The Pride of Vallekas

Five years apart, two defenders made the journey from Mérida to Madrid, from the capital of Extremadura to the capital of España. Here are their stories. It's a national record - a record of how unlucky a player can be. Ramón de Quintana , a center-back, holds the record for the most number of relegations as a player. Eight, to be exact - and one of them wasn't even a sporting relegation. It's a painful reminder of the player and his legacy - a calm, composed, tall, strong center-back who stood calm, composed, tall and strong through numerous team disappointments. The Girona native graduated from Damm and made his first team debut with Figueres in the Segunda in 1991. In 1992, the team came 3rd - a record high for the club, qualifying for the promotion playoffs but losing to Cádiz. But it is there where the heroics end. In 1993, Figueres went down on goal difference, tied with Eibar on head-to-head. Subsequently, Quintana went to La Liga club Osasuna, but was re...

Ball-winning, combative midfielders have become something of a thing on this blog. And Iriney is no different - robust in his challenges, yet technically sound. Signings from foreign clubs seem to always be suspicious - but we often forget the back-story and the desire of players to succeed in a foreign country and dismiss it as opportunism. Clearly, that can't be said of Iriney. 21-year-old midfielder Iriney moved to Rayo Vallecano from São Caetano - where he made his senior debut - and joined the club while in La Liga in January 2003. The club was relegated at the end of the season, but Iriney stayed on - he would go on, like many others, to stay at the club and remained an undisputed starter. However, the club went through a second successive relegation - and was plunged into the hell-hole that is the Segunda B. Almost the entire squad left the club. In fact, only four players stuck with the team from the first division to the third. Right-back Mario Gómez, center-back Die...

In 2012, a defender, a midfielder and a striker, all playing for Levante, made the bold leap to a country no Spaniard had ever been before. In late January, 2012, center-back Nano Rivas was sold to Guizhou Renhe. Two months later, in March, striker Rafael Jordà was on his way. And three months later still, in June, diminutive midfielder Rubén Suárez was on his way.... You can read part 1, featuring Nano Rivas, here . And part 2, featuring Rafael Jordà, here . His father was a legend. Secundino Suárez, aka Cundi, was a Sporting Gijón legend and spent his professional career almost entirely with his local team, save for a one-year loan spell with Poblense (1976-77) due to compulsory military service. From the age of 20 onwards, he was an undisputed starter for the La Liga club, appearing in nearly 400 competitive games during his 15-year spell (1975-90). And yet, the left-back did not receive one single red card during his career. He too started out in Sporting Gijón's...

This is a continuation of yesterday's blog post ... The joint record holder for most clubs played at in the Segunda currently plays at Hércules - and his record is 10 clubs. Striker Óscar Díaz González started out in the Segunda B with hometown club Alcorcón in the 2004-05 season. And the 33-year-old returned to the Segunda B this summer by signing for Hércules. But the 12 seasons in between have been full of ups and downs in the top two tiers. His strong performances with Alcorcón, scoring six goals that season, earned him a move to a small neighboring team by the name of Real Madrid Castilla, in the second division. After just 559 minutes of action all season, in July 2006, Díaz signed with fellow league club Elche. After being a regular in his first season, he lost his first-choice status in his second year, and he joined Mallorca in July 2008, being immediately loaned to Celta de Vigo also in the second level. Díaz eventually returned to the Balearic Islands in Ju...

Rayo Vallecano vs Almería. Starting lineups. Míchel went with a largely unchanged lineup from the one that won 4-1 against Valladolid, with Sergio Akieme getting a run in ahead of Álex Moreno. Luis Miguel Ramis made several changes from their 3-0 loss against Huesca - Joaquín Moreno was replaced by Jorge Morcillo at centre-back, Rubén Alcaraz was replaced by Pervis Estupiñán, Fidel was replaced by Nauzet Alemán and Juan Muñoz was replaced by Pablo Caballero. Interestingly, the first three players that were replaced were also the three substitutions Almería made in this game. Rayo had the edge in the first half but couldn't find their finishing boots - Morcillo's red card before half-time meant that, even though it was 0-0, the game was over. Rayo and Almería set ups Rayo stuck to their typical lopsided 4-3-3, with Unai López on the left and Óscar Trejo playing his diagonal role. What was interesting was Almería changing from their usual, traditional 4-3-3 to a l...

Barcelona may have had a transfer ban in 2015, but that didn't stop them from making new signings. But it wasn't just the first team, it was every youth team too - and Barcelona B was no exception. Barcelona B’s new recruits included attacking midfielder Xemi, who had stepped onto the pitch of his club’s stadium, the Camp Nou, and has defeated Barcelona and Valencia. They also brought in Dani Romera, a striker who has played Córdoba in the league twice in the space of five weeks and won 2-1 both times. Finally, they have signed Jokin Ezkieta, a goalkeeper who has played for the Spain U-19 team but hadn't played a single professional match in Spanish football. Ever. Xemi was currently playing for UE Cornellà, a team that plays in the 1,500-seater Nou Camp Municipal. Their first game of the 2015-16 season was at home against Barcelona B, which they won 2-1. And nearly a month later, again at home, Cornellà defeated Valencia Mestalla 3-2. 20-year-old Xemi is highly energ...

So as it turns out, I made a mistake. A few days ago, I talked about the Rayo squad, and as it turns out things are even worse - Zé Castro, who had reportedly rescinded his contract, had actually done so with no announcements being made. Because this is the Rayo website: Credit: rayovallecano.es I didn't even get to say goodbye! So here it is...a tribute to Zé Castro. August 29th, 2013. Leave it to Rayo to scramble at the last minute and make an amazing, seemingly impossible signing. This time, they made two. Zé Castro, and Seba Fernández half an hour later, were the two gems that had been picked up. Castro was a "boring" signing - he had played for Atlético de Madrid but was more of a backup. And at Depor, Zé Castro appeared in only ten games in 2009–10, and featured even less in the following season, prompting him to request a move in mid-November 2010. Some people even disliked him - in March 2011, he was to be picked as a last-minute substitut...

Welcome back! This is part 2 of a series on Cádiz by the founder of injuriesandmore.com , a website that focused on sports medicine and Spanish football. On Twitter, he is @Vam_os - go ahead and follow him! This part is about the club management and the fans... Club management Since being relegated to Segunda B in 2010, Cádiz have made no fewer than eight coaching changes! Álvaro Cervera came into the club in April 2016 with only four games left of the regular season in Segunda B, replacing Claudio Barragán as the push for promotion at that time had faltered. By that time Cádiz were starting to lose touch with the promotion leaders and the support weren’t happy with either the results or the performances on the field. Having lost to Bilbao Athletic in the promotion play-off final in season 2014 -15, Cádiz fans expected so much more. When this didn’t happen, and with a place in the play-offs looking less and less likely, understandably people became restless. It was widely a...

My new series, called the Silly Season Accumulator, lists all the rumors that have ever been mentioned on the internet about Rayo. Yes - all of them. Just to show you how ridiculous this machine is - a machine that creates meaningless content masquerading as journalism. If that's harsh, that's because the irony is that more rumors gives me more material. And that material gets in the way of the stories that matter. Here's all the rumors between now and last time: Salva Sevilla, whose contract with Espanyol expired, is being tracked by Rayo, Granada and Almería. Rayo Vallecano want Emiliano Velázquez for a season long loan deal. Edit: Getafe have signed him. Rayo are one of 10 teams interested in Valencia's Nacho Gil. Patrick Ebert has an offer from Real Oviedo. Real Madrid's Sergio Díaz is being offered a loan move to Rayo. And here's all the rumors since last time (14th July): Álex Bergantiños is a target for Sporting, Tenerife and Rayo. Rayo ...

A travel blogger's perspective on Vallekas! Andrew Gillan is the founder of "Mis Viajes En Fútbol", a travel blog that explores stadiums ranging from popular to obscure. His blog can be found here . You can follow the blog on Twitter here , and follow Andrew here . A little bit about yourself and your background I'm from Northern Ireland, but for the last few years I've been living in Spain and working as an English teacher, firstly in Galicia, but now in Andalucía. Previously I worked in sports journalism and did a lot of media work for my local club Coleraine FC. What made you become interested in visiting football stadiums around Spain? Really just a love of live football and seeing it in different places. If I travel somewhere for a weekend, I'll make those plans based around a match (or two if possible!) What was the idea behind the blog Mis Viajes En Fútbol ? It's basically just an outlet for me to do a little bit of creative football...

You can follow James on Twitter here . If only because, as he says, "I'm now living in Sydney and I can guarantee that I am probably the only Almería fan that is living here!" How long have you been a fan of Almería and what made you support them in the first place? I started supporting Almería roughly five years ago as I have visited the area every year for over ten years as my family have a holiday home in the area and I decided to get behind the local club. I've always had an interest in Spanish football but I never really felt any real attachment to a club until I started learning about the club. My main team is Arsenal but wanted to follow a team in Spain that I had an association with and could take a keen interest in and that team was Almería. Describe your first experience of watching Almería play? Whilst Almería were enjoying their first season in La Liga I was able to watch them from the UK as they were often on TV when they played the big teams. It...

Three months ago, the 31st of March to be exact, right here on this blog , I said: "I've been compiling some stats for a long time - so watch out in the coming days for them." Oops. Welcome to part 2 of this Statistics series. In part 1, I compiled of teams that never won away in the top three divisions since 1990. This is a list of teams that were relegated for non-sporting reasons from the Segunda B. In o ne word: Madness. 1985-86: In group one, Deportivo Alavés (5th) and Palencia CF (7th) were relegated for economic reasons - their places were bought by San Sebastián CF (8th) and Pontevedra CF (9th) respectively. 1986-87: Mallorca Atlético (21st) gave up their seat and were relegated. 1988-89: In group two, CD Cala Millor (15th) were relegated for economic reasons and replaced by SD Ibiza. Also, FC Barcelona Aficionados (11th) were relegated to the Tercera because Barcelona Atlético were relegated to the Segunda B, and they were replaced by AEC Manlleu...

It was the 31st of July, 2015, and Elche fans were outside the stadium. The season was long over but not for these fans. They had fireworks in their hand, but with every passing minute it looked like they would be unused. Elche had come 13th but for the first time in their 92-year history - in fact for the first time for any club in La Liga history - had been relegated for non-sporting reasons. The team was relegated for not paying their debts on time. So what were the fans waiting for? Elche had until midnight to pay €4 million, otherwise they would be relegated to the Segunda B - Spain’s amateur, third tier where automatic promotion doesn’t exist, money is scarce and newly-relegated clubs can go out of business. If Elche were to be gone, they would be gone forever. Many players tore their contracts and left the club, in effect waiving the unpaid wages Elche owed them. Some players delayed their payments. Fans were urged to buy season tickets and shirts and sponsors were desp...

Follow Ian M on Twitter here . This isn’t his account but @RCDMallorcaUK on Twitter is great, with very honest views. He has spoken to a lot of local Mallorca fans on Twitter and has also met up with a couple at the stadium, and there are a lot of British and European RCDM supporters, who he's connected with as a result. A bit about yourself and your background Family man with grown up kids and a dog, Reading supporter since 1981, loves holidaying in Mallorca and Ibiza. Addicted to mojitos, Spanish beer and tapas. How long have you been a fan of Mallorca and what made you support them in the first place? We’ve been holidaying on the island for the last 20 years or so, it just seemed the right thing to do, support both my local teams; but I’ve only been supporting the club properly over the last 4-5 years. I stream most matches on my phone but I do try and get to 2-3 games a season, and I’ll be there for our last match this year against Getafe. Given the transfer windo...

Follow Pedro Aljama on Twitter here . How long have you been a fan of Córdoba and what made you support them in the first place? I have been supporting Córdoba for more than 25 years - as I have lived in Córdoba since I was 3. I am a shareholder (albeit a very small stake) and even though I live today in Madrid for work reasons, I go to see as many live matches as I can. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Córdoba where you want it to be? This season there have been discrepancies between the management and supporters due to the zero investment policy. Last summer we sold Florin Andone (Deportivo de la Coruña) and Fidel (Almería) for around 5M€, however the club has spent 0€ in signing new replacements. However, new arrivals like Juli, Rodri, and Lara, while they are good players, the team has not performed like in the previous year. The consequence is supporters blaming managers for not spending accordingly. A...

It seems like every club has that one signing from a Brazilian team that looks fishy. Sueliton Pereira was to Rayo what Douglas is to Barcelona. On 2 June 2011 it was announced that 25-year-old Sueliton was joining newly promoted La Liga side Rayo Vallecano as the club's first signing for the upcoming La Liga season. He wasn't a nobody - he was signed from Campeonato Gaúcho side São José EC where in his one season with the club, he appeared in 13 matches and scored 2 goals, being selected as the best right back of the competition. However, he failed to appear in any league matches for Rayo, and rescinded his link on 20 December 2012. He is the exception to the rule though - at Rayo Brazilian footballers have thrived. I've obviously written about Diego Costa before ( here ): It's funny to think that Diego Costa was once a backup at Atlético Madrid. In June 2011, he was packing his bags. Beşiktaş had agreed a deal, and he was going to leave. All the papers...