Category: Uncategorized

Mallorca Shines in Another Industry

I’m always banging on about football in Mallorca and how important it is to the youth of our island but also the success of Real Mallorca and its importance to the island’s tourism industry cannot be underestimated. As it works mainly in the low season from late August to early May it should be shouted from the rooftops how well they are doing. Mallorca’s average home attendance last season was 14,798 and this season it currently stands at 17;193. The club has a record 20,000 season ticket holders compared to 16,000 last season and there is no doubt that the stadium improvements with more still to come are a big factor in this. The league form hasn’t been amazing and there’s still work to do to avoid relegation but the run to the Copa del Rey final has caught the fans attention. I talked last week about the difficulty in getting to the final in Seville but you could see as many as 20,000 make the trip. 

Tourism is our number one industry and I hear about more and more people coming to the island to take in a game. Mallorca have five home games left and two of those are against Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid which I’m sure will draw sellout crowds. 

The success of Real Mallorca’s first team has helped its U-19 Division Honor team to make history by winning the Copa del Rey Juvenil for the first time in their history. The team won 4-2 on penalties against RCD Espanyol in Oviedo after 120 minutes of high quality football but with no one managing to score a goal. This is a competition with the majority of teams from La liga represented including Real Madrid and Barcelona. A friend of mine went to watch the game and was very impressed by the team. Some of those players will be integrated into the first team or the B team next season and some will move onto other professional teams but it’s great to see them doing so well. 

Probably one of the best players Real Mallorca has produced is Marco Asensio. He started at a local club Platges de Calvia, followed by Real Mallorca. He then moved to Real Madrid and is now plying his trade at Paris Saint Germain. This week it was announced by Calvia Council that the Platges de Calvia stadium in Magalluf will be renamed the Marco Asensio Stadium in tribute to its finest player. 

Whilst this is all good news for Mallorca I’m still surprised that they still haven’t got a Women’s team, despite the island providing two of Spains World Cup winners in Cata Coll and Mariana Caldentey. It’s a subject I’m trying to get more information on. However our other professional team here in Mallorca, Atlético Baleares does have a very successful women’s team which to be honest is currently doing better than their Men’s team. Despite only being formed in 2018 they have made their way from local leagues to the Segunda RFEF which in women’s football is equivalent to the third division. They are currently in third place with an opportunity to get promoted to the Primera RFEF and then they will be one promotion from the highest women’s league in Spain. A great achievement.

Success on the pitch comes from good coaching and two of the biggest clubs in the English Premier League have coaches that were born here in Mallorca. 

Carlos Vicens of Manchester City was born in Colonia de San Jordi here on the island and started his career as the academy director and assistant manager at CD Llosetense. He joined City’s academy in 2017 and after a successful season in 20-21 as a Head Coach of the U18s, winning the FA Youth Cup and being crowned U18 Premier League National Champions, he was promoted to the first team as Assistant Coach under Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2021. As assistant coach he was credited on Match of the Day last Sunday as the architect for Jon Stones goal against Liverpool last weekend. 

Carlos Cuesta at just 28 years old has already got a very impressive coaching CV. He was born here in Palma and was an accomplished footballer playing at Santa Catalina Atlético and representing a Balearic representative side alongside fellow Mallorquín and Real Madrid player Marco Asensio. But playing wasn’t his thing, he enjoyed coaching so started with his clubs Benjamin(U-9 to U-10’s) team. After training the kids for four years, at 18 years old, Carlos moved to Madrid to study at INEF (Faculty of Sciences for Physical Activity and Sport) and also helped out at Atletico Madrid. Where, as he did here in Mallorca, he took control of a number of the youth teams and all the while he watched Diego Simeone coach the first team. Since then he has worked at Manchester City with Pep Guardiola and at Juventus with Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri. He is now part of the new set up at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, who was part of Pep’s coaching team where he first met Carlos. 

He speaks a remarkable six languages; English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Catalan and works on a one-on-one basis with the players.

His focus is heavy on technical skills and tactical ideas, while physical loading is kept to the minimum. The training sessions are filmed and Cuesta does a lot of video analysis with Arsenal’s stars individually. For him it’s about holistically working out a player’s identity to find out what they need to thrive, leaning on their physical, mental, technical and tactical capabilities and requirements. That without doubt would have helped the players in the penalty shootout win against Porto last Tuesday. Even though he is only 28, he is already being talked about as a future manager. 

Once again Mallorca shines through in another industry and it’s remarkable when you think the population is just under one million people. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

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

Call Off Youth Football!(only for one weekend)

Mallorca’s finest L-R Javi Llabres, Antonio Sánchez, Abdon Prats & Sergi Darder

I wanted to follow up on something I wrote in February about the great strides Real Mallorca had made with their stadium and particularly in the their corporate offerings. I was positively critical if that’s grammatically correct as I didn’t want them to forget the true supporters who’d been with them through thick and thin. I am pleased to say I got a reply from the club the other day from Joan Serra who is the Commercial Director.

“I appreciate the points that you raise in your piece. It is evident that there are still some things missing to finish the project and among those that are missing are those that you mention in your email. We do not stop working on improving all aspects that make up a match day. Rest assured that we are working on it and in the near future you will notice these new features and improvements.”

I’ve done a bit of digging and found out that there will be in the North end of the stadium a high-performance sports clinic, a fitness center with spa, a coworking space and a two-story Sports Bar.

Without doubt when it is finished Real Mallorca will have one of the most impressive stadiums in La Liga. Saying that it is important that they remain in the league. There are 11 games to go and with Mallorca on 27 points, the target has to be 40 points to survive. If only they could replicate their Copa Del Rey form into La Liga as last week they won an incredible semi-final second leg against Real Sociedad on penalties to reach the Copa Del Rey final. No one gave them a hope after drawing the first leg 0-0 but a 1-1 draw in Sociedad meant they went to penalties. Dominic Grief their reserve keeper was the hero saving a first half penalty and one in the shootout giving them a 5-4 win. Every player who took a penalty buried it, meaning they go to their first final in 21 years. It’s an amazing achievement for a club that got relegated to the Segunda B(3rd division) in the 2016/17 season. 

They have reached the final three times in their history. Runners up in 1990/91 and 1997/98 and they won it in 2002/03 beating Recreativo Huelva 3-0 with 2 goals from Samuel Eto’o. That was 21 years ago, meaning that neither of my sons have seen Mallorca win a trophy. It’s just like being a fan of the other team from North London(Tottenham to the rest of you.) We were at Son Moix the night they beat Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 in the play-off final to get back into La Liga. If they could win the final against Athletic Club de Bilbao it would be probably their finest achievement. 

The problem for us fans here in Mallorca is how to get there. As soon as the winning penalty went in at 12.30 in the morning, I started to look at flights but stupidly went to bed without reserving any. The next morning they had all gone. I frantically looked and managed to find a flight with Iberia which wasn’t direct to Sevilla but with our island discount the price wasn’t too bad. The price of hotels was ridiculous and that was before Bilbao had got to the final. Since then I know many fans who are struggling to find either a flight or a ferry to get there, never mind a hotel. Surely the airlines should be putting on more flights and at regulated prices? Now none of us have actually got a ticket yet as the details haven’t been released. But I’ve been told that each club should get an allocation of 20,000 seats and as we have that number of season ticket holders that should be enough as not everyone will want to or be able to go. 

With that in mind I’m calling on the FFIB (Federation of football in the Balearics) to call off all of the youth football games that weekend of the 5th, 6th and 7th of April. To give all parents and their children a chance to go to Seville. This has been a wait of 21 years and the island and its football team needs all the support it can get.

As you probably know I have two boys playing in the youth football system and there’s nothing better than seeing our professional team doing well. As it gives all our youngsters something to aim for. In fact the club pictured this week four players from its first team squad that were born here in Mallorca. Abdon Prats and Sergi Darder both born in Arta, Antonio Sánchez born in Palma, Javi Llabres born in Binnisalem. It’s great to see locally born players doing so well and long may that continue. I do hope they do the island proud on April 6th. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

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

Isn’t This All A Bit Draconian?

In 1990 when I first arrived in Mallorca families used to visit the island every month. So you wouldn’t see a major difference whether the children were on holiday from school or not. This changed however in 2012 when the coalition government of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats brought in a law that only allowed children to go on holiday in the official school holidays. The Minister was Michael Gove(remember him?). He said at the time “It is wrong for parents to take children out of school during term time to take advantage of cheaper holidays and there should be a call for action to stop holiday companies cashing in by ramping up prices during the school holidays.” He added “that the holiday industry should look at itself in the mirror and ask whether it was doing enough to help its customers.”

Well that didn’t work did it. Tour operators, airlines, hotels, in fact pretty much everybody involved in the tourist industry puts their prices up in school holidays. I know as I book mine at Christmas both in the UK and abroad. 

I mention this as the government have decided in their wisdom to raise the fine for parents removing their children from school for a holiday in term time. Under the new national framework, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons. From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days.

You have to get permission from the head teacher if you want to take your child out of school during term time.

You can only do this if:

  • you make an application to the head teacher in advance (as a parent the child normally lives with)
  • there are exceptional circumstances

It’s up to the head teacher how many days your child can be away from school if leave is granted.

Isn’t this all a bit Draconian? What about asking Governments to actually think outside the box and relaxing the rules on not allowing kids to travel during term times? Before 2013 this was the case and do we truly believe that kids suffered in their education? This is not about encouraging truancy this would be an agreement between parents and teachers who let’s face it are the people who should decide not a Government Minister. If the child has a good attendance record and is not behind in their work in my view they should be encouraged to go on holiday. Seeing new countries, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages and tasting different cuisines should be part of their education. 

And of course Mallorca would be the perfect destination. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

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

A Bumper Year For Mallorca But Can We Cope?

Mallorca looks like it’s going to have a bumper season, that’s not just coming from me take a look at what industry experts are saying.

The CEO of Tui Stefan Baumert highlights Mallorca as one of the preferred Mediterranean holiday destinations. Mallorca is in fact exceeding all expectations: “Mallorca is way ahead in terms of current bookings and we expect demand to be higher than ever this summer.”

Steve Heapy the CEO of Jet2 says “with more seats and hotels on sale than ever, Mallorca is quite simply the perfect holiday destination.”

The President of the Mallorca Hotel  Federation, Maria Frontera, says that “in addition to July and August, British tourists are increasingly opting for Mallorca in the months before and after the summer”.

Palma’s airport Son Sant Joan, will break all historical records in terms of air traffic. Both the number of planned seats and the number of flight movements will reach unprecedented levels.

This is evident from data released by the Spanish Association for the Coordination and Facilitation of Slots. This consists of the aviation authority AENA and fourteen European airlines. Moreover, it concerns the traffic forecasts for the summer period from March to October.

According to AECFA, the airlines will offer 33,483,816 seats. That is an increase of 16.3% compared to 2023. This follows a year that already set a record with an increase of 9.7% compared to 2019, until then the year with the most planned seats (29.6 million).

From where I work at Pirates we are seeing unprecedented levels of online bookings making us reconsider our show calendar on a weekly basis. 

Now this is all well and good but in order to be able to look after all these people the island needs a strong and reliable workforce. The problem is that since Brexit and the pandemic the workforce that used to arrive in the summer months isn’t coming anymore. Firstly the Spanish workers that would come here from the mainland in their droves are now not coming. Whilst the wages are averagely better here, the cost of living is not. Property rentals have become too expensive for most, with quite a few hotel chains now housing their workforce in their own hotels. The overall costs of bringing in goods from the mainland has made prices rise to a level seen before. I’ve mentioned the problem in getting a taxi here on the island before and when you get to the peak season it’s almost impossible to get one. But that is the same across nearly all industries, there’s a distinct lack of workers. If you cannot find those people you may choose to look elsewhere. However Spain doesn’t make that easy for you either. I believe our political state of flux hasn’t helped and other EU countries are currently cheaper on their cost of living. But if you want to employ a non-EU worker, that’s another ball game altogether. 

I will try to explain. In order to hire non-EU employees with a temporary work visa, you must publish the job offer in the autonomic public portal SOIB (the Balearic job Seekers Service) and it must be published for approximately one month. 

If there are no Spanish/European workers interested in the job offer, SOIB sends an official document stating that no one has applied and those jobs are then on the list of hard-to-hire professionals. Without this document, the Immigration Department will not grant a visa to any worker coming from outside the European Community. 

If and when you do find a non-European person for a particular job, see how long it takes to then get that visa. The problem? Lack of staff to process them, you couldn’t make it up!

From a UK workers point of view the problem is just as bad. Bars, restaurants, cafes and clubs used to rely on seasonal workers for the summer. But since Brexit the UK has become persona non grata like any other non-EU country. British citizens’ EU citizenship and free movement rights ended when the Brexit transition period expired on the 31st of December 2020. Those rights had enabled them to visit, live, work or study in an EU Member State without needing a visa. I liken Brexit voters to how the authorities are wanting Magaluf to change. They are all forgetting they were young once and are denying the youngsters of today the freedom they enjoyed when they were young. In other words a very small minded and selfish way of looking at life. Will this change? Well there is a push to do so. As the UK is suffering in just the same way in filling job vacancies that used to be taken by EU workers. 

It’s in the hands of our politicians and there my friends is where I’ll leave it because we could like a visa application be waiting a very long time!

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 

Steve Wright in the Afternoon A Tribute

I grew up in a time before the World Wide Web, mobile phones, Social Media, You Tube and Sky TV, I know unbelievable isn’t it? The only live football game we were able to watch was the FA Cup Final in May. Match of the Day was on a Saturday night and The Big Match was on a Sunday afternoon, with both showing highlights of the weekends games. My love of football was strong then and I kept in touch with it by listening to BBC Radio 2 or Sport on 2 as it was known. Renton Laidlaw was the presenter with Bryon Butler and Peter Jones the commentators and the full-time results were read by James Alexander Gordon. I think probably this was where my love of radio started. 

I wouldn’t say I was a huge music fan, I would listen to Radio 1 but it wasn’t something I religiously tuned into like I did with sport. That was until March 1981 when a new show started in the afternoons on Radio 1 from 2pm until 5pm. It was called Steve Wright in the Afternoon and it was about to change radio forever. Sadly I sit here today to pay tribute to the man that was the soundtrack to our afternoons. 

I was of course listening to the radio when I heard the tragic news of his passing. It came as quite a shock and it felt like I had lost a member of my family. Steve Wright in the Afternoon was totally different than anything heard before on radio. He brought Zoo radio to our ears. A live radio show which consists of two or more presenters, music, chat, guest interviews, characters, an audience phone-in and competitions delivered in a spontaneous, comic way. Steve’s “posse” as they were known were Janey Lee Grace, Tim Smith with the traffic news coming from firstly Sally Boazman(aka Sally Traffic) and from 2014, Bobbi Pryor. One of the most memorable parts of the shows for me were the characters and I’ve got very nostalgic this past week listening back to some of them. 

Probably my favourite was Sid the manager, “Hello Boy, Sid here” and the sign off would always be , “I’ll speak to you later, Hello?” I can still hear the voice now. A very good friend of mine Ian and I still answer the phone to each other by saying “hello boy!”

Mr Mad “he’s not mad he’s raving mad!”

Mick Jagger, voiced so  impressively by Phil Cornwall who said that he’d heard Jagger himself had said that he’d once heard himself on radio and that he couldn’t remember speaking to Steve Wright. 

Mr Angry from Purley, “I’m so angry I’m going to throw this phone down!”

Old Woman was played by Joyce Frost who was an actual old woman who sadly passed away in 2016. At one point Steve was asked to drop the character because of “stereotyping”, however Joyce stepped in and said she would be devastated if she lost her role on the show.

Others that featured were, Damian the social worker, Gervais the hairdresser, John Bole, Barry from Watford, Elvis with the feature Ask Elvis and so many more.

Steve had great features which held the show together. Things like “It’s another true story” which then became Factoids. In fact he could even make the weather sound fun and interesting. His preparation was second to none, it became his life. His fellow DJ Paul Gambaccini said Steve would finish his show on a Friday and fly to America and be back on Sunday just so he could listen to American radio shows for ideas and content. He would holiday there too and drive around in a car just listening to different radio stations. 

After his move from Radio 1 to Radio 2, Steve Wright in the Afternoon was to become The Big Show. Not in any pretentious way it just was the biggest and by far the best.  On July 1st 2022, Wright announced on air that the show would end in September 2022, as Radio 2 boss Helen Thomas “wanted to do something different in the afternoons”. The final show was broadcast on September 30th. He took it so well and continued his other show Sunday Love Songs which he used to pre-record. It was a show my Wife would listen to and even when you heard it you could hear it still had that Steve Wright fun element. 

My only regret is I didn’t listen enough in his latter years as I’d discovered Hawksbee & Jacobs on Talksport who were on at the same time. 

However on BBC sounds you can find a collection of programmes and podcasts where you can hear Steve doing what he loved best, interviewing some of the biggest stars in the World.

Steve Wright to me was the G.O.A.T. and the King of afternoon radio. Like Terry Wogan or to me Chris Evans was to Breakfast. It’s  made me think that my time in radio isn’t over just yet. A better work, health and family balance and I will be back in the future. 

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 

The Home Of Live Music

Mention Mallorca and the majority of people will agree it is an island of contrast. From the beautiful beaches in the North, to the mountains of the West, the caves and coves of the East and the bustling busy nightlife of the South. There is something for absolutely everyone. 

One thing you might not think about when coming to the island is live music. But over the years Mallorca has hosted some of the biggest artists in the World. Including Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Simply Red and David Guetta to name just a few. This year is looking like a bumper year if you love your live music and it’s happening in all genres.

At Pirates last year we trialled a series of DJs at our Reloaded show, including the legend that is Judge Jules and Fat Boy Slim and Zoe Ball’s son Woody Cook. They were all amazing but the one that definitely grabbed the audience was Charlie Sloth. He played three shows in May, June and September and each one sold out. So this year we decided to sign him for a residency every Friday at Reloaded from May 10th to September 13th. 

Charlie Sloth is a British DJ, hype man, producer, and TV presenter. He worked as a presenter and presented the daily drivetime show on BBC Radio 1Xtra from September 2012 to November 2017. He hosts the Rap Show and curates playlists for Apple Music. In addition, it was announced that Sloth had signed a deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation in August 2020. In addition to his work on radio, Sloth is also a successful live DJ. He has toured extensively around the world, and he has played at some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Glastonbury, Coachella, and Wireless. He is a popular figure in the UK music scene, helping to launch the careers of a number of successful artists, including Stormzy, Skepta, and Dave.

He is also an investor and brand ambassador for AU Vodka. Set up in 2015 by two teenage boys from Wales who thought they could do things just a little better. One of those boys Charlie Morgan, became famous earlier in his life, as he was the ball boy who was kicked by Chelsea player Eden Hazard in a league cup semi-final. The brand reportedly sold 3.5 million bottles in 2023, they are sold in more than 40 countries and 32 American states. You’ll find it stocked in most UK airports and supermarkets and Easyjet have added it to their drinks and duty free trollies. As celebrities go Charlie Sloth is one of the most genuine I have had the pleasure to meet. Remember that when buying your ticket, not only will you see Charlie Sloth but included in your ticket price is a Club, Show, Experience matched by no one on the island. For tickets please go to http://www.piratesreloaded.com 

Mallorca Live at the old Aquapark just down the road from Pirates will take place this year on June 13th, 14th and 15th. This year they have really pulled out all the stops with three top headliners. Underworld aka Karl Hyde and Rick Smith were part of the the ’90s underground techno scene, the group’s definitive breakthrough came in 1996 when their timeless anthem ‘Born Slippy (Nuxx)’ became the soundtrack of a generation after it was featured in the film Trainspotting. The success of that single catapulted the British duo from the underground into the heart of the mainstream.

Blondie are an American rock band founded in 1974 in New York City by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band were a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City. “Heart of Glass” was their best selling single among many others. As a teenager I had a crush on Debbie Harry and had her posters on my bedroom wall, along with football ones of course!

The Pet Shop Boys are listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the most successful duo in UK music history. Since signing to Parlophone Records in 1985, they have achieved 42 Top 30 singles in the UK including 22 Top 10 hits and four number ones. They have released 14 studio albums all of which have made the UK Top 10 as well as album charts around the world. Their best selling single is “West End Girls” and last year saw the release of SMASH – The Singles 1985-2020, the complete collection of their singles from across 35 years of iconic releases. For tickets please go to http://www.mallorcalivefestival.com 

In Palma at Son Fusteret you will be able to see Tom Jones and James Blunt as part of the Palma Concert Series. James Blunt has a connection to the island as he got married here in 2014 and Tom Jones returns to the island after his hugely successful concert in Port Adriano in 2017. Organisers say that more artists will be revealed soon. For tickets please go to http://www.palmaconcertseries.com 

As yet Port Adriano haven’t released their line up for the summer, I’m told it should be ready by the end of April. 

For the younger people out there my understanding is that the Origen festival will return to Son Fusteret with Elrow yet to be confirmed. BCM haven’t yet released their DJ line up but I’m sure it will be as good as last years that featured Meduza, Bob Sinclair, Steve Aoki, Fisher and Joel Corry to name just a few. 

I’m sure that more artists will be released in the coming weeks, making it an exciting year for live music here on the island.

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 

Why I Love Magaluf?

In celebration of Valentine’s Day the brief was, “Why I love Magalluf?” You might be thinking well good luck with that one! But in my humble opinion, there isn’t (or maybe there wasn’t?) a better person to ask. 

The name Magalluf sends chills around authority circles, so much so that they’ve even tried to rename it. Amongst the youngsters it has its own name but I can’t mention that here! Years ago there was talk of merging Magalluf and Palma Nova and calling it MagaNova, as Palmalluf didn’t really roll off the tongue. Hoteliers have pushed for Calvia Beach resort but to me it’s always going to be Magalluf. It’s not the name of the resort that needed changing it was the resort itself and the image it portrayed. 

This year I celebrate working at Pirates for 30 years and Magalluf has been my place of work for 34 years. I arrived in Mallorca in the summer of 1990 on an Intasun holidays Reps training course. It was that long ago that they still allowed smoking on the airline I travelled with, Dan Air. Can you imagine that today? Speedy smoking anyone? We were being trained as holiday reps in the hotel Guadalupe in Magalluf. At the end of the course we were all sent off around the World, everyone except me, I didn’t even move away from the hotel as it was to be my home for my first season. All Reps will tell you your first season will always be your favourite and you look back fondly on that resort. That was what happened to me. So much so that the excursion I sold the most tickets for and was without doubt my favourite offered me a job. I’d previously been a Butlins Redcoat for four years and had seen so many shows but Pirates was different. Some of the things they were doing even at that time were insane and not forgetting that the boss Jacques Sasson was an absolute legend. How could I turn him down? He was a great mentor for me, he was certainly unconventional and we pushed and still do along with his daughter Catherine, the entertainment envelope. It was no surprise that Calvia Town Hall opened a square in his name, for his contribution to tourism both in Magalluf and the rest of the island. 

In 1990 families and young people mixed together and the problems that we’ve seen in Magalluf some years ago were nowhere to be seen. It was the year that England reached the semi-finals of the World Cup under Bobby Robson and the John Barnes rap was belting out in bars such as the Pink Elephant, Cafe Opera and the Red Lion. Sadly those bars are long gone but the strip still exists. It’s not  a place I frequent these days but it still is a place where the youngsters want to go and is synonymous with the resort. Some say in a bad way but In my opinion it is no different to any other city centre or holiday hotspot, it just has to be policed properly. The people criticising it either don’t understand it or can’t remember that they were young once. Magalluf in 2024 has changed dramatically. Over 75% of the hotels in Magalluf are now 4 or 5 star and the beach is still one of the best on the island. 

The shortsightedness of authorities in the past meant that they didn’t understand that the youngsters of today will be the families of the future. Like me as a Rep you remember your first holiday or the good times you had in a resort and therefore you are drawn to revisit when you are older with your family. 

My list of positives about Magalluf is endless and when you look closely it’s a resort to still mix families and youngsters. For families there’s Pirates, Western Water Park, Karting, Katmandu, the beach and countless bars, cafes and restaurants to cater for their needs. 

For youngsters there’s Reloaded & Gringos, Oceans Beach, BCM, The Strip, the beach and like the above, countless bars, cafes and restaurants to cater for their needs. 

My love of Magaluf has changed over time but it will always be there. 

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 

Don’t Forget Your Core Supporters!

This weeks thoughts are a bit of a double edged sword. I want to give out praise where praise is due but  there are a couple of negatives coming too. The negatives are in my opinion constructive and believe me when I say I only want the best outcome.

I’ve been a Real Mallorca fan since I came to the island. I started going regularly in the early 2,000’s, so I’ve seen the good times and the really bad times. In the 2016/17 season they were relegated to Segunda B meaning they couldn’t go much lower. In that league average attendances were around 3 or 4,000, you could sit in your allotted season ticket seat and not have anyone near you. Believe me at times it was awful to watch but we still went every week. At that time Mallorca were bought by a group of Americans investors who without doubt at that time would have been wondering what they had got themselves into. Remember that relegation doesn’t happen in American sport. However back to back promotions meant they returned to La Liga in record time. Another relegation during COVID was quickly turned around the following season and last season they finished a very successful ninth in the league.

During all this time the owners have invested a lot of time and money into the Club and away from the pitch their marketing and in particular their social media ranked them third in La Liga behind the giants of Real Madrid and Barcelona. One thing that had held the club back was the stadium. Built in 1999 for the World Student Games and leased to the club by the Palma City Council for 50 years, there had been many arguements over its renovation and in particular the running track. Thankfully those arguements subsided and work began on moving the stands closer to the pitch. When you visit the stadium now it is something to be proud of and this week a season record crowd of 22,051 saw the first leg of the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey. 

One of the major changes to the stadium has been on the corporate side. New offerings include the ‘Tunnel Experience’, the ‘Premium Club’ and the new VIP boxes above the North stand. One of those boxes for a season for 12 people will cost you an eye watering 44,000€. If all these offerings are sold and the money can be reinvested into the team that can only be good for the club. 

Now I did say at the beginning of this there would be a couple of negatives. As I said I hope the club is looking into the issues I’m highlighting as it seems that the average season ticket holder like me has been left behind. I am more than happy with the stadium on the inside, my beef lays on the outside. Part of the renovation was to convert the old Mallorca Cafe into a state of the art club shop. Which I’m not criticising as it looks amazing but the Mallorca Cafe was a meeting point for fans before the game. Last Tuesday there was a temporary constructed outside bar that was nowhere near big enough to service the thousands of people outside. Remember that you can only buy an alcoholic drink outside a La Liga ground as it is banned inside the stadium. So you can imagine what it was like. Are their any plans to replace the Mallorca Cafe, that would not only be used on match days but as before for people to enjoy it for a morning coffee or to watch away matches on a big screen? Surely this is an opportunity for the club to make extra income? On top of the lack of being able to get a drink, there were two mobile caravans selling burgers at 8€ a pop. Neither despite their best intentions could cope with the amount of people. If the outside experience of us fans not wanting the corporate experience is being looked into then that is something to look forward to. The other problem is trying to get out of the stadium at the end of the game from the club car park. It took me an hour to get out on Tuesday night. I’m not sure what the answer is as it seems the majority of the crowd drive to the stadium. When a game is on there are cars parked everywhere, even on the motorway hard shoulder! Would the club and Palma City Council look at extending the metro service? Or maybe offer a rolling free bus service back into the city? There was talk by the previous government of building a tram service from the centre of Palma to the airport and also to Son Espases hospital. Could this be extended to the stadium? These projects were to paid for in part by European or Spanish Government subsidies. Alfonso Diaz, Mallorca’s Chief Executive has said “Basically, we want this stadium, which is a major building in the city, to be a venue for the city and its people. Little by little, this is being achieved and this space is being opened up so that it could be used 365 days per year and not just 19 or 20 times when there is a football match. The city and its people should be able to enjoy this venue with facilities that can be used for social, sporting, and entrepreneurial activities.” That’s great but that outside experience and the transport problem needs looking into. 

I will of course carry on being a season ticket holder as there’s nothing I want more to see the club be successful. I believe having a club in La Liga is positive for the island and is another arm to our tourist offering particularly in the low season. Not only that, it is an avenue for all youth footballers here to go into the professional game. 

As the song sung at the stadium goes “Rojo, negro hasta que me muera” (meaning red and black until I die).

But please remember and look after your non-corporate supporters. 

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 

Quality Street

If you’re visiting London you’ll be inundated with recommendations of where to visit. One place that might not be high on some peoples lists is St Pancras International Station. It opened in 1868 and is a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture and one of the most elegant stations in the World.  It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium, Netherlands and France with an exciting collection of shops, restaurants and bars, including Europe’s longest Champagne bar. It is normally the station I go to if I’m going to watch Arsenal, the theatre or go shopping. 

One of the things I love about St Pancras is the piano that is in the middle of the concourse. Now this isn’t any old piano, on the 4th of February 2016, Elton John performed a medley at the station, to promote the album “Wonderful Crazy Night.” Following his performance, he donated the piano to the station, marking it with the inscription, “Enjoy this piano. It’s a gift.

Last week that famous piano hit the news, if you could call it news. It was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in a long time. A guy was playing and live streaming on his you tube channel, when a group of Chinese tourists who happened to be in his shot asked him to stop filming them. They apparently were waiting to use the piano and as the guy who was playing said, “well why don’t you go away and come back when I’m finished?” They refused. You couldn’t make it up. The next day the piano was sealed off and the station said it was due to maintenance work. Can someone get a grip please!

I noticed when travelling to the UK that there was a piano situated between gates C and D in the airport at Palma. One of the things I’ve always wanted to do is play the piano. I can play Match of the Day and the Wombles of Wimbledon, so you can tell I’m no Elton John. It’s on my list of things to do in retirement. 

All this though reminded of how much I love watching street entertainers. Talented musicians have taken to perform on London’s transport network since 2003 with the London Underground Licensed Busking Scheme, brightening people’s journeys with genres from rock, to classical and pop for 364 days-a-year. 20 years on, the network now has more than 200 registered buskers, the busking scheme has up to 39 pitches across 25 central London stations which are clearly defined by a semi-circular floor graphic. 

Staying in London, I would thoroughly recommend you go to Covent Garden as the street entertainers there are second to none. Since the 1660s Covent Garden has never missed a chance to put on a performance. The first record of Covent Garden street entertainment came in 1662, when Samuel Pepys’ diary notes that a marionette show featuring a character named Punch took place on the Piazza. The best place in my opinion to watch the entertainers is the roof terrace at the  Punch and Judy pub. The pub was built in 1787 and was named after the Punch and Judy shows performed there for the children of the flower sellers.

We have street entertainers in Palma, particularly in and around the Cathedral area. I love to watch the statues, who are amazing. All street entertainers should have a licence that can be applied for at Palma Town Hall. 

Our holiday in Jamaica was enhanced by the guys that wandered the beach during the day. In particular the guy in the picture with my son Jude. He did his version of Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ whilst basically strumming his guitar up and down with no actual tune. No offence but he would have been better off singing ‘One Tooth’ as he was dentally challenged. But he was very grateful for the beer we invited him to, to persuade him to move on. He would in fact treat us to the same rendition pretty much every day and in a strange way we used to look forward to his performance. 

The Bob Marley film ‘One Love’ should arrive in our cinemas here in Mallorca around February 14th. He is still revered in Jamaica and it’s a film I’m very much looking forward to seeing after our holiday there.

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 

New Year, New You?

New Year, new you. How’s that going for everybody? I’m not really one for New Years Resolutions. If you want to change something then for me do it in the moment, why wait? Last year after a health scare and doing a full MOT it became obvious to me that I needed to change. 

Remember that old saying, ‘Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game.’ So the game I was playing needed to change. You’re not getting any younger gets levelled at me, which is fair enough. But can I just check something, am I the only one who gets new knee or hip adverts come up on social media? The infinite amount of walking apps I receive too and also  the old fella doing his exercises sat on a chair, cheek! I’ve had a gym membership at Viva gym in Son Fusteret Palma for quite a while now. I use it when the boys are at football training in the evenings. I say ‘use it’ as that’s not entirely true. It’s a winter thing as in the summer we’re too busy at Pirates. I had been going regularly before Christmas and made a point of going as soon as I got back from holiday. Having Christmas and then a holiday isn’t a great combination if losing weight is on your agenda. I walked in last Monday evening to a gym that was packed with people of all shapes and sizes. Yes it was obviously the new year resolution brigade out in force. Some of them obviously had got new gym wear or new trainers as a present and were there to show them off. I wonder how long they will last? It’s all down to how much you want it. For me, I’m going to go as often as I can for as long as I can and hopefully see a difference. 

Splitting my work and family time for me now is more important than ever. I love watching my boys grow up and change. Regular readers will know I have two boys, Jacob and Jude. Jacob is 18 and in his last year of school and Junior football and Jude who is 14. They are like chalk and cheese. Jacob has been working with me at Pirates for a couple of years and is a grafter. Try telling his Mum that, because at home he’s completely the opposite. It will be interesting to see what career path he will take after this summer season. We still have to push him into the shower after football training or a match and he has no interest in fashion, as a football shirt will do. Whereas Jude will shower before and after a game and will dress immaculately even if we’re just going to Lidl. The difference in them though does make it interesting to watch them grow and change. Jude in particular should be my motivation as over the past year he has lost 25kgs. He did it with the help of a professional nutritionist and his own will power. Without doubt it’s helped him from a confidence point of view both in his football and his own personality. I’m very proud of my two boys and look forward to seeing then grow further. 

During the pandemic we decided to get ourselves a dog. It’s a big undertaking as to be honest it’s like having another child. Beau our Labrador has become part of the family now and for my Wife and I gives us an opportunity to get out walking. Thanks to Montaire Labradors where we got Beau from who’ve been a great help. 

Lastly and not on any purpose, is my long suffering Wife, Rachael. Who else would put up with us three or four now for all these years? She has done an amazing job with her theatre school over the last 15 years even managing to get through the pandemic. So well that the school that she does her classes in on a Saturday asked her to become their drama teacher a couple of years ago. She also gets a special mention this week because it’s her 50th birthday. Guess what? Work and football have got in the way of us celebrating this week but hopefully there’s a gap between games that we can celebrate this weekend. 

Happy Birthday Rachael, we all love you and thank you for all you do for us. 

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