The Pride of Vallekas

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...

I found it interesting going through past games and highlighting individual performances - so here's more of them... It’s 2012, Paco Jémez’s first season in charge and it’s a mess. Three wins and a draw from nine games leave them in 15th place. Meanwhile, Málaga had lost just once in that same period, were 12 places above in the league table, were playing in the Champions League and hadn’t dropped a single point. A team that contained Demichelis, Joaquín, Isco, Saviola, Camacho and Jesús Gámez, were beaten at home by a team that had cost a total of €0 to assemble. The win was symbolic of a huge change in fortunes – Málaga were winless in their next four fixtures and Rayo were on the ascendancy, finishing in a record 8th place with a record 53 points – only to be cruelly denied a Europa League place due to financial difficulties. If you really want to understand Piti's impact on Rayo's 2012-13 season, just watch this game. It's not just that he scores both go...