Skip to main content

The A-Z guide to Rayo Vallecano (Addition edition): O is for Oviedo. Real Oviedo, Part 1 (30th December, 2017)

Four signings in four seasons.

Between 2000 and 2003, four players traveled from the capital of Asturias to the capital of Spain. They affected the club in many different ways - some stayed for just one season, others for more - but each became an integral part of the team.

Here are those four signings.

In part 1 and 2, we look at two Oviedo mainstays who left for Madrid in 2000 and 2002. In part 3, we will examine a double signing, which happened at the heart of Real Oviedo's economic crisis in 2003.



He crossed the divide.

The Gijón native who have risen through the ranks of Sporting, played for the club, been bought by Barcelona and returned to Sporting once again, took a step that very few have the courage to do.

He crossed the divide. He signed for Real Oviedo, and endured the wrath of the Sporting fan-base.

It wasn't that this was a signing. This was the signing. The signing that broke a non-aggression pact between both Asturian teams.

Midfielder Iván Iglesias started playing professionally with local Sporting de Gijón. After only two seasons - and only appearing regularly in his second - he was signed by La Liga powerhouse Barcelona in the 1993 off-season for a 100 million pesetas, after agreeing to a five-year contract.

Never an undisputed starter at the Camp Nou, Iglesias did amass nearly 70 official appearances in his two-year spell. During that two-year spell, he would go on to become a small part of Barcelona's history, with two goals that shook the 1993-94 La Liga campaign. On the 8th of January, 1994, he came on for the last 15 minutes, and closed the score-sheet for Johan Cruyff's side against Real Madrid, in a 5-0 home demolition - the first time in nearly 20 years that either side in the El Clásico had won by five goals or more. And Barcelona eventually clinched the league title, courtesy of an all-important yet severely underrated goal by Iván against Rayo Vallecano in the 32nd jornada, in the 82nd minute against Rayo Vallecano.


Iglesias, at Barcelona

However, a serious knee injury meant that he would return to Sporting for the latter half of the 1995-96 campaign. However, he would appear sparingly, and afterwards he switched to neighboring Real Oviedo where he would stay for four years, always in the top level. Afterwards, he would join Rayo Vallecano - however, injuries meant that his career at Rayo lasted just two seasons.

Subsequently, during the 2002-03 campaign, he joined Cartagonova, in the Segunda B. He finished his career the following year, in Oviedo ACF in the Tercera, after a testimonial match with American side New York MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls).

Iglesias later opened a football school, with former Sporting teammate Juanele and Novo, a Spanish coach. The school is called JIN, after the initials of the three players - even though Juanele has since left, the initials still stand.

While Iván Iglesias only spent four seasons at Real Oviedo, Russian defender Viktor Onopko played seven seasons at the club and enjoys the exalted position of having played the most times for the club for a non-Spaniard - in second place is Nikola Jerkan, and ironically Viktor was the player who was signed to replaced him.

More on Viktor Onopko tomorrow, in part 2.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Non-league Incider: Cray Valley Paper Mills 4-4 Punjab United Gravesend

Last game: 9th August: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers After ripping up my groundhopping calendar, mostly because I was determined to avoid overnight travel, and partly due to other commitments, there was a period of time where non-league football took a backseat. But that period did not last long. Because of course it didn't. Secretly, I'd loved travelling over ten hours back-and-forth to watch some 10th division football. And this was 9th division football in London. When I had gone to East Dulwich exactly a week back , I had commented on how the amount of graffiti struck me as I watched from on board a southeastern train. I was going the exact same way, but much further this time - then I had stopped at Denmark Hill, now I would have to go six stations further. The graffiti I had thought was so emblematic of south London quickly disappeared, as did the tall buildings desperately cluttered together. We, and by we I mean me, were going to the suburb

Who is Raúl Martín Presa, the Mickey Mouse? Part 1. (20th August, 2017)

José María Ruiz-Mateos was the head and main shareholder of Nueva Rumasa - the company that owned Rayo and other companies - mainly specializing in dairy products. (He wasn't the president of Rayo though - his wife, Teresa Rivero, was Rayo's president). In early 2011, the directors announced a debt of over 700 million euros, that it was on the verge of bankruptcy and that staff wouldn't be paid. And the players were visibly angry about it - captain Míchel assured the press that the club would continue fighting on the pitch, but the day after the announcement was made, six key players didn’t attend training. Veteran midfielder José María Movilla spoke on radio station SER about the situation, about the fact that he had only received seven of the last eighteen months of pay, about the fact that there were a few players who couldn't even afford car repairs. When Rayo Vallecano were about to earn promotion to La Liga despite all the odds - the players not being paid,