The Pride of Vallekas

In the 2006-07 Segunda B season, Real Oviedo were relegated to the Tercera - the fourth tier of Spanish football. Predictably so - three different managers (José Antonio Velázquez, Ramiro Solís, Ismael Díaz) took over that season, the squad's top goalscorer, Jon Carrera, had a tally of four goals, and the team didn't win a single game away from home. As it turns out, the turmoil wasn't contained on the pitch - in 2006 Alberto González took a controlling share in the club. He did not pay social security or tax to the inland revenue and then disappeared - perhaps Cuba, possibly Panama - and is now wanted on two counts of fraud. But there was another Oviedo team that was relegated from the Segunda B that year too. AD Universidad de Oviedo, the team that represents the University of Oviedo, also went down in only their fourth year in the Segunda B. They have never come back up, and seven consecutive top 10 finishes were followed by a disastrous 2014-15 Tercera campaign...

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 for this week: Gorka Iraizoz was linked to Rayo and Osasuna but reportedly rejected both offers. He eventually signed for Girona in La Liga instead. Following the success of Santi Comesaña, Rayo have their eyes on another Segunda B star midfielder - Pierre Kunde Malong, a Cameroonian who plays for Extremadura (on loan from Atlético Madrid). Las Palmas' Javi Castellano, who has become a bit part player, has interest from Rayo, Cádiz, and Sporting, but has expressed his desire to renew with Las Palmas - his boyhood club and the c...