The Pride of Vallekas

This is a piece about Parla Escuela which I wrote almost two years back - when I dug it out I knew it had to come here. For the first time, Parla Escuela are in the fourth division, and will play Rayo B in exactly one month and one day. It's important to note that until this year they weren't even the biggest club in Parla , AD Parla were in the fourth division for a long time until their relegation this summer. Rafael Benítez, Sergio Pachón and Roberto Rojas have all played for AD Parla. Imagine you are in Madrid and your inner compass tells you to go south. You board the C-4 train and south you go. It’s been a long day and you go to sleep… Suddenly, the train stops and it’s the last station - you check your watch and 40 minutes have gone by without warning. Your inner compass tingles like crazy because you are near. In fact, you are here. You’ve reached home… CP Parla Escuela is not a club you’ve heard of. Neither is it particularly making headlines for any sporti...

Follow Druso on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background My name is Druso Lopez, I am a 20 year old International Football Business at UCFB in Wembley, so is not hard to guess that I am a huge football fan and I would like to develop a career within the sport industry. I know live in London but I moved to the UK when I was 15, to a small town in Lancashire called Fleetwood and that's how I become a Fleetwood town fan. Also I like Manchester City, I am a huge football fan and watch a lot of football every week; English, Spain, Italy... I don't mind as long as the game is good, but I've to admit I'm a Premier League fan, I'm aiming to visit every football ground in London before 2018! How long have you been a fan of Tenerife and what made you support them in the first place? I was born and raised in Tenerife capital Santa Cruz and my house was just a 10 minutes walk from the Stadium; my dad and my grandad as most of my families were huge Teneri...

When did you make the decision to pursue football coaching and what motivated you to do so? Well, I’ve been interested in it since always. I was a football player when I was a kid, and my football coaches used to be my target. It’s why I’ve been working in football for so many years and  I hope to do so for many more years to come. What was your background before Liverpool came calling? I used to be in my local town, which is Reus - they’re now in the second division. I was also at Gimnàstic de Tarragona, before which I worked for UE Rapitenca. I used to be involved in organisation and football coaching while at the same time obtaining my coaching license (while at Rapitenca) and studying sports science at the Universitat de Lleida for four years. What were the first thoughts in your mind when Liverpool offered you a position and was Rafael Benítez connected to the deal? I was the first Spanish coach there but was never appointed by Rafael Benítez - I was appointed...