The Hinchas y Jugadores project - A look back (20th May, 2017)

"Thanks for having this interest for lower teams in Spain. That is something that even in my country we lack as everyone cares about Real Madrid and Barcelona but don't see the local and amateur football dying year after year."

-Juan Manuel Serrano

"Thanks for contacting me...[projects like these] make the world of football grow!"

-Xavi Pérez Ureña

For the last 19 days, I published 45 interviews by fans, writers, players and coaches. I wasn't expecting to have so many wonderful people respond to me, and I thank them for their time and cooperation, as well as for answering so many questions!

I'm going to be honest here - I certainly wasn't expecting to interview an ex-Barcelona player - let alone two of them. I wasn't expecting to interview a footballer with three consecutive league titles. Or the assistant technical director of Rayo Vallecano. Or an Ipswich legend. Or the nephew of Juan Sabas. Or Mikel Alonso - again.

I also wasn't expecting to interview fans of Segunda B clubs, but I did - Burgos and Real Jaén were particularly surprising. Or someone to write over 2,500 words about the Barcelona Femení team. Or that there would be a fan of UCAM Murcia, a team that were in the sixth tier a decade ago. Or that a Norwegian would support, of all teams, Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Or that Real Madrid's reach is so great that they have fans in Kurdistan. Or that my Alavés fan interview would be with the cousin of ex-Alavés defender Santiago Martínez.

I'd like to thank, once again, all those who agreed to be interviewed. This project pretty much crumbles without you.

Scroll down to check out some exclusive interviews with footballers and coaches, as well as fans and writers talking about the clubs they love. If you support a club in Spain chances are your club has been "represented" here - sometimes more than once!

If you'd rather see the project unfold in reverse chronological order, click here.

An introduction to the Hinchas y Jugadores project - click here.

Exclusive featured interviews (in alphabetical order):

Fan interviews (articles marked Xtra are "quick" fan comments):

Ismael Urzaiz and Salamanca. A 22 team La Liga. Trust and Víctor Casadesús (9th June, 2017)

Salamanca traveled to Albacete to compete for promotion to La Liga with an impossible task on their hands. They had to overturn a 2-0 deficit away from home, against a side that entered La Liga's relegation playoff spots on the final day, and who had scored 44 goals in the league - just four less than Salamanca themselves. As the clock ticked towards the 90th minute, Salamanca were winning 1-0 yet in danger of losing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Born in Tudela, Navarre, Urzaiz began his professional career at Real Madrid's B-side, making his debut in Segunda División in 1989. Despite being a successful youth international, he did not make any La Liga appearances for the first team (however, he did play one game against Odense BK, in the 1990–91 European Cup). Urzaiz spent the 1991–92 season on loan at Albacete Balompié, making his top flight debut when he came on as a substitute against Athletic Bilbao in October 1991. In early 1993, he was loaned to Celta de Vigo...

Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers

Last game: 8th August: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United The previous day, I was blown away by my first ever football match experience. Dulwich Hamlet impressed me, but what impressed me more was the journey. The travel to the stadium was just as enjoyable as the football itself. I had caught the groundhopping bug. There were no games scheduled for the 9th of August. There was one, near Wigan, and all I had booked earlier was a refundable bus ticket from Manchester Airport leaving at quarter past midnight. I should have refunded it. This was a mistake. This whole day was a mistake. I was only slightly hungover from the previous night, but that was nothing compared to this feeling of loss - I couldn't handle the fact that there was a game happening. And I wasn't too far away. Just three hours and a bit. They'll fly by , I thought. I was in autopilot. Something within me made me get up, grab a bag, and get out the door. This wasn't me. I wasn't trave...

A new chapter in the Pride of Vallekas...

You might think that this is the second iteration of this blog. But, in a way, it isn't. During the second half of the 2014-15 season, I watched all the Rayo games and uploaded match reports to a Facebook page called the Pride of Vallekas. I then impulsively deleted that page, thinking I would never write again. Moral of the story: this is, in an informal sense, the third iteration of this blog. And never, ever, delete things. Umm....I'm deleting things. Again. I started writing about football in September 2015. Back Page Football were kind enough to allow me to contribute - and it propelled me to write about twice or thrice a month. It provided me with a platform to write for BarcaBlaugranes and VillarrealUSA, two blogs under SBNation, and guest post on many others. However, as I've said many times before, a lack of writing towards the end of 2016 frustrated me, and the mandate to write everyday was born impulsively on a Thursday morning more than a year ago. At ...

The Pride of Vallekas

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