The Pride of Vallekas

It was the 2011-12 winter transfer window, and turmoil in Rayo's finances meant creativity. They had loaned Jordi Figueras for the whole season but Club Brugge wanted to buy him outright from Rubin - and so Rayo stalled his loan return till the end of the window so that he could play an extra four games. He eventually left after two, though. This story always makes me laugh - not just because Jordi Figueras is a fine central defender, but because Rayo were essentially acting like a hoarder. That is not to say that it wasn't without reason: in that same transfer window they brought in Joel, Diego Costa, Emiliano Armenteros and Jorge Pulido on loan - players whose wages were paid for by the clubs that owned them. And finances were so grim that at one point when Rayo traveled to play Real Sociedad they went by bus, and it took much longer than the usual five hours because the driver had been told to stay off toll roads. In fact, when right midfielder Néstor Susaeta and striker...

From part 1: "Javi Fuego was the talk of the town. He was the Segunda star, and La Liga teams were knocking on the door... The Asturias native started playing professional football for Sporting Gijón, representing the local side during six second division seasons (2001-07) and being first-choice between 2004 to 2007. There was a line in the article above that summed up the whole thing - "Both operations were carried out simultaneously". As soon as Levante had agreed the 853,000 euro deal, Sporting had agreed on the Sergio Matabuena deal. Javi Fuego would later go on to leave the squad upon relegation and serious financial problems, and in August 2008, he signed a three-year deal worth €140,000 with Recreativo de Huelva, appearing regularly as a starter during two years but being relegated from the top flight in his first. During those 3 seasons, between 2008-11, something was happening at Rayo Vallecano." In a dizzying array of red and white, spurred b...

13th May, 2012. 7:00pm. The league table reads 15th Granada (42 points), 16th Villarreal (41), 17th Rayo Vallecano (40), 18th Zaragoza (40). As Villarreal entertain Atlético Madrid at El Madrigal and Zaragoza visit Getafe, Rayo Vallecano play Granada at the Vallekas, arguably the crunch game; both know that most probably, the loser will go down to play in La Segunda. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. Rayo Vallecano were in eighth place after match day 27, and were two points off a Europa League place. Four points off a Champions League place. But a poor record of three points - a solitary, albeit impressive, 6-0 win over Osasuna - from nine games, left them relegation candidates and needing a win. Only a win could save them. On the polar opposite side were Zaragoza, who had given up mid-season, but an impressive run of six wins and a draw in nine had helped them remain in 18th, needing a win. Granada had been in poor form all along - five points in their last six games hadn’...

What makes modern football so beautiful is that some - few, but some - players love the game, or love a particular club, and stay for a reason other than the paycheck - like Javi Fuego rejecting a 800,000 euro move to Club Brugge in January 2012 because he loved playing at a club that couldn't even pay its players. In a dizzying array of red and white, spurred by the battle cries and fervent arm movements of Pepe Mel, a 45 year old bespectacled former striker, newly-promoted Rayo Vallecano were punching well above their weight. The club that was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, that couldn't pay its players and whose fan base actively hated the owners had a men's team that had just been promoted from the semi-professional third tier and was outside the top ten for just two jornadas, and a women's team that was winning the league. In the 2008-09 season, at the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas, there was a team, plucky, beautiful, and aggressive. And it was win...

You can read part 1 here , part 2 here , and part 3 here . In the 1949-50 season, Rayo changed their white shirt for the current uniform - one with a red diagonal strip crossing their chest. River Plate visited the city to play a friendly against Real Madrid. The managers of Rayo visited the Argentinians, legends back then, to honor them and the humble club let them their stadium to train, where both clubs played an informal game. Some days later, a box from Argentina found its way to Vallekas - full of River shirts. Even though the shirts had the kid size, the club adopted the River shirt as its own. Despite Atlético Madrid wanting them to wear their shirt, Rayo kept their new shirt and never changed it, since the agreement with the colchoneros only lasted one year. Corporations are not inherently evil. Some are good to people and benevolent to their employees, but this is not the rule, it’s the exception. The pursuit of profit supersedes everything else. We don't think o...