Latest Articles
Introducing: Once Upon a Time in La Liga: Spanish Football’s Forgotten Tales
It’s been a very long time since I last posted here — apologies for that. But I’m glad to say it’s been for a very good reason…
Row 0, Seat 0: When Spanish football came together for the player who slept
Dear Friend,
You won’t be able to read this letter. For the past three years, you haven’t been able to read anything. For the past three years, you have had a son you haven’t even been able to get to know.
Unless God works some miracle —you will never read these things, kiss your son,…
From World Series to the waste bin: The extraordinary rise and fall of Leganés president Jeff Luhnow
The baseball men sat there, silently seething.
In front of them stood a man in his early sixties with thinning, grey hair with a sketch pad in hand. Behind him was a screen with the lecture title: “Classic Mechanics: A Throwing Model Based on the Construction of the Motions of Great Historic Pitchers.”
The man…
When the man who could organise anything nearly met his match: Raimundo Saporta and the 1982 World Cup
He was the man who could organise anything. The man on top of every little detail. That’s why they put him in charge of this.
He was the man who changed the course of Spanish football history by signing Alfredo Di Stéfano for Real Madrid from under the noses of Barcelona. The man who then…
El Centenariazo: The night Super Depor gatecrashed the biggest birthday party of all time – and even stole their dinner reservation
Preparations at Asador Donostiarra on Madrid’s Calle de la Infanta Mercedes were in full swing. The labyrinth of dining rooms buzzed as an army of waiters frantically buffed cutlery and polished glasses; sommeliers double checked there were enough bottles of cava on ice and enough reserva for later; while the chefs decided it was about…
La Quinta del Reboot: When the Vulture Squad descended on Mexico
“To suddenly call up a Real Madrid player and ask them to come to your club, when you’re still in the second division — well you have to be a dreamer.”
In the summer of 1995, when the Real Madrid office staff told Emilio Butragueño to expect a call at home from a Mexican club,…
“I fell for the club in a really big way” — Howard Kendall’s love affair with Athletic Club Bilbao
The ink was barely dry on Howard Kendall’s two-year contract to coach Athletic Club Bilbao but he was regretting the decision already. “I honestly thought I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.”
His new club had flown him out to watch the 1987 Copa del Rey Final between Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad in…
From video shop assistant to Maradona’s agent: Elche owner Christian Bragarnik’s eventful rise to power
Leyland Video Club, close to the intersection of Yerbal and Avenida Boyacá in the Buenos Aires barrio of Flores was a fairly typical neighbourhood video store. Members would pop in, browse the rows of latest releases and take their choice to the counter. A chunky VHS tape was snapped into a generic branded case, the customer paid…
The strength behind Julen Lopetegui
The beginning had been warm and emotional. The end, though expected, was cold and brutal.
Julen Lopetegui’s unveiling as Real Madrid manager had been a poignant affair. “If yesterday was the saddest day of my life, since the death of my mother,” he said, choking back tears, “then today is the happiest”. Madrid and their…
A kidnapping, a failed Real Madrid medical, a piss-up by a brewery team and duelling festivities – the strange weekend in which Sergio Agüero made his professional debut
Here on a chilly Saturday night in Buenos Aires, Ruggeri — no stranger to Argentine football lore as a World Cup winner himself — decided it was time to give the people a little bit of history.
“You will see me at Atocha, applauding la Real” – Juan Alcorta, the man who said no to ETA
The way he saw it, he had four options — and he had discarded the first three. He wouldn’t pay, he wouldn’t negotiate, he wouldn’t flee.
It was April 1980 in San Sebastián, summer was on its way and Real Sociedad were top of the league
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