Welcome to my new series - the Silly Season Accumulator! And Sergio Mantecón. (14th June, 2017)

Rumors here, rumors there, rumors everyw...CAN WE PLEASE HAVE LESS RUMORS!

As you can guess, I hate silly season. It's just rumors and rumors - all talk and no action.

So welcome to my new series, called the Silly Season Accumulator. Where I list all the rumors that have ever been mentioned on the internet about Rayo. Yes - all of them. Just to show you how ridiculous this machine is - a machine that creates meaningless content masquerading as journalism.

If that's harsh, that's because the irony is that more rumors gives me more material. And that material gets in the way of the stories that matter.

Here's all the rumors so far:

Marco Sangalli from Mirandés is interested in joining Rayo, who is also linked to Valladolid, Numancia and Reus.
Embarba is being courted by Granada, Sporting and Pumas in Mexico.
Alberto Martín from Leganés has his contract expiring this summer, and has been linked too. Córdoba are also interested.
Rayo interested in signing Lugo striker Pablo Caballero.
Raúl Baena, whose contract expires at the end of the season, has been linked to Alcorcón.
(Edit: the following was added a few minutes ago!) Rayo want to keep Manucho, Baena, Ebert, Dorado, Nacho, Miku and Quini and Pablo Clavería - some might be announced as soon as the next few days! However,

Baena has interest from several La Liga and foreign teams - his renewal is "difficult"
Ebert is almost inevitably gone - Rayo simply cannot financially match what is being reportedly being offered by several other teams.
Manucho has interest from several teams in Israel, China and Portugal, but the renewal could be easier as Manucho has publicly said he'd like to stay.
Pablo Clavería is reportedly going to get promoted to the first team.
Other players, such as Nacho, Miku and Quini, are almost certain to renew.

The season hasn't even ended yet.

A helpful table that captures the rumors and signings, including "ins" and "outs" at the club. Source: www.unionrayo.es

As you may know if you read this blog regularly, I have a penchant for players who fight for La Liga status and make their debut late in their 30's. Players who prove age is no barrier to success.

But this is the story of someone who made their La Liga debut at 33, only for him to drop into the lower tiers all over again.

So, I present to you: from the first tier to the fourth - Sergio Mantecón

Born in Madrid, Mantecón finished his formation with local giants Real Madrid, but made his senior debuts with Badajoz's reserve team. He made his debut in early 2001, and finished the 2000-01 Segunda campaign with eight Segunda appearances.

In the following two years, Mantecón was a regular starter for the Extremaduran side, being relegated in 2003. In August of that year he joined Alicante in Segunda División B, appearing twice in the promotion playoffs but falling consecutively short.

In June 2006 he returned to the Segunda, signing for Hércules. After being regularly used in his first season he was left out of the squad in his second, and subsequently joined third level's Ponferradina in January 2008.

Mantecón retured, once again, to the Segunda with Castellón in June 2008. After experiencing another team relegation in 2010, he joined fellow league club Elche. He was an integral part of the team that won promotion to La Liga, and on the 19th of August 2013, 33-year-old Mantecón made his debut in the Spanish top flight, replacing David Generelo midway through the second half of a 0–3 away loss against Rayo Vallecano.

However, the rise ended there - after only 12 appearances and two starts during the campaign, he was released in June 2014, and moved to Cádiz in the third level. He helped the Andalusian club to promotion in 2016 but after being rarely used this season he left in January.

He is now playing for Tercera club Lorca Deportiva, who are currently fighting for promotion to the third tier via the playoffs.

Follow @Vallecanos1924

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

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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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