The Pride of Vallekas

If you read the Porto piece yesterday , you would have seen the story of a player who lasted just 16 minutes at Rayo. But he was competing for the Q letter with another player, who lasted slightly longer - 58 minutes, to be exact. 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. This is the story of a player who used Rayo as a springboard for his career. 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 ...

"It was an agreement between clubs. What happened was that I did not want to leave, I was very comfortable at Rayo; we were going to play in Europe and I wanted to stay in Vallecas. I identified with the club and I felt important inside. But they had already reached an agreement and I had to leave; The truth is that it was the saddest moment I had while at Rayo. " -Carlos Llorens It was a painful year for Atlético Madrid. The second top goalscorer in the league, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, belonged to the team second from bottom. Ranieri was dismissed after matchday 26 with the club in administration due to accumulated debts, Radomir Antić took over a squad that was already in a tailspin, sitting in 17th league spot and barely hovering above relegation zone. The team fell into the relegation zone and never came back, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the quarterfinals by Lens, and Antić was fired after matchday 37 after Atlético was already mathematically relegat...

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...

What is it about Spaniards plying their trade abroad that excites me? Is it the sense of adventure? Is it the story of a risk taken? Or is it that, on players who venture outside Spain, there is simply more material available to write about? Whatever it is, one thing is clear - Barcelona have way too much talent. And most of it ends up on the sidelines... Ilie Sánchez He played for Martinenc FC between 1996-98, for Barcelona between 1998-00, C.E. APA Poble Sec between 2000-01, UB Catalónia between 2001-03, Collblanc between 2003-05 (the last three clubs being part of the Agrupació de Penyas del Barça), Cornellà between 2005-07 and Barcelona again between 2007-09 - and that's just his youth career! Ilie Sánchez was born in Barcelona, and represented several Catalan clubs as a youth, including FC Barcelona from ages 7-9. He would return to La Masia in 2007, and make his Barcelona B debut with in the 2009-10 season in the Segunda B. He played 22 times that season, scoring...

Sometimes, I have thoughts and snippets that don't always deserve a full article, but also don't deserve to go into the heap. In other words, welcome to my drafts folder. Watch out for this type of article occasionally - on Sundays (Sunday Snippets) and Thursdays (Thursday Thoughts). As is usual, I delved into the depths of the internet for something to write about, when I cam across this quote by Eibar's then coach Gaizka Garitano. When Eibar were eighth - the Basque country’s best team - Garitano had this to say: “It’s not shameful or problematic to feel inferior...I don’t think that’s anything to hide from. It’s good to know what you’re up against. The day that you play de tú a tú , as equals, you lose something. We can’t forget where we come from; the day we forget that, we’ll have a problem.” The problem was that they did. They ending up being relegated and needing a historic administrative relegation of Elche to the Segunda - the first in La Liga history - to...

You might be wondering why there is a #clickbait in the title. Well, titles are supposed to intrigue but not mislead, and sometimes it is hard to know where the line lies. I don't know where that line is - what I do know is that I'm definitely not far from it today.... His name is Rayo. Rubén Rayos, to be exact. He is an attacking midfielder who can play on the wing, with a left* foot capable of powerful shots, creating chances, scoring free-kicks and penalties, dribbling past players with ease, and even crossing. What he is not is particularly quick, or defensively astute. Rafi Dahan found out in March 2014. Rayo was playing for Maccabi Haifa, and Dahan was playing for Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv. As Rayo slid in and took Rafi out, both his soles crashing into Rafi's right leg, the brutality of the tackle was clear. An infamous image - Rubén Rayos sliding into Rafi Dahan Rayo knew what he had done was wrong. He didn't protest the red card - the first ever in ...

Good, attacking, ferocious football. That's how I would describe Compostela and their undying philosophy. A brand of play that has seen Compostela rise and fall on the ladder of Spanish football. Till 1986, Compostela were a stable mid-table third tier club representing the small regional town of Compostela in Galicia. However, that very summer they were relegated. They had attacked and attacked and fought with all their might, kicking and screaming, but went down - with the joint-worst defense in the league. But giving up their attacking philosophy was out of the question. It was that philosophy that saw them promoted to the third tier in 1990, promoted to the second tier the year after, and reach the top division in 1994. It was that philosophy that saw them lose the relegation playoff against Villarreal in 1998. It was that philosophy that saw them reach the quarterfinals of the 1999-00 Copa del Rey, defeating the likes of Numancia, Tenerife and Villarreal on the way - all...

That's right! Give the Facebook page a like here for updates on blog posts and sneak peaks on future posts! A while back  I spoke to NUFCBlog.co.uk about Mohamed Diamé and how at Rayo he developed into the most sought-after prospect in world football: "They had Danny Drinkwater – we had 33-year-old club legend and pass master Míchel. They had Christian Fuchs and we had 39-year-old left-back Carles Llorens. They had Kasper Schmeichel and we had David Cobeño. They had Mark Albrighton and we had Jofre. They had Riyad Mahrez and we had Miguel Albiol. They had N’Golo Kanté, and we had Mohamed Diamé. And while each of those players have stories that are worth sharing, the last one sticks out the most." Now that I've spoken about Mo Diamé, it's time. Here are the other stories. "It was an agreement between clubs. What happened was that I did not want to leave, I was very comfortable at Rayo; we were going to play in Europe and I wanted ...

27th May, 2000 It could not have been more different. Espanyol were facing Atlético Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey, and their runs to the final couldn’t have been more different. Espanyol had beaten Celta Vigo and Real Madrid; Atlético Madrid had beaten Rayo on away goals in the quarters and Barcelona forfeited the semifinals. At the end of a crazy league season, where Atlético Madrid were relegated, the notion was that the Copa del Rey would be their consolation. Boy, were they wrong. Goalkeeper Toni Jiménez, who was in his first season at Atlético Madrid after having won the 1998 Zamora with (ironically) Espanyol, served as backup to José Francisco Molina. He was having a treacherous season, and only played cup games. And he was about to have a moment that would haunt him for ever. The ball was in his hands. He was about to throw it in the air to kick it. And he did. But Tamudo’s head beat him to the ball, and he scored into the open net. Tamudo had made his for...

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...

There are many midfielders known for their ability to "clean up the mess", to defend with both heart and mind. There are many midfielders known for their ability to distribute the ball with authority, to create chances with ease, to keep the team ticking, to control the tempo and flow of the game. There aren't many midfielders known for doing both. Gerhard Poschner was one of them. Poschner was born in Dumitra, Romania - a country from which in 1974, at the age of five, his family fled to escape the communist regime and moved abroad to Bietigheim-Bissingen, West Germany. Poschner started playing football at the age of nine with SpVgg Bissingen. At 13, VfB Stuttgart spotted him playing at a talent scouting event organised by the Württemberg Football Association, and e began his professional career in 1987–88 with the club. He played three seasons with little impact in the first team (an average of 15 Bundesliga appearances) due to intense competition in his position. ...

In 2007 he won the Segunda title with Valladolid. In 2008 he won the Segunda title with Numancia. In 2010 he was this close to seeing Cartagena promoted and was in the top 3 for the Pichichi trophy. In 2014 he helped Deportivo secure promotion to La Liga. José Verdú Nicolás, or Toché, is 33 years old and is a specialist at getting promoted. At jumping up a level. At rising above the defence and scoring. At rising above the shadows. A former Atlético graduate, he has Champions League and Europa League experience with Panathinaikos. And now, he is at Real Oviedo. The club that just got promoted and wants to get promoted again. A powerful header, a knack of rising above a defense and an uncanny ability to score goals, Toché has scored nine times in eighteen games and will surely try to find the back of the net again. But what goes under the radar when it comes to Toché is his technical ability. In Oviedo’s attacking, one-touch system, he scores one-touch goals like these . He d...

Yesterday, I wrote an article about Carlos Aranda, who holds the record for playing in La Liga for the most number of clubs - eight. If you consider just playing for a La Liga club, not actually playing in La Liga with them, that figure becomes nine. But I dug deeper, and found out that if you look at professional clubs (La Liga and Segunda), Carlos Aranda holds that record jointly with Moisés García - an astonishing 12 clubs.  Obviously, only if you use the second metric - by the first metric  Moisés García is top with 12 and Aranda comes joint second with 11 with a couple of other players. That record will be broken soon though - there are quite a few players who are at 11, and they still have a couple of seasons in the tank. So today, I look at a player whose records are unlikely to be broken anytime soon - Elche's Nino.  Even his name has the word modest in it. Juan Francisco Martínez Modesto, aka Nino, was born in Vera, Almería, and first appeared p...

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 Juan on Twitter here . How long have you been a fan of Ponferradina and what made you support them in the first place? I've been following Ponferradina since I am 12-13 (now I am 26). What made me support Ponfe was proximity to my town. Even though Ponferrada (the city) is in another region, Castilla y León, as I live in the border between Galicia and Castilla, Ponferradina was my nearest football team apart from my local team that was in lower divisions at that time. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Ponferradina where you want it to be? Of course not. The goal this season was promotion, but knowing how is the promotion system from Segunda B to Segunda, that is quite difficult and everyone needs to be lucky in the playoffs. But being one of the biggest, if not the most, budget of all 80 teams in Segunda B, this team should be in the top 4 of Group 1 at least. Of the signings made this season, which one work...