Austerity measures: Flamengo look to get back on even keel with frugal new president

If you've cast even the most half-hearted eye over these pages in the last... well, ever, you'll know that drama has followed Flamengo round like a bad smell in recent years. And not just drama either; a recent audit revealed that the Rio club has debts totalling R$750million (£225million) – a colossal figure in anyone's book.

Much of the recent strife coincided with the presidency of Patrícia Amorim, a plucky former Olympic swimmer whose knack for pulling off PR coups was not matched by her political or financial savvy. In my latest article for When Saturday Comes, I look at the demise of her reign and detail the ways in which her successor, Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, is attempting to reshape the club along more economically responsible lines.

The July 2013 issue is available now from places that sell magazines, and from the WSC website.

NB - Since I submitted the article Flamengo have sacked coach Jorginho, whose work I praised generously. Time makes fools of us all.