Positivity Please!

I wanted to start with some headlines that made the papers this week. In the UK there was “There goes Christmas”, “Christmas to bring little cheer”, PM fears threat to Christmas”. Even here the Majorca Daily Bulletin had the headline “Christmas On Hold”(Sorry Ed!). Now haven’t we been through enough this year without the threat of no Christmas? There’s still 103 sleeps to go, so surely those headlines can wait a little? I’m a glass half full person, so a bit more positivity please media people! 
Two words have made there way into the English language in the past 6 months. Back in the UK it’s furlough and over here it’s ERTE, pronounced Airtay or as most ex-pats call it Errtea. Actually make that three as I just found out that in Mallorquín it’s pronounced Airtoe! Didn’t he play up front for Mallorca and Barcelona? Last week in the UK there were reports of over payment in the furlough scheme. Up to £3.5 billion of furlough money may have been paid out in wrong or fraudulent claims, according to official estimates from the government. HMRC has calculated that between 5% and 10% of payments have been wrongly calculated, possibly as a result of employers abusing the scheme. The total bill for the job retention programme, which has paid 80% of the wages of workers placed on leave due to coronavirus, currently stands at more than £35 billion. 
There is a similar situation here in the Balearics where we find out this week that around 12 million euros has been wrongly paid out to workers here. Now I know a little bit more about the scheme here than the UK so let me comment. Firstly in both cases this money was paid out so there wasn’t a total collapse of the jobs market in both countries. Rishi Sunak was rightly praised for the UK scheme and always came across well in interviews. Over here we have more experience in this as our tourism industry is seasonal, so most people will work May to October. Which means in the winter the Government pays something called “el Paro”, basically unemployment benefit. To keep the workforce on the island ready for the following season. To receive it, you’ll need to have made social security contributions for at least a year (defined as 360 days). This contribution period allows you to receive the benefit for four months (120 days). During this time, you’ll need to give evidence that you’re actively trying to find a job.You can claim unemployment benefit in the following instances:Your work contract comes to an end and your employer decides not to renew it.
You get sacked from your position.Your employer reduces your hours by more than a third. How much you’ll receive in unemployment benefit depends on what you’ve been earning in Spain. Calculations are based on the average salary from which you’ve been making contributions for the six months before becoming unemployed. Theoretically, you can receive 70% of that average for 180 days, then 50% thereafter, though limits are in place. So with that experience you would have thought that although we are talking much higher numbers with the ERTE the system should be able to cope? The problem was that it didn’t. They had to bring a load of people to help who basically didn’t know what they were doing. You’d have thought that the one of the only entities actually looking for people at that time would have employed people who actually knew what they were doing? Which I believe has led to the mistakes. I know of people that haven’t received any money yet and I’ll be honest I couldn’t really tell you if I’d been overpaid or underpaid as the formula doesn’t seem to match what I’ve been told. If you’re a company or an individual, try to speak to someone who can help you, it’s impossible. It’s like entering the secret service and if you do manage to get through then good luck explaining your problem. If people have been blatantly scamming the system then they should be made to pay the money back but I think in most cases the mistakes have come from the department that sorts it all out. I’ll give two personal examples of how the system just isn’t working. We sold our flat in Son Caliu 15 years ago and yet I am still registered as living there as my entitlement for the ERTE was sent there. We’ve told them countless times but they don’t update the system. This week at Pirates we had to send proof of the fact that we were not open. I promise you this is no lie. It makes you wonder doesn’t it. Today is September 12th and people who like me are on a year round contract, still do not know if the ERTE will be extended. The current deal is to the end of this month and at a meeting held last Friday there was still no agreement. It’s going to be a tough winter for a lot of people and for most the ERTE is a lifeline. There’s talk of mixing ERTE and PARO, don’t ask, I didn’t! But something needs to be done to help businesses and people. 
Nothing will be better than a Christmas and a season to look forward to next year. 
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend! Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Season Ticket Renewed

Xavi Sintes, who you may remember I wrote about a couple of weeks ago has had two great things happen to him in the past few weeks. After winning the UEFA Youth Cup, the Menorquin footballer who played for CD San Francisco here in Mallorca has been moved from the Real Madrid U19 team to their B team Real Madrid Castilla. Managed by former Real Madrid legend Raul and interestingly they are playing in the same group as Atlético Baleares and UD Poblense in Segunda B.
Steve Nash a co-owner at Real Mallorca and the former basketball player whose career took him to the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers has just been appointed as the head Coach of the Brooklyn Nets. After retiring from Basketball he has done various consulting roles, covered soccer in the US and became a co-owner at Mallorca. I wonder if he has football management dreams in the future?La Liga 2 starts this weekend with Real Mallorca beginning at home on Sunday at 16.00 against Rayo Vallecano. With no fans permitted yet we’ll have to be content with the TV. I renewed my season tickets yesterday and the club said there’s no definite date for fans to return. I’ve predicted my top six below. 

  1. Real Mallorca 
  2. Espanyol 
  3. Girona 
  4. Rayo Vallecano 
  5. Leganés 
  6. Real Zaragoza 

Real Mallorca and Sporting Gijon were the only two clubs in La Liga 2 that hadn’t yet made a signing in the transfer window. Well that was the case until yesterday when Brian Olivan arrived in Mallorca from Cadiz. The left back was on loan with Girona last season. With 28 players still in the squad they’re looking to offload before they sign anyone else. It’s been a pretty good pre-season for Mallorca after losing their first game to La Liga side Levante 2-1, they’ve won the next three against teams they are due to play in La LIga 2, Tenerife, Castellón and Lugo. The other bonus is they didn’t concede a goal in those three games either. Let’s hope they continue that form.
The top 20 clubs with the most interactions on Instagram in August in Segunda B has been revealed with Deportivo La Coruña way out at the top with 214,000. There’s 102 clubs amongst the 5 divisions and 10 sub-groups, Atlético Baleares were 9th with just under 50,000 and UD Ibiza 10th with just over 47,000.
David Goldar has become UD Ibiza’s fifth signing of the season. The centre back has signed from Gimnastic de Tarragona and has good experience in Segunda B having played for Cornelia, Pontvedra, Ponferradina and Celta B previously. This was closely followed by Joshua Perez an American winger who’s joined from Castellon. He has also played in Serie A in Italy and the MLS in the States.
Penya Deportiva beat SD Formentera from the third division 5-1 in a friendly at the weekend. They have just signed a 21 year old goalkeeper Fran Martínez from Hercules CF.
UD Poblense have released their season ticket prices. Tickets start at 30€ & go all the way up to 200€.They play their traditional pre-season game against Atlético Baleares this coming Saturday at 19.00.Atlético Baleares then play CF Hercules next Wednesday and Elche the following Saturday.
Episode 7 of A Kick in The Balearics will be out today on you tube and on podcast on too. We have just launched on Spotify on Apple iTunes and on all smart speakers through the Tunein radio App. If you have any interesting stories on your local Balearic club then please get in touch and follow us on all social media. Take care everyone, I’m back at the Weekend. Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online atwww.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Our Kids do need Education!


Firstly a big thank you to everyone who read, shared and sent me messages about my scribes from last week. It was read here, Ibiza, Mainland Spain, Canaries, UK, Ireland, Jersey, USA, France, Malta, Norway, Italy, Sweden, China, Australia, Turkey, Netherlands and Portugal. I read in this paper that Antonio Garamendi, the President of the CEOE Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations has called for a comprehensive assistance plan for tourism, an extension of ERTE until Easter next year, and efforts to be made to restore Spain’s image overseas as soon as possible.Garamendi emphasised that tackling the crisis facing the tourism industry is not just about ERTEs or credit from the government’s ICO Instituto de Crédito Oficial. “There has to be a comprehensive aid plan.”The CEOE is proposing measures to facilitate liquidity, boost demand and reduce operating costs. Liquidity, the confederation says, requires maintaining and even extending debt deferrals with the tax agency and social security and continuing with ICO credit guarantees. With regard to operating costs, ERTE should be maintained until there is a recovery in demand, while there should also be greater flexibility in negotiating rents. To boost demand, the CEOE wants to see a marketing campaign that will restore Spain’s image; health measures to generate confidence among tourists; the reestablishment of air connectivity; the facilitation of travel medical insurance for foreign tourists; and a reduction in the rate of IVA (VAT) as it applies to the tourism sector from ten per cent to seven per cent for the rest of this year and for 2021.
He must have read my column! 

Taking a break from Tourism this week, I wanted to talk about education. Remember Friday the 14th of March? I’m sure most parents out there will as that was the last time our kids were in school. Normally at this time of year we’ll all be tearing our hair out as they’ve been off since mid June for the Summer holidays. This has now been six months and never has there been a more important time for children and their education here on the island. Naturally schools, teachers and parents are worried about what is to come. In fact the only ones who aren’t worrying are the kids themselves. The majority would prefer to get back, see their friends and to start learning again. We should take a look at Scotland as a perfect test case, they have been back for a month now and their experience offers lessons for us here in Mallorca as our children head back to classrooms.Firstly the job I’m in involves knowing as much about news as possible. Let’s face it the media love a negative but I for one haven’t seen any dramatic Covid 19 news about schools in Scotland. They’ve had lockdowns in different areas but the schools remain open. A school closure would be a massive story with schools in England and Wales also returning over this week and next week. So far so good and we should take comfort from that. I have a friend who has a prominent position in Scottish Education and was told the following for some regions last Monday;Grampian; Secondary school in Aberdeen closed for one day but reopened.Glasgow; South Glasgow closed for isolation and a number of primary schools had the the odd case but no closures.Paisley; A few school outbreaks no closures.Greenock; No closures.These are in the more built up areas where cases are always more prominent. There’s been the odd case but nothing major it seems to be all contained. As of last Monday pupils in Scotland will now have to wear face masks in school corridors and communal areas to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.The new rules, apply to all children over 12 and on school transport for primary pupils five and above. Experts say that while children and young people are six times less likely to suffer seriously from Covid-19 than older people, they can still spread the disease. Provisional data for last Tuesday showed 87.5% attendance at Scottish schools, compared with 93% for the 2018-19 school year, which is positive.Prof Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said  “Sadly, over 5,000 children die every year in the UK. Some contract infections such as measles or are killed in road traffic accidents.We don’t stop them from going to school or getting in cars. We make them wear seat belts, we tell them not to play in the road and we vaccinate them.”A British Medical Journal study looked at 651 children with coronavirus in hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland.It covers two-thirds of all children’s admissions in the UK due to Covid-19 between January and July and confirms what is already known about the minimal effects of the virus on children. A “strikingly low” 1% of these 651 children and young people – six in total – had died in hospital with Covid-19 compared with 27% across all other age groups, the study found. 18% of the children needed intensive care.The six who had unfortunately died had had “profound” underlying health conditions that had often been complex and themselves life-limiting.Children with such conditions remain vulnerable to the virus and must take precautions, the researchers said. But for others, the risk was extremely low.”There have been no deaths in otherwise healthy school-age children,” said study author Prof Calum Semple, from the University of Liverpool.”There is no direct harm from children going back to school,” he added.Co-author Dr Olivia Swann, from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, in Edinburgh, said she hoped the findings would be “extremely reassuring for parents across the UK”.I hope too for all parents over here. I support all the measures being put in place for the schools here, to some people it might seem too much but if it means we can turn to normality quicker I’m all for it. I want my kids to get back in school and not to miss out any more. This is not just about their education, it’s about their sociability, their mentality and their physicality. We will have to learn to live with this virus for the foreseeable future but what we can’t do is let it run our lives. Positivity is the way forward to get this thing beaten and I know that’s not easy for some but we must pull together like we did in the lockdown. 
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend! Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Marco back at Mallorca?

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Marco Asensio probably one of the best players to come out of the Balearic Islands was back in Mallorca this week doing some pre-season preparation at Real Mallorca’s training ground, Son Biblioni. Marco is another player who like Pablo Ramon, who i talked about last week has come up from local youth football. He started at Playas de Calvia, moved to Real Mallorca and then was transferred to Real Madrid. He loves Mallorca and kindly signed a shirt for my boys a couple of years ago.
Another great local story is Carlos Vicens who was born in Colonia de San Jordi in Mallorca and was the academy director and assistant manager at CD Llosetense. He has just been promoted to Head Coach of Manchester City’s U-18 team. He joined City in 2017 and he initially worked with the U12s and U13s before becoming assistant to Gareth Taylor for the U18s for the last two seasons. The team were top of the table when the season was prematurely ended because of coronavirus in March. At the end of May, it was announced that Taylor was leaving his position with the U18s to become manager of Manchester City Women. It’s a great achievement and another success story for the island.
Real Mallorca’s fixtures are out for the 2020/21 season. They start at home to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday September 13th at 16.00. Their first away game the following Sunday at 16.00 is interestingly against Espanyol managed by their former boss Vincente Moreno which should be a feisty one. That’s then followed by two home games against Sabadell and Tenerife. Since last week they have played three friendlies against La Liga side Levante losing 2-1 and 2-0 wins against La Liga 2 opponents Tenerife and Castellón, which is promising. It has been announced that the “Trofeu Ciutat de Palma” which is normally the official kick off to the season has been cancelled. This normally includes an introduction of the squad to the crowd followed by a game against an invited team. With the current COVID situation and the fact there can’t be any spectators the club have decided to cancel it this year.
11,000 season ticket holders have renewed their tickets and as of Tuesday new applications are being taken. The Lluis Sitjar behind the goal is now full which is great news. Worth remembering that with Mallorca one of the favourites for promotion this season, that anyone who has a ticket this season will get first choice for one next season if they do go up.
As well as the Segunda division fixtures being announced, the Segunda B was announced too. Now to say this is confusing is an understatement but I’m going to try and explain. There are 102 teams divided into 3 groups of 10 and 2 groups of 11 and then divided into 10 sub-groups. Actually after reading it and trying to get my head around it I’m not going to bother as it’s far too complicated! I will try and get a simpler version.
Atlético Baleares have been drawn in Group 5 sub-group A with UD Poblense and CDA Navalcarnero, Rayo Majadahonda, Atlético Madrid B, Getafe B, Las Rozas CF, Real Madrid Castilla, Dux Internacional de Madrid, UD San Sebastián de Los Reyes,
UD Ibiza and Penya Deportiva have been drawn in Group 3 Sub-Group B along with Alcoyano, Atletico Levante, Atzeneta UE, CF La Nucía, Hercules de Alicante, Orihuela CF, Valencia Mestalla, Villareal B.
Baleares have released their new kit. It’s blue and white striped but with more stripes this year.
They have also launched their season ticket campaign. Renewals of season tickets from last season started on Tuesday until the 14th of September. New applications will be taken from September 28th and tickets can be ordered online or at their other stadium at Son Malferit near to Ikea. Their website is very good, in English and explains everything really well.
Goalkeeper Kellyan García has joined UD Ibiza on loan from Malaga. Penya Deportiva have signed attacking midfielder Nico Contesa from Real Betis. The 19 year old comes on a season long loan. Centre forward Antonio Lopez has joined on a free transfer from CyD Leonesa.
The start of pre-season has been changed countless times at my sons club CD San Francisco. Due to the Government and the Football Federation protocols they have now been given the go ahead. Hopefully these dates won’t be moved.
The Juveniles have been training for nearly a month now. The Cadetes will start on September 7th, Infantiles on the 14th, Alevines, Benjamines and Pre-Benjamines on the 21st.
Episode 6 of A Kick in The Balearics will be out tomorrow on you tube and on podcast on Thursday. We have just launched on Spotify on Apple iTunes and on all smart speakers through the Tunein radio App. If you have any interesting stories on your local Balearic club then please get in touch and follow us on all social media.
Take care everyone, I’m back at the Weekend.
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, onlineatwww.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

My Glass is Half Full

photo collage from mallorca vacations
If the death of the UK Tourist market hadn’t already happened this summer in the Balearics then it was pretty much done when Jet2 announced this week that they were stopping all flights and holidays to the islands for the rest of the year. Don’t be surprised if Tui follow suit soon. Whilst I’m sure that Easyjet and Ryanair will cut back their services, I hope they continue a frequent enough one in the winter months.
One positive to come out from the Jet2 statement is “We can assure our partners in the Balearic Islands that we remain completely committed to these fantastic destinations. Bookings for next summer are looking strong and we cannot wait to be back doing what we do best, working with hoteliers and our partners in Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca to make sure our customers enjoy their well deserved holidays.”
If ever there was a wake up call to the Government here then there it was in that statement. Last week I said the Government needs to come up with ideas to restart the tourist industry. With Mallorca’s Tourism GDP at 44% and when you add in all the other industries it touches you’re looking at 85%. It is a massive problem for the island and it needs to come up with solutions as soon as possible.
The biggest problem in my view is we have a coalition Government both in Spain and the Balearics. The problem with a coalition is nothing gets done because they can never get a majority to agree on anything. Do you remember the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition in the UK? A total mess and nothing got done. The other problem you have is you’ve got Civil Servants working in Ministerial positions where they have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. That comes from comments I’ve heard from people on all sides of the political spectrum. Most of the posturing is done so the media can put positive messages out there but in reality they’re publicity stunts.
So what can they do?
Well firstly to ensure that the whole infrastructure of the island doesn’t fall apart they are going to have to extend the ERTE(furlough scheme) either to December or to March. Note that Germany have just extended theirs until the end of next year. We all know it will cost us in taxes over the coming years but what other choice do we have?
Business confidence is at an all time low. The ones that opened after they were given assurances by the Government feel they’ve been thrown to the wolves. The others who were told they couldn’t open also feel let down at not being given the chance. For most, by the time we reach next April it will have been 18 months without any money coming in. You think of your business and could it survive that amount of inactivity?
The ERTE has helped but let’s be honest it doesn’t compensate the money lost.
Once you’ve assured businesses that they can carry on then you’ve got to encourage them to re-open and get people off the ERTE and paying back into the system. Offer them tax breaks and social security breaks. The biggest fear for business is the costs they incur on staff. For instance for someone earning 1,000€ a month, the cost to the company is approximately 1,300€. On average the costs work out another 30% on top of their wage. Try and get that cost down.
Drop the rate of IVA(VAT) down to 4%. This has been mentioned by one political party. Some businesses currently pay 10% and others 21%. That would make a hell of a difference to someone’s bottom line at the end of the season.
Once you’ve got the businesses open you need to get the airlines and Tour Operators to bring the people. Reduce the landing fees for planes. Palma is the third most expensive airport to land in behind Madrid and Barcelona. The airport is privately run by a company called AENA but surely they don’t want an empty airport? I’m sure the Government could compensate them in some way.
I would suspend or get rid of the Tourist Tax. Does anybody know where the money goes? Does all of it really go to projects that are affected by Tourism? Can you name any of the projects the money went to? I’d be happy to sit with anybody who can explain to me where this goes as I can then hold my hands up and say I was wrong.
Hoteliers will have to look at reducing rates to get more business in. We are not in the heydays of the 80’s and 90’s where there was no competition. They have to be realistic and look to extend the season as long as possible. Easter falls at the beginning of April next year so if we can get this right, there is a great opportunity to have at least a 7 month season. Wouldn’t it be amazing to extend that beyond into November too?
Can someone please construct a Love Island Villa that can deal with social distancing? Love it or loathe it, to have our island in the homes of 4-5 million people every evening is a must. You can’t buy that advertising.
We must work on welcoming tourists to our island. Customer Service should be at the top of everyone’s agenda. The Government doesn’t have a great track record on encouraging tourists. In fact it has been accused of being anti-tourism in the past with measures such as the Tourist Tax, Holiday rentals, reducing cruise ship numbers and alcohol laws. But now is the time to wipe the slate clean and show the World that as soon as is possible we will be back and open for business.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Mallorca in my opinion is one of the best holiday destinations in the World. We’re an island with turquoise blue waters, secret coves, soft golden sands, lush green foliage, rugged mountains, picturesque villages, amazing cuisine, emerging wines, the best excursions, bustling nightlife and a vibrant capital city. We’re also an island in the Med only a couple of hours flight from most European cities.
What more could you want? Spread the word #Mallorca2021
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

G.O.A.T

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On Tuesday afternoon the global soccer world was sent into shockwaves when reports broke that Lionel Messi had informed FC Barcelona that he intends to opt out of his contract and leave the club. The club has since confirmed that they did receive the request, which was sent via burofax.
Which begs the question: What on Earth is a burofax?
Well, it’s a method of business communication, popular in Spain, that allows people to send a secure document that will be recognised in a court or by a third party. I think we would call it a registered delivery in the UK.
Now he’s expressed a desire to leave who will be able to afford him? Apparently he currently earns £51,376.000 basic yearly wages (£988.000 a week), £9.100.000 per year on image rights, £13.000.000 a year on possible bonuses(goals,assists,trophies) plus signing on & loyalty fee (£120.000.000 over 5 years). Nice work if you can get it! You’d have to say Manchester City, who have an advantage with Guardiola in charge. The other team would be losing Champions League Finalists Paris Saint Germain. What a front 3 that would be, Messi, Mbappe and Neymar. It would be great to see him in the Premier League, I’ve been lucky enough or unlucky in most cases to see him play. I’ve seen him destroy my teams Arsenal and Real Mallorca on numerous occasions. Let’s see I’m sure there’s lots of twists and turns to come.
It’s been just over a year, but finally the 20 teams have been decided for the 2020/21 La Liga season. Elche were the final team to go up after they beat Girona by 1-0 in the play-offs. Elche like Mallorca before them have managed 2 promotions in the last 2 seasons via the play-offs. To top it all off and to show you how mad Spanish football is Jose Rojo “Pacheta” their coach has now left the club!
Looking at it from a Real Mallorca point of view, of the 3 teams that got relegated in the 2018/19 season. Girona finished 5th and as you’ve seen lost in the play-off final. Huesca finished 1st and went straight back up and Rayo Vallecano finished 7th just outside the play-offs.
So as long as they get off to a good start, they have every chance of going straight back up. In fact the three teams that have gone down will be the favourites to go back up. Espanyol’s squad value far outweighs the rest of the league at just over £100 million compared to Mallorca in second place at just over £40 million.
They have arrived in Murcia to carry on their pre-season training and to play 3 games against Levante tomorrow, Tenerife on the 29th and Castellón on the 1st. The new coach has taken a squad of 28 with all the usual faces of last year and good to see the youngsters Luka Romero and Rafael Obrador included. In fact if they can keep that team together it does look good on paper. Centre back Martin Valjent has been selected in the Slovakia squad to play the Czech Republic and Israel in the week leading up to Mallorca’s opening game of the season.
They are up to 10,132 season ticket holders that have renewed their tickets. From today season ticket holders have the opportunity to change to seats that haven’t been renewed and from September 1st they are taking new applications.
Atlético Baleares started their pre-season on Monday with all the squad going through fitness and Covid checks. An important signing for them this week is left winger Dani Pichin, who’s played more than 200 games in Segunda B helping Ponferradina and Rayo Majadahonda to promotion.
UD Ibiza released their new kit this week. They are normally in sky blue like Manchester City but I detect a slightly darker blue this season. New signings this week are centre forward Ekain and Manu Molina an attacking midfielder.
UD Poblense are working hard on retaining as many of their players from last season as possible. Coach Oscar Troya said on Spanish radio this week “the first objective of the season is to win our first game.”
Two former players from the CD San Francisco Division Honor 2017/18 team have just won UEFA Youth League playing for Real Madrid. Xavi Sintes from Menorca and Pablo Ramon from Calvia, Mallorca who played previously for Son Caliu, both played in the team that beat Benfica 3-2. They are currently being managed by former legendary player Raul. It shows that with hard work and dedication players from the islands can achieve great things.
Episode 5 of A Kick in The Balearics will be out today on you tube and on podcast on Friday. We have just launched on Spotify and are awaiting confirmation on Apple iTunes and on all smart speakers through the Tunein radio App. If you have any interesting stories on your local Balearic club then please get in touch and follow us on all social media.
Take care everyone, I’m back at the Weekend.
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online atwww.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one’ll night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Winter Woes

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How many years have I been banging on about why don’t we have a winter season here in Mallorca? Well I’ve lost count to be honest. If we had a winter programme it would be a great opportunity to slowly but surely reactivate the tourist industry, particularly in the all important UK market. But right now the season is pretty much done and there’s no plans for it to restart until at least April next year. Maybe nobody could have predicted this pandemic and the devastating effect it has had on the island but the more you rely on being a one trick pony the worse the outcome. So it is proving.
You have to say that right now the season is pretty much done. It’s only August 22nd but scores of hotels are closing their doors. It’s a great shame but we need to think of ideas to help business and people get through what’s going to be a very long and hard winter.
Firstly we need to get control of the virus as there has been an increase in cases. As I said last week you can’t be surprised with the spike with visitors arriving from all over Europe. Also there is more testing happening meaning more cases are being diagnosed but a lot of those are asymptomatic meaning they are showing no symptoms despite being positive. With the children going back to school we need to get it under control and to be honest if there’s a little pain for a couple of weeks due to stricter controls then I’m all for it. Ask any parent and they want their kids to go back to school not for their own sanity(although it helps!) but we’re now looking at 6 months of no proper education for most kids. That can’t go on. Nobody wants to go back into lockdown but there may be local lockdowns in certain areas. There are always shocking headlines about the virus but we must always look into the numbers properly. For instance I read somewhere that over three quarters of the Balearics municipalities have Covid. The number is 51 out of 67. That is true but of the 1519(as of 20/08/20) cases, 1005 are in Palma. The next highest is Marratxi with 73 and Calvia with 68. Thirty one municipalities have less than 10 cases. Although the winter will be long and tough it will be made a lot easier if we are Covid free.
This week we sorted out our TIE cards. We got all the information from the International Community of Calvia Facebook page. You can also send an email to internacional@calvia.com and they will send you all the information.
The following was taken from the UK Government website www.gov.uk/livinginSpain If you are legally resident in Spain before the transition period ends on the 31st December 2020, you will be able to stay. You must register as a Spanish resident if you want to stay in Spain for more than 3 months.
If you are living in Spain before 1st January 2021 and register as a resident after 6 July 2020, you will be issued with a biometric residence card called a Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE). This card will prove your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement.
If you registered as a resident before the 6th July 2020, you will have a green A4 certificate or credit card-sized piece of paper from Extranjeria or the police. This is still a valid document and will prove your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, including after the transition period ends. You can exchange your paper residence document for the new TIE but you do not need to.
The green paper residence certificate and the new biometric TIE card are equally valid in proving your residence status and rights in Spain.
We did everything that was explained on the International Calvia page, asking for an appointment, getting photos done and pre-paying the tax of 12€pp.
The office is directly behind the Melia convention center hotel in Palma. Whilst queueing a lady came out and shouted “BREXIT!” and we were led to the front. I have to say this lady was so helpful and within half an hour all four of us were done. We now have to wait 30-40 days for the cards to be processed and we can make another appointment to pick them up.
I interviewed Sky Sports touchline Football reporter Geoff Shreeves this week. He has been with the channel since it started in 1992 and had some great stories about Sir Alex Ferguson, Jurgen Klopp and that famous Kevin Keegan interview when he lost it. He gave me his views on VAR, referees and games without crowds. Plus he opened up about his own battle with mental health. You can watch it on You Tube if you search Radio News Hub.
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Subbuteo? Ask your Dad!

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This week a friend of mine, Gus who is a Subbuteo nut sent me the picture above. It’s the Real Mallorca Subbuteo team from 1998/99 season which was when they made it to the final of the Cup Winners Cup at Villa Park losing 2-1 to Lazio. Kids if you don’t have a clue about Subbuteo ask your Dad. Basically it was our equivalent of FIFA on the Play Station.
Real Mallorca are in their second week of pre-season and the club are busy trying to offload fringe players from the squad. Out of the door so far are Josep Sene, Marc Pedraza and Pierre Cornud. Also departing is former Sporting Director Javier Recio which wasn’t a surprise as he was moved sideways following the arrival of Pablo Ortells from Villareal. Recio has since become Sporting Director at Club Bolivar in Bolivia. Goalkeeper Manolo Reina has signed a new contract until the end of 2022. There’s still speculation surrounding the 3 players I said before might move, Budimir, Baba and Valjent. But as yet nobody has come in with a bid. Budimir who scored 13 goals in La Liga last year is apparently attracting interest from Valladolid, Osasuna, Granada and Celta Vigo but none of them have bid the 15 million euros release clause. Mallorca also have forward Stoichkov back from his loan last year in La Liga 2 where he scored 16 goals for Alcorcon and finished fourth top goalscorer. Stoichkov is the Mallorca player that tested positive for coronavirus and he isolating at home. He is asymptomatic and looking to return to pre-season soon.
Mallorca will go to Murcia for a week on August the 25th, where they will play Levante UD and two other games yet to be decided.
The Club have passed 7,000 people who have renewed their season tickets. Remembering there were over 16,000 last year I hope as many as possible renew and didn’t just get one last season because they were in the top division. Season ticket holders have until August 24th to renew, between the 26th and 28th they have a chance to move to seats that haven’t been renewed. All new applications are available from September the 1st. The season starts on the 12th.
Atlético Baleares have brought in their sixth new signing in attacking midfielder Armando Shashoua. He was on loan from Spurs for the second half of last season and has signed a permanent two year deal. He joins Iñaki Olaortua, Luca Ferrone, Pedro Orfila, Jon Aurtenetxe and José Peris as new coach Jordi Roger builds his squad.
Ud Poblense have kept faith with their coach Oscar Troya who got them promoted from the tercera division after being undefeated in the league and beating Mallorca B in the play-offs. It will be tough for them but it’s great to see another Balearic team in Segunda B.
Penya Deportiva the team who performed the better than their bigger rivals Atlético Baleares and UD Ibiza in the Segunda B play-offs have reappointed their manager Raúl Casan after he left the club at the end of the season. Casan resigned after it looked like he had agreed to join Atletico Baleares but the Mallorcan club decided at the last minute to appoint Jordi Roger. Money is tight at the club and they’ve lost they’re two best players Pepe Bernal and Higor Rocha.
The Government have said that to keep the rate of infection down, teams in local football can only do non contact training for the next two weeks. The Federacio de Futbol de les Illes Balears (FFIB) have said that local football will start their matches on the following dates;
Tercera División Balear – October 3rd
Juvenil División Honor – TBC
Juvenil Nacional – October 3rd
Juvenil Preferente – October 3rd
Juvenil Regional – October 3rd
Cadetes – October 10th
Infantiles – October 17th
Alevines – October 24th
Benjamines – October 31st
Pre-Benjamines – October 31st
Episode 4 of A Kick in The Balearics will be out tomorrow on you tube and on podcast on Thursday. If you have any interesting stories on your local Balearic club then please get in touch and follow us on all social media.
Take care everyone, I’m back at the Weekend.
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online atwww.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

What ever happened to good old football boots?

7DE8B0C3-9B99-41B1-9BE0-2A8A7C355B88Funny how we constantly moan about the weather. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, we’re never satisfied. It’s normally the subject that gets talked about the most on social media too. I was really looking forward to the storm and rain on Wednesday, as it was finally going to clear the air. But what happened? It got hotter! It’s just a shame that most of the UK can’t enjoy it as the quarantine has definitely put a stop to people flying here. The ones that can come, which is not many, are coming because they have the time to quarantine on their return. Scottish children have now returned to school and the English with children that are here will have to return this weekend to cover their quarantine before they go back to school. In fact I had a friend who flew over this week and the crew outnumbered the passengers. It’s true that the UK is having an Indian summer but let’s be honest 35c in Birmingham isn’t the same as 35c here. No offence to my Brummie friends but it’s true, the UK isn’t built for heat.
As I write this France, Malta and the Netherlands have been added to the quarantine list. Let’s face it most people need a 14 day quarantine coming back from the Netherlands!
It’s true that the cases of Covid 19 have risen here but you can put that down to more testing than ever before and we would have to be naive to think that when you open your borders that more cases wouldn’t come. The important thing is that the number of deaths is being maintained at a low number despite the rise in cases. There have definitely been lessons learnt in treating the virus here in our hospitals and around the World. We just have to keep doing what we were doing before, during and straight after lockdown. We mustn’t get complacent as this island has coped really well as far as the virus is concerned and it’s important to keep it that way.
One thing that doesn’t seem to have suffered too much since things started to re-open is football. I’m not talking at the lower end because I know there is a struggle for a lot of clubs. But at the top end there doesn’t seem to be too much trouble. During and after the lockdown there was a lot of talk of Premier League Clubs suffering with no crowd income. They came back to secure their TV money and it looks like transfer fees and wages haven’t changed too much. Let’s face it what footballers earn at the top end is obscene but you have to say that if you were offered similar money for kicking a ball (or not in Gareth Bales case) then you wouldn’t turn it down. But right now in what is becoming a serious problem in the UK with recession biting deep you’d think football would consider the fans in the working mans game.
There are plenty of examples of clubs in the Premier League not taking any notice. My own team Arsenal offering apparently £250,000 a week to Pierre Emerick Aubameyang whilst laying off 55 members of staff didn’t go down too well. Manchester United claimed they wouldn’t be held to ransom by Borussia Dortmund over Jadon Sancho and that they couldn’t give them the money they wanted due to the pandemic. Yet when their new kit came out there was no reduction for the fans.
Manchester City after surprisingly getting off their financial fair play ban have just spent £41m and £21m on Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres respectively.
Chelsea after a transfer ban from FIFA for breaching the regulations relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18. The total figure was 29 players by the way. Now the ban has been lifted they’ve spent £38m on Hakim Ziyech and £47.5m on Timo Werner.
Just a few examples of football at the top level seemingly not worrying about post pandemic Britain. Fans always seem to take the brunt of what decisions their clubs make financially. An interesting thought and I have to admit I don’t know if it’s true but with no one going to football I wonder if Sky & BT have put their price of commercials up as tv watching is most definitely up. Also the same with the clubs and advertising at the grounds as Sky Sports recorded their best ever audience of 5.5m for Everton against Liverpool. This eclipsed their previous best way back in 2012 of 4.2m for a game between Manchester City and Manchester United. Sky’s record number was beaten by the BBC who recorded 5.7m for Southampton against Manchester City.
The FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea was the most watched match of the 2019-20 season, television viewing figures have revealed.
The Wembley final, which Arsenal won 2-1, was watched by 8.2million people at its peak on the BBC and had an audience share of 46.1%. It means that nearly half of the UK population who own televisions tuned in to watch the final on terrestrial television.
The viewing figures for the FA Cup final is small in comparison to the most-watched football match of all time, the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany, which attracted 32.3 million people.
You’re not telling me that broadcasters(apart from the BBC) and clubs haven’t jumped on this and put their advertising packages up?
This pandemic also doesn’t seem to have affected the price of kids football boots either judging by what I saw in a couple of sports shops I visited this week. It doesn’t get any easier with two growing sons, one of which is a goalkeeper who needs gloves too. Why don’t they ever go for the ones on offer? Oh, and the colours? What happened to good a good old pair of black boots? My youngest chose bright orange and lemon! I would have been laughed out of the dressing room in my day. “Shut up old man say the kids, they’re Sic!” I won’t bore you with the meaning.
Suffice to say that apart from Pirates not being able to open, the other thing I’ve missed in and post lockdown is my kids football. That’s all changing on Monday when my eldest starts pre-season training. I’d be out there with him if I could run but watching from the stands will do. Dad Taxi is back on the road.
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com

Underwhelming

FF268F36-115A-4521-90EE-5F83BB2B8366Last Friday Real Mallorca unveiled their new manager to the press, Luis García Plaza is his name. Am I the only one who is a little bit underwhelmed here? It didn’t look like there were many others in the frame though to be honest. Last week I said possibly Pep Luis Marti, who subsequently went to Leganés, who were relegated along with Mallorca and Espanyol. Also Andoni Iraola the 38 year old former Atletico Bilbao player who’d managed Mirandes to 11th last year in La Liga 2, but I questioned his experience. He has now gone to manage Rayo Vallecano. Rayo finished 7th last year, just 1 point away from the play-offs. It will be interesting to see how they both get on.
Back to Luis García, he seems to be a safe choice but his stats don’t jump out at you. Here are his managerial stats.
July 2006, Elche, won 5 of 21 games in Segunda and was sacked in January 2007.
July 2008, Levante, won 51 of 128 games, got the club promoted in his second season. He left after his third season after finishing 14th in La Liga.
June 2011, Getafe, won 34 of his 113 games, finished 11th in La Liga in his first season, 10th in his second season. He was fired in March 2014.
From July 2014 to 2018 he managed in the UAE and China.
In December 2018 he returned to La Liga with Villareal, he was subsequently fired at the end of January 2019 after just 7 weeks in charge with just 1 win in 9 games.
In July 2019 he went back to China and didn’t win any of his 11 games and his club were relegated. He’s been managing in Saudi Arabia since December 2019 winning 7 of his 13 games in charge.
I’m not seeing much in those stats to be honest apart from his spell at Levante but that was over 10 years ago. I hope I’m totally wrong and he takes Mallorca back up, but if he starts to struggle then expect him to be replaced. Espanyol who like Mallorca were relegated and then nicked our coach, replaced theirs 4 times last season! I hope Moreno knows what he’s let himself in for.
Atlético Baleares have signed goalkeeper Juan Carlos Sanchez Martinez on a free transfer from Numancia. Juan Carlos was born in Calvia, Mallorca, his parents still live in the village and he started at CD Calvia where both of my boys started. In fact when he can he goes back to the club and does the trophy presentations at the end of the season. He was at the much vaunted Villareal youth academy and he went on to play 224 games for Villareal and Villareal B between 2005 and 2015. He was in goal when they got promoted to La Liga in the 2012/13 season after winning their final game against Almeria. A game that my son Jacobs Calvia team and all the parents were invited to. He’s also played at Elche, Albacete, Real Oviedo and Numancia.
Quiet week on the UD Ibiza front but I did notice this week they have a feeder club called CF Sant Rafael del UD Ibiza. Where they bring youngsters through to play in the future. Obviously a club that want to go places.
Penya Deportiva after losing their coach have now lost their best 2 players according to Martin over in Ibiza. Pepe Bernal has joined San Fernando and Higor Rocha has joined Rayo Majadahonda.
My eldest Jake’s pre-season was delayed a week which means he starts this coming Monday. My youngest Jude continues his goalkeeper training and he starts pre-season on the 7th of September.
Episode 3 of A Kick in The Balearics will be out tomorrow on you tube and podcast. If you have any interesting stories on your local Balearic club then please get in touch and follow us on all social media.
Take care everyone, I’m back at the Weekend.
Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online atwww.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!
Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com