tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44623602666071926372024-03-14T06:27:50.991+00:00The Pride of VallekasDaily blogging about Rayo. It's the only Rayo Vallecano blog in English that I know of.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.comBlogger370125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-52805290924867657482018-08-29T10:00:00.000+01:002018-08-29T10:00:05.782+01:00Non-league Incider: Cray Valley Paper Mills 4-4 Punjab United Gravesend<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>Last game: <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/08/non-league-incider-st-helens-town-3-0-Atherton-Laburnum-Rovers.html">9th August: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers</a></i></div>
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<i>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.</i></div>
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<i>But that period did not last long. Because of course it didn't. </i><br />
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<i>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.</i></div>
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When I had gone to East Dulwich <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/08/non-league-incider-dulwich-hamlet-2-1-east-thurrock-united.html">exactly a week back</a>, 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 suburbs. The stations became quieter and emptier, the surroundings of the train's journey became greener and sparser, the elevation of the houses became lower - if you blinked, you could lose sight of an entire community.<br />
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Just on the fringes of the South Circular, London's second ring road, lies Eltham. The walk from the station to the ground revealed nothing that I hadn't already seen - a quiet, residential suburb with large green open spaces. The narrow streets but without the nuisance of traffic, the electric wires visible and hanging low, the detached homes with plenty of space between them - this was London too. Not the London you see or hear about often, mind you.<br />
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Cray Valley Paper Mills, like the name suggests, has deep ties to the paper mill industry. The club originally played at the sports ground of the paper mills in St Paul's Cray. But when the mills closed in 1981, the club then played at numerous grounds until moving permanently to the Badgers Sports Ground in Eltham.<br />
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Those paper mills may never come back. And the club isn't going back to St Paul's Cray any time soon either - Cray Wanderers has become the local football team of the area. And Cray Valley has established itself in Eltham.<br />
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But you wouldn't know that if you went there. If you went there, you would see Greenwich Borough FC stamped all over the ground - including a poster for the league they play in. Cray Valley barely gets a mention on the front of the ground. Inside, the "keep out the goal" sign had the Greenwich badge. So did most of the advertisement boards. And the explanation for that, perhaps, is quite simple. Cray Valley play one tier lower on the English football ladder than Greenwich. Despite the fact that it was Greenwich who, in 2016, agreed a 30-year lease to share the ground.<br />
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Such are the oddities and realities of groundsharing in the non-league world. <br />
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Appearances are one thing, reality another. I was pleasantly surprised to see someone walk up to me after I had gotten my ticket and hand me a printed team sheet.<br />
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But then, as I sat in the stands, the first thing I noticed was that the "No standing in this area" sign in the stand area had the Greenwich logo on it. <i>Another one? Are they trying to take this ground</i>, I thought, thinking about all the horror stories of clubs being forced to leave their own homes.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EOWHQTpxSUg/W4YfmuGSgbI/AAAAAAAABZw/PJzJl_2iFRM_fGRpHAEKYvEcUosUr2z8ACLcBGAs/s1600/20180815_195134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EOWHQTpxSUg/W4YfmuGSgbI/AAAAAAAABZw/PJzJl_2iFRM_fGRpHAEKYvEcUosUr2z8ACLcBGAs/s320/20180815_195134.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Those thoughts, irrational as they might have been, kept me occupied before the game started. That, and the match day program from which I learnt that this was the 100th season for the club. <i>Wow, they must have been here since the late 1800s,</i> I thought, before realizing that the current year is 2018. <i>It's just a privilege to see your mind at work</i>, I told myself.<br />
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"<i>Play, play, play!</i>" he cried.<br />
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Punjab United's no. 5, Paul Lorraine, was keen to remind his teammates. They weren't going to play any way. They were going to play <i>their</i> way. With the ball at their feet.<br />
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They would play, play, play...to no avail. The ridiculously high line meant that Cray Valley had space to run into. And up top, no. 9 Francis Babalola looked dangerous, not just in the air but along the ground too. He combined on the right with no. 7 Jake Rose in the 13th minute, with a shot wide off the post - Jake Rose already had forced the keeper to make a save earlier.<br />
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A goal was coming. And it came six minutes later, with Jake Rose crossing the ball to Cem Tumkaya to head home. More goals should have followed - no. 10 Kevin Lisbie missed a rebound which came off the post after a Babalola shot. On the left, no. 11 Anthony Edgar was making some interesting late runs into the box, and when he did find himself in space he managed to blast the shot over the top.<br />
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A second was coming. You could feel it. It should have happened. It was supposed to. And then, against every inkling of the run of play, after the calls for playing the ball had been scoffed at and had even started to faint, Punjab scored. William Johnson-Cole held up the ball, and let the frightening pace of their no. 7 do the rest. Simon Cuthbert's equalizing goal in the 36th minute prompted a second cheer from the crowd - there was more than one away fan at the ground that day.<br />
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The goalkeeper and captain of Cray Valley, Andy Walker, immediately got up and shouted. Cursed at the defense. Rallied the rest. Told them all to go again.<br />
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But there were some shocked faces in that defense. A minute later they would hang even lower - uncertainty in their ranks gave way for Cuthbert to run behind them, latching onto a ball he had no business getting to. 2-1. A third cheer followed. So did a second groan from some home fans. Followed by a second rallying cry from the captain.<br />
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Cray Valley were a tough team. A good team - with a run and gun style that was standard for most non league sides, and with the players to clearly make it work. But Punjab had a right side that any team would envy. At right back, donning the no. 2 shirt, Giannoulis Fakinos, short but quick, was an unlikely playmaker, making diagonal runs into central midfield with the ball. And on the right wing, Cuthbert was making deadly underlapping runs, trying to move centrally whenever he got the chance.<br />
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The inactivity on Punjab's left side was summed up by this picture I took, which summed up the evening nicely - Cray's right handed defender, unpressed, with the ball and no passing options, as Greenwich Borough and Cray Valley both have their banners on the wall:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWLdhlmbcEU/W4Yfu_vLuLI/AAAAAAAABbQ/bmc0NhvFLtE2kFgqxj1pmLzQQzgpGRrBwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180815_203139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWLdhlmbcEU/W4Yfu_vLuLI/AAAAAAAABbQ/bmc0NhvFLtE2kFgqxj1pmLzQQzgpGRrBwCLcBGAs/s640/20180815_203139.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Half time came soon enough for Cray Valley, a Punjab free-kick tipped wide with the faintest of touches two minutes prior. As I queued up for food, I noticed the person in front of me had a pink T-shirt on. <i>Was he a Dulwich fan?</i> I thought, not really sure.<br />
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"Yes," he responded. After I asked the question, that is.<br />
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Stuart was a Dulwich fan but "went around" to see other games in London. If there was a commonly used synonym for groundhopping, I had found one. I needed one, too - you can't go around saying you're a groundhopper after three games. Don't be daft.<br />
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He'd been there for the <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/08/non-league-incider-dulwich-hamlet-2-1-east-thurrock-united.html">Dulwich vs East Thurrock game</a>, and was planning to go around the country to watch the new inhabitants of the sixth tier's National League South. When I asked if he was looking forward to any future games, he said Truro City in November. Yep, the one in Cornwall.<br />
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The teams came out again, and our conversation ended. I felt something. I don't know what it was - but the Cray Valley players had this new sense of aura around them.<br />
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Somewhere in Eltham, a football ground was now a battlefield. Each team was trying to cancel out the other. Strengths and weaknesses of individual players were largely ignored by each other - this was a battle of men against men. A collective against another. Everyone was expected to show up.<br />
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And initially, only one team did. For the first time that game Punjab were forced to retreat. Two minutes in and Cray Valley had forced two corners. Five minutes in they woke a slumbering crowd into cheers, with Edgar passing the ball through for Babalola to slot home.<br />
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Punjab had nothing to say. They were weak in the air. The calls to play had died completely. The right side of Cray Valley slipped past Punjab time and time again, Jake Rose silently excellent on the night. In the 57th minute, it was Jake Rose's cross that created another goal, that of no. 10 Kevin Lisbie, whose powerful header 12 yards out gave Cray the lead once more. He would be the protagonist seven minutes later again, as midfielder Jack White's long throw needed just a flick to reach the net at the far post. It was Cray's four goal on the night.<br />
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They say a two goal lead is the worst lead. The commentators say it all the time. The words fly out like synonyms - complacency. A false sense of security.<br />
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You've read the title. You know what comes next.<br />
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"Three at the back!" the instruction was bellowed.<br />
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"Have we <i>ever </i>played three at the back?" asked the always vocal no. 5. The change in intonation on the "ever" was markedly pronounced, as if to relay the fact that this was a suicidal idea. He knew the answer.<br />
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The response came. It was serious, dead serious. "No."<br />
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We all laughed. Cray fans, Punjab fans, non-Eltham based groundhoppers - the slightest expectation of a calm, affirmative response quickly dismissed. It really was suicidal - kill or be killed. And Paul Lorraine's roll of the eyes said it before I could think it.<br />
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The extra man up front came in handy in the 82nd minute, a header by no. 4 Kieran Simms tightening the scores. Punjab were playing again. Cray were retreating, trying to hang on. The crowd started to grow nervous. Everyone had clenched themselves for a close finish.<br />
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In the second minute of extra time, the ball was played behind. Cray's no. 2, Josh James, passed it to the goalkeeper. I was diagonally opposite the run of play. I hadn't seen it at first. None of the Cray fans had either. But when a player donning a red shirt took a touch of the ball, we knew. We all knew.<br />
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In just a few milliseconds of madness, everything had changed. The back pass wasn't good enough. And Punjab's no. 8, Joe Loft, needed just one touch to beat the onrushing keeper at the near post.<br />
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Cray Valley went again, their captain would have been livid had they tried to sit back and take the point, but time was not on their side. The 4-4 scoreline was, in a harsh way, quite fair - defensive mistakes went punished, and that's life.<br />
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<b>Aftermath</b><br />
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I didn't stick around for long - it was an hour to get back home. I had to take the 321 to Lewisham, catch a DLR to Bank and then take the Tube from there. I remember standing at the DLR station, waiting for a train with my match program in hand.<br />
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"Were you at the game?" asked a man, pointing to the booklet.<br />
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I recognized him. He had exited the bus with me.<br />
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"Yep. Were you?"<br />
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He nodded. Graham was a Greenwich resident, and "went around" too. He gave me the first tip of groundhopping I have ever received, extolling the virtues of <a href="https://kentishfootball.co.uk/">Kentish Football</a>, a site dedicated to serve the whims and fancies of all crazed footballing fans in the Kent area. And by the Kent area, I mean before 1889, when the County of London was created and took over responsibility for local administration of parts of north-west Kent. Which means towns like Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, Lee, Eltham, Charlton, Kidbrooke and Lewisham that used to be part of Kent are included on the site. Handy for me, I presume.<br />
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We discussed the game, but apart from that we didn't have much time to talk. But, his passion for the website he recommended meant that if I did decide to frequent south-east clubs in London it wouldn't be long before we met again. <br />
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The long journey home alone didn't bother me. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed these journeys, even if they were long. Especially if they were long. Maybe the football wasn't the thing drawing me to these games. Maybe it was going to places very few could claim to have been to.<br />
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Maybe it was simply sitting in trains, enjoying the journey, knowing another one was on the way very soon.<br />
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<b><u>Cider Checklist</u></b></div>
<i><br />Football club bar in bold.</i><br />
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<b>Badgers Sports Ground (Middle Park Avenue) - Strongbow - £3.50</b><br />
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<b><u>Club Bulletin</u></b></div>
<b><br /></b><b>Club: </b>Cray Valley Paper Mills Football Club<br />
<b>Play in: </b>Southern Counties East League Premier Division (9th Tier)<br />
<b>Stadium:</b> Badgers Sports Ground, Eltham<br />
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<b>Opponents: </b>Punjab United Football Club Gravesend<br />
<b>Date: </b>15th August, 2018<br />
<b>Time: </b>19:45<br />
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<b>How to get there:</b><br />
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From London Victoria: Take the Southeastern train, get off at Eltham. It's a 20 minute walk from there.<br />
From London Bank: Take the DLR to Lewisham, then take the 321 bus towards Foots Cray (Sidcup) and get off at Eltham Hill Westhorne Avenue bus stop. It's a stone's throw from there.<br />
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<b>Exchange your dinner for a:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Match-day ticket - £8*<br />
Club badge - £3<br />
Team sheets - £0**<br />
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Cheeseburger - £3.50<br />
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<i>*No physical ticket is provided, but the match-day program is free with admission</i><br />
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<i>**Look out for someone walking around the ground handing them out.</i><br />
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<b>Other pictures:</b><br />
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<i><b>Some more pictures outside the ground</b></i></div>
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<b><i>Game gets underway...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Second half...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Full time, and disappointment on the faces of the Cray Valley players...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Club bar, with food available on the right (then closed)</i></b></div>
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Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0Middle Park Ave, London, Eltham SE9 5HR, UK51.4509649 0.03573970000002191231.020530400000002 -41.272854299999977 71.8813994 41.344333700000021tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-39972144818521314812018-08-26T10:00:00.000+01:002018-08-26T10:00:02.606+01:00Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers<i>Last game: <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/08/non-league-incider-dulwich-hamlet-2-1-east-thurrock-united.html">8th August: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United</a></i><br />
<br />
<i>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><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I had caught the groundhopping bug.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>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><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I should have refunded it. This was a mistake. This whole day was a mistake. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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. <i>They'll fly by</i>, I thought.<br />
<br />
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 travelling - I was running. Not just physically, but away from myself.<br />
<br />
Two trains later, I was in London Euston. Another two trains later, I was in St. Helens.<br />
<br />
<i>Stop</i>, I told myself. <i>You're here. You're probably never coming back. Enjoy it. </i><br />
<br />
It was only 5 - and so I thought I would walk across the town to the stadium, rather than take the bus - which, by the way, run on an hourly basis.<br />
<br />
St Helens, as I found out later, is the most Christian town in Britain, something that came as no surprise to me - the number of churches on the walk to the ground was extraordinary to a London eye. Being in a more residential part of the town meant that the streets were more silent than I had perhaps expected.<br />
<br />
I was definitely out of London. No big stores belonging to multinational conglomerates. If the term <i>a nation of shopkeepers</i> ever had a proof of concept, this was it. A quiet community, chugging along just fine. At least that's what it looked like.<br />
<br />
I reached Ruskin Drive just before six o'clock. I walked past a sign <i>Ruskin Sports Village</i>, and walked along a black colored path. I then entered a cottage-looking building, thinking it was the entrance to the stadium.<br />
<br />
Suddenly, I was out the other side, and inside the stadium. Confused, I kept walking straight...<br />
<i><br /></i>
"Can I help you?" a steward asks.<br />
<br />
I turned around. "I'm here for the game tonight."<br />
<br />
"You need to go through the turnstile."<br />
<br />
I looked to the left, and I saw the turnstile. Turns out I had gone through the changing rooms.<br />
<br />
"I'm really sorry, I think I went through there," pointing at the deceptive entrance.<br />
<br />
"No issues." I walked back towards the turnstiles.<br />
<br />
"Oh, no," he said, "you can have a look around and pay later."<br />
<br />
<i>Wow</i>, I thought, <i>people here are super nice. </i>After a few minutes, I went to the gate and approached him again.<br />
<br />
"Hey, I'm really sorry, I didn't see the turnstile from there."<br />
<br />
"Oh, that's fine. As long as you pay before the game starts."<br />
<br />
When I asked for pub recommendations, he suggested one outside the Ruskin Sports Village - a 20 minute walk. And what a recommendation it was - perhaps the best pub I've been too. It had sofas and TV screens everywhere and, at £3.40, it was the cheapest cider I'd had in ages.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRKJtDvz0zA/W4IsWQ5xBlI/AAAAAAAABSI/PfF0W3p8DykrofHMZ4Nbdgp0xpNQZJU6ACLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_190447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRKJtDvz0zA/W4IsWQ5xBlI/AAAAAAAABSI/PfF0W3p8DykrofHMZ4Nbdgp0xpNQZJU6ACLcBGAs/s640/20180809_190447.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gerard Arms - A pub befitting the town</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As I sat there with a Strongbow and watched transfer deadline day unroll before my eyes, it struck me how cozy I felt. This was as opposite of London, or really any city, as it got - but the warmth of the people and the quietness of the town were weirdly desirable. <i>I had to do this more</i>, I thought. I tried coming up with a title for an imaginary series where I go outside London - <i>The other side of the M25</i> was the best I could come up with.<br />
<br />
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something on the TV. <i>Heybridge. Heybridge Swifts. Heybridge Swifts to Lincoln City</i>, it said, with League Two emblazoned on the top. Who was it that had jumped from the 8th to the 4th tier? <i>Joan Luque</i>, it said. Joan Luque had moved. <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2017/10/from-catalonia-to-heybridge-story-of.html">The player I had written about a year ago was now a professional</a>.<br />
<br />
There was this weird feeling of pride - pride that I had found a story before it became what it was.<br />
<br />
With that in mind, I went back to the ground, this time making sure to go through the turnstile. With some time to kill, I went through the match program. A thick, glossy booklet filled with sponsors and adverts, including one for a gutter cleaner, a full-page ad for Unite (the union), and no less than three taken out by the Labour Party, more than any other organisation. <i>Labour stronghold indeed</i>, I thought.<br />
<br />
15 minutes before kickoff, my phone goes off - it's a tweet. From the club! Frantically, I click the notification - Jordi Amat has come to Rayo. For four seasons. And, according to multiple outlets, for a paltry 1 million euros. I distinctly remember being keenly aware of where I was - the place I was sitting in, the Ruskin Drive complex, had in July 2017 finished a £3.6 million renovation. As if Jordi Amat wasn't enough of a bargain already...<br />
<br />
St Helens Town dominated Atherton from the start, with Sean Richards finally giving them the lead in first-half stoppage time. In fact, Town continued in the same vein after the break as goals from captain and defender Liam Dodd, as well as substitute Luke Edwards in the 70th and 79th minutes sealed the points - both impressive headers from dead ball situations. A red card to Atherton's Nathan Randell followed, which killed the game - and kick-started heavy rain.<br />
<br />
It wasn't a particularly even game - Atherton weren't stringing passes together and barely registered any shots. In contrast, St Helens were good in the air, and quick to get the ball into the opposition half.<br />
<br />
In the biting cold, my last memory was walking past the changing room I had used as an accidental trespass, listening to the players of St Helens Town sing at the top of their lungs: <i>Sweet Caroline! Good times never seemed so good, So Good, SO GOOD!!</i><br />
<br />
<b>Aftermath</b><br />
<br />
There was a plan. The plan was to take a bus to St Helens Central, then another to St Helens Junction (the other train station in the area), take an as-of-yet unbooked train to Manchester Airport, and catch the bus I'd booked already.<br />
<br />
As I got out of the heavy rain, tiredly and desperately hunching to protect my phone, I realized something horrible had happened - the buses are running late.<br />
<br />
Obviously, I could Uber to St Helens Junction, an Uber that I called, but as I was in the Uber I checked the train schedule and realized something worse - the train was the last train out of St Helens. And having seen what St Helens Central looked like from the inside, there was no way I could guarantee that the ticket office would still be open.<br />
<br />
So, in a state of wearisome panic, without realizing I had plenty of time to actually go there and check, I ask the driver to drive me directly to Manchester Airport.<br />
<br />
He said that he was at a Starbucks when he picked me up. And had I walked a little further away from St Helens Central I would have seen it. But this wasn't an ordinary Starbucks - it was open 24 hours a day. And it was the only Starbucks in all of St Helens. The only one. In a town of over a 100,000 people.<br />
<br />
We talked about football - I remember him saying he was a Barcelona fan. Not a passionate fan, but a fan nevertheless. He remembered the time when Rivaldo propelled the club into Europe as his entry point - a cliché that describes so many Barcelona fans.<br />
<br />
As he talked about the many reasons why he would rather watch Manchester United over Manchester City, we entered the city. And the shift in scenery was obvious - this was definitely a city. I remember us reaching Manchester Airport, and us having difficulty locating the bus terminal.<br />
<br />
"You know, I've never had to drop someone at the airport to take the bus," he said, sarcastically.<br />
<br />
We laughed. But on the inside, I thought about what all I had done to watch 90 minutes of football in the 10th tier of English football. On a Thursday night. In the pouring rain. In the cold - without any appropriate warm clothing.<br />
<br />
As I sat there, freezing in the bus terminal of an airport, as I got on the bus at 12:15 am, as I reached Heathrow at 5 in the morning having barely gotten any sleep, as I tried to stay awake on what would be another hour on the Underground, as I dragged myself into bed, I never stopped thinking - <i>what had I done?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I didn't know, but I did know what to do next. I took out my groundhopping calendar, and tore it. I was never doing <i>this</i> again.<br />
<br />
I needed to plan my groundhopping future all over again.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Cider Checklist</u></b></div>
<i><br />Football club bar in bold.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>Gerard Arms (Dentons Green Lane) - Strongbow - £3.40<br />
<b>Arcoframe Stadium (Ruskin Drive) - Carling* - £2.50</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<i>*Beer, I know. The club didn't have cider. Shame.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Club Bulletin</u></b></div>
<b><br /></b><b>Club: </b>St Helens Town A.F.C.<br />
<b>Play in: </b>North West Counties League Division One North (10th Tier)<br />
<b>Stadium:</b> Arcoframe Stadium, Ruskin Sports Village<br />
<br />
<b>Opponents: </b>Atherton Laburnum Rovers Football Club<br />
<b>Date: </b>9th August, 2018<br />
<b>Time: </b>19:45<br />
<br />
<b>How to get there*:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>From London Euston: Take the Virgin Train going to Glasgow Central, get off at Wigan North Western. Then take the Northern train to St. Helens Central. From there, you can either take the 38 bus and get off at Ruskin Drive, or walk the 25 minutes.<br />
<br />
<i>*I overheard someone saying that "it's changed", referring to the location of the ground. Please check the team's Twitter account - to their credit, they announce the location of each game: <a href="http://twitter.com/sthelenstownfc">@sthelenstownfc</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Exchange your dinner for a:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Match-day ticket - £5<br />
Club badge - £3<br />
Match-day program - £2<br />
<br />
Bacon and sausage barm - £2.95*<br />
<br />
*<i>If you want just a bacon barm or a sausage barm, it's £2. And yes, it's barm, not bap. It's a real commute from London to England, isn't it?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-No1VAE-LXWY/W4Iv2IAZFKI/AAAAAAAABXo/51qA2w8ppDsfBd8AtVQow1HQ7fgEwxP8gCLcBGAs/s1600/20180818_022655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-No1VAE-LXWY/W4Iv2IAZFKI/AAAAAAAABXo/51qA2w8ppDsfBd8AtVQow1HQ7fgEwxP8gCLcBGAs/s320/20180818_022655.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yup, that was my ticket</td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G0axJlk6zus/W4Iv17-C2RI/AAAAAAAABXk/cELhhX2zlwARwdW4qP5i6VFpflL3YnzfgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180818_022729.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G0axJlk6zus/W4Iv17-C2RI/AAAAAAAABXk/cELhhX2zlwARwdW4qP5i6VFpflL3YnzfgCLcBGAs/s320/20180818_022729.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QHOkF4nFMGk/W4Iv2ACqJ7I/AAAAAAAABXs/D6l_-kCLWKcHDoqJoNgvZh71nSLDl5QewCLcBGAs/s1600/20180818_022758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QHOkF4nFMGk/W4Iv2ACqJ7I/AAAAAAAABXs/D6l_-kCLWKcHDoqJoNgvZh71nSLDl5QewCLcBGAs/s320/20180818_022758.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<b>Other pictures:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>I took a picture of the bus and then missed it on purpose. Sue me.</i></b></div>
<b><br /></b>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ILC5GVNlaxs/W4IsVY32pMI/AAAAAAAABSA/Wf4NHtS9CkgUhYqySYiCE00HVnTiBTfXgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_172048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ILC5GVNlaxs/W4IsVY32pMI/AAAAAAAABSA/Wf4NHtS9CkgUhYqySYiCE00HVnTiBTfXgCLcBGAs/s640/20180809_172048.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Some pictures I took as a trespasser...</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsc3HhHxglE/W4IsVY-b5wI/AAAAAAAABR8/an8L7nfkiKY5rffDTqRNjvSJhnd9sdyFACLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_180814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsc3HhHxglE/W4IsVY-b5wI/AAAAAAAABR8/an8L7nfkiKY5rffDTqRNjvSJhnd9sdyFACLcBGAs/s640/20180809_180814.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFmolhUPofY/W4IsVSuLxhI/AAAAAAAABR4/h7FhtdDq-qMK13eXwefIJXgXZteY1VHAgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_180824.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFmolhUPofY/W4IsVSuLxhI/AAAAAAAABR4/h7FhtdDq-qMK13eXwefIJXgXZteY1VHAgCLcBGAs/s640/20180809_180824.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><b>So here's how you get in - go into Ruskin Sports Village, follow the pedestrian entrance (or the parking next to it), follow the black path, and deliberately look for a turnstile. Please.</b></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ac2PoyFzb4k/W4IsXKmBMeI/AAAAAAAABSM/6CwWwkcrrW8BjFGbJYvDA3CYDw_YeNmIwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_191242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ac2PoyFzb4k/W4IsXKmBMeI/AAAAAAAABSM/6CwWwkcrrW8BjFGbJYvDA3CYDw_YeNmIwCLcBGAs/s640/20180809_191242.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zeprWnsSgfQ/W4IsXl643PI/AAAAAAAABSQ/F7DkzktSsoU59OOjAyrIi0LK7taoNWsmACLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_191249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zeprWnsSgfQ/W4IsXl643PI/AAAAAAAABSQ/F7DkzktSsoU59OOjAyrIi0LK7taoNWsmACLcBGAs/s640/20180809_191249.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-guFbwKn-MnI/W4IsX6NYL8I/AAAAAAAABSU/oYFjOxJPsSAO6-WzehZBdHp8-qEGhrYaQCLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_191431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-guFbwKn-MnI/W4IsX6NYL8I/AAAAAAAABSU/oYFjOxJPsSAO6-WzehZBdHp8-qEGhrYaQCLcBGAs/s640/20180809_191431.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Game's about to start...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Some away fans...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Goal!</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Half time break...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Second half starts...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>At this point, the lighting was terrible, which means all I have are these pictures at full time...</i></b></div>
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Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com2Ruskin Dr, Denton's Green, Saint Helens WA10 6RW, UK53.459598799999988 -2.75657520000004353.458416799999988 -2.7590967000000428 53.460780799999988 -2.7540537000000431tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-69575134179684500592018-08-20T10:00:00.000+01:002018-08-20T10:00:01.987+01:00Non-league Incider: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United<i>When I was more young and foolish I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't visit a football stadium until I visited Vallekas. Frustrated by my inability to plan a trip, I broke that promise by watching a game in the sixth tier of English football.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is that game. This is my story.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>If I've learnt anything, it's this: never make promises to yourself. Promises to yourself are like bonds to an imaginary world - they're not attached to anything. Instead, they only serve to frustrate you, and sometimes those around you.<br />
<br />
In 2016, I remember being outside Wembley and not going inside for a stadium tour. In 2014, I remember giving up the opportunity to watch Real Madrid play AC Milan in Dubai. For a year the stadiums of Chelsea and Fulham were on the same street as mine. For three years, every time my friend said he was going to watch Leyton Orient, every time my brother talked about his love for Arsenal, every time I looked at a map of London and saw how close I was to the many homes of football, every time I was in a pub and saw people celebrate a goal, every time Madrid and England based ground hoppers uploaded yet another video, yet another article, yet another tweet...<br />
<br />
Sod it.<br />
<br />
For too long, having read articles about Dulwich Hamlet and Clapton and other Rayo-esque clubs, the "plan" was to visit Rayo and then all would be right with the world. And so it seemed only reasonable that if Rayo wasn't to be the first football stadium I visited, it would be the next best thing.<br />
<br />
I didn't consider taking the southeastern to Denmark Hill station the highlight of my trip. But immediately as I crossed the Thames to south London, the amount of graffiti struck me. It wasn't that I hadn't seen it before, but that the lack of it in my life had become routine. And it was everywhere - on the walls of buildings, on the sides of bridges, even on the train tracks themselves.<br />
<br />
Arriving around 5, I walked to the ground, hoping to explore the area around the ground. Along the 10 minute walk on Grove Lane, I came across a group of empty restaurants and a pub with the all-too-satisfying address: 123 Grove Lane. <i>Had to come back there</i>, I told myself.<br />
<br />
As I approached the ground, the emptiness of the restaurants unexpectedly remained. The letters DHFC were emblazoned on the wall. The door was open. And yet, seeing the Dulwich Hamlet Health Club sign signaled that something was wrong...<br />
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I was in the wrong place. Champion Hill was the home of Dulwich Hamlet, but only on Google Maps. The reality was that they had been kicked out of their own home by Meadow Residential, a property development company. Thanks to the welcoming arms of Tooting & Mitcham United, I would have to travel another hour to reach my destination.<br />
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And so, ladies and gentlemen, the first ever football ground I visited was this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-18cw3lAmo48/W3pNnJByYtI/AAAAAAAABJo/_w3e7dWNQN0qItgDTOrT7CDFFz9aOIvwACLcBGAs/s1600/20180808_170930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-18cw3lAmo48/W3pNnJByYtI/AAAAAAAABJo/_w3e7dWNQN0qItgDTOrT7CDFFz9aOIvwACLcBGAs/s640/20180808_170930.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slightly below my expectations....</td></tr>
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<br />
Life is a funny thing. I spent years not visiting the stadium of the club I loved, and ended up breaking the promise to visit an empty, lifeless ground.<br />
<br />
I went back up north to the pub, The George Canning, to get a pint of cider and ended up chatting to the elderly customers there. I told them the little I knew of Dulwich's story, and how the stadium may be destroyed to create apartments.<br />
<br />
"It's getting destroyed," I said.<br />
<br />
"Pretty much everything is", she replied, with a look of relaxed resignation.<br />
<br />
The use of the present tense rather than the future tense, the phrase "everything is" rather than "everything will be", seemed both odd and profound. Maybe it was her. Maybe it was the emptiness of the bar and beyond. Maybe it was the cider.<br />
<br />
It was her birthday tomorrow. How was she going to spend it?<br />
<br />
"Right here."<br />
<br />
"Is there anything to do around here?"<br />
<br />
"No," in a sarcastic, kinda-not-kidding way.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwEciollf-A/W3pNrL9zexI/AAAAAAAABKE/RQISBNKI6VYH1PEFXWNOFNkZjtQfVmOIQCLcBGAs/s1600/20180808_174229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwEciollf-A/W3pNrL9zexI/AAAAAAAABKE/RQISBNKI6VYH1PEFXWNOFNkZjtQfVmOIQCLcBGAs/s640/20180808_174229.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pub named after someone who was Prime Minister for the final four months of his life. A sadly-too-perfect metaphor.</td></tr>
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<br />
I ended up leaving around 5:40, and went back towards Champion Hill to East Dulwich station, rather than taking more sensible route back from Denmark Hill. It seemed like a silly thing to do at the time, but I'm thankful I did it.<br />
<br />
After walking through a forest-like walkway to the train tracks of the station, I sat down in the waiting area for what would be 15 minutes, followed by a train and a tram, but the minutes moved slowly on what was a wearily sunny day.<br />
<br />
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something pink. It was a scarf. A Dulwich Hamlet scarf. Folded neatly on someone's leg.<br />
<br />
"You going to the Dulwich game?" I asked. Not that I needed to ask.<br />
<br />
"Yeah!"<br />
<br />
And we were off. A local Dulwich resident, Eamonn had supported the club for a season and a half. He told me about Dulwich's promotion last season - they needed a penalty shootout against Hendon to leave behind the seventh tier of football, with Dipo Akinyemi being the hero and ending three successive play-off disappointments.<br />
<br />
The subjects kept changing. He talked about Blackburn Rovers and their recent promotion. We somehow ended up talking about last minute winners - Blackburn conceded a 91st minute equalizer to Ipswich in their last game. And they were going to play Millwall this weekend, who coincidentally had conceded a 97th minute equalizer of their own against Middlesbrough in their last game. I told him about this season, when Rayo Majadahonda went up from the Segunda B due to a last minute own goal against Cartagena. I mean, if I don't tell it who will?<br />
<br />
He explained why Denmark Hill was so empty - I was on the wrong side of Dulwich. If I had walked just a few minutes south of East Dulwich station I would have been where all the Dulwich fans usually met up. Before they were forced to move, that is.<br />
<br />
We met up with Eamonn's friends - Ross and Scott - at the ground itself. We still had an hour before the game, and so I got my memorabilia and the obligatory cider while we talked. I don't really remember everything we talked about (alcohol on an empty stomach is always a mistake) but there are bits and pieces stuck in my memory. Someone told me that picture on the match day program was the game against Hendon, when a strike from Dulwich came off the bar and the line. I remember Scott seeing who was playing for East Thurrock - Paul Konchesky, ex-Liverpool and England international - and sighing. He also mentioned that Ashley Carew who had been sent off in the previous fixture mysteriously being in the squad - and having researched this for an hour I still don't know how he was allowed to play.<br />
<br />
But most of all, as the game started, I remember seeing the pink sash kits, the stadium with only three stands, and the passionate bellows of the fans. I remember Rayo, I mean, Dulwich absolutely dominating the game, keeping the ball moving, creating chance after chance. A cross into the box from the right, a defense splitting pass...<br />
<br />
And, completely against the run of play, a goal - Dulwich center-back Daniel Pappoe making a Karius-esque mistake and Thurrock striker Danilo Orsi-Dadomo making none. 0-1.<br />
<br />
"Welcome to the sixth tier lads," I heard, not sure from whom.<br />
<br />
With no more clear cut chances that half, it was time for a shift. We were going to join the ultras...with a cider, of course. <i>The Rabble</i>, I thought.<br />
<br />
We were closer to the action - thunderous support is one thing through a screen, but another thing in person. It has an inclusive quality - you find yourself shouting, kicking the fence, trying to sing the chants. And with every free flowing play, with the cider flowing through my veins, with every Dulwich shot being parried away, with every cross going inches wide, with every East Thurrock player taking ages to throw the ball, with every Thurrock goal kick taking ages, with every single breath the fans demanding that the goalie just kick the damn ball...<br />
<br />
"Referee, what the fuck!" someone shouted.<br />
<br />
"C'mon then!" said another.<br />
<br />
"KICK IT YOU CUNT!"<br />
<br />
Momentary silence. I immediately covered my mouth with my hand. My three companions looked at me. For a moment there, I didn't believe I'd said that. We all erupted into laughter though - thankfully.<br />
<br />
Excusing the fact that it was my fourth cider of the night, most of it stemmed from the outrage that had preceded it - a goal by right winger Anthony Cook had crossed the line but hadn't been given by the linesman. And even though Dulwich equalized from a well-worked free-kick, they clearly deserved more than just a point.<br />
<br />
"How many minutes of extra time?" asked Ross.<br />
<br />
"Four."<br />
<br />
For those four minutes, Dipo Akinyemi came onto the pitch. We had talked about last minute winners. Here's the truth though - belief in that last minute moment of glory is always restrained. It sits within our subconscious. It's not <i>supposed</i> to happen, because it isn't fair...<br />
<br />
And yet. Even then. When <i>he </i>came on, you knew. Somewhere, deep down, you <i>knew</i>. Four minutes was all Dipo needed - a long ball and a dummy later, Dulwich were 2-1 up in the last minute of their first ever home game of their first ever campaign in the sixth tier. All that subconscious energy released itself - the crowd jubilant at their team's heroics and delighted at denying a poor team the point they didn't deserve.<br />
<br />
A historic goal, to appropriately mark the start of a historic season. And we had witnessed it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AU85NIbwtlc/W3pODCSNWFI/AAAAAAAABN0/TQCcASlaKQQ5HiGfenAfQ6tfo4tNloX-QCLcBGAs/s1600/20180808_214422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AU85NIbwtlc/W3pODCSNWFI/AAAAAAAABN0/TQCcASlaKQQ5HiGfenAfQ6tfo4tNloX-QCLcBGAs/s640/20180808_214422.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken after the game. From left to right: Scott, Eamonn, and Ross. Thanks guys!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Aftermath</b><br />
<br />
Instead of going back, I went to East Dulwich with Eamonn, determined to get a look at the "right" side of Dulwich - and so we went to the East Dulwich Tavern. This was Dulwich Hamlet central - the area around the pub was where fans celebrated their promotion to the sixth tier.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T1qPuVPp6wo/W3pOFuTgdsI/AAAAAAAABOQ/-dcsbW-i43sYQgTeYW5jAkR25POvD_lhgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180809_003451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T1qPuVPp6wo/W3pOFuTgdsI/AAAAAAAABOQ/-dcsbW-i43sYQgTeYW5jAkR25POvD_lhgCLcBGAs/s640/20180809_003451.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seconds after this picture, someone ran across the pub and ruined the next shots. Sorry, this picture is as good as it gets.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We ended up talking about East Dulwich and their fearsome right hand side partnership of Sanchez Ming and Anthony Cook. They reminded me of Peru's Luis Advíncula and André Carrillo - a quick and strong right back combining with a quick and skillful right winger. I remember talking about substitutes changing games, and the story of Aston Villa's 1980-81 season came up - they won the league with just 14 players. So did the story of Dulwich Hamlet, and their old ground - turns out, it used to be even bigger, according to a picture he showed me:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Owg8La10ujc/W3dzT3o4fQI/AAAAAAAABJc/NWJz-7taQv0dxtggt6rRVNeCg97DvfqJACLcBGAs/s1600/Dulwich%2BOld%2BGround.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="600" height="364" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Owg8La10ujc/W3dzT3o4fQI/AAAAAAAABJc/NWJz-7taQv0dxtggt6rRVNeCg97DvfqJACLcBGAs/s640/Dulwich%2BOld%2BGround.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A packed Champion Hill during the 1930s. Source: <a href="http://thehamlethistorian.blogspot.com/">TheHamletHistorian.blogspot.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We even met up with some other Dulwich residents, and talked about everything under the sun. At this point I was completely pissed, but I'm sure we talked about the welfare state at some point.<br />
<br />
Who knows...I do remember it being 12:30 am, and having to take two buses. Weirdly, I don't remember being on any buses though - I do have a vague memory of a car...<br />
<br />
Never drink on an empty stomach.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Cider Checklist</u></b></div>
<i><br /></i><i>I'm not telling you how many of each I had. Not a chance. Football club bar in bold.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The George Canning (123 Grove Lane) - Wyld Wood Cider - £4.60<br />
<b>Imperial Fields (Bishopsford Road) - Magners - £3.50</b><br />
East Dulwich Tavern (1 Lordship Lane) - Aspall - £4.50<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Club Bulletin</u></b></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Club: </b>Dulwich Hamlet Football Club<br />
<b>Play in: </b>National League South (6th Tier)<br />
<b>Stadium (temporarily):</b> Imperial Fields, Mitcham<br />
<b>Stadium (the rightful place of DHFC):</b> Champion Hill, East Dulwich<br />
<br />
<b>Opponents: </b>East Thurrock United Football Club<br />
<b>Date: </b>8th August, 2018<br />
<b>Time: </b>19:45<br />
<br />
<b>How to get there (Champion Hill):</b><br />
<br />
From London Victoria: Take the Southeastern train, get off at Denmark Hill.<br />
<br />
<b>How to get there (Imperial Fields):</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
From London Victoria: Take the Southern train, get off at Mitcham Junction. Then either take the tram to Mitcham station, or walk the 20 minutes.<br />
From London Earl's Court: Take the District line, get off at Wimbledon. Then take the tram to Mitcham.<br />
<br />
<b>Exchange your dinner for a:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Match-day ticket - £12<br />
Club scarf - £10<br />
Club badge - £3*<br />
Match-day program - £2<br />
A business card of Dulwich's season fixtures** - £0<br />
<br />
<i>*When I bought the club badge, Eamonn informed me that instead of the present-day club badge, I had bought the vintage club badge which celebrated their 125-year anniversary. As you can see, this day was filled with happy accidents.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>**The only acceptable use for this is to tell your boss which days you are taking off. I presume. </i><br />
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<b>Other pictures:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<i><b>Some more pictures of the old ground</b></i></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FZIEP38wmPQ/W3pNnRCNfNI/AAAAAAAABJs/MxBe59aB27oQDI4SeJJ-3X9SP853MHfVwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180808_170936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FZIEP38wmPQ/W3pNnRCNfNI/AAAAAAAABJs/MxBe59aB27oQDI4SeJJ-3X9SP853MHfVwCLcBGAs/s640/20180808_170936.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only remnants of life at the stadium. The abandoned stadium still has parking - and a car wash.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>See what I mean? Where's the East Dulwich station?</b></i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Never mind...</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Some pictures of the ground before the game started</b></i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>The club's bar</b></i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>The game commences</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Half time - the club bar again...</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The Rabble</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Final whistle!</b></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XSi887sSQwQ/W3pOBoa3XrI/AAAAAAAABNk/Qfh6ssM3T0EJEmcirXAqHByQUN-XJWuSgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180808_214327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XSi887sSQwQ/W3pOBoa3XrI/AAAAAAAABNk/Qfh6ssM3T0EJEmcirXAqHByQUN-XJWuSgCLcBGAs/s640/20180808_214327.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supporters applaud the team</td></tr>
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Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0Imperial Fields, Bishopsford Rd, Morden SM4 6BF, UK51.393646 -0.1718730000000050551.393027 -0.17313350000000505 51.394265 -0.17061250000000505tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-77023461601028177072018-08-17T10:00:00.000+01:002018-08-17T10:00:00.313+01:00Saúl Berjón - the gambler on and off the pitchIf you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.<br />
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Saúl Berjón knows. He started his struggle in the fourth tier and made his way to the top flight. And every step of the way, in every league that he played, every team that he joined and left, he knew, and understood, which risk to take.<br />
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It's not just his career though - it's the way he plays. He usually resides on the left side of the attack, and he will take even the smallest sliver of anything that could be called a "chance'. He's the one sharing one-twos, whipping crosses into the penalty area, playing formation-splitting passes and skipping between defenders while in possession. His natural instinct is to beat his man or thread a pass through sets of defenders, rather than maintaining possession by playing it sideways or backwards. He gives the team verticality, to use the technical term.<br />
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He is the risk-taker. The creative hub. The go-to source for inspiration on-the-pitch.<br />
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And his story off-the-pitch inspires too. Born in Oviedo, Saúl started his career at local club Covadonga and stayed there till he was a <i>cadete</i>, going on to graduate from Real Oviedo's youth setup. However, he left <i>El Requexón</i> in 2003, when the <i>Vetusta</i>, or B team, was dissolved due to economic problems. He joined Berrón's <i>juvenil</i> team - making his first team debut in the Tercera during the 2004-05 season.<br />
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And while most people called it a step back, he knew that his decision was right. For someone who was looking to become a welder after leaving Oviedo, in his mind he saw it akin to jumping up a division, remarking that "I thought it would be good to play against older, stronger people".<br />
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After a season at Berrón, followed by two more in Asturias in the Tercera with Lealtad and Langreo, he was left in the summer of 2007 with a Segunda B club in the Canary Islands, and more offers in the Tercera in Asturias. Taking that risk was more than just jumping a division, it was keeping an eye on the prize - professional football.<br />
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Knowing that Las Palmas and Tenerife keep a close eye on all lower clubs in the Canary Islands, this was his chance. And at Pájara-Playas, the then 21-year-old went on to score nine goals, highest at the club, and earned a move to Las Palmas.<br />
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He had achieved professional football after fighting in the Tercera - and that to at the age of 22. But the fight was only beginning.<br />
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The Segunda is merciless. You can be too good for it and never play in the top-flight. But the moment you're not good enough, you are gone. You're back in the Segunda B, where clubs keep "circulating" players from a pool that is designed to be limited, because the league is designed to keep the pool limited. Good luck getting back in the Segunda after that.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JBzdBk4nYtA/Wltv79bD6lI/AAAAAAAABEg/DRjr5IMx3mwuIsLiDy5wibDdKGmf9S9AQCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="330" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JBzdBk4nYtA/Wltv79bD6lI/AAAAAAAABEg/DRjr5IMx3mwuIsLiDy5wibDdKGmf9S9AQCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saúl Berjón playing for Las Palmas in the derby against Tenerife</td></tr>
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Familiarity always helps - and being familiar with football in the Canary Islands helped him establish himself with the side. His five and three goals in the two seasons he played at the club earned him a move to the most coveted side in the division - Barcelona's reserves.<br />
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In his last season with Las Palmas, Paco Jémez came in and empowered Saúl Berjón to lead the team. Playing in nine of the last ten games, his performances were enough to convince another attacking and possession minded coach, Luis Enrique, to sign him. For €300,000, no less.<br />
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The risk was that his playing time would reduce, and all would be lost. The prize was playing for the best team in the world.<br />
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However, Luis Enrique, who told him that he had what it takes, was forced to play his best players, and preserve the partnership between Nolito and Jonathan Soriano, who, according to Saúl Berjón, "had a connection that I never saw in my career".<br />
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In 2011, Eusebio Sacristán's arrival and his penchant for speedy wingers, such as Kiko Femenía and Deulofeu, meant that Saúl Berjón lost his place. He was loaned out to Alcorcón for the season, where he was mostly used as a super-sub. Despite playing just 1175 minutes over 35 appearances (29 of which were as a substitute), his four goals earned him a move to Real Murcia in 2012.<br />
<br />
It was at the <i>Pimentoneros</i> where Saúl Berjón truly established himself. Largely ignored for a starting berth by Gustavo Siviero, his sacking after 24 games led to Murcia hiring Onésimo Sánchez, and to Saúl Berjón gaining a starting position and forming a formidable partnership with striker Kike. And it led to Real Murcia narrowly avoiding relegation during the 2012-13 campaign, with Saúl registering 6 goals and 4 assists.<br />
<br />
That partnership continued during the following season - under Julio Velázquez, Kike's 23 goals and five assists paired with Saúl Berjón's 6 goals and 20 assists led Real Murcia to a fourth place finish, and a chance to get promoted via the play-offs . However, their 13 million euro debt to the Treasury led to an administrative relegation, and newly-promoted Eibar came swooping in.<br />
<br />
La Liga is really two leagues - Barcelona and Real Madrid, and then everyone else. And everyone else survives by signing players from everyone else. Signing a Segunda player is a bet, a venture into the unknown.<br />
<br />
But Eibar had just ventured into the unknown - La Liga. And so Saúl Berjón's signing, and every signing, was not a bet. It was all they had - it was a gamble. And they had signed the player who was known for taking gambles on the pitch. His three goals and eight assists don't even capture the whole story.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7fpmPIlPYbc/Wlvm5AzoDII/AAAAAAAABE0/s1kfUXr4_W0iGGbjkJbc2KKTdkU4xVwJgCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="450" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7fpmPIlPYbc/Wlvm5AzoDII/AAAAAAAABE0/s1kfUXr4_W0iGGbjkJbc2KKTdkU4xVwJgCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon%2B2.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
His contribution to the team can be summed up in this moment - against Villarreal, standing over the ball just beyond the half-way line looking ready to deliver it into the box, he instead played the ball to himself down the left sideline. Sprinting to beat Gerard Moreno to the ball, he then flashed a cross into the box with his left foot with Villarreal's defense completely out of shape.<br />
<br />
The result was three rapid shots on goal, the third of which, from Mikel Arruabarrena, found the back of the net.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P5TYIMt3Uew" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Gaizka Garitano's resignation at the end of the 2014-15 campaign, and José Luis Mendilibar's constant rotation between Adrián González, Takashi Inui and Saúl Berjón, meant that the latter's playing time was reduced - nevertheless, he still registered four goals and four assists.<br />
<br />
Saúl Berjón was waiting for an offer from Real Oviedo, but an offer came from Mexico's Club Universidad Nacional. At the club, he played well and was impressed with the quality of football, but complained about the altitude and the pollution in the air. And so, on 28th December 2016, Saúl Berjón took a huge decision to fulfill not a career ambition but a personal one - playing in the Oviedo shirt. It involved rejecting La Liga offers from Alavés and Leganés. For the first time dreams took precedent over career. The heart ruled over the head.<br />
<br />
And yet, it seemed right. When he was presented, he held the banner of Oviedo over his head. <i>Orgullo, valor y garra</i> (pride, courage and spirit). It might as well have been a banner describing himself. In a way, Oviedo had signed the player who most represented them - the press called it a signing to "Asturianize" the team. This was the closest they were going to get to a star coming back home - and Mata, Cazorla, and Adrián López were out of budget. For the Segunda outfit, Saúl Berjón would be more than enough.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CjKVaMoTtc8/W3YSn8WFahI/AAAAAAAABJQ/y3GvYaDQQ7UeZ1Op8dheN6b-SPEH1gAeQCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="1600" height="442" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CjKVaMoTtc8/W3YSn8WFahI/AAAAAAAABJQ/y3GvYaDQQ7UeZ1Op8dheN6b-SPEH1gAeQCLcBGAs/s640/Saul%2BBerjon.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saúl Berjón is unveiled to an adoring crowd</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
And his performances obviously show his quality - 2 goals and 3 assists in the latter half of the 2016-17 campaign. The 2017-18 campaign was no different - 6 goals and 14 assists propelled Real Oviedo to 7th place, tying with 6th-placed Numancia on points as well as head-to-head points - only head-to-head goal difference could separate Real Oviedo from a promotion playoff spot.<br />
<br />
His performances have not gone unrewarded - for the 2018-19 campaign, he is the second captain behind striker Toché. And he has been handed the legendary no. 10 shirt due to the departure of Miguel Linares. The shirt that has been donned by Oviedo's Segunda B legends such as Manu Busto, Curro, and Michu. The shirt that was retired in honor of the promising striker Peter Dubovský, who passed away at just age 28 while on vacation in Thailand.<br />
<br />
"I am in the best moment of my career. I am physically and psychologically very well. Being at home makes you happier," he said recently.<br />
<br />
Even at 32, he is showing no signs of slowing down. At every stage of his career, he understood the risk he was taking and the stakes of the gamble. With another year left on his Real Oviedo contract, next summer he will have another decision to make.<br />
<br />
Perhaps another gamble.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ePwMgVond4k/Wlvm_Md9GWI/AAAAAAAABE4/dO6EITDXKv4PT8Yg0UjOzem0M2uQmJMaQCLcBGAs/s1600/Saul%2BBerjon%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="680" height="440" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ePwMgVond4k/Wlvm_Md9GWI/AAAAAAAABE4/dO6EITDXKv4PT8Yg0UjOzem0M2uQmJMaQCLcBGAs/s640/Saul%2BBerjon%2B3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-28703549151309230302018-08-16T10:00:00.000+01:002018-08-16T10:00:12.393+01:00A new chapter in the Pride of Vallekas...<i>You might think that this is the second iteration of this blog.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>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.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Moral of the story: this is, in an informal sense, the third iteration of this blog. And never, ever, delete things.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Umm....I'm deleting things. Again.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 time, I said that I wanted to write about Rayo Vallecano. I wanted to write about its history, its famous players and its struggles. I wanted to write about the football and the board, the politics and the fans, the players and the coaches. And I wanted to give my take on the day-to-day coverage.<br />
<br />
Before, I had focused on writing a finished article. Now, I was focusing on writing. A lot. And very often. And looking back over the last year, it <i>seemed</i> like things were going smoothly. But a couple of things happened that made me rethink.<br />
<br />
Last July, in the First Qualifying Round of the Europa League, Welsh side Bala Town faced Liechtenstein-based club Vaduz. Now that would ordinarily not get much attention even from someone as obsessed with the obscure as me, but Bala Town had contacted me about an old piece I had done about the peculiarities of Vaduz, a Liechtenstein-based team playing in the Swiss league, and asked me if they could feature it in their match day program. And they did - and I was proud of that.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Huge thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/BalaTownFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BalaTownFC</a> for featuring my article for <a href="https://twitter.com/bpfootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bpfootball</a> in their matchday program against <a href="https://twitter.com/VaduzFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VaduzFC</a>!!<a href="https://t.co/gfJBpUZ9em">https://t.co/gfJBpUZ9em</a> <a href="https://t.co/EltuQKeFCu">pic.twitter.com/EltuQKeFCu</a></div>
— Sarthak Kumar (@Vallecanos1924) <a href="https://twitter.com/Vallecanos1924/status/887721816692858881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
But it was directly at odds with the experiment. The daily blog experiment was very good at getting something out every day. But it would be hard for me to pull out a piece at random and say it was of a quality that I could be proud of. And I've come to realize that that's who I am - I would rather stay up all night to make a piece better than just publish <i>anything</i>. It's too easy just stating a half-hearted opinion and calling it a post - and much harder to write something that is well researched and well edited.<br />
<br />
I'm not saying I want my pieces to go in magazines and programs. I'm saying I want my articles to be at that standard - and a daily blog is at odds with that. In fact, I did the math and about 40% of posts on this blog don't pass that test. That's actually not that bad - on average that means that 2 in 5 posts were, at least in my opinion, good articles. I'll take that.<br />
<br />
You would have noticed that I haven't published since January - a combination of reasons, partly technical issues with the blog itself, have meant that it is time to retire this experiment, and create a new chapter.<br />
<br />
And it starts today, in August, before the start of Rayo's latest foray into La Liga. In the meantime, I will be uploading all the match reports as part of the Rayo Report series that was abandoned in November over the course of the next season. Moreover, I will be deleting the posts that aren't up to the mark, and in the coming months I will be rewriting and re-uploading them.<br />
<br />
So yeah. I'm deleting things. Again.<br />
<br />
But I have some exciting plans for the blog coming up. Spanish football is a fantastic topic for a blog, but material dries up quickly - and so stay tuned for an expansion in the topics this blog focuses on. Football in different countries. And different sports. And geography, book reviews, politics...anything that is worth writing about and interests me.<br />
<br />
Moreover, I do want to focus on writing on other blogs too, so make sure to follow this blog, and me, on Twitter. (<a href="http://twitter.com/prideofvallekas">@prideofvallekas</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/Vallecanos1924">@Vallecanos1924</a>).<br />
<br />
Other than that, stay tuned for tomorrow's first post in this new chapter. I hope you enjoy it.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-19887338561311510922018-01-23T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-24T09:24:06.848+00:00The Saudi takeover of Spanish football (23rd January, 2018)<i>This blog is called the Pride of Vallekas. Well, I'm not proud. I've always been excited about writing, but never before have I had to delay a piece just so I could rewrite it after cooling down. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/the-chinese-takeover-of-spanish.html">If you read yesterday's piece about the Chinese take-over of Spanish football</a>, you'll be happy to know that this is a more recent phenomenon. But given the tentacles of Chinese influence, I would not be surprised if more is announced in the pipeline.</i><br />
<br />
On the 21st of January, 2018, Saudi Arabia's federation and La Liga - yes, the league - agreed an operation that simply defies all bounds of thinking. Nine players were transferred from Saudi Arabian clubs to first and second division clubs and their B teams.<br />
<br />
If you're stuggling with the scale of this, here are the players: In the first tier, Yahia Al-Shehri signed for Leganés and Marwan Othmnan for the B team, Fahad Al-Muwallad signed for Levante, Salem Al Dawsari for Villarreal and Jaber Issa signed for the B team. In the second tier, Nooh Al Mousa signed for Valladolid, Abdulmajeed Al Sulayhim for Rayo Vallecano, Ali Al Namer for Numancia and <i>juvenil </i>Abdullah Al Hamdan signed for Sporting de Gijón - but is largely expected to play for the B team.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rYh0be8WqlM/WmhQIjxLsUI/AAAAAAAABG0/gH7Q3S9PX7QjNXgwXYswq7JKVJQELuGUQCLcBGAs/s1600/Saudi%2Btakeover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="660" height="359" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rYh0be8WqlM/WmhQIjxLsUI/AAAAAAAABG0/gH7Q3S9PX7QjNXgwXYswq7JKVJQELuGUQCLcBGAs/s640/Saudi%2Btakeover.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">21st January, 2018 - an unusual presentation...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
All these players are on loan for six months, with no guarantees of playing time, ahead of next summer’s World Cup. Did I mention that the <i>league</i> signed the players? Obviously the big teams were exempt, and the small teams took the offer. Because of course they did - a small financial reward, reportedly between 1 and 5 million euros depending on the player, and not having to pay a transfer fee or wages for a player, is irresistible.<br />
<br />
If you follow Middle Eastern politics, and you had the tingling suspicion that new Saudi Crown Prince MBS (ok, Mohamed Bin Salman) was behind this, you guessed right - he owns a stake in La Liga. But I'm sure that's a coincidence. And to be fair, there are also agreements in place for these same clubs to open academies in Saudi Arabia and use Spanish coaches - but why do players, who are unlikely to play at these clubs, have to be involved in this deal?<br />
<br />
And the league does say that the clubs got to pick the players, but that the Saudi clubs involved had the final say. And what about the coaches? Well, Levante, who desperately need a striker, don't need midfielder Fahad Al-Muwallad since they already have many of them. Most damning of all is the signing of Yahia Al-Shehri. The 27-year-old, hardly a young prospect, takes up the last squad spot available at Leganés. The current head coach, Asier Garitano, didn’t want the player and this is putting his long-term future at the club in doubt. Levante's Juan Muñiz didn't either.<br />
<br />
Villarreal have a history of accepting foreign players in their squad. They’ve had experience with Middle Eastern players being signed before for business purposes. Akram Afif signed from the Aspire Academy, which also has had multiple player deals with Cultural Leonesa, and is now on loan at Belgian side Eupen.<br />
<br />
But you could even forgive <i>that</i>, because Akram previously played at Sevilla and learnt Spanish. How are these nine players supposed to adapt? Why are the club managers getting the say and not the managers? The problem is, this is just the start. It's being reported that La Liga intends to do this again. Because of course they do.<br />
<br />
But nevertheless, when it comes to Rayo, I'm not proud. Not just because this happened, but because this has happened before, with Qbao and Zhang Chengdong (<a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/the-chinese-takeover-of-spanish.html">which I talked about yesterday</a>).<br />
<br />
So what will happen? Clubs will abandon signing players until the summer, which will have sporting consequences. Academies will suffer and hopes will be dashed. All for what? Brand exposure? Money?<br />
<br />
What about football?Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-78579576152175975702018-01-22T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-24T09:23:25.680+00:00The Chinese takeover of Spanish football (22nd January, 2018)<i>Given the recent signing of Abdulmajeed Al Sulayhim, I thought I'd write about the transfer. However, that comes tomorrow, entitled the Saudi takeover of Spanish football.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But there's one takeover that's already happening, and it's the Chinese one...</i><br />
<br />
China already have their hands in Spanish football. They already own satellite clubs in Valencia such as CF Cracks and Atlético Museros and have already loaned out over 25 Chinese players to the former. Communication problems have plagued the club, which requires a translator to be present at all times, not to mention the players struggling with the Spanish football style.<br />
<br />
In July 2016, <i>La Hoya Lorca Club de Fútbol</i> changed its name to <i>Lorca Fútbol Club</i> when it was bought by former Chinese international player and manager Xu Genbao. And just one month earlier, FC Jumilla was taken over by Chinese famous football commentators Li Xiang and Tang Hui together with Argentinian partner Rubén Iglesias. In fact, because Li, Tang and Xu are all from Shanghia, when Lorca played FC Jumilla in November 2016 the match was broadcast live over the internet in China to 300 million people and was dubbed 'the Shanghai Derby'.<br />
<br />
But don't think China are here to improve Spanish football. Xu has 24 of his youngsters from his Shanghai academy training with Lorca. And they're in La Liga too - a Chinese model car maker, the Rastar Group, whose chairman is billionaire Chen Yasheng, took over Spanish La Liga club Espanyol in January 2016, taking 54 percent for 50 million euros.<br />
<br />
Not to mention their long association of "buying" club spots for players - as way back as 2003 Xerez signed Shang Yi from Beijing Guoan. Xerez received 60,000 euros to guarantee the Chinese international Shang Yi, which was put up by a "personal sponsor" of the midfielder. The same person also paid for a Chinese translator to travel with Shang Yi, who upon his arrival at the club shouted "Up with Xerez!". He would play eight games, clocking just 157 minutes, and scored one goal - albeit against Cádiz, fierce rivals of the club, for which he is mainly remembered.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SJEeMBKQ1jA/WmhN8G9oKXI/AAAAAAAABGg/eW_VpsohsUUgKwP3xEX31djPH4YyoWlRwCLcBGAs/s1600/Shang%2BYi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="226" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SJEeMBKQ1jA/WmhN8G9oKXI/AAAAAAAABGg/eW_VpsohsUUgKwP3xEX31djPH4YyoWlRwCLcBGAs/s400/Shang%2BYi.jpg" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shang Yi training for Xerez</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Not to mention that after the acquisition of 20% of Atlético de Madrid by Wanda, in the summer of 2015, the team toured China playing against local teams, lining up Xin Xu. The player played two games in the Segunda B, a grand total of 98 minutes, before heading back to Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande.<br />
<br />
In that same summer, after Rayo toured China, as part of their sponsorship deal with Qbao, Zhang Chengdong was imposed on Rayo Vallecano by their shirt sponsor Qbao. Paco Jémez was furious, saying that the signing "suits me like a hole in the head". A furious battle ensued - Felipe Miñambres, the sporting director, saying that Paco "had known for a long time that such a signing was likely", that it hadn't happened for two years and that Felipe had asked for the player and the sponsors delivered on his request - and if they hadn't then another year would go by without having a Chinese player. Paco later said he never denied that he was aware about the circumstances, called Zhang "one more player" and commended his performances in training - while at the same time noting that Zhang plays "a little in a position where we have a lot of players."<br />
<br />
And all of that - for what?<br />
<br />
Nine minutes.<br />
<br />
For nine minutes, history was made. Zhang Chengdong, aka Dudú, made his La Liga debut against Atlético Madrid, coming on for Dorado. He became the first ever Chinese footballer in La Liga.<br />
<br />
A La Liga career spanning nine minutes was the result of a Chinese sponsor and a player who was spotted by a Rayo sporting director who saw said player play in Portugal for three seasons. But more importantly, it sparked a bitter feud that exposed both superficial problems at the club on a sporting level, as well as systemic problems in how the club was being run and where it was getting its money from.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zmqoqD-3H8M/WmhOWhoNNhI/AAAAAAAABGk/vY6F2wlyizQnnV354utw1bftBwVR7rstwCLcBGAs/s1600/Zhang%2BChengdong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zmqoqD-3H8M/WmhOWhoNNhI/AAAAAAAABGk/vY6F2wlyizQnnV354utw1bftBwVR7rstwCLcBGAs/s1600/Zhang%2BChengdong.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zhang Chengdong</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Watch out for tomorrow's piece on Spanish football and Saudi Arabia</i>Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-7431751981708963072018-01-21T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-24T09:22:54.758+00:00More Rayo Vallecano news. And a loan report. (21st January, 2018)<i>Given that I said I would cover more Rayo news on this blog...</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/silly-season-is-back-13th-january-2018.html">Click here for transfer news as of 13th January, involving ex-Rayo player Armenteros, Mehdi Lacen, Youssef En-Nesyri, and more</a>.<br />
<br />
But wait - there is more!<br />
<ul>
<li>Gorka Elustondo has signed for the club. <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/new-signing-gorka-elustondo-swiss-army-knife-rayo-vallecano.html">A piece on him is already up</a>.</li>
<br />
<li><i>Edit: Abdulmajeed Al Sulayhim has also signed - a piece on the deal will also be up in the coming days.</i></li>
<br />
<li>24-year-old Bruno Pittón, of Unión Santa Fe, is an Argentine left-back who has recently been linked to Rayo by the Argentine media. Seems unlikely, given that Raț is still in limbo at the club. Not to mention that Sergio Akieme hasn't got a look-in due to Álex Moreno. And don't forget that Javi Noblejas is out on loan at Córdoba.</li>
<br />
<li>Joni Montiel's playing time has been limited, and is looking for a way out. Loan deals involving Segunda B clubs are rumored, with Fuenlabrada and Ponferradina reportedly interested.</li>
<br />
</ul>
<hr />
<br />
<b>Rayo loan report</b><br />
<br />
If Sergio Akieme can't get a look-in at Rayo, Javi Noblejas can't do the same at Córdoba. The 24-year-old has played just 17 minutes - in a 4-1 defeat to Tenerife, he came on for fellow left-back Víctor Mena. And Mena is a B team player. Dani Pinillos has been rock solid in that position - however, he has just moved to Barnsley, and have so far not yet signed a replacement. Which means Javi could get his chance to shine after all.<br />
<br />
Another left-back, Johan Mojica, is on loan at Girona. He has been at the club since January 2017, has helped them to promotion, and is consolidating himself as a La Liga player. Four assists to his credit already, in 17 appearances, speak of a bright future ahead. Girona, can we swap Mojica for Raț?<br />
<br />
Sadly, Mojica may not play for Rayo again. But Nacho Monsalve might, and he's fourth-choice center-back behind Sergio González, Diego Jiménez, and Julio Rodríguez (interestingly, also a former Barnsley player) at Recreativo in the Segunda B. He previously has only played in the Tercera, save for the 2014-15 season at Atlético Madrid B, and 90 minutes in La Liga with the first team in a 5-1 defeat of Real Betis. So seven games, six as a starter, is actually not that bad for a substitute. In fact, he was actually getting a good run of games, starting six consecutive games between the 11th <i>jornada</i> and the 16th. However, in the 16th game of the season, he was given a red card and a five-game ban for insulting the referee.<br />
<br />
He has now served that ban, and will undoubtedly be looking to add to his appearances tally, rather than his disciplinary record of four yellows and one red.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-70550794652697676182018-01-20T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-24T09:22:30.053+00:00New signing! Gorka Elustondo - the Swiss army knife (20th January, 2018)Ugh. The "Swiss army knife" is quite a boring metaphor. Not because of the name but the reference.<br />
<br />
Usefulness and adaptability are never inspiring, but they are necessary. When they're there it's calm. When they're not it's dire.<br />
<br />
And that could not be truer in the case of Gorka Elustondo. A midfielder by trade, his natural position is protecting the defense with surprising physique and passing range. The Gipuzkoa native rose through the ranks of Real Sociedad's, and made his B-team, and Segunda B, debut at the age of 18 during the 2005-06 season. He immediately became an undisputed starter, and within a season was knocking on the doors of the first team. He would make his La Liga debut in December 2006 in a goalless away draw against Celta de Vigo. A further five appearances in his first professional season would follow, but nevertheless the Basque club met top division relegation for the first time in 40 years.<br />
<br />
But sporting disappointment isn't the only thing Gorka has had to endure. In late October 2008, with Real in the second division, in a home derby against Deportivo Alavés, Elustondo suffered a serious knee injury (which later relapsed), being rendered unavailable for the remainder of the campaign. Nevertheless, he would bounce back the following season - contributing with 30 games and one goal in the 2009-10 campaign, helping the <i>Txuriurdin </i>return to the Spanish top flight after three years, as champions.<br />
<br />
Over the course of his career, he has often been asked to not protect the defense but <i>be</i> the defense. And for two top-flight seasons, between 2010 and 2012, he became that person, often playing as a substitute and occasionally filling in the gap. However, it was in the latter half of the 2012-13 campaign, under Philippe Montanier, when he established himself as a central defender (he had missed the first half due to a plantar fasciitis in his left foot), partly due to Asier Illarramendi and to a lesser extent Rubén Pardo covering the midfield positions, partly due to central defender Mikel González, Íñigo Martínez and Ion Ansotegi being either suspended or injured frequently, and partly due to Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba focusing on his Algerian national team duties.<br />
<br />
But mostly because when Gorka was risked being played in central defense, it didn't look like a risk at all. He would remain a substitute during the 2013-14 campaign under Jagoba Arrasate, and even started with Íñigo in the 2014-15 season. However, Arrasate's dismissal, and David Moyes' Ansotegi, relegated him back to the bench, and led to Athletic Bilbao signing him in 2015 on a two-year deal, with a 30 million euro release clause.<br />
<br />
Back in the day when 30 million euros meant something significant, that is. Those days are long gone.<br />
<br />
Under Ernesto Valverde, Gorka continued to be used as a central defender and midfielder, and was used more a rotation option, especially in Europe - he clocked 10 appearances in Europe compared to 11 in the league in his first season. And during the 2016-17 campaign he was used even less in the league, with just six appearances across all competitions. However, in the last of those appearances, due to the absence of Yeray Álvarez, Eneko Bóveda, Óscar de Marcos and Iñigo Lekue, against Barcelona, <i>at the Camp Nou</i>, Gorka was deployed as a right-back. And he grabbed an assist, latching on a loose ball, racing down the right, and crossing the ball for Enric Saborit to score.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I4BHpg5Ejhw/Wmf3WCjVZLI/AAAAAAAABGQ/H-iytkguiEoEm54aWC6-3ZCVxfBb5uTyQCLcBGAs/s1600/Gorka%2BElustondo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I4BHpg5Ejhw/Wmf3WCjVZLI/AAAAAAAABGQ/H-iytkguiEoEm54aWC6-3ZCVxfBb5uTyQCLcBGAs/s1600/Gorka%2BElustondo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">11th January, 2017. The Gorka Elustondo vs Neymar battle on the wing...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the lack of appearances led him to leave at the end of his contract, and take up an offer with Spanish coach Juan Manuel Lillo at Colombian club Atlético Nacional. Lillo actually managed Sociedad during the 2008-09 campaign, during which Gorka's starting spot had been cruelly taken due to injury - and so this looked like a promising move in theory. However, just eight games led him to cancel his contract, and return to Spain. He is now at Rayo on an 18-month deal in the second division, hoping to rejuvenate a career that has shown that, given the chance, he can shine.<br />
<br />
Rayo's long season might just give him that chance.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-48231757330886819052018-01-19T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-20T09:03:30.699+00:00Abel Gómez Moreno - the unforgettable face of forgettable clubs (19th January, 2018)<i>Yo-yo clubs are defined by their uncertainty. They go up and they go down. They remain relevant one season and are just as quick deemed irrelevant in the next.</i><br />
<i><br />
In other words, yo-yo clubs are easily forgettable.</i><br />
<i><br />
His face conveys the stern gaze of a man who had seen a lot - maybe too much. White streaks in his hair and his grey beard make the 35 year old look 53. </i><br />
<i><br />
But his role as a footballer demands him to draw on every experience. Creaking legs are shielded from scrutiny once the ball lands on his feet. Always looking to control, pass, create. Always looking to win the ball intelligently. Always looking to score from dead ball situations.</i><br />
<i><br />
He is Abel Gómez. And this is his story. </i><br />
<br />
There is more to Andalusia than Seville. Abel was born in Seville but spent most of his life in Granada. As a child he started playing at Atlético Monachil, located in Monachil, Granada, and later at Granada 74. Seville's Sevilla did spot him, and he graduated from their academy, playing for their B team (Sevilla Atlético) between 2000 and 2004 - the first season being spent in the Tercera, the other three in the Segunda B.<br />
<br />
But it was not Sevilla who gave him his professional debut, but another Andalusian association - Málaga - signing for their reserves in the second tier on a two-year contract. In the first season he played 35 games, and in the second season he clocked 33 more, scoring three and four goals respectively. He was widely expected to activate the clause in his contract to extend his stay by a further season. However, Málaga was going through a tense situation; the first team was relegated, which meant that the second team was relegated too and financially tight. All that precipitated his exit in 2006, and he signed for Real Murcia, being instrumental in their return to La Liga after a three-year absence, although an immediate relegation would befall in 2008.<br />
<br />
One must remember that this is the story of a player who has only played for clubs in Andalusia and Murcia - the south of Spain, essentially. Oh, and Romania - in the 2008 summer he joined Romanian side Steaua Bucureşti, resigning after only four months with the team because he missed his girlfriend who had remained in Málaga. He would return to Spain's second level by joining Xerez in late January 2009, still being able to contribute with 15 games (12 starts) to the club's first-ever top flight promotion.<br />
<br />
However, as Xerez were immediately relegated back, in late August 2010 he moved to another side in that region and tier - freshly-promoted Granada. In his debut campaign he only missed one league match in 42 (3,366 minutes of action), helping to a top division return after an absence of 35 years. And after one top-flight campaign, he returned to the second tier in 2012 and another Andalusian side - Córdoba. He would go on to captain the side and scored five goals during his second season, which ended in promotion after more than four decades.<br />
<br />
And after another top flight campaign that once again ended the relegation, he joined Cádiz in the Segunda B, helping them to promotion during the 2015-16 campaign in his first season - however, after being seldom used in the following season, late into the 2017 January transfer window, the 35-year-old signed with Murcia-based club Lorca.<br />
<br />
He has since helped them to promotion too - his seventh* in his career - and now plays with the club in the second division. The wider consensus is that Lorca will not survive their first ever season in the Segunda, and will be forgotten in the annals of history.<br />
<br />
And also that Abel Gómez won't.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_W7qCsMLoc/WmMBzxSuKVI/AAAAAAAABF4/i2PNb5qbrd4bJmGQdNzkEEm2Yws1tv9gQCLcBGAs/s1600/Abel%2BGomez%2BMoreno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="470" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_W7qCsMLoc/WmMBzxSuKVI/AAAAAAAABF4/i2PNb5qbrd4bJmGQdNzkEEm2Yws1tv9gQCLcBGAs/s1600/Abel%2BGomez%2BMoreno.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abel Gómez</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>*Sixth as a professional</i>Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-5200132197330267202018-01-18T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-19T08:02:32.459+00:00Jaime Mata - the one that got away (18th January, 2018)<i>A few months ago, Rayo fans woke up to this:
</i><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="es">
CONVOCATORIA| 📋 Lista de 1️⃣9️⃣ jugadores para el debut mañana en la <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CopaDelRey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CopaDelRey</a>🏆 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NumanciaM%C3%A1laga?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NumanciaMálaga</a>⚽️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VamosM%C3%A1laga?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VamosMálaga</a>💙 👉 <a href="https://t.co/hlScwtJkhY">https://t.co/hlScwtJkhY</a> <a href="https://t.co/qFGrdvOnrQ">pic.twitter.com/qFGrdvOnrQ</a></div>
— Málaga CF (@MalagaCF) <a href="https://twitter.com/MalagaCF/status/922431336161390593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<i>That was a bittersweet moment - pride for a Rayista who was going to succeed at Málaga, but bitterness at the club for letting him go for free and not tying him down early enough.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Midfielder Pablo Clavería slipped through the cracks. He wasn't renewed, and got tired of waiting - a depressingly normal situation for a smaller, cash-strapped club.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is the story of another player who slipped through.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Like Pablo, he has a powerful shot on him. Unlike Pablo, it's key to his job. The striker made his name in his hometown of Madrid in the Tercera, after rising through the ranks of Galáctico Pegaso. He would play for the reserves in 2007, before playing for the senior team during the 2008-09 campaign.<br />
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During the 2009-10 campaign, economic hardship allowed Rayo Vallecano's B team to swoop in, and in December 2009 the 21-year-old signed for the reserves and was immediately loaned to Socuéllamos in the same level - the Madrid side's coach, Miguel Ángel Galán, actually trained the player at Pegaso.<br />
<br />
Mata was subsequently loaned to fellow league team Móstoles for the 2010-11 campaign, where he broke out, scoring 25 goals and convincing Rayo to incorporate him in their B team in the Segunda B. However, his nine goals that season didn't convince Rayo to keep hold of him.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N57_hfCqvvQ/WmGlmHfBMwI/AAAAAAAABFo/B2n-T2UghRsIgDbHd_P1E1xmopzf4auJwCLcBGAs/s1600/Jaime%2BMata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N57_hfCqvvQ/WmGlmHfBMwI/AAAAAAAABFo/B2n-T2UghRsIgDbHd_P1E1xmopzf4auJwCLcBGAs/s1600/Jaime%2BMata.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
The mistake was swiftly and severely punished - in the first week of July 2012 Segunda B side Lleida Esportiu swooped in, and his rise from there has only been upward. Two seasons in the Segunda B led to a combined 29 league goals, and two attempts at the promotion playoffs - which was enough to convince Segunda side Girona to give him a shot at professional football.<br />
<br />
The 26-year-old Segunda B hotshot went on to become a Segunda mainstay. His two-year contract came and went, with 19 league goals between 2014 and 2016, not to mention two more shots at the promotion playoffs. Those performances meant that he wasn't short of any suitors, and earned a move to fellow league side Real Valladolid.<br />
<br />
The 2016-17 campaign saw Mata score just five goals in a season where he was third choice striker behind Raúl de Tomás and Juan Villar (14 and 10 goals respectively). However, this season, with Raúl de Tomás at Rayo and Juan Villar at Tenerife, Mata has become Segunda's unstoppable force, having scored a mind-boggling 19 goals in 22 appearances so far. Not only is he the Segunda's top scorer, he is ahead of everyone else by a mile - in second place is Córdoba's Sergi Guardiola with a paltry 12 goals.<br />
<br />
It's not like he's running past defenders, or bullying opponents with sheer strength. He is everything Rayo want in a striker - intelligent, good on the ball, hardworking. And Rayo don't plan on making that mistake again - just recently, Rayo renewed the contract of Sergio Moreno, who is the top scorer in Group 5 in the <i>División de Honor</i>, a group that includes teams such as Real Madrid.<br />
<br />
But Jaime Mata will, sadly, always be one of those players who got away.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-9937141356669624052018-01-17T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-18T07:36:23.636+00:00From Rayo to Rayo - Alejandro Arribas (17th January, 2017)<i>Exactly a week ago, the post for the day was "<a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/from-rayo-to-rayo-alberto-garcia.html">From Rayo to Rayo - the story of Alberto García</a>". It was the story of a goalkeeper who started at Rayo (Rayo Majadahonda) and is now at Rayo (Rayo Vallecano). It was the story of two Madrid-based clubs named Rayo, who gave him a clear shot and helped him advance his career.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But this is a story of someone literally going from Rayo to Rayo. And, at the age of just 28, his story is only just being written.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Arribas' story is a mixture of opportunity and luck, achievement at an early age partly due to hard work and partly due to circumstance. It started in his hometown of Madrid, where he rose the ranks of Rayo Majadahonda, and where he made his Tercera debut during the 2007-08 campaign.<br />
<br />
What followed was a rapid rise into professional football. In 2008, he was signed by Rayo's reserves, also in the Tercera. However, his talent earned him a loan move to Segunda B side Navalcarnero in the second half of the 2008-09 season and going on to be regularly used in a relegation-ending campaign.<br />
<br />
And he did not have to wait long for his Segunda debut. During the 2009-10 campaign, Arribas helped Rayo B to promotion to the Segunda B. On the 3rd of January, 2010, Pepe Mel was faced with a double blow within two minutes. In a fixture at home against Levante, center-back Salva was sent off in the 44th minute, and center-back Sergio Pelegrín was faced with an injury just a minute later.<br />
<br />
At half time, Pepe Mel summoned the only two reinforcements on the bench, his third-choice center back and a Rayo B player with no professional experience. 22-year-old Rafa García and 19-year-old Arribas came onto the pitch. And apart from a few nervy moments where Levante striker Rubén Suárez was able to beat the offside trap, Arribas performed well under the weight of expectation.<br />
<br />
Manuel Tena's injury and José Serrano's exclusion from Pepe Mel's led some to speculate that Arribas could be given more time to shine. But his additional contributions to the 2009-10 campaign totaled just one game - the full 90 minutes in a 2-3 loss to Cartagena in which he netted a goal too. Nevertheless, he became an automatic first-choice (38 games out of 42) the following season as Rayo returned to La Liga after eight years, in a heroic season when Rayo's staff often went months without being paid.<br />
<br />
And at the age of 22, he had become a La Liga player. No, a La Liga <i>starter</i>. Arribas was a first team player in Rayo's La Liga campaign, starting in all of his 34 league appearances as the capital outskirts side narrowly avoided relegation.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fJZ_Y4c9fkQ/WmBOAEl5BNI/AAAAAAAABFY/BK1q3aW4PKQGlZDknF2PAfAnRM4xZfiPACLcBGAs/s1600/Alejandro%2BArribas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1024" height="515" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fJZ_Y4c9fkQ/WmBOAEl5BNI/AAAAAAAABFY/BK1q3aW4PKQGlZDknF2PAfAnRM4xZfiPACLcBGAs/s640/Alejandro%2BArribas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alejandro Arribas, against Racing Santander in the Copa del Rey in December 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Arribas finally had his destiny in his pockets. In late June 2012, free agent Arribas signed a three-year contract with Osasuna. He would play there for two seasons, clocking 70 appearances in two top flight campaigns which eventually ended in relegation. But top flight clubs knew he was too good for second division football again, and Sevilla swooped in to sign the defender. He played 18 games across all competitions in his only season, including three in the Europa League group stage as his team won the competition for the second time in a row.<br />
<br />
Unai Emery's constant rotation at the back left Arribas behind, and in June 2015 he signed a four year contract with a club that wouldn't see him as a bit-part player: Deportivo de La Coruña. The club were so eager to sign him that they gave him a four-year contract - unusual for a club that constantly battles relegation. And he duly rewarded the club with 31 appearances, and even two goals, as the club ended the season with a 15th-place finish.<br />
<br />
However, in the 2016-17 campaign, new coach Gaizka Garitano saw him the was Unai Emery saw him - and it was only after his sacking 23 games in that Arribas regained his starting spot in the team, courtesy of, surprise surprise, Pepe Mel. He would play 13 out of a possible 15 games under the coach that gave him his first ever break, helping the side comfortably, if nervously, avoid relegation.<br />
<br />
Things seemed to be chugging along nicely for the central defender. It is only this season that things have gone astray. Pepe Mel gave him three games this season but was himself sacked after just nine games. And new coach Cristóbal Parralo has completely frozen him out, and Arribas has done no-one any favors by getting into an argument with Florin Andone in training.<br />
<br />
And so, last month, Arribas took a risk - he moved abroad for the first time in his career. The 28-year-old has joined Mexican top-flight outfit Club Universidad Nacional. So far, his career has only seen steady rise and steady consistency. And the slightest setback has either made him a blowhard who collapses at the first sign of gunfire.<br />
<br />
Or another example of getting an opportunity out of nowhere.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-17380472041929100312018-01-16T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-16T20:16:03.793+00:00Tariq Spezie - a unique story, a Spanish dream (16th January, 2017)His story is not unique. It is a story of a family fleeing violence, settling in a foreign land and making a name for themselves through hard work.<br />
<br />
It's the story of a striker named Tariq Spezie. It's a story that interested me because his brothers (Omar and Nura) were born in Dubai, a city I've lived in. And he was born in Sharjah, merely an hour away from Dubai.<br />
<br />
His Italian father from Verona (who worked in a tire company) and Spanish mother from La Mancha - which explains his last name Sevilla - saw the political situation in the region worsen. It eventually led to the Iran-Iraq War, and the family relocated to Italy with their one-year infant, and later to Spain.<br />
<br />
Tariq played youth football in modest clubs in Catalonia, such as Racing Blanenc and Vilobí, and supplemented his fluent Italian with Castilian and Catalan. However, he moved to Valladolid due to a family relocation, and made his senior debut with Real Valladolid B at the age of 19. He would compete the 1999-00 season in the Segunda B and the next one in the Tercera with the club, scoring a combined 22 goals. He would play for another reserve team during the 2001-02 campaign, as he helped Espanyol B finish second in the Segunda B.<br />
<br />
Tariq spent the following eight-and-a-half years in the Segunda B, with Cacereño (2002-03), Linares (2003), Palencia (2004), Sabadell (2004-05), Águilas (2005-08), Puertollano (2008-09) and Granada (2009-January 2011). In the 2008-09 season he scored a career-best 24 goals, and his achievements, then and in the past, were getting recognized. The time he scored one of the quickest goals in Spanish football - within seven seconds - while at Palencia. The time he became the Segunda B's top scorer with Puertollano. The time he played a charity match in Morocco along Ronaldo and Zidane - and shone despite not having the limelight on him.<br />
<br />
His performances earned him a a move to Udinese (being immediately loaned to Granada) for 100,000 euros. He would add 19 goals for Granada in the 2009-10 campaign, which led to promotion. However, some at Granada were trying to get rid of him, not convinced he could deliver in the Segunda (a division he had not played in), and were trying to swap him with Alejandro "Chando" Torres in the summer of 2010. Nevertheless, no such move materialized, and Tariq was simply frozen out of the team in favor of new signingAlexandre Geijo.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJmNFM9hDQk/WhUFoK4FQyI/AAAAAAAAA0A/NPJtc0KtCZ8d30AYmlfAvv5iD1qQgPsUwCLcBGAs/s1600/Tariq%2BSpezie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="595" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJmNFM9hDQk/WhUFoK4FQyI/AAAAAAAAA0A/NPJtc0KtCZ8d30AYmlfAvv5iD1qQgPsUwCLcBGAs/s1600/Tariq%2BSpezie.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tariq Spezie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
After just 147 minutes of action across six appearances in as many months he was loaned to Segunda side Huesca in January 2011 via Udinese. Eight goals in 18 appearances ensured the side would retain their league status, and moved to Huesca permanently in the summer of 2011. He would stay there until 2014, enduring a relegation to the Segunda B in 2013. Afterwards, he joined Segunda B side Huracán Valencia in July 2014; however, following his team's disqualification for financial issues in December 2015, he dropped down a league to sign for neighboring Castellón in January 2016. He retired in August of the same year.<br />
<br />
He was the perfect mix between explosiveness and intelligently timed and disguised runs. But more importantly, he was the perfect representation of the opportunities available to those who seek them.<br />
<br />
He was the perfect story to capture a footballing dream. And maybe there is more of that story to unfold.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-1327409503304789902018-01-13T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-13T13:54:48.364+00:00Silly Season is back! (13th January, 2018)I remember doing a Silly Season accumulator series on this blog and it ended up being a long, long list of rumors that made no sense when put together.<br />
<br />
So, instead, given that I promised more Rayo coverage on this blog, here is the latest news:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>According to multiple sources Rayo's priorities are a deep-lying midfielder (<i>pivote</i>) and a winger.</li>
<br />
<li>Rayo have been repeatedly linked with Getafe's out-of-favor midfielder Mehdi Lacen. However, Markel Bergara's injury has given Mehdi game time, so the operation may be difficult.</li>
<br />
<li>Francisco Cerro was signed this summer, but has since reportedly declined an offer from Lorca. Cerro would prefer to try to continue fighting for minutes in the Rayo.</li>
<br />
<li>Coke Andújar, former Rayo youth product, was linked with Rayo, but has instead joined Levante in La Liga.</li>
<br />
<li>San Fernando's 20-year-old striker Chris Ramos was linked with Rayo, but has joined Real Valladolid instead.</li>
<br />
<li>Former Rayo player Emiliano Armenteros is out-of-favor at Santos Laguna, and has been linked with the club he helped to the top flight in 2011.</li>
<br />
<li>Málaga's Youssef En-Nesyri is looking to make the Morocco World Cup squad. He was linked originally with Rayo but is looking at other opportunities too.</li>
<br />
<li>Lass Bangoura is looking to leave - and Western Sydney Wanderers are interested in signing him.</li>
<br />
<li>Joaquín Larrivey has been linked with a move to Spain, with Rayo Vallecano, Leganés, Las Palmas and Levante all interested. However, the striker, who has scored 19 goals in 38 games for JEF United, is very happy at the club, according to his agent Daniel dos Reis. He says that the striker is very comfortable in Asia and just had his first daughter there too.</li>
</ul>
Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-12044659515448347332018-01-12T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-12T12:21:36.497+00:00Recruiting former recruits - the 2011-12 Las Palmas season: Momo, the creative winger (12th January, 2018)<i>On the 12th of April, 2010, following Sergije Krešić's dismissal, with the club languishing in 17th, Las Palmas turned to a former Las Palmas native to rescue them from relegation to the Segunda B.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>In the 32 games prior to Sergije being sacked, Las Palmas had won just eight times and picked up 37 points. Under Paco Jémez, in 10 games, they won four times, and picked up 14 points, to finish in 17th - narrowly outside the relegation zone.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>And while he was dismissed in February 2011, Las Palmas saw the need to sign the players that actually breathed the values of the club. And so they did.</i><br />
<br />
Jerónimo Figueroa, aka <b>Momo</b>, belonged to Las Palmas. He grew up at the club, and broke out during the 2003-04 season at the age of just 21. Despite Las Palmas' relegation, Momo desired to stay - but in 2004 Deportivo signed the player due to an existing agreement between both clubs to settle the debt of the 2000 signing of Argentine center-back Gabriel Schürrer.<br />
<br />
However, Momo rarely played for the Galicians. He was loaned out to fellow La Liga side Albacete for the season, which ended in relegation. During the 2005-06 campaign, he stayed in the ranks of Depor but clocked a measly 154 minutes of action. The following season, he looked for other opportunities, joining Racing Santander on loan but being unable to make a dent in the side. <br />
<br />
During the 2007-08 season, Momo dropped a division and signed for Xerez on loan. Finally, he got his break - Xerez barely survived but Momo finally locked down a starting berth and, more importantly, impressed coach Esteban Vigo who had arrived in the middle of the season. Which meant that Xerez bought the player outright, and Momo became the go-to winger on the left - both the technical dribbler and the creative midfielder coming to the fore.<br />
<br />
Under Esteban Vigo's leadership the following season, Xerez achieved the unthinkable - promotion for the first time in history. Momo's 17 goals, highest in the squad, propelled the team to unthinkable heights and himself back to La Liga. Not to mention that he was named as one of the three best attacking midfielders in the division, along with Tenerife's Alejandro Alfaro and Castellón's Manuel Arana.<br />
<br />
There was a story that came out during this time that summed up Momo for me. Dedication comes at a price, and Momo is willing to pay it. In May 2009, before a game against Eibar that could potentially decide promotion, Momo did not miss a single training session despite just becoming a father. His wife went to the hospital on a Monday, gave birth to their daughter Gisela on a Wednesday, and played Eibar on a Saturday.<br />
<br />
Nevetheless, Momo's form didn't replicate itself in Xerez's debut 2009-10 La Liga campaign, which was riddled with problems off-the-pitch, and after the Andalusians were relegated he signed for Real Betis in the Segunda. He appeared in 18 games during the season - 13 starts, 980 minutes of action - as they returned to the top flight as champions under Pepe Mel. He was rarely used during Betis' top-flight season, and in January 2012 signed for the one club recruiting its former recruits.<br />
<br />
He remains at the club to this day. And his seven goals, contributing to Las Palmas' 2014-15 promotion to the top flight, means the 35-year-old remains a club favorite.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v41QXtrT-8Y/Wlim0StyXZI/AAAAAAAABEQ/B0e1gzyNMzsZrvqbyyhHnTTGx0aVhUPeQCLcBGAs/s1600/Momo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1200" height="379" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v41QXtrT-8Y/Wlim0StyXZI/AAAAAAAABEQ/B0e1gzyNMzsZrvqbyyhHnTTGx0aVhUPeQCLcBGAs/s640/Momo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Momo, for Las Palmas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-54628832947185331352018-01-11T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-11T10:00:15.705+00:00Are you eligible to become an Athletic Club player? A historical guide (11th January, 2018)<i>How do you qualify to play at Athletic?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Cristian Ganea, a Romanian left-back who was born in Romania to Romanian parents, was recently being scouted by Athletic Club. How could they possible justify his signing? Well, at the age of 11, he was brought by his parents to the Basque Country and played for Basconia and Indartsu in his youth.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The truth is, however, that Athletic Club's definition of who qualifies has always been open to interpretation, with presidents relaxing and tightening the rules as they saw fit.</i><br />
<br />
The definition, Basque players or players who trained in teams from Euskadi and Navarra, is not just vague by its definition of <i>which</i> players who have trained in teams from Euskadi and Navarra, but also has to do with the vagueness of the territorial limits of Euskadi and Navarra itself. And also to do with the fact that in the past Athletic Club were only recruiting players from the Biscay province surrounding Bilbao while the other leading clubs Real Sociedad and Osasuna focused on players from their respective provinces Gipuzkoa and Navarre. In recent decades Athletic expanded their recruitment in these other areas in their efforts to accommodate the best players with any Basque links, and this has seen many talented players from San Sebastián and Pamplona join the club (and caused Real Sociedad to abandon their own Basque policy in the face of this competition for signings).<br />
<br />
And therefore, throughout the history of the club, ever since Veicht and Smith, the last foreigners left the team in 1912, the contradictions abound in this tradition that rose as a result of the professionalization of Spanish football. The club that had among its first legends English pioneers such as Mac Lennan, Evans, Langford and Davies decided to dispense with foreign footballers.<br />
<br />
The influence of some presidents such as Alejandro de la Sota, Ramón Aras-Jauregui, José María Vilallonga and Ramón de la Sota, who all had connections to the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party), had a lot to do with Athletic Club's new identity. Nevertheless, the policy ended up transcending its origins, and became institutionalized in such a way that no one today ever speaks of hiring players as a way to advance the cause of Basque nationalism. <br />
<br />
Speaking of players, there are plenty that Athletic signed, and didn't sign, because of the way rules were interpreted. <b>Chus Pereda</b> was raised in Balmaseda in Biscay, and, as a schoolboy, he captained the provincial U-16 team. He began his senior career with Bilbao club Indautxu. If anyone was Basque, it was him...but his birthplace, Madina de Pomar (in Burgos), deterred Enrique Guzmán from signing the player in 1958. And the midfielder, who went on to play for Real Madrid and shine for Sevilla and Barcelona, did not forget the disappointment. "It bothered me. I was Athletic and it hurt a lot. I think they were totally wrong." Curiously, his best games were at the San Mamés - once, he played for Barcelona at the Basque club, and scored three goals in a 5-2 win.<br />
<br />
Another case of the 50's was that of midfielder <b>Miguel Jones</b>, born in Guinea but raised in Bilbao. He went from Indautxu to Atlético Madrid in 1959 and nobody in Athletic even dared to suggest his signing. Not to mention <b>José Eulogio Gárate</b>, an Argentinian striker who was born to Basque parents and grew up in Eibar. He began his career with Eibar in 1960 before joining Indautxu in 1963, and yet in 1966 was allowed to move to Atlético Madrid, where he played for 11 seasons.<br />
<br />
But the problem isn't that they were rejected, but that the yardstick used was selective. Defender <b>Isaac Oceja</b> spent 15 seasons at Athletic during the 30's and 40's, even captaining the side - and was born in Escalante (in Cantabria). Perhaps you could give him a free pass because he resided in Durango (Biscay). <br />
<br />
There are other cases to. <b>Armando Merodio</b>, for example, was an important forward in the 50's. In his case, his signing from Barakaldo in 1956 wasn't stopped - it did not matter that he was born in Barcelona, where his father, the great pelota player Chiquito de Gallarta, earned his living. But José Eulogio Garate's signing was dismissed.<br />
<br />
And so was <b>Roberto López Ufarte</b>'s, born in Fez (Morocco) - his parents, from Andalusia and Catalonia, moved abroad in search of work, and returned to Irún (Basque Country) when their son was just eight. Real Unión sold him to Real Sociedad in 1975, where he played for 12 seasons. But <b>Vicente Biurrun</b>, a Brazilian native and Brazilian-born goalkeeper who had Basque roots, was able to sign for Athletic Club from Osasuna in 1986. The "looser" interpretation in later years also benefited players like <b>Luis Fernando</b> (Zamora), <b>Ernesto Valverde</b> (Cáceres), <b>Patxi Ferreira</b> (Salamanca), <b>Manuel Núñez</b> (Cáceres) or La Rioja natives <b>José Mari</b>, <b>De la Fuente</b>, <b>Santiago Ezquerro</b> and <b>Daniel Aranzubia</b>.<br />
<br />
Vicente Biurrun isn't the only foreign national with "Basque roots". In 1980 the club gave serious consideration to signing <b>Iker Zubizarreta</b>, a young Venezuelan of Basque heritage (his grandfather Félix had starred for Athletic in the 1910s) who had impressed at the football tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics, but decided not to pursue it. In 2011, media sources claimed that Athletic had shown interest in young Mexican midfielder <b>Jonathan Espericueta</b> but no such move materialized, and the player himself (who did later play in Spain with Villarreal B) stated that his Basque connection was as distant as a great-great-grandfather.<br />
<br />
The Uruguayan international <b>Diego Forlán</b>, whose paternal grandmother was Basque, claimed he had talks over a potential transfer to the club in 2004 but this signing would have been incompatible with the club's current policy as Forlan was not born in a Basque region, nor did he play football as a youth (or at any point in his career) at a club in the territory. This is in contrast to <b>Higinio Ortúzar</b>, Vicente Biurrun, <b>Javier Iturriaga</b> and <b>Fernando Amorebieta</b> who were all born in Latin America with Basque parentage, but as with players born in other Spanish regions such as Armando Merodio, Patxi Ferreira and Ernesto Valverde, it was their residency in the territory from childhood rather than their ancestry which made them eligible for Athletic. And as you'd remember, that wasn't the case earlier, when talented players raised locally but with birthplaces elsewhere (Chus Pereda, Miguel Jones, José Eulogio Gárate and the elder brother of Athletic Bilbao legend Manuel Sarabia, <b>Lázaro</b>, who was "called [in] to sign, but when he went to fill out the file, they realized that...he was born in Torres (Jaén)...he came home crying") were not signed.<br />
<br />
The truth is that increasingly pressing needs of the team have been feeding increasingly open interpretations. It would have been unthinkable for <b>Bixente Lizarazu</b>, a French Basque player signed in 1996 from Bordeaux, to have signed in another era. But the very existence of the French Basque Country gives Athletic Club another loophole to exploit. <b>Aymeric Laporte</b> was the first French Basque player to successfully graduate from the youth system in 2012. He was signed in 2009 but not without fierce debate - he had no link to the Basque region through birth or residency, and a blood link only via great-grandparents. He did join a team in the territory, Aviron Bayonnais, but only by arrangement after the initial approach from Athletic, as he was too young to move to a club outside France at the time - he arrived formally in 2010.<br />
<br />
And players born in the Basque Country but raised elsewhere are now considered eligible. <b>Fernando Llorente</b> was born in Pamplona but lived his whole childhood in Rincón de Soto (close to Basque territory but outside it) before he was recruited as an 11-year-old. Two of Athletic's most expensive signings, the Bilbao-born Spain internationals <b>Roberto Ríos</b> and <b>Ander Herrera</b> learned their skills in the cities where their footballing fathers were based professionally (Eusebio at Real Betis, and Pedro at Real Zaragoza respectively). In fact, Roberto Ríos, signed in 1997 was a record signing - 2 billion <i>pesetas</i> - and representative of the relaxing of the <i>cantera </i>rules during that time. Benefiting from the more flexible approach, in 1998, coach Luis Fernández led the club to second in La Liga and to Champions League qualification. Not to mention the case of <b>Gaizka Mendieta</b> (son of Andrés of CD Castellón) who had similar origins but turned down a move, albeit he remained a proud Basque who played for the unofficial representative team.<br />
<br />
And recently, the rules have been stretched even further - which some fans haven't totally accepted. <b>Enric Saborit</b>, originally from Catalonia, who graduated through the youth and reserve levels to reach the first team, caused questions to be asked when he signed in 2008; he had no connection with the region by birth or blood, but while already 16 years old and playing in Espanyol's cantera teams had moved to Vitoria-Gasteiz where his mother relocated for work two years earlier, and as a resident of the territory was immediately deemed eligible by Athletic to play for the club.<br />
<br />
And in the summer of 2017, Athletic recruited <b>Youssouf Diarra</b>, a forward born in Mali who was raised in Catalonia and had spent two years playing for clubs in Navarre from the age of 16, which the club deemed sufficient under the policy. The previous year they had signed Colombia-born 16-year-old <b>Deiby Ochoa</b>, who lived in La Rioja and had only ever played for clubs in that region. Both players had attended trial matches at the Lezama training center. However, despite recruiting Ochoa (the spelling of whose name was changed to the Basque <i>Otxoa</i> in club records), in October 2017 it was announced that Athletic's youth training camp in Oion - in Álava, but just a few miles from Logroño - would no longer accept players who did not fit the Athletic philosophy, effectively excluding around 150 Riojan youngsters of various ages from the system and leaving only around 10 Basques across the squads.<br />
<br />
The case remains that doubts exist on what exactly the signing policy is. Benjamín Zarandona, born in Valladolid, has a father from Portugalete (Basque Country) and a mother from Equatorial Guinea. Is he qualified? Jorge López Montaña was a Villarreal legend and was a <i>riojano</i> - did his Sestao-born grandfather make him eligible?<br />
<br />
It's hard to tell. And the confusion isn't just in the first team. In the youth teams, there was no debate when youth players were signed from Pradejón, in La Rioja (admittedly, not too far from the Navarre border). But when one of the presidential candidates to succeed José María Arrate spoke of the need to establish a network of extra-community scouts in order to catch promises from all over Spain, the debate was reignited.<br />
<br />
And yet - that motto will always remain. <i>Con cantera y afición, no hace falta importación</i>, or <i>with home-grown talent and local support, you don't need foreigners</i>, is a powerful message to send.<br />
<br />
The only question is - what the heck does "home-grown" and "local" mean?Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-5743248177696417232018-01-10T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-10T10:00:33.543+00:00From Rayo to Rayo - the story of Alberto García (10th January, 2018)<i>I always look to write about the players we have now - and yet I find it interesting that I've never dedicated a piece to our number one goalkeeper this season.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Here it is...</i><br />
<br />
He's our goalkeeper. He looks stocky but possess great reflexes, and is quick across the ground. He looks short but is able to dominate in aerial battles.<br />
<br />
But he hasn't always got the opportunities to shine. Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, he bounced around in Catalonia during his youth, appearing for Barcelona, Europa and Cornellà. He would then move to Madrid in 2004, making his senior debut with Rayo Majadahonda in the Tercera. However, in early 2005, he moved back to Catalonia, playing for Sant Andreu in the same division.<br />
<br />
His shot in the Segunda B came exactly a year later - he would sign for Villarreal's B team in the Tercera in the summer of 2005, but was loaned out to Águilas for the latter half of the 2005-06 season. In the Segunda B, he played nine league games, as well as both legs of the first round of the promotion playoffs (2-1 aggregate loss to Alicante).<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, his performances attracted the attention of other Segunda B sides, and he moved back to Catalonia, signing for Figueres in 2006. He was a starter under Pep Clotet - however, Pep was sacked after just nine games and in the 10th <i>jornada</i>, under Ernest Calero Fernández, Figueres, with Alberto between the sticks, lost 3-0 at home against Osasuna. He didn't play again that season, becoming second-choice to Carlos Craviotto.<br />
<br />
At the end of the season, <a href="http://19spains.com/post/152357777712/crazy-capitalists-a-sports-betting-website-and">Figueres were literally made to disappear by an investor and had to start all over again in the ninth division</a>, and Alberto García dropped down to the Tercera, signing for Real Murcia's reserves. However, García also made one appearance for the first team, which was also his La Liga debut, as Real Murcia was already relegated. On 17th May 2008, he played all 90 minutes in a 3-5 home loss against Barcelona.<br />
<br />
García was promoted to the main squad in June 2008, but was mainly used as a backup to Juan Elía. A year later, in 2009, he moved to fellow Segunda club Córdoba. Initially a backup to Raúl Navas, in December 2010 he came on for Navas for the last 37 minutes of a 3-1 defeat at Real Betis, and remained an undisputed starter for the remainder of the season, as well as the following two campaigns.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2fzboa9e_gI/WlXhFtF8erI/AAAAAAAABDw/XXKIwdn0fsIH7S80GrqdOpbBtaitAQxNACLcBGAs/s1600/Alberto%2BGarcia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="650" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2fzboa9e_gI/WlXhFtF8erI/AAAAAAAABDw/XXKIwdn0fsIH7S80GrqdOpbBtaitAQxNACLcBGAs/s640/Alberto%2BGarcia.jpg" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alberto García, at Córdoba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
His ambition to become a La Liga player led him to terminate his contract with the Andalusians and signed for four years with Sporting de Gijón in July 2013. However, he was a backup for the entirety of his time at the Asturias club, playing just 16 times in three seasons. Even the fact that Sporting played in La Liga during his third season there was bittersweet for the goalkeeper warming the bench.<br />
<br />
Therefore, he dropped down a division, signing for Getafe in the Segunda in July 2016 for two years, and becoming a first team player at the club as they were promoted to the first division. However, for the final four league fixtures, as well as the promotion playoffs, he lost his first-choice status to Vicente Guaita, and therefore decided to join Rayo on loan.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YOHKVPbV8Xw/WlXht_XNzfI/AAAAAAAABD4/UmcQCWUIKxIiLRl78JvbYMRk3zy3lRCgwCLcBGAs/s1600/Alberto%2BGarcia%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="1024" height="468" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YOHKVPbV8Xw/WlXht_XNzfI/AAAAAAAABD4/UmcQCWUIKxIiLRl78JvbYMRk3zy3lRCgwCLcBGAs/s640/Alberto%2BGarcia%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alberto García, at Rayo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
He chose to be a Segunda starter rather than a La Liga spectator. And it has paid off - with Toño injured, he has kept Mario Hernández largely out of the squad. And Mario's injuries have helped Alberto too - his competition currently is Columbian <i>cantera</i> goalkeeper, and U-20 international, Luis "Lucho" García.<br />
<br />
At nearly 33, Alberto is what is traditionally the peak of his career - but he hasn't always played for much of it. The season at Real Murcia and the three seasons at Sporting Gijón come to mind, where he served as a more-than-capable backup.<br />
<br />
But those times are sandwiched between two Madrid-based clubs named Rayo, who gave him a clear shot and helped him advance his career.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-66891210305377180062018-01-09T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-09T10:00:08.364+00:00Strong, stable, solid, secure - Miguel Torres, the La Liga regular with waning recognition (9th January, 2018)<i>He is a fullback. Not quick, but hardworking. Not tall, but high in stature. Not relaxed, but composed. Not spectacular, but reliable.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>His 32nd birthday is coming up this month, and he has already spent 11 seasons in La Liga. But this season, the seasoned veteran has been relegated to the reserves. His top-flight career is waning.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>And so his story must be told.</i><br />
<br />
Born in Madrid, Torres joined Real Madrid's junior teams at the age of 12. He made his first-team debut against Écija Balompié as a starter, in a Copa del Rey game in October 2006, because of injuries to defenders Fabio Cannavaro, Cicinho and Míchel Salgado. He also played in the return leg as a substitute, replacing Sergio Ramos in the 80th minute, and also started in both cup matches against Real Betis, sporting jersey No. 38 in these games and throughout the season.<br />
<br />
His rise in standing at the club was quick from there - Torres made his La Liga debut in his fourth consecutive appearance for Real Madrid, playing the whole 90 minutes against Real Zaragoza in January 2007 (1-0 home win). He kept his place in the side the following week for the game against Mallorca, with that performance leading coach Fabio Capello to state: "It is not easy to find a player with as much personality and talent in attack and defence as Torres".<br />
<br />
In February 2007, against Real Sociedad, Torres made his first assist: after a quick run on the left flank he provided a left-footed (he is right-footed by nature) cross for Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose header found the net as Madrid came from behind to win it away 2-1.<br />
<br />
With Torres as an important piece (first appearing in round 18, he only missed three contests until the end of the campaign, starting in all but one), Real Madrid won its 30th league title. However, he was unable to play in the deciding game against Mallorca due to a hamstring tear, but nevertheless in July 2007 he signed his first professional contract, joining the main squad permanently from Real Madrid Castilla.<br />
<br />
Although Torres appeared in more league games in the following season, he would start significantly less (as Madrid repeated league honours), primarily due to the signing of Argentine Gabriel Heinze. In that year he switched back to number 22, which he previously wore with Castilla.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HsKyGrUnp7M/WlQDXvCk9VI/AAAAAAAABDU/zNUMEXuvkbcI3yw4Gtk8WzTj6NnfoOsjACLcBGAs/s1600/Miguel%2BTorres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="432" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HsKyGrUnp7M/WlQDXvCk9VI/AAAAAAAABDU/zNUMEXuvkbcI3yw4Gtk8WzTj6NnfoOsjACLcBGAs/s1600/Miguel%2BTorres.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Miguel Torres of Real Madrid controls the ball during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabéu on January 6, 2008 - Real Madrid won the match 2-0.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
For the 2009-10 campaign, Torres changed to No. 2 following Salgado's departure to Blackburn Rovers. However, on 31 August - transfer deadline day - he moved to neighbours Getafe on a five-year contract, with Real having the option to rebuy in the first two. He became an undisputed starter for the next two seasons; however, in the 2011-12 season, under new manager Luis García, Torres was challenged by new signing Juan Valera for the right-back position. Nevertheless, he still appeared in more than 20 league games as the Madrid outskirts team again retained their division status.<br />
<br />
In August 2013, Torres joined Olympiacos from Greece on a three-year deal worth a reported €500,000, reuniting with Míchel who also coached him at Getafe and Real Madrid Castilla. However, after only ten competitive games he returned to Spain's top flight a year later, signing a one-year contract at Málaga with the option of two more.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIpKT2U0eUo/WlQDvXj8LOI/AAAAAAAABDY/06UxSe39G0oa5p3KhzCYcFAL72dPd4efgCLcBGAs/s1600/Miguel%2BTorres%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIpKT2U0eUo/WlQDvXj8LOI/AAAAAAAABDY/06UxSe39G0oa5p3KhzCYcFAL72dPd4efgCLcBGAs/s1600/Miguel%2BTorres%2B2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucas Vazquez of Real Madrid competes for the ball with Miguel Torres of Málaga during a La Liga match at La Rosaleda on February 21, 2016.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
He wasn't destined for much game time this season - and has played just one game so far. And yet, in October 2017, he was renewed until 2020. Yes, he may not start.<br />
<br />
But starters are not always the hero. The flashy guy is not always the hero. He is a hero - the silent hero. The ordinary reliable, dependable, hardworking man.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-20294235739965142432018-01-08T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-08T10:00:05.437+00:00David Rocha - a tireless career, and the tireless midfielder behind it (8th January, 2018)<i>These examples are countless. These examples of perseverance and dedication are inspiring.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is the story of a player who made his professional debut at the age of 30 - and yet, on the way, dropped a division to help his local club to promotion. And he's still going strong - and is about to turn 33.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is the story of a tireless career, and the tireless midfielder behind it.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i></i><br />
<hr />
<i>
</i>
<i><br /></i>
Cáceres, in Extremadura, is no ordinary town. This town was the birthplace of Spain's tourism industry - in 1846 the bullring of Cáceres (<i>Plaza de Toros de Cáceres</i>) was inaugurated and brought in tourists from near and far. Franco established his headquarters here in August 1936, before starting his advance to Madrid. In July 1937, Republican forces bombed this town.<br />
<br />
Caught up in the Civil War, a town that became the symbol of a local, self-sufficient service sector and tourism economy also became the town symbolized with the construction industry.<br />
<br />
With hard work.<br />
<i><br /></i>
He is <i>cacereño</i> through and through - born in Cáceres, he started playing football in local club Cacereño's youth system, and made his debuts as a senior in the Segunda B towards the end of the 2002-03 campaign, aged 18. He became an undisputed starter during the following campaign, which ended in relegation, and stayed with the club in the Tercera for a further season.<br />
<br />
In 2005, he moved to Villarreal B in the Tercera, appearing regularly for the side, and helping the reserves to promotion in 2007. After clocking just 492 minutes in the first half of the 2007-08 campaign, he joined Cartagena in the Segunda B in January 2008.<br />
<br />
However, in July of the same year, he returned to Cacereño, with the side now in the fourth division, and won promotion in his first season. He would go on to play at his local club for two further seasons in the Segunda B, where he became an undisputed starter and captained the side too.<br />
<br />
In 2011, he joined Albacete in the Segunda B, playing for two seasons in the division before signing for Gimnàstic de Tarragona, in a two-year deal in 2013. Two years later, in 2015, he won promotion to the Segunda with <i>Nàstic</i>, and renewed his link until 2018. And on the 23rd of August, 2015, the 30-year-old made his professional debut, starting in a 2-2 home draw against former club Albacete.<br />
<br />
Despite being a first team player, in January 2016 he moved abroad for the first time in his career, after agreeing to a three-year deal with Major League Soccer side Houston Dynamo. However, in July of the same year, he mutually terminated his contract with Dynamo after alleging "family reasons", and returned to the Segunda to sign for Real Oviedo in a two-year deal.<br />
<br />
He has been a regular starter ever since, and at the age of 32 is still going strong. Is still an undisputed starter. Is still working hard.<br />
<br />
And his name is David Rocha.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8g2i1_R1DI/WlM-DoCDvfI/AAAAAAAABDE/fUUvV5TAsYEuVtBKSJjqseplwWVSyrEZQCLcBGAs/s1600/David%2BRocha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="662" height="359" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8g2i1_R1DI/WlM-DoCDvfI/AAAAAAAABDE/fUUvV5TAsYEuVtBKSJjqseplwWVSyrEZQCLcBGAs/s640/David%2BRocha.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Rocha, celebrating promotion to the Segunda with <i>Nàstic</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-8103409144476257912018-01-07T10:00:00.001+00:002018-01-07T10:00:34.764+00:00Statistics: La Liga tables - houses outside a stadium vs football inside a stadium (7th January, 2018)In another episode of "Statistics", the third one since March 2017, here I rank every team based on their league position as well as the average property prices outside their stadiums.<br />
<br />
Note that high property prices don't indicate the prosperity of a club, just the location - even if the winner of the housing league was also the winner of La Liga. For example, Eibar is one of the poorest clubs in the division but house prices are not cheap.<br />
<br />
Rayo Vallecano was poor and housing prices were low and their sporting performance reflected that but that doesn't indicate any trend.<br />
<br />
If you're a modest club, financially sound, and not in the capital of your autonomous community (housing prices are low) then you might just punch above your weight - Málaga, Celta Vigo and Villarreal are examples, but counter examples include Granada - so even that trend is hard to justify.<br />
<br />
In other words, this is not scientific - just a bit of fun.<br />
<em><br /></em>
<em>*price in euros per square meter of the houses surrounding the stadiums</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><u>2015-16 season statistics</u></strong><br />
<strong><u><br /></u></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 585.5px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 3803; mso-width-source: userset; width: 78pt;" width="104"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2706; mso-width-source: userset; width: 56pt;" width="74"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2779; mso-width-source: userset; width: 57pt;" width="76"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2377; mso-width-source: userset; width: 49pt;" width="65"></col> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 3803; mso-width-source: userset; width: 78pt;" width="104"></col> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> </colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15pt; width: 210px;"><strong>Team</strong></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 10px;"><strong>Minimum*</strong></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 87px;"><strong>Maximum*</strong></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 75px;"><strong>Average*</strong></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 205px;"><strong>Team</strong></td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 60.5px;"><strong>Points</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Barcelona</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1800</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">6000</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">3900</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Barcelona</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">91</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Real Madrid</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">3000</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">4200</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">3600</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Real Madrid</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">90</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Real Sociedad</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">2600</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3900</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">3250</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Atlético Madrid</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">88</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Athletic Club</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1800</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">4000</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2900</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Villarreal</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">64</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Atlético Madrid</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1900</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3000</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2450</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Athletic Club</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">62</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Valencia</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1900</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2900</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2400</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Celta Vigo</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">60</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Deportivo</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1500</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2860</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2180</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Sevilla</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">52</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Levante</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1600</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2700</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2150</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Málaga</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">48</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Sporting Gijón</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1650</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2600</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2125</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Real Sociedad</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">48</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Espanyol</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1100</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3000</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2050</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Real Betis</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">45</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Sevilla</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1300</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2800</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2050</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Las Palmas</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">44</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Real Betis</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2300</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2000</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Valencia</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">44</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Granada</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">990</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2300</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1645</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Espanyol</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">43</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Eibar</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1500</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1750</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1625</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Eibar</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">43</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Celta Vigo</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1270</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1950</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1610</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Deportivo</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">42</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Getafe</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1500</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1600</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Granada</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">39</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Las Palmas</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1450</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1575</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Sporting Gijón</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">39</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Rayo Vallecano</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1000</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1200</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1100</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Rayo Vallecano</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">38</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Málaga</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">700</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1100</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">900</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Getafe</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">36</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 210px;">Villarreal</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">500</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">800</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">650</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 205px;">Levante</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 60.5px;">32</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><u>2016-17 season statistics</u></strong><br />
<strong><u><br /></u></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 581px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 3803; mso-width-source: userset; width: 78pt;" width="104"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2706; mso-width-source: userset; width: 56pt;" width="74"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2779; mso-width-source: userset; width: 57pt;" width="76"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 2377; mso-width-source: userset; width: 49pt;" width="65"></col> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> <col style="mso-width-alt: 3803; mso-width-source: userset; width: 78pt;" width="104"></col> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col> </colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15pt; width: 311px;"><strong>Team</strong></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 10px;"><strong>Minimum*</strong></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 87px;"><strong>Maximum*</strong></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 75px;"><strong>Average*</strong></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 343px;"><strong>Team</strong></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; width: 78px;"><strong>Points</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Real Madrid</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">3400</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">4700</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">4050</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Real Madrid</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">93</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Barcelona</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1900</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">6000</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">3950</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Barcelona</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">90</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Real Sociedad</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">2725</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">4075</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">3400</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Atlético Madrid</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">78</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Athletic Club</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1800</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">4000</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2900</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Sevilla</td>
<td class="xl66" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">72</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Atlético Madrid</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1900</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3500</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2700</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Villarreal</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">67</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Valencia</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1900</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3000</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2450</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Real Sociedad</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">64</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Alavés</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1800</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3000</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2400</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Athletic Club</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">63</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Sporting Gijón</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1725</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2725</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2225</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Espanyol</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">56</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Deportivo</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1500</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2900</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2200</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Alavés</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">55</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Sevilla</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1400</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2900</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2150</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Eibar</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">54</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Real Betis</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2500</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2100</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Málaga</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">46</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Espanyol</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1100</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">3050</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">2075</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Valencia</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">46</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Eibar</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1575</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1840</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1708</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Celta Vigo</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">45</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Leganés</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1400</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2000</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Las Palmas</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">39</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Granada</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">950</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2300</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1625</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Real Betis</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">39</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Celta Vigo</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1200</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">2050</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1625</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Deportivo</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">36</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Las Palmas</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1450</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1700</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1575</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Leganés</td>
<td class="xl65" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">35</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Osasuna</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">1200</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1800</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">1500</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Sporting Gijón</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">31</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Málaga</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">750</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">1200</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">975</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Osasuna</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">22</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="20" style="border-top: none; height: 15pt; width: 311px;">Villarreal</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 10px;">500</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 87px;">800</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 75px;">650</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 48px;"></td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 343px;">Granada</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 78px;">20</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-15216979971886862132018-01-06T10:00:00.002+00:002018-01-06T10:00:00.443+00:00The story of goalkeeper Toni Doblas - slip-ups, service, survival and sorrow (6th January, 2017)<i>Chris Ramos, a young striker from San Fernando, was linked with Rayo but has signed for Valladolid. Today's article is about the exact opposite - an old goalkeeper from San Fernando moving to distant shores...</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This winter, Toni Doblas, a 37-year-old goalkeeper has moved from Spain to the Philippines, playing for Ceres–Negros. It is not the first time that he has moved abroad - but it might be the last time, in a career that has seen luck very rarely on his side.<br />
<br />
Born in Seville, Doblas graduated from local Real Betis, and was part of the famous 1999 team that won the <i>juvenil</i> Copa del Rey - a team that also contained future Betis legends like Joaquín, Arzu and Dani. He would spend four seasons with local Real Betis's B-team, where he was the undisputed starter, before moving on loan to Andalusian neighbors Xerez for the 2003-04 season. He made only four appearances in the second division and returned to Betis' first side the year after, being called into immediate main-squad action due to injuries to Pedro Contreras and Toni Prats.<br />
<br />
He remained a starter for the remainder of the campaign, taking part in the 2005 Copa del Rey final against Osasuna which Betis won 2-1; in the competition's semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao he saved two penalties in a shootout and, in August 2005 he signed his first professional contract, at 25. And Doblas was also a key element in Betis' first-ever qualification to the Champions League, as he saved a Camel Meriem penalty against Monaco in the third qualify round, a 3-2 win.<br />
<br />
But that is where his luck more or less runs out.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C48AV6mMWJc/WlCcZh_nm0I/AAAAAAAABC0/5xnpyEVzp8s_IzDzua3qfH-bKylaCWAGwCLcBGAs/s1600/Toni%2BDoblas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C48AV6mMWJc/WlCcZh_nm0I/AAAAAAAABC0/5xnpyEVzp8s_IzDzua3qfH-bKylaCWAGwCLcBGAs/s1600/Toni%2BDoblas.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toni Doblas, <i>héroe bético</i> against Monaco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
During the league season errors cost him his position, regained by Contreras: his most notable mistake came against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, when he gave Ricardo Carvalho a goal in an eventual 0-4 Champions League loss; he still managed 24 league appearances, a situation repeated (also with Contreras as backup) in the 2006-07 campaign.<br />
<br />
And then, midway through 2007-08, Doblas suffered a serious injury in a friendly that kept him out of action for five months - he was supposed to battle for first-choice status with new signing Ricardo. He was reinstated in the squad in late April, donning the number 25 shirt after teammate Rafael Sobis switched to 21; this led to his release by Betis in June 2008 and in September he joined second level side Real Zaragoza, meeting the same fate at the end of the season.<br />
<br />
In September 2009, Doblas was supposed to sign for Aris Thessaloniki in Greece for one year, joining a squad with three other countrymen and with Donato - who played in Spain for 15 years - as assistant manager; eventually, the deal fell through and he returned to Spain, moving to Huesca in early November. After regaining his confidence as a started, Doblas returned to Zaragoza on in July 2010, signing a two-year deal with an option to a third season. In the following off-season, after having shared first-choice duties with Leo Franco as the club narrowly avoided top level relegation, he was loaned to another former club, Xerez.<br />
<br />
Coming back to Zaragoza for the 2012-13 campaign, he found himself relegated to third-choice behind Roberto Jiménez Gago and Leo Franco, and in January 2013, Doblas signed an 18-month contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Khazar Lankaran. However, six months later, following an 0-8 home defeat to Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League's second qualifying round, he was one of four players to have their contracts terminated.<br />
<br />
Without a club for almost six months, in February 2014, Doblas moved to Serie A's Napoli for four months, as the Rafael Benítez-led team had several problems in the goalkeeper position, most notably Rafael Cabral who suffered a season-ending injury. After playing just two games - and only one of them as a starter, the other as a substitute for compatriot Pepe Reina - he switched clubs and countries again, and in August 2014 signed with HJK Helsinki as a short-term replacement for Michael Tørnes.<br />
<br />
Since then, his career has been a series of half-season spells with various clubs around the world. After a brief spell back in his country with lowly Cornellà (2015), he signed for Indian Super League franchise Delhi Dynamos in the summer of 2015. He would go on to play for Toledo (2016), Delhi Dynamos (2016) again, Extremadura (2017) and San Fernando (2017).<br />
<br />
And he still isn't done saving teams that have injured goalkeepers. Roland Müller's injury at Ceres forced them to find cover and sign a player perfect for the job.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-21646524057699451342018-01-05T10:00:00.001+00:002018-01-05T10:00:22.672+00:00The A-Z guide to Rayo Vallecano (Addition edition): Q is for Quintas. Hugo Álvarez Quintas (5th January, 2018)<i>If you read <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2018/01/the-a-z-guide-to-rayo-vallecano-addition-edition-porto-lica-quinzinho-abdoulaye-ba.html">the Porto piece yesterday</a>, you would have seen the story of a player who lasted just 16 minutes at Rayo.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But he was competing for the Q letter with another player, who lasted slightly longer - 58 minutes, to be exact. </i><br />
<i><br />
Felipe Miñambres, our ex-sporting director, once said that "we can't offer potential new players anything tangible; what we can offer them is affection and a shop window". Hugo Álvarez Quintas made just one league appearance for Rayo, and yet he deserves an entire article. And that's because he represents another facet of Rayo's transfer policy - the facet of resignation at the prospect of losing all their best players.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is the story of a player who used Rayo as a springboard for his career. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Born in Vigo, Galicia, Álvarez made his senior debut with Tercera side Las Rozas, after playing youth football with Celta de Vigo and Real Madrid. He first arrived in Segunda B in the 2006 summer by signing for Rayo Vallecano, but played in the Tercera with the reserves.<br />
<br />
His 58 minute cameo came in the second game of the season at Gimnástica de Torrelavega, and that too because Carles Llorens had been sent off and defensive cover was required, with midfielder David Cubillo being sacrificed. (He also played 70 minutes in the Copa del Rey, starting at Lugo).<br />
<br />
Despite playing just once in the Segunda B, and yet Segunda B clubs knew he was too good for the Tercera. And the shop window had his name written all over it.<br />
<br />
In 2007, Leganés took the 22-year-old on for a season, and for the next six seasons he would represent six clubs in the division. At Alcorcón, during the 2008-09 season, he broke out and became a Segunda target, with offers from Levante and Gimnàstic.<br />
<br />
However, his agent was unable to secure a deal, and he went into self-imposed exile in Nicosia, Cyprus, where he finished his law degree and improved his English. Six months later, Zamora rescued him, and he would play the latter half of the 2009-10 season with them.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnxRCy70YfA/Wk4JYbrnZsI/AAAAAAAABCE/m-FuUPzxeT8mqW8arqZf6UKBgQS4BLcYQCLcBGAs/s1600/Hugo%2BAlvarez%2BQuintas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="300" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnxRCy70YfA/Wk4JYbrnZsI/AAAAAAAABCE/m-FuUPzxeT8mqW8arqZf6UKBgQS4BLcYQCLcBGAs/s640/Hugo%2BAlvarez%2BQuintas.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quintas poses in a street in Zamora, en route to signing for the club</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
He had to re-establish himself in the division, and stints at Almería B (2010-11), Real Unión (2011-12) and Cartagena (2012-13) followed.<br />
<br />
It was at Cartagena, a team that had just been relegated from the Segunda, where Hugo Quintas attracted the attention once again of Segunda clubs. He became the pillar of a team that reached the promotion playoffs, and clubs started to, once again, notice the qualities of the defender who was both quick across the ground and strong in the tackle - not to mention his uncanny ability to "rise-like-a-salmon" despite being just 6 feet tall.<br />
<br />
And in July 2013, Álvarez joined Real Jaén, who were freshly promoted to the second level, and finally became a professional at the age of 28. He would appear regularly for the club, and despite being relegated at the end of the campaign was able to find another Segunda team to play for. In 2014, he joined Real Murcia; however, after their administrative relegation, he terminated his contract and signed with Tenerife in the same tier that year.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dq7rlBKsnaU/Wk4KP7IZbMI/AAAAAAAABCM/D6t0MSWvE6o2j6yZxFHWlzEsupxfF1QoACLcBGAs/s1600/Hugo%2BAlvarez%2BQuintas%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="630" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dq7rlBKsnaU/Wk4KP7IZbMI/AAAAAAAABCM/D6t0MSWvE6o2j6yZxFHWlzEsupxfF1QoACLcBGAs/s1600/Hugo%2BAlvarez%2BQuintas%2B2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quintas, playing for Real Jaén against Espanyol in the Copa del Rey</td></tr>
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Quintas has been a Segunda regular ever since. He played for Elche during the 2015-16 season, for UCAM Murcia the following season, which ended in relegation, and now plays for former club Alcorcón.<br />
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Before this season, he had never played at a club for more than a season - playing for 12 clubs in 12 seasons - and he is an established professional footballer. And all because Rayo Vallecano gave him an opportunity to prove himself.<br />
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They gave him affection. And a shop window.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-46561455686020637812018-01-04T10:00:00.002+00:002018-01-04T10:00:01.298+00:00The Rayo aficionado - with Carl Harper (4th January, 2018)<i>The Rayo aficionado series was intended to interviewing Rayo fans from various backgrounds, and so far this blog has been privileged to feature fans who are born and bred in Vallekas. But the international reach that this small club has had is amazing - Finland and Oslo were surprising, but Washington DC might be the hardest to beat.</i><br />
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<i>Nevertheless, given the number of Rayo fans in the UK - and given that a Newcastle and Lancashire based fan have already contributed to this series - it's with great delight that I can announce that I'm joining forces with Carl Harper in setting up a UK based Rayo Vallecano supporters group</i><i>.</i><br />
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<i>We are in our infancy, and you can find more details on social media below. Moreover, we will try and give some English coverage of Rayo Vallecano as well - I'll try my best to increase my coverage on this blog too, but forgive me if I go back to writing about a Segunda B player no one has heard of. I'll resist that temptation - sometimes.</i><br />
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<i>Finally, this series has always been in an interview format. However, Carl's story for his search of a club that fits his political identity doesn't require the limits of an interview. And if you find his story fascinating, as I'm sure you will, do follow him on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/carlharper_rvm">@carlharper_rvm</a>.</i><br />
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<i>Take it away Carl.</i><br />
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My love for Rayo Vallecano started with an article in The Guardian newspaper. It began “A football club has vowed to pay the rent for an 85-year-old woman evicted from her home”.<br />
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As soon as I finished reading the piece I got to finding out as much as I could about the team from “a working-class area of Madrid”. I was hooked instantly. The story of Carmen Martínez Ayudo was just the tip of the iceberg. From then on I’ve be supporting Rayo Vallecano.<br />
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I knew about other football clubs with left-leaning fan bases through being a socialist myself - more accurately a communist, but that term has become synonymous with all sorts of mangled and downright inaccurate connotations in the minds of the ignorant and brainwashed.<br />
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Like many people, I knew of St Pauli from Germany who are probably the most renowned, becoming adopted by so-called ‘hipsters’ around the world for their anti-fascist position and ‘ultra’ fans. There’s also Livorno in Italy; the capital of Italian communism and Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus; who were formed following a political split from the right-wing APOEL club. Closer to home, Dulwich Hamlet from South London, who ply their trade in the 7th tier of English football, have become associated with brilliant anti-racist and anti-homophobic campaigning.<br />
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Rayo, though, seemed special, and set themselves apart from all of these. The left-wing ideology stemmed from a class-based politicization of social issues and the issues capitalism created for football. Their fans unashamedly linked the two things together.<br />
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All my life up to that point I’ve been an Evertonian, despite living in Peterborough in the East Midlands. My Mum and her family are from Liverpool and all support the Blue side. My Dad, also an Everton fan, was actually born in Malta. Like him, I do try to keep an eye on Maltese football too, particularly Sliema Wanderers who represent the city of Sliema where he was born. When asked though, I prefer to say I follow Melita, a team representing the town of San Ġiljan where I like to stay on holiday, who are lingering towards the bottom of the second-tier.<br />
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The only connection I have with Peterborough United, my local team, is that I played for them for a while as a teenager. They boast a few facts of footballing interest - never losing at Wembley, beating Liverpool in the 90’s and being successful in a law-suit brought by Victoria Beckham over their nickname “The Posh” - but very little by way of a real identity.<br />
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Rayo have real identity. The fans are actively involved in Left-wing political movements including challenging capitalism’s role in football. This is where my love for the lightning reaches astronomical heights. The combination of football and social issues.<br />
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Hater of all things working class, Margaret Thatcher arguably introduced the capitalist slime into football’s core which started the rot. Nearly all that is left is a corporate carcass. She seemed to see football, and those who watched it, as other "enemies within" to join those on the picket lines and on the left. She and her ministers often described the game as a "law and order issue". The battle-lines were drawn but the real law and order injustices were committed by her government and the arm of the state, the police.<br />
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Her attitude to football, inevitably colored by the reaction of most football fans to her, was bound up in the web of social and cultural upheaval that she helped create – particularly in the sport's great northern strongholds.<br />
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Her notable ‘involvements’ in football include her governments’ role in the Hillsborough disaster cover-up, where she and the police blamed working-class people for their own deaths. Heysel, where she feared for Britain’s international reputation and took it out on the fans by withdrawing clubs from international competitions (negatively affecting the great Everton team of the mid-80’s). It could be argued this went some-way in fueling the growth of right-wing tribalism in some of the fans groups or ultras in the UK and across the continent as other leagues adopted the capitalist model.<br />
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Most disastrous for football as a whole was undeniably her parties’ promotion of capitalism in all aspects of life. Those tentacles eventually made their way into football, most prominently by effectively privatizing the top division.<br />
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The formation of the Premier League has been like year zero; previous football history did not happen. The new owners and media would like to forget football’s working-class roots as it grows its corporate cash-cow at the expense of the fans.<br />
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Rayo fans get all that. They have a history of fighting it. Some recorded, most I fear, only known by those who were involved. They recognize and politicize the fact that football clubs are fundamentally unlike other businesses. They are part of the community and are dear to the hearts of the many thousands of people who support their teams. In a very organised fashion, Rayo fans, specifically the <i>peñas</i> such as the Bukaneros, campaign on behalf of fans - all fans - against this capitalist football which puts profit before fans.<br />
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The fact that the Bukaneros perform this task in the face of an often malevolent state and out-of-touch club owners is nothing short of heroic.<br />
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From a footballing point of view, Rayo are just as fascinating. For instance the stadium, the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas, has a wall directly behind the goal at one end. On a match day it is full of color and loud with singing, very intimidating for visiting sides.<br />
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It’s fair to say that it is in need of renovation work. It is entirely possible for the ground to be improved, modernized and made safe without losing the working-class, passionate identity of Vallecas. Of course, it isn’t possible if the club’s money is being poured into a corporate plaything in the US (OKC) as the Bukaneros and others have pointed out!<br />
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Rayo fans, generally speaking, expect only that the team plays with pride. Like one of the banners seen in the stadium states, “poor but proud”. The fans understand, even if they are against the fact, that huge amounts of money has entered into the game. They do not expect to win every game, nor do they even expect to be in the top league, but they expect the players to proudly pull on the shirt that represents the neighborhood and ideology of the club.<br />
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Managers such as Paco Jémez and, to arguably a lesser degree current coach Míchel, are probably managerial manifestations of the Rayo ethos. Turn out to win, to be the protagonists and attack the opposition, not just try to do what’s best for the board. To entertain and make proud the fans is paramount for a Rayo team.<br />
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Other managers that would be known to UK football fans would be Juande Ramos, who led Rayo to great European success, Pepe Mel, who had a rather unsuccessful spell in England but is well liked amongst Rayistas, and fans of Chelsea may know that left-back Marcos Alonso’s Dad (of the same name) was the first Rayo Manager to lead the team to victory over Real Madrid in the 90’s.<br />
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Some quality players have passed through Vallecano too. Players like Diego Costa, Álvaro Negredo, Mohamed Diamé, Michu, Coke, and Kasey Keller have played for the stripe in the past. Rayo Vallecano was also Laurie Cunningham's last club – he was killed in a car crash just outside Madrid in 1989.<br />
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Legends like Potele and Felines are fans’ favorites and magician Roberto Trashorras still appears now and again aged 36.<br />
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There’s also plenty to be exited about with the current crop of players, whilst remembering the financial state of the club. Youngsters Santi Comesaña and Fran Beltrán have seemingly established themselves in the middle of the field. Óscar Trejo, another fans favorite, has just signed a new deal and the youth set-up is showing some promising signs too.<br />
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English clubs have only recently adopted a structural style similar to those in Spain; a coach supported by sporting directors and technicians of various flamboyant titles. This is common in Spain and many clubs try to ensure the youth systems support the first team, down to playing a similar style of football from bottom to top.<br />
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Before leading the first team, Míchel had worked with the youth system trying to implement such a setup. And without being an expert on Rayo’s youth team, it would appear from articles I have seen that this is helping players towards appearing in the first team. Players like Sergio Akieme are close to following Santi and Fran with others, like Kike, described by Unión Rayo as a ‘beautiful player’ are also not far behind. Jean Jules, Joni Montiel, Jesús Mena, Raúl Espinosa, Pablo Villalón and Sergio Benito are also names I’ve seen touted about on various sites.<br />
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As a center-half in my youth I particularly admire Chechu Dorado, though he’s in the autumn of his years now, and Emiliano Velázquez, the young Uruguayan who is, like many others, a loanee, from Atlético in his case. Alberto García, Unai López, and Raúl de Tomás, are the other loanees who are regular starters for El Rayo, from Getafe, Bilbao and Real Madrid respectively.<br />
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Rayo fans are not deluded enough to expect ‘marquee signings’. For a number of reasons; firstly because they demand players sign up fully to the standards and ethos of the club, which in the age of multi-million pound (or Euro) contracts narrows the market significantly. This is a sacrifice many are willing to make. You must ‘get’ Rayo for all it is before you get to wear the stripe jersey and get the pay too - look at the Zozulya affair!<br />
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More infuriatingly, years of mismanagement by the Board has seen the club financially fragile at best, almost completely crippled at worst. A whole article could be written about the current owner, Raúl Martín Presa (with his ventures into the American soccer leagues at the expense of Rayo) and previous owner José María Ruiz-Mateos (with his superman costumes and threats to journalists and the Bukaneros).<br />
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Rayo fans make it clear that you don’t just sign a playing contract when you sign with Rayo, there’s a social contract too and these values are at the core of what you’re signing up for. That runs from the youth players right through to the first team and up (or down, depending on your view of things) to the board.<br />
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The team have a good chance of lifting themselves back up into the top flight, La Liga. Whilst fans put adherence to pride and ideology before promotion, promotion would of course be welcomed.<br />
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On paper, we should ease ourselves back in against Nàstic who sit Just above the relegation places. We then face two teams in and around us in the play-off Places; at home to Oviedo then a trip to Numancia. I think these games could shape our season but with Rayo, you simply never rule anything out!<br />
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But it’s the social and political movements of the fans that drew me to supporting Rayo if the truth be told. Yes, Everton, my team since childhood, and others in England engage in campaigns and occasionally these reach out further than the pitch. These can be sporadic though, with most campaigns focused solely on their own club or individual theme (ticket prices, chairman, etc). This in no way takes away any of the dedication and hard work of those fans, but with Rayo that ethos of challenging social ills and capitalist wrongdoing runs through their veins. It shapes how they view football as a whole. The social contract and the values being at the very core of what you’re signing up for as a Rayista.<br />
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And that’s why I support Rayo Vallecano and that why I’m making it my aim in 2018 to create a UK Supporters Group (or <i>peña</i>), getting as many people from the left who love football - the original and best working class sport - to join and share the magic and passion of the lightning.<br />
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In our infancy, we have a Twitter account (<a href="http://twitter.com/UKvallecano">@UKvallecano</a>) and a Facebook page (<a href="https://m.facebook.com/Rayo-Vallecano-UK-507150686338777/">give it a like here</a>) from which we want to spread the message and be a focal point and a place for others to meet and engage. We’ve made contact with some of the groups already in existence in Spain and I’d like to thank Unión Rayo who have been very supportive in our early stages. I’d like to thank Robbie Dunne, by the way, who has written a fantastic book about Rayo, I think the only English language book on El Rayo.<br />
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If you’re interested in learning more about Rayo, or know someone who might be, do get in touch with us.<br />
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Let’s make 2018 the year we bring the pride of Vallecas to the UK and fly the stripe flag and promote the values that go with it high and wide.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-4878512579420855062018-01-03T10:00:00.001+00:002018-01-03T10:00:50.479+00:00The A-Z guide to Rayo Vallecano (Addition edition): P is for Porto (3rd January, 2018)<div>
Most signings that have featured in this A-Z guide have been those that worked out, and that's a testament to Rayo's technical management.<br />
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This is a story of the opposite.<br />
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<i>He lasted just 16 minutes. </i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Rayo were losing at home to Real Zaragoza 1-0, and Juande Ramos had one substitution left. It was the last throw of the dice - midfielder Jordi Ferrón was taken off for him, a striker.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>That was his Rayo legacy.</i><br />
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Born in Luanda, Portuguese Angola, striker <b>Quinzinho</b> signed with Porto in 1995 from local club Atlético Sport Aviação (ASA). He was sparingly played during his spell at the former club as he was barred by Domingos Paciência first and later Mário Jardel, also being loaned to fellow Primeira Liga sides Leiria and Rio Ave.<br />
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After a third loan spell to Rayo Vallecano in the latter half of the 1998-99 season, Quinzinho returned to Portugal where he represented in quick succession, always in the top division and still owned by Porto, Farense, Aves and Alverca. In January 2003, after half-a-season with Estoril Praia in the lower leagues, he moved to China where he would remain till 2009, appearing for teams in both the Super League and the League One such as Hangzhou GreenTown, Xiamen Lanshi and Pudong Zobon. He would return to Angola to finish his career in 2011, playing at Recreativo da Caála and local club ASA for a season apiece.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Msmni9nShxA/WkyXQoi40NI/AAAAAAAABBo/BKnEDWzIW7ISrQLEj1CbiP_TDrSlL5RpwCLcBGAs/s1600/Quinzinho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="203" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Msmni9nShxA/WkyXQoi40NI/AAAAAAAABBo/BKnEDWzIW7ISrQLEj1CbiP_TDrSlL5RpwCLcBGAs/s1600/Quinzinho.jpg" /></a></div>
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In the summer of 2014, a center-back taller and surprisingly quicker than most promising players continued a career path taken by most promising players.<br />
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<b>Abdoulaye Ba</b>, a Porto player who had had loan spells at Covilhã in the second division, as well as Académica de Coimbra and Vitória de Guimarães in the first, was on the market. And the center-back chose his fourth loan would be at a team in a country he had never played in, a team that was being coached by a former center-back - Rayo Vallecano.<br />
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The first game of the season was against La Liga winners and Champions League finalists Atlético Madrid. It was also Abdoulaye Ba's first test, a test that he succeeded. Mario Mandžukić and Raúl Jiménez were largely quiet thanks to the Senegalese defender, who registered four clearances, blocked a shot and even attempted 77 passes.<br />
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And yet, the very next game, in a 2-2 draw at Depor, Ba's terrible back pass to Cristian Álvarez was Depor's first goal, and his handball in the penalty area was Depor's second.<br />
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It may have been the best metaphor for his career.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gAVbzT4Ussw/WkyXkyiJ1zI/AAAAAAAABBs/FGppBFbTyMsZPQL8RMd7Ax4huIShrbLoQCLcBGAs/s1600/Abdoulaye%2BBa%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="630" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gAVbzT4Ussw/WkyXkyiJ1zI/AAAAAAAABBs/FGppBFbTyMsZPQL8RMd7Ax4huIShrbLoQCLcBGAs/s1600/Abdoulaye%2BBa%2B1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Loan spells at Fenerbahçe, Alanyaspor and 1860 Munich followed, followed by a "we-really-need-to-get-someone" four-year permanent deal back at Rayo this summer - on August 30th, 2017.<br />
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Abdoulaye Ba wasn't the only one wandering around Portugal to come to Spain that summer.<br />
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Right-winger <b>Licá</b> joined Académica de Coimbra from the lower leagues in 2007, aged 19. He appeared rarely for the team over the course of two Primeira Liga seasons, also being loaned to Tourizense (2007-08)<br />
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In the 2010 January transfer window, Licá moved on loan to Trofense in the second level, netting five goals in 27 games in his first full season as the Trofa club narrowly missed on promotion. From 2011 to 2013, he represented Estoril Praia: after finding the net on 12 occasions in his first year, being essential as his team returned to the top flight after seven years, he added six in all 30 contests in the second to help the side overachieve for a final fifth position, with the subsequent qualification to the Europa League.<br />
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Licá signed for Porto in May 2013, penning a four-year contract. However, in August 2014, he was deemed surplus to requirements, as practically all Portuguese players were, by new Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui. Licá was, ironically, loaned to La Liga club Rayo Vallecano in a season-long move. He did not guarantee a starting berth but was nevertheless known for the occasional deadly cross, and often played on the left in order to cut in on his right foot. He would register three assists - all crosses - in 21 appearances.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--o42tujgX2A/WkyYKgluNHI/AAAAAAAABB0/uhGiDzd6GqAbBuQwzNp2n7zheQsRohlHACLcBGAs/s1600/Lica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="630" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--o42tujgX2A/WkyYKgluNHI/AAAAAAAABB0/uhGiDzd6GqAbBuQwzNp2n7zheQsRohlHACLcBGAs/s1600/Lica.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Licá runs for the ball during a game against Celta Vigo</td></tr>
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After a season at Rayo, and another on loan at top flight club Vitória de Guimarães, Licá was released by Porto and signed for Nottingham Forest on a two-year deal, for a fee believed to be around £300,000. However, in February 2017, Licá returned to Portugal to join former club Estoril on loan until the end of the season, and on 31st August, he mutually agreed to terminate his contract with Forest to sign for Segunda side Granada.</div>
Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4462360266607192637.post-32235208339056636632018-01-02T10:00:00.001+00:002018-01-02T10:00:29.420+00:00The A-Z guide to Rayo Vallecano (Addition edition): O is for Oviedo. Real Oviedo, Part 3 (2nd January, 2018)<i>You can read part 1 <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2017/12/the-a-z-guide-to-rayo-vallecano-addition-edition-real-oviedo-ivan-iglesias.html">here</a> and part 2 <a href="http://www.prideofvallekas.com/2017/12/the-a-z-guide-to-rayo-vallecano-addition-edition-real-oviedo-viktor-onopko.html">here</a>.</i><br />
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At the heart of Real Oviedo's economic crisis in 2003, two players traveled from Oviedo to Madrid.<br />
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Here are their stories.<br />
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<i>You'd think that a player who scored 26 goals in 2 seasons for Rayo Vallecano would be widely known.</i><br />
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<i>But therein lies the darkness of the Segunda B - obscurity envelops even the biggest accomplishments.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>Striker Eugenio Suárez Santos, or <b>Geni</b>, was born in Gijón, Asturias, but emerged through neighbors Real Oviedo's youth system, making his first-team debuts shy of his 19th birthday as the club was then in La Liga. Definitely promoted to the main squad in 2000, he would see them drop two tiers in only two years.<br />
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However, 16 goals in his last two seasons for Oviedo in the Segunda were enough to convince Rayo to sign him. Initially, he struggled to settle in - he played 29 games without scoring in his first season, which ended in another relegation. But he thrived in the Segunda B, scoring 16 and 10 goals in successive seasons, before leaving in 2006 to another side in the third level, Real Jaén, where he appeared and scored regularly too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ycXQU848qrk/WkqOxmvdcUI/AAAAAAAABBI/zs-LZO4H3pQU7alpNr3_aOn5gRx4_DmKACLcBGAs/s1600/Geni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ycXQU848qrk/WkqOxmvdcUI/AAAAAAAABBI/zs-LZO4H3pQU7alpNr3_aOn5gRx4_DmKACLcBGAs/s1600/Geni.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geni celebrating a goal for Real Jaén</td></tr>
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In 2009, Geni signed with Deportivo Alavés, with the Basques in division three. He would play for the Segunda B club for three seasons, before playing another three at Real Avilés - where he would begin his transition into a midfielder. However, the 2014-15 season ended in relegation, and Geni would go on to drop down to the Tercera, where he played at Marino de Luanco for two seasons.<br />
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<i>Unlike Viktor Onopko, <b>Iñigo Idiakez</b> wasn't an Oviedo legend. But he was a Sociedad one.</i><br />
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The midfielder-cum-striker joined local Real Sociedad's youth system in 1989, making his senior debuts with the B-team where he shared teams with his older brother Imanol. He first appeared with the main squad on the 8th of November 1992, on his 19th birthday, against Cádiz in La Liga.<br />
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However, despite that early debut, he did not become a regular member of the first team squad until 1994-95, playing nearly two full seasons with the reserves in the Segunda B. Subsequently, Idiakez appeared in a further eight top flight campaigns with the <i>Txuriurdin</i>, going on to appear in more than 250 official games. During most of his spell he was a regular substitute and, in 1998-99 and 2000-01, scored a career-best seven league goals.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LcyHevRvGQ4/WkqPVmPDkJI/AAAAAAAABBQ/xXcM6oC0ZX8GPE-vQCfztFfQAJvaCuXMwCLcBGAs/s1600/Idiakez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="699" height="462" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LcyHevRvGQ4/WkqPVmPDkJI/AAAAAAAABBQ/xXcM6oC0ZX8GPE-vQCfztFfQAJvaCuXMwCLcBGAs/s640/Idiakez.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iñigo Idiakez, at Sociedad</td></tr>
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At the end of 2001-02, having finished his contract with Real Sociedad, Idiakez signed with Real Oviedo, who had just been relegated to the Segunda and were in a deep financial crisis. He only spent one year with the Asturias side, who finished the season penultimate, being relegated to the third level then demoted a further tier because of financial irregularities.<br />
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Idiakez then moved to another second division side, Madrid's Rayo Vallecano. Again, his new club finished second from the bottom and were relegated at the end of the campaign. At the age of 30, he moved to England in 2004 to join Championship club Derby County. He transferred to Southampton two seasons later and finished his playing career in 2008 after a loan spell at Queens Park Rangers.<br />
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He went into coaching in 2009, returning to his hometown in Spain with Añorga under-18's and later non-league sides Euskalduna and Berio. He joined Cypriot club Apollon Limassol as assistant manager in 2012 before moving back to England a year later to take up a youth coaching position at Leicester City. He joined his former club Derby County as first-team coach in 2016 before being appointed as Professional Development Phase Lead Coach at Luton Town in 2017.Sarthak Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08563820389705740552noreply@blogger.com0