The Pride of Vallekas

From part 1... And [Antonio Amaya] certainly belonged. The fans loved him and he loved the club - he would even go on to play two games with a broken toe. It reminds me of his older brother, Iván Amaya, who once played with broken ribs while at Granada... Yuma, Iván and Antonio Amaya I'm not a fan of Granada. I never liked that Udinese bought players and "loaned" them to Granada - it was morally reprehensible, and it meant Granada were playing in a different league. And despite Iván Amaya being one of those players, it shouldn't distract from what is, admittedly, a good story. Born in Madrid, Amaya started his professional career at hometown's Rayo Vallecano, playing 31 games with the first team in his first two seasons combined, the first of which was played in the second division, with promotion. After that he returned to the second level but stayed in the city, joining Atlético Madrid for another couple of years as part of the "package dea...

Recently, I wrote a piece about Rayo's 2014 summer transfer window, and the sheer number of signings that were made. Today's piece is similar - it talks about Rayo's 2001-02 squad, a squad that ended up saving itself from relegation by picking up 15 points in their last 5 games - after a horrendous start that saw them pick up a solitary point in seven games... Argentina He was one of 13 players who stayed with the team when they got relegated in 2003. For some fans, Patricio "Pato" Graff was one of Rayo's worst signings - terribly expensive and played 88 league games (over three seasons), but he never really impressed or dazzled the imagination of Vallekas. Despite that, it is worth noting that in the 2001-02 season, he played 32 games, and picked up 14 yellow cards and one red. He even played the most minutes (2977, even more than Míchel who played 2931. In the league only, Míchel played 2871, Graff 2797). Switzerland Guess the player: He was b...

In 2000, as Atlético struggled to assemble a squad, a package deal of three Rayo players was arranged against their will. I wrote a piece for Into the Calderon about the story - you can read it here . Follow @Vallecanos1924

Sarthak ( @Vallecanos1924 ) puts it succinctly. The Old Boys' network in the RFEF is still alive & kicking. The gravy train rolls on. pic.twitter.com/Fk89zocbf5 — Barça Women (@BarcaWomen) May 23, 2017 Exactly. Behind the incredible Hulk kits is a story that shows weakness - weakness of the argument for why the Segunda B should even exist. In March 2016, Atlético Astorga couldn't survive in the Segunda B. It ran a 30,000 euro deficit. It needed 70,000 euros more to survive. Just think about that - a club formed in 1969 had spent just two years in the Segunda B and was struggling to function. The team from Astorga did the unthinkable - they reached across to Ponferrada, 64 kilometers away, to their fiercest rivals, and became their B team. The situation was so dire that Sagrario González, president of the board, defended it as the "the only solution" to be able to compete in the Segunda B - and this was after Ponferradina had loaned them fiv...

"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, 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 relegated -...