After a week when I heard that Indian fighter pilots dropped 1,000 onion bhajis and 500 pakoras on Pakistan – and that was just for starters! – Real Mallorca play their final home game of the season on Sunday, May 18 against 15th placed Getafe, kick off in Son Moix 7pm. We beat “Los Azulones” 0-1 in Madrid just before Christmas with a penalty converted by Cyle Larin. The men from south Madrid have long been regarded as the dirtiest team in La Liga, a reputation earned by the approach of their boss Bordelas and they committed a whopping 18.58 fouls per game last season.
As Mallorca wind down their season it’s a case of mission accomplished as with 47 points they’ve sealed another campaign (fifth) in top flight Spanish football. However, this term has exposed two versions of “Los Bermellones,” one from August to December when we were intense, hard to beat and were more than capable of putting so-called bigger teams (in both sporting and economic terms) to the sword. The other version (December to May) hasn’t had the same intensity and we’ve lost almost half of our matches (7 defeats in 15 games) and for whom any opponent, no matter how bad they are (or in Valladolid’s case, already relegated), have caused us problems.
For a team with aspirations of playing in the Conference League next season, the lack of effort from some of the players has made many fans angry. No matter how much the absence of key players has affected our run-in, many of them have run out of form at the wrong time. One exception is Sergi Darder who’s managed to play to expectations and he’s been involved in six of Mallorca’s last eight goals.
Recent results have shown our European dream is just that and as coach Arrasate said the other day “Of course we’re incredibly excited that we could finish in a European position but it would be a real problem for us to play on a Thursday and Sunday next season.”
At this time of year our director of football Pablo Ortells takes centre stage as he designs a new team for next season. Ortells is quiet, discreet and keeps a low profile at the club but when there’s some breaking football news our CEO Alfonso Diaz acts as the representative of the ownership. In most other La Liga clubs any express news or opinion exclusive to the sporting world should be handled and delivered by the sporting director. If by some stroke of luck Mallorca do make it into next season’s Conference League, transfers and Europe will determine Mallorca’s 2025/26 planning. Unless a player is sold for a lot of money, no major signings are expected. If we do make the European dream come true via the Conference League, the investment will be minimal because the prize money is derisory. There’s a massive difference between the Europa League and the Conference. To qualify for the Conference group stage, you must overcome a play-off in early August. Next season’s La Liga is pencilled in to start on the weekend of August 15. It would be a disaster if Mallorca built a squad to participate in Europe and then went out in the preliminary round.
Saturday’s game will see our coach Jagoba Arrasate reach the milestone in professional football management of 501 games. In his nearly 12 years as a football coach, the former school teacher born in the town of Berriatua in the Basque country, hasn’t seen many frequent changes in his career but rather consistency and long-term projects. He was dismissed in his second season as coach at Real Sociedad while during his three-season spell at Numancia and a six-year stint at Osasuna, he chose when to leave, like last Summer when he signed for us.
Arrasate will have a huge say in the construction of the future squad and hopefully will rectify some of the mistakes made by Ortells last Summer. Arrasate knows he’s partly to blame for our end of season slump so it’s his responsibility to get us back to the form we showed at the start before Christmas.
PS A big shout out to fellow Scottish Mallorquinista Tom Cummine from Puerto Andratx who broke both his arms in an accident. Fan’s View wishes him a speedy recovery.
AND FINALLY, a ten-year-old girl asked her mother “Mummy, how was I born?” The mother smiled and replied “Once upon a time, me and your daddy decided to plant a wonderful little seed. Daddy put it in the earth and I took care of it every single day. After a while the seed started to grow more and more leaves and in a few months, it turned into a beautiful, healthy plant. So mummy and daddy took the plant, dried it, smoked it and got so high that we had carnal knowledge but forgot to use a condom!!”