The Pride of Vallekas

He warned us. In the summer of 1999, Nicolas Anelka transferred to Real Madrid for a £22.3 million transfer fee from Arsenal. He became the most expensive player in the history of Spanish football, signing a monstrous £35,000 a week contract. He called it "an insult to society". Javier Clemente, the former Spain national team manager, blasted the move. "To throw seven billion pesetas out of the window when you could do so many other things... With that much money I could feed all the hungry people in Madrid." Anelka failed to score for Real Madrid in his first five months at the club, was suspended by the club president in March 2000, and was promptly sold to PSG for the eerily similar fee of £22 million. That's the same PSG who sold Anelka to Arsenal for half a million pounds. The transfer market was blown open. There is something sad about the transfer fees being brandied about today - simply because people don't realize who is really paying, an...

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...