Francisco Egas not only spoke to EL UNIVERSO last Tuesday about Jordi Cruyff's "dream" of working for FC Barcelona - because "that is my father's team," as the Dutchman said when negotiating his hiring as coach of the National Team - nor about Antonio Cordón's concern for the "legal security" of the country because the sports director of the Ecuadorian Football Federation is "a professional who is used to something else," as a possible cause for a possible departure of the Spaniard to Real Betis.
He also referred to what he believes are the reasons why six of the nine members of the board removed him from the presidency of the FEF on April 24, a measure that was endorsed at an extraordinary congress on May 1, with 46 votes in favor and 2 abstentions.
"I can affirm that it was due to a problem of personal interests, because we arrived at the FEF to cut things that were convenient for some, but did not favor football," Egas told EL UNIVERSO.
He added: "In the Federation (in previous administrations) the football money was abused. We found (when we took over in January 2019) that only 49% of the FEF's budget was allocated to football-related issues and 51% was for administrative and bureaucratic burden. We changed that and it trampled on interests."
- Egas: I don't see any signs that Jordi Cruyff wants to leave; Antonio Cordón does have an exit clause
Egas refuted Jaime Estrada, Carlos Galarza - appointed president and vice president of the FEF by the extraordinary congress, in that order - Amílcar Mantilla and the other three directors who deposed him when they affirm that no one other than the person from Quito knew the details of Cruyff's and Cordón's contracts, who are currently out of the country.
"Estrada and company are going to say that because it serves their argument. 'We don't know anything, they never shared (information) with us,' 'they didn't tell us anything.' I can deliver audio or copies of the minutes of the Federation that show that last year they said: 'We have never had such an open president. Thank you, president, for sharing everything with us. The previous president (Carlos Villacís) only arrived and informed us who the coach was when he already had him hired. You have asked us, you have made us participants and Carlos (Manzur) can testify to that.' What happens is that at this moment it serves them to say that they didn't know anything," Egas says.
According to the Quito leader, "they (the six board members) made a request for information and we projected the contracts on a screen for them. They saw all the terms of Cruyff and Cordón's contracts."
He also explained the agreement with Gustavo Silikovich, general secretary of the FEF. "When we arranged his contract, it was for 75% of the time; that is, he spent three weeks here and one in Argentina for a few months with a monthly salary of $7500. An agreement defined that, subsequently, when he starts working full-time (in the country), the FEF would make the percentage adjustment of Gustavo's salary," he explained.
Egas revealed that "that percentage adjustment started a month earlier to deliver $3000 as assistance for him to bring his things, for his family. Gustavo, for doing well, detailed what he paid with the assistance provided in his contract, and they (the board members) took the document from the FEF's file and handed it out everywhere to say that transportation for the dog was paid, which by the way died on Monday." (D)