The Pride of Vallekas

Ugh. The "Swiss army knife" is quite a boring metaphor. Not because of the name but the reference. Usefulness and adaptability are never inspiring, but they are necessary. When they're there it's calm. When they're not it's dire. And that could not be truer in the case of Gorka Elustondo. A midfielder by trade, his natural position is protecting the defense with surprising physique and passing range. The Gipuzkoa native rose through the ranks of Real Sociedad's, and made his B-team, and Segunda B, debut at the age of 18 during the 2005-06 season. He immediately became an undisputed starter, and within a season was knocking on the doors of the first team. He would make his La Liga debut in December 2006 in a goalless away draw against Celta de Vigo. A further five appearances in his first professional season would follow, but nevertheless the Basque club met top division relegation for the first time in 40 years. But sporting disappointment isn't ...

In another episode of "Statistics", the third one since March 2017, here I rank every team based on their league position as well as the average property prices outside their stadiums. Note that high property prices don't indicate the prosperity of a club, just the location - even if the winner of the housing league was also the winner of La Liga. For example, Eibar is one of the poorest clubs in the division but house prices are not cheap. Rayo Vallecano was poor and housing prices were low and their sporting performance reflected that but that doesn't indicate any trend. If you're a modest club, financially sound, and not in the capital of your autonomous community (housing prices are low) then you might just punch above your weight - Málaga, Celta Vigo and Villarreal are examples, but counter examples include Granada - so even that trend is hard to justify. In other words, this is not scientific - just a bit of fun. *price in euros per square meter of...

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here . At the heart of Real Oviedo's economic crisis in 2003, two players traveled from Oviedo to Madrid. Here are their stories. You'd think that a player who scored 26 goals in 2 seasons for Rayo Vallecano would be widely known. But therein lies the darkness of the Segunda B - obscurity envelops even the biggest accomplishments. Striker Eugenio Suárez Santos, or Geni , was born in Gijón, Asturias, but emerged through neighbors Real Oviedo's youth system, making his first-team debuts shy of his 19th birthday as the club was then in La Liga. Definitely promoted to the main squad in 2000, he would see them drop two tiers in only two years. However, 16 goals in his last two seasons for Oviedo in the Segunda were enough to convince Rayo to sign him. Initially, he struggled to settle in - he played 29 games without scoring in his first season, which ended in another relegation. But he thrived in the Segunda B, scoring 16 and ...

There is a history of Barcelona rejects ending up on Rayo's doorstep.  But it is history - the last time it happened was in 1997, when two Barcelona players - one young, one old - became Rayo legends... Born in Asteasu, Gipuzkoa, Julen Lopetegui started his professional career at local Real Sociedad, where he was barred by legendary Luis Arconada. In 1985, he accepted an offer from Real Madrid, who immediately incorporated the 19-year-old to its B-team. After a loan spell at Las Palmas (1988-89), Lopetegui returned, but could never dislodge another veteran, Francisco Buyo, only managing one La Liga appearance during two seasons, a 3-3 away draw against Atlético Madrid as Real was already crowned league champions. He subsequently signed with Logroñés, being instrumental as the modest Riojan club consistently managed to retain its top flight status. Lopetegui's stellar performances at Logroñés earned him his sole cap with Spain, coming on as a substitute for Andoni Zubiz...

Alcorcón is one of Rayo's most underrated shop windows - and the players who've signed for Rayo aren't highly heralded but quietly significant. So here it is - a run down of players who've signed for Rayo from Alcorcón. Carlos de la Vega is one of them. After emerging through Rayo Vallecano's youth system, the right-back went on to play with amateur sides Alcalá and Alcorcón, also from his hometown of Madrid, until well into his 20's. He did not have his first taste of full professional football until the 2008-09 season (he had only played one match with Rayo's first team in 2002-03's La Liga, two minutes) when, after returning to Rayo in the previous year, he was fairly used as the club easily retained its Segunda status. In late December 2009, de la Vega was loaned to another side in the second level, Huesca, until the end of the season. In July 2012, after more than one year out of football, the 32-year-old signed for two seasons with Leganés ...

Jordi Agusti, 34, is the Chief Operations Officer of a shop displays company. You can follow him on Twitter: @Totocompos He also recommends the Twitter account of Penya Jandrista - @losjandristas - as a great place to follow the club's day to day workings. How long have you been a fan of Girona and what made you support them in the first place? I've been a Girona fan since I was about 10 years ago, I started to support Girona because it is the team of our province and at that moment the team was playing in the Segunda B with the possibility to go to the 2nd division. Also in that moment it was one of my friends playing in the team (Albert Dorca, now playing at Alcorcón) Describe your first experience of watching Girona play? I don't remember the first experience but I remember the first season Girona played in the 2nd division because they played against some first division teams I used to watch on TV (Zaragoza, Rayo, Tenerife, Real Sociedad, Celta) and at that ...

So as it turns out, I made a mistake. A few days ago, I talked about the Rayo squad, and as it turns out things are even worse - Zé Castro, who had reportedly rescinded his contract, had actually done so with no announcements being made. Because this is the Rayo website: Credit: rayovallecano.es I didn't even get to say goodbye! So here it is...a tribute to Zé Castro. August 29th, 2013. Leave it to Rayo to scramble at the last minute and make an amazing, seemingly impossible signing. This time, they made two. Zé Castro, and Seba Fernández half an hour later, were the two gems that had been picked up. Castro was a "boring" signing - he had played for Atlético de Madrid but was more of a backup. And at Depor, Zé Castro appeared in only ten games in 2009–10, and featured even less in the following season, prompting him to request a move in mid-November 2010. Some people even disliked him - in March 2011, he was to be picked as a last-minute substitut...

Every time I look at my drafts folder I feel a sense of failure. Those are ideas that I've started but never finished. Articles for this blog for which I've pounded at a keyboard and then hit a brick wall and stopped. No, I didn't finish it. No, I didn't stop - I failed. I keep thinking that I failed. I started a piece on Movilla a few days back ( here )  but never finished it. Then, and at other times, thoughts of failure bleed into this blog. Today, I finished it. It's not perfect by any means, and certainly doesn't completely cover his career. But it's one less draft in my draft folder. One more article finished and scheduled. One more failure turned into a success. Last time, I asked: "where do I even start"? I really should have seen it.  I started at the very start. It's almost poetic that one of the most successful careers in Spanish professional football starts with a series of failures. José María Movilla was born i...

Heath Chesters runs the official Granada English Twitter account, which has over 10,000 followers! You can check it out here . On that note, Granada has an English website too, which you can check out here . Finally, I would highly recommend following Heath on his personal Twitter account here . A bit about yourself and your background... I moved to Granada province in Spain at the end of 2005, so this is my 12 th year living in this marvelous area and as far as I’m concerned, I’m here for good. It’s a fantastic location to live and the people are very welcoming. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’ve always been a keen follower of football and with a particular interest in the European game. Living here offered me a great opportunity to watch games at all different levels locally in Andalusia, helping me to develop a rich knowledge and understanding of Spanish football. Obviously, this has been useful for the various freelance content I’ve produc...

I interviewed Mikel Alonso in December 2015, where he opened up about his hiatus from professional football. You can read it here . He agreed to a second interview, where I ask some more questions about his experiences as a footballer. This is that interview. Before Real Sociedad, you were playing for Antiguoko. This is an academy that has produced amazing footballers such as yourself, your brother, Mikel Arteta, etc. What is it that differs it from other academies? Did you see anyone play there who you knew were going to be playing top level football - apart from yourself, of course! We worked a lot on technique and skills. It was a different kind of academy. The coaches made all the difference - Iñigo Santin, Pitu, Txurun, Oscar, Kepa Estebanez and many others. They loved this game and show us how to love it and understand it. We tried to look at the big picture of various game situations. They were inspirational. The managers were really passionate and tried to pick the b...

Euan McTear is a Scottish football journalist who focuses on LaLiga and who writes about Spanish football for MARCA In English and These Football Times. You can follow him on Twitter here  and buy his book on Eibar here . How long have you been a fan of Eibar and what made you support them in the first place? I first started following Eibar as a result of the Scottish links of their fan. I then wrote a book called ‘Eibar The Brave’ about their promotion as LaLiga’s smallest ever team and got to know the club and its supporters better and have followed them closely ever since. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Eibar where you want it to be? Eibar have far exceeded expectations in 2016-17. Although they no longer have the very smallest budget of the division, they are still one of the smallest teams in the transfer market. Yet their sporting director Fran Garagarza has an eye for a bargain and signed some excellent ...