After a week when Liz Truss complained in an interview that being compared to a lettuce was not funny – “I take great offence at being likened to a weak, flimsy ball of slime that’s one step away from being a cabbage” countered the lettuce! – Real Mallorca wind down their roller-coaster ride of a season with a nothing-to-play-for final league game away at Getafe in Madrid on Sunday 26th at 2pm. This will be the last game when coach Aguirre takes charge after Wednesday’s announcement that he will not be given a contract extension for 24/25.
After Sunday’s game the nightmare of the 23/24 league season is over, and it’s seemed like an eternal ordeal of a campaign. Our brilliant cup run, resulting in an appearance in the final against Athletic Club in Seville in April, was our only incentive as we fought to keep our La Liga place intact.
As per usual with 65-year-old Mexican coach Javier Aguirre, the great and prime objective was that Real Mallorca stayed in the first division, which is another way of saying “avoided relegation”! Aguirre’s legacy will be achieving permanence, playing in the Copa del Rey final and getting into the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup that will be played next January 2025 in Saudi Arabia against Real Madrid.
Mallorca were saved from going down because there were three teams worse than us, Cadiz, Granada and Almeria (making it an embarrassing season for Andalucian football). We have won (with one game to go) seven games, drawing 16 and losing 14. With 37 points, the Palma side would have been relegated to the second division in the last two seasons but the main reason we’ve been less than adequate this time has been our lack of goals, 31, with our three strikers scoring only 13 between them. Away from Palma, once again, our form has been dreadful, with only one win on the road – at Celta Vigo last September.
In reality, Mallorca have had a better squad than most sides at the wrong end of La Liga but the system used by Aguirre, starting most games with just one up front and five at the back, has been dire to watch at times. With a new coach, Jagoba Arrasate, due to sign on the dotted line on Monday, we have to hope he’ll be more adventurous and play entertaining football to appease our more than 20,000 regular fan base. Seeing a game out has been a huge problem for Mallorca this season, often going ahead then failing to capitalise has made the final minutes of most matches an ordeal.
The season started back in August with the largest investment during the Summer transfer window in the club’s history. The priority with the signings of Darder and Larin was to take the team forward to a new level when in fact we’ve taken several steps back as we finish this campaign with more doubts than certainties.
There won’t be a lot of money available for next season as we finished fourth bottom. In La Liga this season Girona coming third top has been a huge and welcome surprise. However, Spanish football still sees a tyrannical dominance by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, with the decline in the level amongst the more modest sides, of which for the moment RCD Mallorca is one, clear for all to see.
No Fan’s View would be complete without a mention this week of a true Mallorca legend – Salva Sevilla. Now 40 years old, he has just won promotion for the fifth time in six years with Deportivo La Coruña who have gone up to La Segunda after five years in Segunda B. He’s also won promotion three times with Mallorca and once with Alaves. There’s never been a more charismatic player to pull on the Number 8 shirt for Real Mallorca and he was one of the most important players of the last decade.
PS Fan’s View would also like to thank Javier Aguirre for his hard work and expertise in keeping Real Mallorca in La Liga against all odds. As usual, when the coach of the club I’ve followed passionately for over 40 years comes to the end of his tenure on the island, it’s a very poignant moment. I wish him all the best for the future as he heads off to another new footballing adventure and I’m sure wherever he ends up he’ll instil his vast knowledge of the game. Thanks for the memories, good and bad, MUCHAS GRACIAS MISTER.
AND FINALLY
A sign seen in the Rockies: WARNING – Due to the frequency of human/bear encounters, the Fisheries and Welfare Office is advising hikers, hunters and fishermen to take extra precautions while out in the mountains. We advise adventurers to wear noisy little bells on clothing so as to give advance warning to any bears that might be close by you, so you don’t take them by surprise. We also advise anyone using the out-of-doors to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. People should be aware of fresh bear activity and be able to tell the difference between black bear poo and grizzly bear poo. Black bear poo is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear poo has bells in it and smells of pepper!!