Around The World in 90 Minutes - searching for the meaning of football

In an age where football seems now to be the plaything of billionaires, suits and the prawn sandwich brigade, has the beautiful game finally lost its soul or could it be that rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated?

If you know your football then you will undoubtedly have heard of Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, the Brazilian footballer better known, simply, as Neymar. You almost certainly haven't heard of Jaime Escalante. But maybe you should do.

Nick Thomson is on an international quest to discover the true meaning of football, one mispronounced team at a time. If you like your football - and I mean your real football - then check out the links below to Nick's new podcast series Around The World in 90 Minutes.

Apple: Around The World in 90 Minutes

Spotify: Around The World in 90 Minutes

 

Loopy Linares Rides Again

 

About a lifetime ago I worked for a bank in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar which, for those who don't know, is located pretty much at the southernmost tip of Spain. One of our clients went by the name of Mr Linares and he was a bit of a nutter, so much so that he was known among the staff as "Loopy Linares". One day, said client came into the banking hall and presented himself to the receptionist saying that he wanted to speak to someone about his account. The receptionist phoned upstairs, speaking to my colleague Joe, to pass on his request. "Is it Loopy Linares?" Joe asked. "Just a minute" the receptionist answered, I'll ask him". 

Nooooooooooooo! Too late. Fortunately, Loopy lived up to his name and, oblivious to this sleight, was ushered upstairs presumably content in the knowledge that he would spend the next thirty minutes or so wasting someone's time.

The Spanish football pyramid is a bit loopy as well. Tiers 1 and 2 are not dissimilar to the English Premier League and Championship with La Liga (20 teams) and La Liga 2 (22 teams). However, Tier 3 (equivalent to our League 1) consists two divisions of 20 teams each and Tier 4 (i.e. our League 2) is made up of five divisions of 18 teams each. The Spanish Tier 5 (Tercera Federación) consists eighteen divisions of 18 teams each. That's a lot of football clubs, 496 to be exact, but there again Spain is a big country.

To the best of my knowledge, our old friend Loopy had nothing to do with the city of Linares, in southern Spain, which has a population in excess of 56,000 and a football team called Linares Deportivo. Indeed, the city has had a football team in various guises since 1909 although its latest incarnation has been in existence only since 2009 as a replacement for a dissolved predecessor. Since its rebirth, the club has largely bounced between Tiers 3 and 4 but now finds itself back in Tier 4 following relegation last year. However, a good start to the new season saw the club in second place in Segunda Federación Group 4 ahead of their trip to Club Deportiva Minera for Gameweek 6.

The main (only) entrance to Estadio Municipal
Angel Celdran, home to Club Deportiva Minera.

There is no reason at all why Loopy would have had any connection with the town of El Llano del Beal, which is home to Club Deportiva Minera - founded in 1927 - but I think he would have liked it. Established in the late 1800's to house workers in a lead mining industry now long since gone, the town has a proud history of standing up for its rights and resisting the demands and harsh working conditions of the mine owners. Based in the region of Murcia, it has a population around 55,000 fewer than Linares but football is not about the size of the dog in the fight, rather the size of the fight in the dog and the town has plenty of that as does its football team. Minera's promotion last year as champions of Tercera Federación Group 13 saw them welcome Linares for the first home game at their refurbished Estadio Municipal Angel Celdrán, having played the first two home games of the season in the nearby city of Cartagena.

As the name suggests the stadium is a municipal facility, owned by the city council who have committed to spend around €150,000, primarily on the installation of a new artificial pitch (now installed) plus improvements to the stadium lighting, changing rooms and toilet facilities. Stadium capacity is said to be 2,000 although the enthusiastic crowd which greeted the players was substantially less than that figure, perhaps around the 300 mark (?).

Local man José Blaya, from nearby Los Nietos, is the Minera chairman who has brought new ambition and success to the club in his two year tenure. Indeed, the Águilas Rojas (Red Eagles) were runaway champions of Group 13 last season finishing ten points ahead of their nearest rivals. Los Nietos is home to a small(ish) expat community, many of whom love their football, and it was with eight of whom - the "Los Nietos Massive" - I met at the game for my first taste of Spanish Tier 4 football.

José is clearly appreciative of this international support group for his club. For our €15 entrance fee, we were treated to reserved seats, complementary beer delivered to us at half time by the chairman's lovely wife plus a complementary cool-down shower courtesy of the pitch-side sprinklers. This was all very welcome bearing in mind the early October, midday kick-off with a temperature in the mid to high twenties. 

The sprinklers proved to be very welcome, as did the 
complementary beers courtesy of the club chairman.

The Segunda Federación Group 4 covers a huge geographical area encompassing the whole of southern Spain and running nearly four hundred miles from east to west. For Minera, this has led to a complete revamp of the promotion winning squad with only two players remaining from last season, due primarily to imbalance between individual work commitments and travel commitments for the new season. In fact, Minera started the new season with the furthest away game of the season, winning 2-0 away to Cadiz CF (B team), involving a round trip of some seven hundred and eighty miles. By comparison, Linares faced only a modest four hundred miles round trip for today's match. Unsurprisingly, there weren't many away supporters.

Minera's opening five matches had seen them win twice, draw twice and lose once so a pretty steady start to life in Tier 4, suggesting that the new playing squad had adapted quickly to their new challenge. And after today's scrappy 1-0 victory against Linares, they have moved up to fifth in the table (play-off positions) only one point behind today's opponents who remain in second place, level on points with table-topping Xerez CD.

I have described the win as "scrappy" because the only goal of the game was exactly that although the match itself was fairly evenly contested with the skill level generally better than I might have expected. Players looked comfortable on the ball with plenty of quick passing movements albeit chances created were at a premium. The moment of the match for me was a first half, flying save by Minera's goalkeeper Fran Martinez from a well placed, looping header by the Linares no.4 Rafa Ortiz. 

Two other Minera players who caught the eye were no.15 Damian Petcoff, a 34 year old Argentinian midfielder, who very definitely knows how to pass a ball and No.23 Pipo, a feisty little winger who when he wasn't busy chuntering at the referee or opposition players was busy chuntering with himself.

The Minera ultras assemble for the second half.

Credit also to the ten or so Minera ultras (my description, not necessarily theirs) who banged their drums and kept up a vocal support throughout the first half. At half time they changed ends and were joined by a vociferous bunch from the bar area and, between them, probably played their part in sucking/ willing/ serenading the ball into the Linares net in the eighty first minute, credited as an own goal by Linares' Lithuanian goalkeeper, the rather splendidly named Ernestas Juskevicius. 

On the final whistle, the Minera players celebrated in front of the Minera ultras whilst the Linares players, having suffered their first defeat of the season, appeared to take the defeat in good grace ahead of their three hour coach journey back to base. Next on the agenda for Minera is a coach trip of similar distance and duration to play Granada CF (B Team) and then it will be home to local rivals FC La Unión Atlético who are based literally up the road, just three miles beyond El Llano del Beal. 

These are exciting times for Club Deportiva Minera. For me this was a real football experience. Real people. Real community. Real good fun. A bit loopy in fact.

Breaking News

Breaking News

In breaking news, Stanley Strollers FC chairman Graeme Cook has announced a branding change for the new season including a completely new club name. Explaining the decision, Cook said that he was disappointed with fellow FPL clubs engaged in petty team name calling and changes so close to the new season. He explained, “as usual, it’s the fans that suffer but we have to compete so fuck’em and they need to learn some respect for everything I do for this club anyway"

To complement the scientifically designed un-counterfeit-able new kit (pictured below), the club will now be known by the new un-counterfeit-able name of We Are Now Known As Real Stanley Strollers FC. The club will be making no further comment in this respect.

Breaking Breaking News

The club will revert to it’s original name of Stanley Strollers FC with immediate effect. Explaining the decision, club chairman Graeme Cook said “we have listened to feedback from the FPL, the fanbase and Mrs C and we have now decided to commence the new season under our historic identity of Stanley Strollers FC. Our branding is important and fans who purchase counterfeit kits deprive the club of income the cheapskate bastards. However on reflection we have decided to take the moral high ground, let bygones be bygones, not follow the crowd, do the decent thing and be the big man in all this". 

That plus the fact it was pointed out the proposed new name acronym would have been WANKARSS FC. 

Bollocks.

Gillian Jenkins

Gillian in 1993, ahead of the 
FA Cup Final against Arsenal.

With much sadness, I write following the untimely passing of my friend and London Owls legend Gillian Jenkins who died, quite unexpectedly, last Thursday 17 April. I don't pretend to have known her better than others amongst the London Owls membership over the years but she and I went back a long way -  to the early eighties in fact - which probably means that I knew her for longer than most. We would travel together from Southend to meet up with our fellow Wednesdayites at Kings Cross for our executive coach travel to games all around the country.

Gillian was tiny - teeny tiny in fact - but she was a feisty little thing and could more than stand her ground when it came to holding her beer and delivering mickey-take to her predominantly male travelling companions. She was funny and loud, sometimes mouthy, always loyal and reliable and she had a heart of gold. 

If memory serves me correctly, Gillian had no historic connections with Sheffield and I think I am right in saying that whilst growing up as a youngster in Norfolk, her Dad took her to watch the Owls play at Norwich and that is how her love affair with Sheffield Wednesday began. 

The early to mid eighties was a great time to be following the Owls as the club progressed steadily, season by season, culminating in promotion back to Division 1 in the 1983/84 season. Promotion (pipped to the Champions spot by Chelsea) was secured on the final day of the season with a 2-0 away win at Cardiff City which was a particularly memorable day including the party on the coach as we travelled back to London, albeit Gillian had to remain circumspect on the alcohol front as she was heavily pregnant with daughter Toni at the time.

Other memorable trips, once back in the First division, included matches at Manchester United and Manchester City where the Manchester police, on both occasions, mistook our executive coach for the team coach. On the first of these two occasions, the coach was escorted right to the players entrance at Old Trafford where the senior officer then boarded the coach to welcome the team, only to be confronted by Gillian sitting in the front seat, decked out in blue and white ribbons. "She's the centre forward" came a cry from the back.

These were heady times, travelling in style and supporting a successful football team with the London Owls - a great crowd of people - and Gillian was very much a central character in all this.     

I disappeared off the London Owls scene towards the end of that decade, my tending to drive to matches before moving abroad for three years and hence my meet-ups with Gillian became fewer and further between. However I was back in Southend in time for the 1993 cup runs and together with Gillian and Darren Reynolds (another Southend-based Wednesdayite), we drove to Hillsborough for the FA Cup 5th round tie against Southend United which took on extra significance for us because (obviously) it was our home town team we were up against. Having won the match 2-0, we were back in Southend for 8.00 pm and headed to The Railway pub for celebratory beers. The pub started to fill with Southend supporters now also having returned from Sheffield. Gillian went to the duke box, selected Singing the Blues, and proceeded to dance through the pub - Wednesday scarf aloft - like a mad thing. She took a bit of stick but she gave it back and more.

I last saw her at Wembley for last year's play-off final when we met up, together with Darren, to enjoy what turned out to be one of those rare, truly memorable days in the life of a football supporter. It would have been incomprehensible to imagine that I would be writing these words less than a year later.

The Wednesday family has lost a good friend. Gillian's partner Graham and daughter Toni have lost much more and my heart goes out to them. Fly high Gillian Jenkins, my diminutive friend. You will be sadly missed but the laughs we enjoyed will live forever.   

Football Away Days - CD Leganés v CD Mirandés

No self-respecting football fan could have a weekend in Madrid - home to six teams across Spain's top two divisions - and not go to a match. Surely? This was my unanimous verdict and after taking into account dates, times, bar opening hours and budgets, Mrs C and I along with friends Mick and Andrea plumped for a trip to top of the (LaLiga 2) table CD Leganés for a two o'clock, Sunday afternoon kick-off versus CD Mirandés.  

Leganés is part of the Community of Madrid, situated to the south east of the city centre. As the crow flies it was only around six miles from our accommodation in the Las Acacias neighborhood of the city but as we're not crows we chose to take a slightly more convoluted route via the metro system, a forty minute journey briefly enlivened by a group of Peruvian buskers doing their Fast Show routine.

From Leganés Central metro station it is a near twenty minute walk to the Estadio Municipal Butarque which obviously necessitated a refreshment stop at the half-way mark at Cervecería La Posada, a splendid little bar where complementary tapas accompanied the drinks. As a Sheffield Wednesday fan, it was reassuringly familiar to be enjoying a pre-match beer with supporters clad in their blue and white striped home kits. Less familiar to be doing so with the home team top of the league and even less so with the match ticket in my back pocket having set me back all of nineteen euros. And instead of having a big girl's blouse at the helm, CD Leganés have a real woman in charge in the shape of Victoria Pavón who, along with husband Felipe Moreno, acquired a majority stake in the club back in 2008 when the club was floundering in the third tier of Spanish football. Even then, the club had never played at a higher level than second tier football but that particular eleven year stint had come to end four years earlier. However, under Pavón's leadership the club started moving, slowly but surely, in an upwardly mobile direction culminating in promotion to the top division in 2017 clinched, coincidentally, with a 1-0 away victory over today's opponents CD Mirandés. Whilst the club lost it's top tier status four seasons later, they are currently looking good for a return to Spanish football's top table, sitting three points clear of second placed Elche ahead of this weekend's fixtures.

Opponents CD Mirandés don't have a woman at the helm, big blousy or otherwise, but they are based in the city of Miranda de Ebro (northern Spain) which sounds a bit like a girl's name. The club has a modest footballing pedigree having spent most of its time in the lower reaches of the Spanish football pyramid although their current Tier 2 status, first achieved just eleven years ago, represents the club's high watermark. This season sees the club in the bottom half of LaLiga 2 thus representing a legitimate target for our local club FC Cartagena to catch up as they seek to haul themselves away from the relegation bottom four. All this, plus the fact that CD Mirandés play in red, meant that we would definitely be rooting for the home team. Football tourists or what eh?

We arrived at the Estadio Municipal Butarque half an hour before kick-off and in time for a beer. Cerveza mixta, tostada or sin (without) alcohol, all available at €2.50. No sin alcohol for me but each to their own eh? Well, apparently not as it turns out because all three options were alcohol-free which left me distinctly unimpressed. It must be forty years since, when on Sunday night driver duties, I first tasted Clausthaler non-alcoholic beer. Now, Clausthaler can kid themselves all they like that their story of "inspiration, innovation and determination" really did lead to the world's "first great tasting non-alcoholic beer" but let me assure you that it tasted shite back then and these Spanish equivalents, forty years on, still taste just as shite. Plus it gives you wind. Honestly, surely a woman wouldn’t have decided upon an alcohol-free stadium? 

To be fair, that was the only one disappointment of the day. The Estadio Municipal Butarque was exactly as one might expect a municipal stadium to be, minus a running track around the pitch. Our nineteen euro tickets got us seats in the Fondo Sur behind the goal at the end opposite to that which housed the home team Ultras who, it must be said, kept up a barrage of chants throughout the game, often coaxing the home fans on the other three sides of the stadium to join in. One got the feel very much of a community club in harmony with its family-orientated fan-base including lots of young kids noisily and colourfully affirming their allegiance. Similarly colourful was the club mascot, a giant cucumber resembling a blue and white striped phallic version of Zorro, ribbed for extra pleasure. Women owners eh? 

Disappointingly perhaps, it transpires that the club's nickname is that of Los Pepineros (the cucumbers/ cucumber growers) as a nod to the area's historic market town relationship with Madrid. CD Mirandés however are known as Los Rojillos (the Reds) or, far more excitingly, Jabatos being the name for the young wild boars which are native to their particular part of Spain. Hmm, the cucumbers versus the wild boars. CD Mirandés definitely win in the club nickname stakes. 

The game kicked off in warm, hazy conditions. The home team Ultras made certain of a good atmosphere, aided early on by a small but enthusiastic following of away fans housed at the corner of the Fondo Sur. And the away fans nearly had something to shout about on ten minutes when winger Illyas Chaira put a left footed shot wide of the post when he really should have hit the target. However, that was about as good as it got for Mirandés who fell behind in the twentieth minute when some tricky work on the right by Juan Cruz saw him cross for centre-forward Diego García to head in at the near post. Worse was to follow fifteen minutes later when a break down the left hand side saw left-back Enric Franquesa square the ball for García to side-foot in for his second goal of the match. The game was effectively over by half time when Juan Cruz struck a low hard shot past the keeper from twenty five yards in the forty second minute. The wild boars had been tamed by the cucumbers - something I never thought I would end up writing.

The Leganés ultras giving it some.

Not wanting to mix my metaphors but the cherry was placed on the top of the cucumber in the sixty sixth minute when a clever turn and pass by García put centre-forward Miguel through to round the goalkeeper and slot the ball into the net for a 4-0 victory. The linesman initially tried to spoil the fun by flagging for offside but it was VAR to the rescue on this occasion. 

And that was that. The vast majority of the nine thousand four hundred fans in the ground carried on making lots of noise, bounced up and down a lot and joined in mexican waves until the referee's final whistle brought proceedings to an end. The home team ended Matchday 31 still three points clear of Elche at the top of the table whilst FC Cartagena's point in a nil-nil draw away to Eldense sees them now only one point and one place behind Mirandés in seventeenth place. 

So, match finished by four o'clock and we headed back towards downtown Madrid where we took in several bars, including a secret bar called Bad Company and another place that sold mugs of Caldo (chicken stock) at two euros a time. Caldo is surprisingly tasty but drinking more than one guarantees that you will wake up the next morning with a mouth tasting like lard. Drinking more than one drink in Bad Company guarantees that you will wake up bankrupt.

Futuristic? Call that a football ground?

As a football-related postscript, we passed Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu stadium the following morning. The stadium is undergoing significant upgrade works. Disappointingly, the once impressive facade has been covered with cladding to create a supposedly "futuristic" design which serves only - as far as I am concerned - to make it look like a supposedly futuristic design as opposed to a football stadium. Hey ho. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder. This week I am very much taken with the beauty that is CD Leganés. However, in two weeks time they will be hosting FC Cartagena so by then they can stick their cucumbers where the sun don't shine. I will be back in Burnley. Actually, the sun doesn't shine there very much.

A Thirst For Adventure On The Way To Santiago - A Tale of Three Caminos

 

“Just read your book and loved it. It was as if you were telling me about your journey over a beer”. Walking five hundred miles along the Camino Frances route from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela was certainly a journey worth talking about. And Graeme Cook can talk. Particularly when there's a beer involved.

Having learnt of the Camino de Santiago during the dark days of the Covid19-related lockdowns in early 2020, once sprung from captivity he was a man on a mission. The Camino Frances had his name on it and nothing could stop him. Except possibly his knees. Or gout. Or Mrs C even? Fortunately, Mrs C became equally captivated and they planned, prepared and waited impatiently for the world to pull itself together before they could set out on this noble quest. Come June 2022 and their Camino was behind them. But Graeme wasn't finished. The daily blog he published during the walk formed the basis of his book El Camino De Santiago - Beers On The Way which, as we can see above, at least one person liked. The following year they walked the Portuguese Camino from Porto and, five months later, they were back in Santiago to walk to Finisterre. More adventures. More blogs. More beer.

A Thirst For Adventure - On The Way To Santiago consists of three parts, the first part Beers On The Way (i.e. the original book) now augmented by Another Round (Portuguese) and One For The Road (Finisterre).

As with most Camino-related memoirs, this book takes the form of a daily record; towns, people, terrain, myths, accommodation etc. But not many of the others start with a daily song. Or cover more than one Camino. Or proffer opinion on cravats. Or advice on when not to accept the offer of a candle in deepest, darkest Galicia. Bottom line, life is for living and if you can't have a bit of a laugh when you're alive, well ................................enough said.

Walking the Camino de Santiago is a truly life-affirming experience. This book will convince you. Sit down, pour yourself a drink and let Graeme tell you all about his journey. Available, via the link below, at the princely cost of £2.99 for the e-book (free on Kindle Unlimited). A tale of three Caminos for just £2.99. It's like a Camino miracle.

A Thirst For Adventure On The Way To Santiago

The Perfect Football Away Day - For Him and Her

 

This time last week, Mrs C and I found ourselves in the Spanish city of Santander on the northern coast of Spain. Not by accident obviously. Together with intrepid pals Mick and Andrea, we had decided that we needed to escape the snow and ice of Burnley in favour of a European football match and determined upon the game between Real Racing Club de Santander, SAD (usually referred to simply as Racing) and our adopted Spanish team FC Cartagena. A sixty two pounds Ryanair return fare per couple, flying Manchester to Santander, helped cement that decision.

Racing are one of the ten founding members of La Liga in Spain. Yet despite having operated in Spain's top footballing division for the greater part of its history this famous club has found itself of late yo-yoing between the second and third tiers of Spanish football with a near miss on bankruptcy thrown in for good measure. As a Sheffield Wednesday fan, this scenario seemed reassuringly familiar. Racing have made a decent start to the season, lying in eighth place in La Liga 2 whereas Cartagena had a terrible start and were rock bottom for the first few weeks of the season. However the appointment of new manager Julián Calero in late September led to a gradual improvement in results and the dizzy heights now of second bottom. Again, reassuringly familiar.

We landed at Aeropuerto de Sevy Ballesteros, Santander on the Saturday evening with time sufficient to check in to our city centre hotel and thereafter take in a few local bars ahead of the following day's match.

There is much more to Santander than its ferry port and well known multinational bank of the same name. The city stands on the beautiful Bay of Santander looking across to Pedreña, birthplace of its most famous sporting son. The centre is crammed with beautiful bars and beautiful people. Santander has it’s very own palace Palacio de la Magdalena, an arts centre Centro Botín (which resembles a giant, old fashioned domestic fan heater) and a cathedral which, whilst dating back to the twelfth century, is an ecclesiastical version of Trigger’s Broom having emerged not unscathed from a massive dynamite explosion at the nearby port in 1893 and an equally devastating fire in 1941 which laid waste to much of the city’s old town.

Generally speaking, sporting activity and keeping fit appears to play a huge part in the lives of the local population which is probably why they’re all slim and beautiful. But once you’re past it in terms of being slim and beautiful, they helpfully provide escalators and travelators - even a funicular - around the city to help you with all the uphills. Civilisation personified.

Despite its long history, Racing haven’t actually ever won anything to speak of. A sixth placed finish in 2008 saw the club rub shoulders with Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in the following season’s EUFA Cup but their highest ever league finish was way back in 1931 as runners-up under English coach Robert Firth.

With a two o’clock kick-off time to aim for, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before strolling the scenic, three mile coastal walk from the city centre to Racing’s stadium Campos de Sport de El Sardinero. We Brits may not be nearly so civilised as the Spanish but it was of course the Brits that first brought football to Spain and the good people of Santander have generously acknowledged this fact with the erection of statues of famous British footballing icons along the route to the ground, amongst them world cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton, commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme and ex-Leeds and England manager Don Revie. We also found a sheet metal sculpture of the "bald eagle" Jim Smith. Probably.

Statues of British football icons Sir Bobby Charlton, commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme, ex-Leeds and England manager Don Revie and a sheet metal sculpture of "bald eagle" Jim Smith scribbling in his note book on the touchline at Birmingham City (or Newcastle United, or Derby County?). Despite these managerial postings, Jim was always a Wednesdayite. UTO. WAWAW.

Here in the UK, peak urban planning sophistication might be considered the siting of a new football ground as part of, or adjacent, to a retail shopping park at an out-of-town venue so that he gets his football and she gets her retail therapy which just strikes me as being a bit lazy and sexist. Opened in 1988, the Campos de Sport de El Sardinero however is sited not more than a couple of Ederson (Man City) drop-kicks from the soft sands of beach Playa de El Sardinero. I told you this city was civilised. Blimey, I might be tempted to choose the beach option myself on a slightly hotter day.

We arrived at the stadium an hour before kick-off, purchased a bottle of beer each and walked around the outside perimeter of the stadium whilst enjoying said beer (imagine the likely fate of a glass beer bottle in the near vicinity of a UK football stadium). It was warm and sunny, around twenty degrees, and all very relaxed. Match tickets were purchased at the stadium for twenty five euros apiece and we took our seats in the upper tier of the south stand, behind the goal, around a quarter of an hour before kick-off. A programme (of sorts) is handed out, to those who want one, free of charge upon entry.

From my limited experience of Spanish football (total ten home matches at Cartagena plus this one), crowds at Spanish games tend to be more family orientated than in the UK and everyone brings a packed lunch. Notwithstanding the absence of quite so many “lads”, the vocal participation throughout a match is consistent across all sections of the ground, led by an “ultras” section who maintain a seriously impressive ninety-minutes of singing, chanting and flag waving. Away followings though are not really a thing in Spanish football, much to do with the distances involved. Aside from the four of us, the Cartagena contingent didn’t appear to extend into double figures but, there again, any Cartagena-based crow would have been looking at a return trip of around nine hundred miles to get to this match.

The Campos de Sport de El Sardinero is a neat and tidy bowl of a stadium with a capacity of just over twenty two thousand. The combination of early kick-off, warm afternoon and absence of away fans might easily have resulted in a flat atmosphere but far from it. The fourteen thousand largely beautiful, fit and civilised home fans created a cracking atmosphere led by their “ultras” at the north end of the ground. And it all felt very safe. All the harder to believe therefore that, eleven years ago, some of these same fans attempted to storm the directors’ box, throwing bottles and other projectiles at club president Ángel Lavín, in protest at the financial mismanagement of the club at the time. The club’s financial problems were eventually rectified, two years later, with the raising of new funds via share issue by which time Lavín and his board had been ousted and Lavín was later to be jailed for his part in the mismanagement of the club.

It was this sad state of affairs off the pitch that led to the inclusion of SAD as part of the club’s official title, i.e. Real Racing Club de Santander, SAD - a sort of public shaming if you will. That is, of course, absolute bollocks although I find the concept to be not without its appeal. SAD actually stands for Sociedad anónima deportiva being a special type of public limited company for sports clubs, introduced in 1990 to help improve financial management and transparency, not that it appears to have worked for Racing in 2013.

Anyway, the game kicked off and so did Cartagena’s Tomás Alarcón who was yellow-carded in the first minute. Despite this, Cartagena started much the better organised and dangerous of the two teams and they took the lead in the sixth minute. From a smart move down the right hand side, striker Ortuño tapped in Jairo Izuierdo’s low pull-back from the byline. Racing created a couple of shooting opportunities by way of response but Cartagena could easily have gone in at half time with the match out of sight. The second half saw Racing far more dominant but Cartagena defended well, content to soak up the pressure and await the occasional opportunity to break. One such opportunity saw Racing’s Iván Morante sent off for a cynical foul on seventy five minutes. Thirteen minutes later Andrés Martín made it two red cards for the home team although he had already been substituted twenty three minutes earlier so either the referee played the longest advantage ever or Andrés had a bit too much to say from the touchline. To rub salt into the wound, Cartagena’s Kiko Olivas scored a breakaway second goal for the away team in the sixth minute of injury time as the hosts threw everything and everyone in search of an equaliser.

So, an unexpected but deserved three points for FC Cartagena in their efforts to climb away from the relegation spots. Manager Calero has them playing much cuter than earlier in the season and they were able to frustrate the home team and boss the game as a consequence. 

We strolled back towards the city centre taking the more direct route from the stadium which included a half mile long traffic and pedestrian tunnel under the hills, escalators and travelators above. Once back in the heart of the city, we took it upon ourselves to research more of the bars on offer including the food and drink hall at Mercado del Este, three speakeasy styled bars and the more traditional pintxos type bars. And we had to do it all again on the Monday and Tuesday as the earliest flight back home wasn't until Wednesday morning.

Santander makes for a great football away day, irrespective of whether all participants actually like football or not. If you like your footie but your other half doesn't then this is the trip for you. Trust me. I'm an ex-bank manager.