Those that know me know I’m very passionate about my football. I’m an Arsenal fan and despite living in Mallorca I’ll always try to catch a game when I can. I’m a Real Mallorca season ticket holder and I have two boys that play football for CD San Francisco in Palma. I’ve said before that when I’m saying anything on the sidelines watching the boys I mostly do it English as not many people can understand me. I have to be honest and say that I’ve said things at times I probably shouldn’t but as the boys have got older I’ve definitely mellowed. Parents here and back in the UK are told to behave themselves whilst watching games but at times that doesn’t happen. 

Interestingly I’ve noticed something creeping into the professional game and particularly in the Premier League in the last year. Parents of professional players have come out and defended their own sons in the media. Now these are two high profile players, who are also England Internationals. I am talking about Harry Maguire and Aaron Ramsdale. The circumstances are different though for these two. Harry’s was in relation to how he was playing and Aaron’s was the fact that he had been replaced by another player. 

Harry’s Mother said, “As a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life, never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country.”

Aaron’s Father said, “Aaron’s lost that smile to when he was holding onto that ball at this moment in time. It really is difficult to see him there and we all keep saying you need to keep smiling.

“Aaron is going to be the cup goalkeeper, and David Raya is going to be the main man unless something happens, an injury or a sending-off. Aaron’s got to live with that and he is living with that even though he’s not been told it. By anybody.

“Even though the way it’s been done, in my eyes, it’s been wrong and we can talk about that but it’s the decision. Really and truly we’ve got to get behind David Raya. He’s part of the family now. Whether it’s only until May-June of next year. It won’t be, it’ll be longer in my eyes, but that’s by the by.”

Now I’m split on whether this is right or wrong. We live in a society where everyone rightly has an opinion, the problem is now there are a lot more ways to express that opinion. Back when I grew up you read about these things in the newspapers. But the saying used to be, ‘todays headline tomorrow’s chip paper’. Meaning it was forgotten about normally the following day. TV didn’t have its own dedicated football channels like they do now, newspapers had to be bought but now you can read them online and probably the worst of all where abuse is concerned is social media. The abuse of players is not a new thing. If you’ve watched the very good David Beckham documentary you would have seen the awful abuse that he got after getting sent-off for England in the 1998 World Cup. But almost all of it was in the newspapers. Interestingly Harry Maguire has commented that Beckham reached out to him after the abuse he got.

Being an Arsenal fan I was more interested in the Aaron Ramsdale story. I have a Son who is a goalkeeper and he idolises him. I personally think that Ramsdale has been unlucky in what has happened. Most of the big teams around Europe you will find two quality players for every position, but it’s unusual to have two top class goalkeepers. When we went to watch Arsenal in Seville we made sure that we were in the ground to watch the goalkeepers warm up. David Raya the new keeper spent most of his time practicing his kicking which is what Arteta the Arsenal manager has brought him in for. I made a point of looking at what Ramsdale was doing and he practiced as hard as he would have if he was playing. 

I asked my Son how he would feel that if he was a professional footballer and I said something to the media to defend him. He said he probably wouldn’t be too happy and then thought about it for a moment and said maybe they asked their parents to do it. He may not be wrong you know as neither have actually commented about it themselves and maybe this was a way of airing their frustrations. 

Some might say that the industry they’re in, the money they get paid, they should expect it, they’re grown men and should stick up for themselves. 

Others will point to their mental health and the effect it also has on their families. I will sit on the fence for this one and let you debate it amongst yourselves. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Last week I was talking about winter here in Mallorca but thoughts are already turning now to next Summer. Easter falls early next year at the end of March so there’s not too much time to relax. At Pirates we’re already making plans and we have some great offers coming up for next weeks Black Friday. If you’ve got friends or family coming over next Summer you should keep your eyes out for those. Now, dare I say it? Well it’s only 39 sleeps until Christmas! In fact I’m a little late to the party because as soon as Halloween was over the slow drip of Christmas ads had started. The shops started stocking Christmas goodies and Mariah Carey was already warming up her vocal cords.

We’re not halfway through November, but already the widely agreed upon pair of greatest modern Christmas classics, Wham!’s Last Christmas and Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, have entered the chart at No 37 and No 40 respectively. Last year, it took until the third week of November for a Christmas song to appear, namely All I Want for Christmas Is You. Each song will now almost certainly remain in the chart for the rest of the year, and possibly into early 2024.

Without doubt if you can write a good Christmas song or in some cases a not very good Christmas song then it could well give you a good income for the rest of your life. The Performing Rights Society or PRS as it’s known don’t tend to divulge this information easily to protect their artists privacy. But it’s a well known fact that the following artists make substantial amounts per year from just one song.

1. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade £1m 
2. “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl £400,000
3. “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey £400,000 
4. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby £328,000
5. “Last Christmas” by Wham! £300,000
6. “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney £260,000
7.  “Stop the Cavalry” by Jona Lewie £120,000
8. “2000 Miles” by The Pretenders £102,000
9. “Mistletoe and Wine” by Cliff Richard £100,000
10. “Stay Another Day” by East 17 £97,000

That’s royalty money but in the new era of listening to music, Spotify also pays out a pretty tidy sum too. Mariah Carey it probably won’t surprise you to know tops that list with a mind blowing 1,206,753,171 streams, yes that’s over a billion. Which will net Mariah a cool £2,968,613.00. 

If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a midweek or weekend Christmas shopping then for me Palma has it all. In fact if I was where I used to live in Hertfordshire it would take me longer to get to Lakeside which is a popular Christmas shopping centre than it would to fly to Palma. What Palma can offer that Lakeside can’t is a full array of shops in picturesque streets, 3 shopping centres in Porto Pi, Fan and Mallorca Outlets, history, hotels and unbelievable gastronomy. The lights in the Paseo del Borne rival anything you’ll see in Oxford Street and there are lots of great Christmas markets in close proximity. 

In my opinion no Christmas is complete until you get yourself a tree. Not a fake one for me, it has to be real. Last year I met a guy called Quentin who was bringing Christmas trees over to Mallorca from his families farm in Denmark. 

Their arborists (aka tree surgeons to you and I) have been growing and selling the highest quality, most sustainable and durable Normann fir Christmas Trees since the industry commenced in Denmark in the early 70´s. Their philosophy has always been to produce quality over quantity, whereby the ethical treatment of the workers, the earth and the clients is always respected and maintained, these are the values which are essential to their organisation. For every 8 trees they cut, they replant 10. We had one in our house last year and the tree he gave to the radio station we gave to the charity Es Refugi through our friends at Yachting Gives Back.

I can’t recommend their trees highly enough and it adds to the good feeling of Christmas. 

For more details please go to https://www.mallorcachristmastrees.com or call Quentin 658 342 941. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

This week has been the World Travel Market in London. It’s one of the three biggest tourist fairs that are important for tourism here in Mallorca. The other two are Fitur in Madrid from the 24th to the 28th of January and ATB in Berlin from the 5th to the 7th of March. All three cover the three main source markets to the island, Germany, the UK and of course Spain. 

2024 will see us enter our third year after the Covid pandemic and it seems that tourism numbers are not only as good as they were in 2019 but increasing which is good news for our islands biggest industry. It also seems that although the the three main source markets mentioned above are still doing well, we are seeing more and more visitors from other countries. 

This was the first travel market for our new Government here in the Balearics and from what I’ve seen and heard so far, this administration seem to be more tourist friendly than the last one. They haven’t has a lot of time to prepare fully as they only took over in July but I like what I’m hearing. I know that sound bites are all well and good and the proof in the pudding is in the eating. But at least they’re making the right noises. 

You may remember last year the then head of tourism Lucia Escribano allegedly said at the World Travel Market “We are not interested in having the budget tourists from the UK, we don’t care if they go elsewhere to Greece and Turkey,” She said she was misquoted and that she was talking about the fact that they wanted more people in the low season and not in the high season. But it was a fact that they said “we are not interested in promoting Mallorca in the Summer”.

This of course was seized upon by the UK tabloids and it turned into a very negative story. If tourism is your number one industry then you must be promoting it as much as you can and all year round. Responsible Tourism and relieving saturation in the high season seems to be the plan going forward but as I’ve said before next season will be the first test.

I have been lucky enough to interview two of the people who will be heavily involved in this. Maria Frontera Is the President of the Mallorca hotels federation  and comes from a tourist background. She worked for Tui and I first met her when she was running her family’s hotel in the Port of Soller. I personally think she’d make a great Tourism Minister but I’m not sure of her political ambitions and I’m sure the hotel Federation wouldn’t like to lose her. 

Juan Antonio Amengual is the new Mayor of Calvia and as a former director of hotels he has an extensive history in the World of tourism. He has said he wants change the law of excesses and wants to promote Calvia as a year round destination. 

As I said above it is a little early to judge right now and next year will be the gauge but the plans are good. I did speak to the hotel association of Magaluf and Palma Nova to find out how many hotels were remaining open during this  winter. Of the 86 hotels they have listed, disappointingly only 4 remain open. They are the Fergus Style Palma Nova, the Elba Sunset Mallorca, the Aparthotel Vistasol and the apartments Roc Portonova. Magaluf has become a ghost town but there is a little more life in Palma Nova. When I first arrived in Mallorca in 1990 both resorts were thriving in the winter and it’s sad to see it like this. Friends of mine were in Benidorm last weekend and of course it was rocking. There’s no reason why that can’t be the same here. 

I looked at the flight situation and that will also need improving. The north of the UK has always struggled but even down south the service isn’t great. There’s a daily Easyjet flight from Gatwick and a daily Ryanair flight from Stansted. Easyjet have a flight from Luton 3 times a week and BA have a daily service that seems to change between Gatwick, Heathrow and London City depending on the day. 

Lots of work ahead but hopefully we’re moving in the right direction. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

As soon as my team the Arsenal qualified for the Champions League I said to my two boys that if we draw a Spanish team then we will definitely go to an away game. When the draw was made I knew we had a pretty good chance because there were five Spanish teams in it. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Real Sociedad and Sevilla were all in the hat and any one of those would have been a great day out. I’d already seen Arsenal before at the two Madrid teams and at Barcelona so although they would have been great again a trip to Sevilla in the South or Sociedad in the North would be something different. We ended up drawing Sevilla and so the hunt was on for tickets, hotel and flights. 

I was moaning last week about the lack of low fares from the low cost airlines but we are lucky here on the islands as we get discounted travel. That’s only if we’re travelling around Spain and its islands. The Spanish government subsidises 75% of the fares of scheduled air transport for all EU citizens who are residents of the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla. For us Brits living in Mallorca it means to qualify for the discount, you must be a permanent resident, either with the green NIE stating ‘permanente’ or with the TIE card. You also need to get a resident certificate from the municipal council where you are registered. I got ours from one of the tourist information offices. So our return tickets to Sevilla were 75€, not each that was for all three! Now the airlines have been accused of putting up their prices to compensate for the discount especially around the holidays so you need to shop around or book as early as you can. 

The hotel I got was called the Torre Sevilla and it came on recommendation from a friend. It is the tallest building in Andalusia and in Seville and provides a panoramic view on all of city. 

Seville is the capital of Andalusia, the city has the world’s biggest gothic cathedral, which is the resting place of the World famous explorer Christopher Columbus who we celebrate in Spain on October 12th commemorating the first time that Columbus sailed for America in 1492.

If you’re interested in experiencing Spanish tapas culture, then there is arguably no better place to do this than Seville. Going on a tapas crawl can lead you from historic old bars serving up traditional Sevillano dishes to hip new eateries putting modern spins on old classics. We went to another recommendation called Bar Pelayo which I can pass on as a great place to go. 

I am really grateful to a friend called Jeff who sorted our tickets for us. To be honest we couldn’t have been any closer to the pitch. We had the Arsenal technical team in front of us and the academy team a few rows behind us. Also just two rows behind us was Arsenal legend Ian Wright who was happy to pose for photos with anyone who asked. 

The atmosphere inside the stadium was amazing and the Sevilla fans didn’t stop singing from the start of the game until the finish. Arsenal played well for 60 minutes and were cruising at 2-0 up. But the home side pulled one back and the last half hour was very nerve wracking but we held on for a 2-1 win. We all slept well that night and flew back to Mallorca the next morning. A great experience for all of us and hopefully we’ll be able to repeat it again soon. I said to my Wife we really must make more of the residents discount and see more of the mainland. Galicia, the Basque region and Rioja are three places that are on my list. Maybe we could tie it in with a Real Mallorca away game? Or maybe I shouldn’t mention that?

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

I returned to the UK for a couple of days this week to see my family. What has happened to the so-called low cost airlines? It’s very rare you can get what you would call a cheap flight anymore. If you’re travelling light then it’s not too bad but if you’re not then the extras if you want them normally add up to more than the original cost of the flight. Take Easyjet for example, others are available and do the same of course but they were the ones i travelled with. After you’ve selected the flights you want, you’re then offered the standard package, then standard plus, then essentials or flexi. All have different offerings with added costs of course, in fact if I had taken the flexi ticket my 150€ ticket had become 450€! I stuck to the standard fare as I was only going for a couple of days. Then I’m offered a seat choice which ranged from 11.99€ to 25.99€, which I skip. Don’t you find that there’s a 99% chance you’ll get a middle seat from the random selection? I’m then offered the chance to bring with me a “larger” cabin bag with the small bag that’s included in my fare, that’s 31.99€, which I decline. Now we get to the hold luggage, 39.49€ for 15kg or 48.24€ for 23kg. If I had sports equipment then it’s 84€ for 20kg or 104€ for 32kg. On the way I should mention I was offered car hire, insurance and every time I declined anything another pop up would appear saying are you sure you want to skip this part? By the time I got to the payment method I was exhausted. I’m not being funny but it’s all self check-in now at most airports so by the time I get on the plane I actually feel like I work for the company. 

All this reminds me of the famous joke told about Easyjets rival. 

Ryanair’s Micheal O’Leary arrives in a hotel in Dublin, he goes to the bar and asks for a pint of draught Guinness. 
The barman nodded and said, “That will be one Euro please, Mr. O’Leary.”
Somewhat taken aback, O’Leary replied, “That’s very cheap,” and handed over his money.
“Well, we try to stay ahead of the competition”, said the barman. “And we are serving free pints every Wednesday evening from 6 until 8. We have the cheapest beer in Ireland”
“That is remarkable value” Michael comments.
“I see you don’t seem to have a glass, so you’ll probably need one of ours.
That will be 3 euro please.
O’Leary scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat.
“Ah, you want to sit down?” said the barman. “That’ll be an extra 2 euro. – You could have pre-booked the seat, and it would have only cost you a Euro.”

“I think you may to be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please”
Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can’t squeeze in he complains “Nobody would fit in that little frame”.
“I’m afraid if you can’t fit in the frame you’ll have to pay an extra surcharge of €4.00 for your seat sir”.
O’Leary swore to himself, but paid up. “I see that you have brought your laptop with you” added the barman. “And since that wasn’t pre-booked either, that will be another 3 euro.”
O’Leary was so annoyed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, “This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager”.
“Ah, I see you want to use the counter,” says the barman, “that will be 2 euro please.” O’Leary’s face was red with rage.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do Mr. O’Leary,”
“I’ve had enough, What sort of Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!”
“Here is his E mail address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9 and 9.10 every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only 10 cents per second”

“I will never use this bar again”.
“OK sir, but remember, we are the only hotel in Ireland selling pints for one Euro”!

I mentioned last week about the awful goings on in the Middle East. I hope a solution is found soon but it doesn’t look there will be. With all this going on it seems like the Ukrainian and Russian war doesn’t make the news. I say this because last week in Pirates we invited a group of Ukrainian children to the show. We were contacted by a guy called Igor Volodko who has set up a company called Help to Ukrainian Children From Mallorca. It’s a charity project which brought 50 children between 8 and 12 years old who had been orphaned or part orphaned by the war. I was pleased to hear that lots of other businesses helped these children enjoy their time on Mallorca. 

Sadly the season is drawing to a close but we still seem to be very busy at Pirates as it’s half term in the UK. We’re building up to our famous Halloween double show. Firstly from 18.00 to 21.00 there’s the Monster Mash up of our Adventure and Reloaded shows for all ages. Pirates spooky spectacular is one of Mallorca’s most renowned events, this year expect to be haunted by some well-known creepy characters. Its fright night so there’s amazing prizes for those who come in the best fancy dress costumes! Enjoy an evening with plenty of tricks and treats… a pre-show dinner of roast chicken & chips, followed by an ice cream, with a vegetarian option on request. Soft drinks are included in the price and there is a fully licenced bar to purchase all your other drinks, followed by world-class entertainment with an evil twist! A spook-tacular night guaranteed. 

Secondly from 22.00 to the wee small witching hours there’s our Gringos Halloween beyond the grave rave. If you’re not aware of the phenomenon that is Gringos, then it’s an adult only rave-bingo night with prizes, on-stage audience dance-offs, tequila, and much more. But this one is a little bit different because we’re not only celebrating Halloween but it’s our final show of the season. 

You can book tickets online or please call (0034) 971 130411. 

Two wins last weekend for my two boys. Jake’s team won 3-0 and Jude’s team won 2-1. Both have away games this weekend so Dad Taxi is out earning his money. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

How amazing is this end of September and early October weather! Anybody that has booked these past few weeks would have their moneys worth. Imagine it’s made a few businesses think about extending their season and some who have already closed might be regretting that decision. There doesn’t seem to be a change coming soon if the weather forecast is to be believed although a blip looks on the cards next week. What I love about Mallorca is its total contrast. Saturday night I hosted our Gringos Bingo night. I have to say it was good to get back on the stage that I’d previously worked for 14 years. Gringos is so much fun, not only for the customers that come but for us on the stage too. I have to admit though at the end I was completely knackered and slept well that night. Sunday by contrast and only 10 minutes out of Magaluf we found ourselves at Puro Beach in the bay of Illetas. Everything about the day was just what I needed after Saturday night. The weather was great, the view beautiful, the sea inviting and the food,drink and service at Puro was second to none. And we just got back in time to watch my team Arsenal beat Manchester City 1-0, perfect! By the way we used a website called hotel treats, they offer vouchers to some of the luxury hotels, beach clubs and spas across the island and making them accessible to residents. Some great deals to be had in low season that would make a good birthday, anniversary or Christmas present. 

A couple of weeks ago I talked about sport leading the way on the island and turning it into an all year round destination. The current weather is only going to help this and hopefully persuade other people that this is not just a summer destination. I’m pleased to hear that the new administration in Calvia are looking at keeping the beaches open in the winter. More hotels will stay open say the council and so hopefully more cafes, bars and restaurants will too. The capital city Palma has established itself as a year round destination with culture, markets, gastronomy and shopping its pull. It’s up to other areas to look at their resorts and see what they could offer in the low season. I’ve said this on many occasions that Magaluf and Palma Nova were thriving winter destinations when I arrived on the island in 1990. Failure of successive Governments to invest in those resorts and to encourage both businesses and their workforce to work in the winter rather than claim unemployment benefit has resulted in where are now. Let’s hope that this is a turning point. 

I don’t think I’m qualified enough to talk about the awful scenes in Israel. But as a human being I’m totally lost on how we as the human race can sink so low. I remember growing up on the Middle East war and the peace deal signed in the late 70’s by Egypt and Israel. That was then followed by a peace deal with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1993. But as always religion gets in the way and slowly but surely the troubles return. I’m on neither side here, I just despair at what I’m witnessing. 

Another draw for Real Mallorca last weekend means they lie in 15th place having drawn five of their opening nine games. Draws will be needed to be turned into wins if we don’t want to be flirting with relegation again. Mixed results for my two boys at the weekend. Jacobs team lost 2-1 away at Poblense and Jude’s team won 3-6 away at Soller. Home games this weekend mean not too much travelling for Dad Taxi. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Being a football man there’s only one subject to talk about this week. Video Assistant Referee or VAR as it’s better known has had more back page column inches than any other football story. Now let’s remember that this system was brought in to alleviate clear and obvious mistakes that were happening in the game. What has actually happened is they are now re-refereeing games. Football, it’s laws and how it’s refereed is based on opinion and interpretation and one referees opinion will differ from someone else’s. Now I’m not just talking  about referees here, television, radio, newspapers and even the fans opinions will differ. Meaning that in truth you are never going to be able to get every decision correct. Most people thought that with the introduction of VAR this would change. But now we have the situation that the on field referees decision is being questioned by another two referees in a bunker miles away from the ground.  A refereeing team in the Premier League consists of the following, a Referee, 2 x Assistant Referees (aka linesmen), Fourth official, VAR, Assistant VAR. So that’s 6 different people who are all capable of refereeing a game. But who also have their own interpretation or opinion on how a game is run. 

I find myself not celebrating a goal anymore because I’m looking to see if there was an offside, a foul, a handball or something else untoward leading up to the ball going in. 

So in a way VAR is ruining the game. 

If you’ve not seen  what happened last Saturday I will explain. Tottenham were playing Liverpool, a very high profile game with two teams who were unbeaten and at the top end of the league. Let me get the yellow and red cards given, out of the way first. Remember now this is my opinion and my interpretation of what I saw. You may say well what do you know you’re not a qualified Ref but I’ve played and watched enough football to have what I think is a measured opinion. The red card on Curtis Jones wasn’t a red in my eyes. In fact the on field referee saw it as a yellow card. But by slowing it down and showing the referee a still of his boot on Bissouma’s shin as VAR did, it was changed to a red. An example of one referees opinion against another. He goes to win the ball as he does his boot rolls over the top of the ball and hits his opponents shin. Was there any malice? Not for me. But as it’s a game of opinions you can be sure that if he wasn’t sent-off and went on to score the winning goal the Spurs manager and fans would be saying well he should have been sent-off. 

The other red card for Diogo Jota was even worse than the first one. The first yellow card I don’t actually think he touched the Spurs player who then proceeds to trip over his own feet. The second yellow though admittedly was a foul and as it was about two minutes after the other one, the ref produced a red.

The most controversial decision though was the disallowed Luis Diaz goal. The on field decision was offside and it went to VAR to check it. VAR however thought the goal had been given and therefore checked if it was onside. They then agreed with the on field decision thinking that the goal had been given. Confusing I know but this was down to lack of communication and the proper protocol not being followed. 

In a statement “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool,” it began.

“The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.

“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error. PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.”

This week Jurgen Klopp has asked for the game to be replayed, wrong in my opinion. At this rate we’d replaying games left, right and centre. I know we probably can’t but I would go back to letting the referee and the two linesman run the game and it be stopped by VAR only for something that’s clear and obviously wrong. Nothing you do will take away different opinions and interpretations which means we’ll always have something to debate every weekend. Let’s hope that last weekend was a line in the sand. 

I received a message this week from a guy called Alan Jenkins. Saying that he and his wife were here in Mallorca for a few days and it would be good to catch up. I have to be honest and say I couldn’t remember who he was so embarrassingly I had to write back and ask him where we’d met. It turns out that the name Alan Jenkins was a made up name he used to use on Twitter. It was in fact Andy Jacobs the radio presenter who along with Paul Hawksbee has been doing an afternoon show on Talksport for the last 20 years. I’m a Talksport nut and their programme is the one I enjoy the most. It was a pleasure to spend an hour with him and his lovely wife Sue. They last visited Mallorca 50 years ago and were very impressed with how it’s changed. 

This Saturday Dad Taxi has football trips to Sa Pobla and Soller so earning my money but unfortunately not enough time to see Real Mallorca play Valencia. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

I maybe biased but Mallorca has lots of things to brag about. The weather, beaches, scenery, gastronomy, history, culture and top class attractions. 

For such a small island with a population of just under 1 million people we have a great history of producing world class sports men and women. 

Tennis player and winner of 22 Grand Slam titles Rafa Nadal, former World number one tennis player Carlos Moya, who is now Rafa’s coach. Mens footballer Marco Asensio currently at Paris Saint Germain, two of Spains World Cup winning women’s team footballers Cata Coll and Mariana Caldentey, Real Madrid basketball player Rudy Fernández, three time Moto GP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and one time Moto GP Champion Joan Mir. There are many more who may not have hit the heights of the people above but have and are still carving out great careers. This is not just about people competing, we have coaches who are now training top sportsmen away from the island too. In the sport I know best, football, Carlos Cuesta is an assistant coach at Arsenal and Carlos Vicens is an assistant coach at Manchester City.

It’s no surprise that Lionel Scaloni the World Cup winning coach of Argentina chooses to live here!

So how do we do it? Well you only have to look around to see the first class facilities we have around the island. Where I live in Calvia alone you can find football, golf, swimming, athletics, tennis, sailing, boxing, gymnastics, golf, and cycling, to name just a few. But all are top class not just a park with a couple of goal posts. 

With what we have in facilities, the athletes and coaches we produce it’s no wonder that other countries and athletes look at Mallorca as a place to come and train. What more can you ask for with what I’ve already written? I should add though which makes us even more attractive is that we’re an island in the Mediterranean only a couple of hours flight from most European cities, so access is easy. 

The reason I’m saying all this is we were contacted last week by the diver Tom Daley. In my mind Tom had retired from diving and wasn’t competing anymore. Last year I remember him and all his family coming to Pirates and enjoying a holiday here on the island. But his desire to return to the pool was ignited by his son who said he’d love to see his Papa compete at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Tom was here in Mallorca with the GB diving team training at the Son Hugo diving pool.

He contacted us to bring the whole team to Pirates. He was there to relax of course but was more than happy to answer a couple of questions. 

What are the expectations for you & the team going into Paris 2024? 

“I have only recently come back to the sport, so for me i want to enjoy the process and the journey to firstly qualifying for Paris and then doing the best I can!”

What makes Mallorca such a good place to do a training camp? 

“Mallorca is a great place for a pre season training camp, the weather, the facilities, the food and the people. We have been coming here since 2012!”

I’m sure between now and the Olympics next year we’re going to see more and more athletes and teams from around the World training and enjoying our island. Remember this is something that will help our economy and help us to become an all year round destination. 

I went to see Palma Futsal play Barcelona on Tuesday on the same night that Real Mallorca were also playing Barcelona. Futsal in case you didn’t know is indoor 5 a side football played in two halves of 20 minutes. It’s fast and furious and a little bit like a game of basketball. Palma Futsal are the reigning European Champions which is something to shout about. From 0-2 down at half-time they came back to win 5-4. Given the choice I prefer 11 a side football but judging by the 4,000 crowd that were there it’s very popular here. We came out of that stadium to watch Mallorca play Barcelona. I was very impressed with the atmosphere the club built up before the game and they have to be congratulated on the money spent on improving the stadium. The new screen on top of the new stand is very impressive. 

Mallorca decided to turn up for this game and didn’t look a team that is struggling for goals. A 2-2 draw was well deserved against a top of the league Barcelona team and I hope they can continue that desire into the next game and beyond.

My two sons had differing results over the weekend. Jude’s team won 3-1 against Son Sardina and went to the top of the league. But Jake’s team got gubbed 5-0 against top of the table CE Espanya. Home games this week means that Dad Taxi has an easy weekend. Although I’m also appearing as Bad Santa at the Gringos Christmas night on Saturday. If you fancy letting your hair down then go to http://www.gringosbingo.com online for tickets. Residents get 15€ off with the code XMAS 15. 

Take care everybody and enjoy your weekend!

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com