes the first time, I had not been assaulted. I asked him for help and he told me that he could do nothing. His words did not interest me and I entered the premises. There is one who hits me with the belt in my face. I go after him and when I leave the building I see them all. This happened in the corridors. He hits me with the belt on my face and shoulder. I go after him and fall with him. There were some kicks. Fernando Mendes is close to me when I get punched.”

"The two who assaulted me had their faces covered. The guy whon threw the punch wore shorts and sneakers. He was a young man of between 22 and 24 years old. Fernando Mendes did not explain to me why he was there. He went close to the others and they began to disperse.”

"An individual entered with a car, which I recognised from television. He only appears after it has happened.”

"'Have you seen what they did to me?' I asked Fernando Mendes. I went back to my players. Bas Dost was crying. I didn't see what happened inside the cabin. That was all in about five, ten minutes. Ten minutes is a lot. It was entering, hitting, setting off flares.”

"William spoke with Fernando Mendes and with the other, Aleluia, I think, who also had his face uncovered. I asked William who was the one who was talking to him. I found out later that it was Aleluia. He was one of the four who accompanied Fernando Mendes.”

"I saw smoke when I tried to enter the locker room. Then when I went back in there it looked like a horror movie. Everything was turned upside down. The players were incredibly unbalanced. Bas Dost was the only one I saw crying. They didn't know what to do, they were very angry. Benches turned upside down, couches, and a lot of things on the floor. Flares. A lot of confusion.”

“Bruno de Carvalho, after an hour or two, appeared at the Academy. He spoke to me. He asked me to talk to the players. I told him that there were no conditions to talk to the players. 'They don't want to talk to you', I told him.”

Discussing as to whether the claques had ever attended Alcochete before, Jesus responds by telling the court: "I didn't let anyone there to go to watch the training. A year earlier, several individuals were at the door to talk to the players. I ordered about ten, fifteen people to come in. I spoke with Mustafá. They behaved well with the players. There were study visits to the Academy but they didn't enter where the professionals trained.”

"I was the one who scheduled the time for training. There was a weekly plan. The training sessions were usually in the morning. Sometimes the order of training was changed because of the games.”

"Behind me no one entered the dressing rooms. I was the last to enter. They were all ahead of me. I'd already caught them getting out of there. There were several broken doors.”

"The training session on May 15th is scheduled this week with Vasco Fernandes. I scheduled the first day of training after the game against Marítimo on Sunday. Monday was a day off. The training session was scheduled for Tuesday morning. The technical team and I were summoned to a meeting in Alvalade, on Monday. It was not normal for a Monday. We thought we were all going to be fired.”

"The president and three members were there. Only the president spoke to me. He said he had reached the end of the line. My continuity at Sporting, I say. He presented his arguments. I never answered. He tells me to be prepared for Sporting's lawyers to make a lawsuit, a note of guilt. I didn't know how long it would take to make that note of guilt. It would be in the morning. I replied that I had training in the morning and he said that training had to move to the afternoon. I warned Vasco Fernandes, the technical secretary, of this possibility of Tuesday's training session moving to the afternoon.”

"Bruno de Carvalho didn't say he was going to be at training. I speak in relation to having spoken at dawn with Fernando Mendes. A big mess in his house, with his daughters screaming, that he was the one who unlocked everything... Fernando Mendes spoke to the president because he thinks he had also been a Sporting claque.”

"In the game against Marítimo, at the stadium in Madeira, there was confusion in verbal terms. They pointed out one or another player. A verbal exchange between the players and the crowd of fans that were there. Nothing else. There were no aggressions. Not even after the game is over.”

"Battaglia and Acuña turned their backs and wanted to leave the pitch at the end of the game in Funchal. I also got close to the claques but I didn't get into verbal confrontation with any. At Madeira airport there were two: Fernando Mendes and a colleague, who entered our boarding space for Lisbon. He began to offend us. William, a security guard and I also approached him to calm him down and told him to shut up. It was no more than that. André Geraldes was the one who was closest to Fernando Mendes, who said: 'On the first day of training we will be there,’ Everyone listened.”

Jorge Jesus discusses what happened at the meeting two days after the defeat to Atlético: "The players communicated with me about the post. And some messages for the team captains. In the meeting between everyone at the Alvalade stadium there was a verbal confrontation between the captains and the president.”

"Fernando Mendes accused, at Madeira airport, Acuña of calling his mother names. And he said that he would not admit to that. I only spoke to this gentleman on the day of the invasion. And he told me that he couldn't do anything [about the violence of the invaders]. What was he doing there? He was a claque. 'Do you see what they did to me? They punched me. They are cowards', I told him. 'Help me, don't let them get in there.'”

The collective court and the lawyers view, together with the witness, a part of the CCTV images of the Academy of Alcochete, namely the moments that occurred between the times of 17:13 and 17:16. Jesus states his opinion that: "Fernando Mendes, in that group, was always passive and not an active person.”

Jesus asks "Put the images back please," admitting that "It's the first time I've seen these images.” Judge Pires asks him if he recognises some of the people with their faces uncovered. Jesus cannot testify to even recognising Fernando Mendes from the footage that's being shown.

After a few minutes viewing the images, Jesus concedes that two of the people in the images may be Fernando Mendes and Aleluia but cannot say with any degree of certainty.

The first to ask questions is the lawyer for the club Miguel Coutinho. Jesus described the aggression he was subjected to with a belt, the first of the two assaults he received. Jesus repeats that he only saw Fernando Mendes outside the locker rooms adding once more that: "He did nothing to prevent those events.”

Jesus then lays bare the problems and subsequent split with de Carvalho on one side and practically everyone else on the other. He confirms how after de Carvalho arrived at Alcochete the players fled from him not wishing to engage with him on any level. He confirmed that after the Atlético defeat de Carvalho wanted the B team to play, after the punishments applied to the players of the first team, on the eve of the game against Paços de Ferreira. He noted that after the game, he was booed by the Sporting fans and confirmed until the game of the flares thrown at Rui Patrício's goal, against Benfica, there was never intimidation from the fans against the Sporting players.

Perhaps with a nod to the previous two coaches Jardim and Silva, Jesus admits that during his time working under de Carvalho: "Our relationship wasn't that much for us to talk often.”

At the time, Jesus told the GNR, in Montijo, that Fernando Mendes said the following: "We came here to talk and not to attack." Today he confessed that he does not remember those words uttered by that defendant. To the GNR, he said that he only found him after the aggressions he was subjected to. But today he guarantees that he met him twice, once before entering the dressing room and after that moment.

Lawyer Miguel Matias asks to be read part of the testimony given by Jorge Jesus at the GNR, in the night and early morning after the invasion, allegedly due to omissions in the coach's testimony. Jesus answers Matias stating: "It is natural that two years later it does not have such exact precision.”

Matias asks Jesus "Are you sure you were punched that day?” He's clearly a better man than me as he responds politely that he was.

"He threw the belt when he came running at me. He made the gesture of hitting. It was not by chance. He knew perfectly well who I was.”

Aníbal Pinto, lawyer for four defendants, asks Jesus why was he assaulted to which he responds; "Why was I assaulted? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time", the lawyer repeating the question again responds: "You have to ask him about that, the one who assaulted me.”

Pinto also asks if the kitman Paulinho was assaulted by anyone? Jorge Jesus answers no.

Note - I can't understand the logic of anyone choosing to attack either the training staff or the players but you imagine anyone attacking Paulinho would have taken a beating from the other attackers. Perish even the thought of it.

Jesus cannot explain why there were some players attacked while others were left unharmed. He especially doesn't understand why Bas Dost was assaulted given he was one of those players who gave the most on the pitch Jesus also states that he did not hear Acuña call Fernando Mendes a "son of a bitch" in the Madeira game.

Jesus admits that two or three times he was previously in the presence of Mustafá, leader of the Juve Leo at Sporting gatherings noting: "He always treated me with respect.”

When asked if he was treated by the club's medical department he responded:“I wasn't knocked out.”

Jesus goes on to point out that "Maybe some of those who entered didn't even know what they were going to do. They didn't scare me. I have the shape of a black sheep."

Note - whilst that's a wonderful turn of phrase used but I suspect Google translate has done me like a kipper.

Miguel Fonseca, de Carvalho's lawyer asks the question as to why the players chose not to meet with his client following his arrival? Jesus details how the players chose to go to the lounge so as to deliberately avoid de Carvalho. The players had already stated prior to him arriving that: "It's not even worth it him coming.”

Jesus however did meet with de Carvalho stating that it lasted five minutes. "I don't remember if he asked me 'what happened' or if he asked me 'how it happened' the attack. I don't remember the tense of the verb.”

Jesus responds to a question in regards to the meeting which took place two days after the defeat to Atlético: "The president thought that what the players did was not compatible with him being president. There was a verbal confrontation between players and the club's president. This added up... The malaise and the severing of relationships were visible and it was something general, of the whole group. The captains were the spokespersons for the team, for this malaise.”

Jesus confirms in respect of his contact that: "I asked the president to let me leave, without receiving anything, “ adding tellingly that “I didn't want to work with him anymore."

Jesus admits that: "Bruno de Carvalho I think he was also worried about what happened [in Alcochete],” and in turn "Professionally, Alcochete messed with me. It wasn't because I was afraid that I went abroad. Even today I still feel some sadness about what happened."

Returning to the incident at Alcochete Jesus confirms: “They never threatened me with anything,” adding that “The players were much more traumatised in the following moments. We were a week away from the final of the Taça de Portugal. They said they didn't have the capacity to train. They did not have the capacity to enter Alcochete. They were much more afraid than I was.”

Some of the players requested “'Get a field that is not in Alcochete'” Jesus explains that as a group “We went to train for Jamor. In the final I felt a team without emotional capacity for that game.”

Jesus' final point of his testimony is to confirm that: "The claques travelled at times with the players, at the invitation of the president. There has never been any problem. But, on the trip to Madeira, in the last game, the claques did not travel with the team.”

Mário Monteiro

Mário Monteiro, physical trainer of the lions, who has been accompanying Jorge Jesus from club to club for more than a decade, revealed, in an interview with Jornal de Notícias that he will end his professional career due to the attacks in Alcochete. "I have a hard time falling asleep and, in the middle of nightmares, I wake up as if I were in the Iraq war," he confesses

Following the attacks Mário Monteiro, Sporting's physical trainer announced his retirement. In the interview given to Jornal de Notícias he says that "What happened was absolutely traumatising.” For more than a decade Monteiro had accompanied Jorge Jesus with each move that the mister had made but after 25 years in the professional game it was time to call it a day. He admits: "I have a hard time falling asleep and, in the middle of nightmares, I wake up as if I were in the Iraq war.” Speaking on his future plans: “I'm going back to the school where I'm placed as a Physical Education teacher, in Vila Nova de Famalicão.”

Monteiro who had been present at Sporting for three years, described how he was attacked "in the wrists and torso with a flare burning at 240 degrees centigrade." Despite assuming that he himself was only an "accidental target", he confessed that he is still afraid of new attacks. "There are 15 individuals who are not identified, who are free, and can be a danger to the technical team and the squad," he said.

When you add all the testimonies given together you really start to be able to build a picture of what occured. I don't think it's wrong to assume that Fernando Mendes and the other leaders who stood away from the attacks with their faces uncovered were orchestrating the entire attacks and simply choosing not to get their hands dirty and let the others do their bidding. We heard how he tells Jesus that the attacks weren't happening because of him and that he in turn how he was doing nothing to prevent them. I don't buy for a single second that either Mendes or the other leaders were powerless to prevent the attacks. It just wouldn't add up. These groups have a deliberate power structure in the way that a criminal organisation might run.

The attacks were clearly terrifying, so much so to the extent that one member of staff even chooses to retire from the game settling to instead become a teacher. Again I want to come back to the point of why if De Carvalho has basically stated he was going to fire the coaching staff why they were there at training? Perhaps it was a simple as getting the paperwork ratified? It's never really stated as to why Bruno de Carvalho ordered the training time to be changed to the afternoon either.

We see how Jorge Jesus confirmed the breakdown of his relationship with de Carvalho in exactly the same manner that had occured with Jardim and Silva before him. It speaks volumes that Jesus was willing to go without receiving compensation and that de Carvalho’s reaction to everything in the buildup felt like he was never acting in the interests of the club but only himself. You've got the suspension of the players for their perceived slight on his character and he's instigated the process for getting rid of the entire coaching team. At no stage does he ever seem to be willing to accept his share of the blame. He feels to me like a man who felt his ego was being threatened, how dare people question me? It's one of those moments you hear someone use the God awful line - don't you know who I am? I've only ever heard it once in real life when actor Nicky Pickard who played Tony in Channel 4s Hollyoaks jumped ahead of us in a queue to a club in Tenerife. When he said it to the female bouncer she replied she didn't have a “fucking clue,” who he was, rebuked him sending him packing and let us in. I've only used it once to settle a bet with the then Premier League footballer Titus Bramble. The bet was simply to ask five people if they knew who either of us was to determine who was more famous, hence me asking “do you know who I am?” but only as a genuine enquiry. I won 3-1 by the way and begrudgingly he'd acknowledge me for years after that and the irony then was all my mates knew who he was and wanted to know why I was on nodding terms with a Premier League footballer? Anyways it's a dick move on anyone's part and I'm not surprised anyone had any interest in getting involved with his power plays.

Note throughout that testimony there were plenty of references made to the club president Bruno de Carvalho, whatsoever in relation to Bruno Jacinto and none in relation to Nuno Mendes being in attendance at the attacks. In fact the only time he's mentioned it's in a positive light confirmed by Jesus that he'd always acted respectfully around the mister. The one name mentioned frequently was that of the under leader Fernando Mendes present both at Funchal airport in Madeira and Alcochete and confirmed by witnesses he'd threatened that he would see them at Alcochete.

Join us next time when we'll look at the testimony of the officers of the GNR who attended the attacks as well as the arrests of both Bruno de Carvalho and Nuno Mendes.