Aston Villa sporting director Robert Olabe has travelled to Portugal this week to attend the general assembly at Vitoria Guimarães.
The Portuguese club are partly owned by Aston Villa owners V Sports as part of their larger football network.
The group currently own 29% of the Portuguese club, having initially bought a 46% stake in 2023. That takeover was near wholly approved by the club at the time.
They lowered their stake to the current percentage later that year when Aston Villa and Vitoria both qualified for the 2023/24 Europa Conference League. That also saw them relinquish their representation on Vitoria’s board of directors.
They are now looking to increase their total back to 46%, with a general meeting set to decide on that this week. Some, such as former presidential candidate Viriato Sampaio, are not happy with that proposal.
Taking advantage
Sport Witness reported comments from him this week claiming that V Sports are ‘taking advantage’.
“About ten years ago, there was a GA with a proposal to greatly change the shareholder situation of Vitória and welcome any new investors. The partners made it clear that it was not the right way,” he said.
“Ten years later, this Directorate is presenting a proposal of a similar content. This has nothing to do with agendas. Elections are in March 2029. We want this board to fulfil its mandate in the best possible way. And for Vitória to have the greatest success.
“For the past four years, the current president has been responsible for financial management. Now he has delivered the numbers he has and V Sports and Nassef are taking advantage of a fragile situation caused by the mismanagement of recent years.”
Aston Villa presence
V Sport are pushing forward with their plans, nonetheless.
And with the club’s membership set to vote on their proposed increase, Roberto Olabe has travelled to Portugal.
Record report that he is set to attend the general assembly for the vote. That’s particularly important as he’s set to become a director of the club’s professional sports entity (SAD) should V Sport’s proposed stake increase be approved.
He will attend the general meeting alongside Vitoria’s current sporting director, Fernando Meira.
Whether his attendance is a strategic one from V Sports or something else, remains to be seen. It could certainly be construed as Aston Villa’s owners trying to make it clear that they’re serious about the current proposal.
