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

Funny 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

Last 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

I was sat on my terrace this week contemplating that it was August and normally this would be the worst month of the season. Not in a bad way but in Pirates we’d be doing around 10 shows a week. The weather would be boiling hot and I’d be tired after my early morning radio breakfast shows and late night shows at the theatre. Also I would be a stranger to my family who I’d only see on fleeting occasions. But I would live off of the buzz of being busy. Fast forward twelve months and what a difference. I am still doing the radio but as you know the show isn’t open so my days and nights are my own. It’s a really strange feeling and whilst it’s great to spend some quality time with the family, I’m not one to sit around. If I’m honest I’d prefer to be working and it’s still very frustrating not being able to work at Pirates or to have been given the chance to.

With that in mind I visited the organiser of the concerts in Port Adriano on Thursday as there seemed to be some negative social media feedback on them being able to have concerts this year in the port. Whilst I at first found it frustrating to see, I knew that if they were able to organise something like this they would do it to the best of their ability and within the protocols they were given. I had been in the port on Saturday evening picking up a pizza after watching my team Arsenal win the FA Cup. It was good to see it so busy and like a normal night in August. I know the businesses in the port were also pleased with the opportunity to make some money. Back to Thursday and I was shown the arena which was still set up from Saturday’s show and was impressed with what I saw and heard. They were given a capacity of 1,000 people. All bookings were given designated seats for their group, these were then socially distanced from the next. When booking online the organisers called to check to see that all the people in the group were from the same social bubble. Everyone was asked to wear masks although they didn’t have to wear them whilst drinking. Drinks were served at the seats by waiters and waitresses. There was no dancing and you could only move around if you were going to the toilets. People were asked to arrive at specific times to avoid there being too many people at the entrances at the same time. All in all a successful night enjoyed by 750 people as they had decided to sell less than the capacity to avoid any problems. You could say a good trial for things to move forward in other areas.

I said to the organiser that my beef wasn’t with him as he had proved to me that it was possible to do. But we at Pirates wanted that same opportunity. You don’t have a show and a business that runs for 35 years if you don’t know what you are doing. That’s the frustrating part of this whole season and I know we’re not the only ones. We’ve been dragged into this “excessive tourism” law when in reality we didn’t need to be. I note that permission has now been given to the organisers of “Mallorca Live” for concerts in August and September which happens to be on the same road as Pirates. Once again my understanding is that they have a capacity of 1,000 and will have to adhere to the same rules as those in Port Adriano.

I hope that the organisers will get this right because it will no doubt help all of us going forward. But I’m going to say it again, why are we not being given the same opportunity? You might say the concerts are outside and Pirates is inside. We always knew that we would probably have to work at a reduced capacity we just needed to know what that number was. Everyone would need to wear masks and there would be a need to socially distance different groups. Remember that virtually every person that has travelled to Mallorca has arrived on an aeroplane. You couldn’t get much closer to that many people.

The other problem we are dealing with is what the Government call “Excessive Tourism” and that they don’t want that kind of holidaymaker.

I looked up the word “excessive” to see its actual meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary says “More than is necessary, normal, or desirable.”

I think we all have at one time, especially when we were younger had “more than is necessary” so does that make us all bad people?

On Tuesday I interviewed the World famous DJ Judge Jules. For almost three decades he has led the way in the world of dance music. Since kicking off his career behind the decks in 1987, he has ticked every box, as a DJ, producer, promoter, A&R, radio presenter, taste-maker and, more recently, a music specialist lawyer. I’ve been lucky enough to interview him on a few occasions and I’m always impressed by his views on pretty much any subject.

He is about to embark on doing four socially distanced gigs around the UK. Where a group of people from the same social bubble will be put in a squared off area and allowed to dance in that area only. They’ll be waiter served their drinks and will only be allowed to move if they want to go to the toilet. So very similar to what we saw here on Saturday in Port Adriano except dancing will be allowed.

We also talked about the future of the nightlife and clubbing scene both here and in Ibiza. I’ve taken out a couple of the many interesting things he said.

“It remains to be seen if the Balearic Government see that the Club culture is part of the tourism of excess and if they do then Ibiza will have a major problem on their hands.”

“I urge the Balearic Government to go out and see what other countries and tourist destinations are offering before they start making judgements on what they have.”

“The Youth market have a much greater spending capacity than families. They don’t have mortgages, kids, school fees etc. whereas the under 25’s have much more money to spend.”

It was a fascinating interview but as we drew to a close he said something that I hadn’t really thought of before. But when I thought about it during my 30 years here it’s true and the Government are prepared to throw that all away.

“Most of my friends had been to Magaluf in their teenage years. They loved it so much you could fast forward five years and they were coming back and staying in a four or five star hotel. Fast forward another five or ten years they were renting villas with their families and all of a sudden they are the clientele that the Government wants. You need to give people a taste of what your tourism product is at a relatively early age and hope that it ignites that blue touch paper. They then become bonded and emotionally attached to that location for the rest of their lives.”

You can watch the full interview on the Radio News Hub You Tube channel it is also on my personal Facebook page.

If there was to be a group of people to look at a way to move Magaluf forward then I’d have Judge Jules on it every day.

I’ll repeat what I said two weeks ago, set the rules, make people accountable for their actions, police the resort properly and you might just be surprised that you’ve got a resort that appeals to all. Not only that you’re still offering the opportunity for the resort to survive for another 50 years.

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 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

Just over two weeks since the season has finished and finally the Manager situation at Real Mallorca has been sorted. Well the fact that Vincente Moreno has left the club for Espanyol. It’s not clear right now what compensation was paid, one million euros was the release clause with Mallorca holding out and Espanyol not wanting to pay anything. It seems that a compromise was found probably half of the money as neither club wanted it to drag on more. The attention is now on Mallorca and who they employ.

Pep Luis Marti might have been in the frame. Their former player and Captain who played 316 times for the first team and Mallorca B and had surprisingly just been fired by Girona after getting them to the play-offs. It might have not gone unnoticed though that Pep was in charge of Deportivo La Coruña who capitulated in the play-offs against Mallorca, losing 3-0 in the second leg and 3-2 overall. All this was immaterial as on Monday Leganés the other team relegated from La Liga appointed him as their new coach.

So who’s in the frame for Mallorca? Well last week Andoni Iraola arrived at Palma airport apparently to talk to the bosses. The former Athletico Bilbao and New York City player whose only coaching experience is for AEK Larnaca and Mirandes. He took the Spanish side to 11th in La Liga 2 last season but more notably to the Copa Del Rey Semi-Finals. He’s young and obviously fresh but does he have enough experience?

Atlético Baleares have replaced Manix Mandiola with Jordi Roger Ceballos who has managed Cornelia and Real Linense in Segunda B. Real Linense were in seventh place in Segunda B Group 4 when the lockdown came and was subsequently cancelled.

UD Ibiza have replaced Pablo Alfaro with Juan Carlos Carcedo. He is most notably known as the man who has been number two to Unai Emery. They’ve been together at Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Paris Saint Germain and Arsenal. With Emery taking over at Villareal, Carcedo has decided to go out on his own.

Pena Deportiva have got rid of their coach Raúl Casan and are looking for a new one. Perhaps surprisingly as they formed so well in the play-offs.

UD Poblénse were unbeaten in the Tercera division up to the lockdown and defeated Real Mallorca B 2-1 in the play-offs to earn their promotion. Congratulations came from all parts including the former Real Mallorca, Wigan Athletic and Eibar player Ivan Ramis who was born in Sa Pobla.

A great story for Segunda B is a team called Atzeneta UE, managed by former Valencia player David Albelda. Hailing from Atzeneta del Maestrat, newly promoted to 2B, Atzeneta UE are the team with the smallest population (1,271) ever to play at this level in Spanish football.

I’m pleased to say me and my good friend Martin Makepeace in Ibiza have released episode 1 of A Kick in the Balearics. It’s our weekly Zoom and podcast normally out every Wednesday. We’re covering all football in the Balearics including all local football too. My two Sons play for CD San Francisco at Cadete and Alevin level. Jake the eldest starts pre-season next Mondayfor Cadete B and Jude will start towards the end of August for Alevin A. As a goalkeeper Jude has just restarted working with Pablo Roca who runs a very good goalkeeping school here in Mallorca. Martin’s boy Dani plays for SD Portmany Infantil A as a goalkeeper. So we want to cover local football as much as we can. If your Son or Daughter plays for a club and you know they’re looking for players from Juvenile to pre-Benjamin, please get in contact give us all the details and we will share with our listeners and on this blog. Also if you’d like us to feature your club get in touch too.

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube.

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

Let’s start this week with some good news. We have received thank you messages from our 4 charities from the Radio One Mallorca Radiothon.

Nick From Yachting Gives Back said, “Huge thanks for your support. These funds will allow us to do a great deal to help people in need and will be put to very good use. That would be a brilliant result in any circumstance but in these times it really is outstanding so well done all round.

I know better than anyone how much effort it takes to raise such sums, and how many kind individual donations are involved, and I look forward to posting updates on FB to show where the money has been used.”

My sons and I have done two food collection Saturday’s at Eroski since the Radiothon. They’re always looking for volunteers to help so please contact them via their website or Facebook. It’s only for two hours and gives an enormous help to Asociación Tardor who do all the cooking of the meals.

Laura from Great Ormond Street said, “We at GOSH are absolutely ecstatic to receive the Radiothon’s incredible donation.

This gift will make an enormous difference at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and help the hospital continue the world-class care it’s renowned for. The money you have collectively raised will go towards funding pioneering research, hospital redevelopment, life-saving equipment and family services.

 I wanted to share some examples of how the money raised makes an incredible difference at GOSH:

Please do pass on an enormous thank you to everyone who very generously donated to the Radiothon this year. With the Radiothon’s support Great Ormond Street Hospital can continue to provide a brighter future for seriously ill children.”

I am very proud that the money raised for Great Ormond Street has passed the 750,000€ barrier. Having been there from the start with the Pirates Premieres and visited the hospital on numerous occasions, we can’t thank you enough.

Krista and Rebecca from Cancer Support Group Mallorca said “CSG Mallorca would like to give a massive thanks to Radio One for the money donated to our charity,  we are so grateful that you made us beneficiaries of the money raised at your Radiothon this year. It is so selfless of you to devote so much time and energy to raising money for ourselves and the other worthy causes that you donated the money to. We will ensure to put the money received to good use, it will help us with the general running and expenses of the charity, as well as to provide cancer patients with the specific care they need. We are hoping that from September we will be able to open our drop in centres again in Son Espases and Son LLatzer, and we hope to finalise our agreement at Manacor hospital and negotiate one with Inca hospital, so will be looking for more volunteers to cover those areas, if anyone in the North or East is interested in helping please contact us.”

After interviewing both Krista and Rebecca, the message is to spread the word that they do exist and are always on hand to help people here on the Island.

Last week I went for a meeting to discuss the donation to Son Espases. I met with Maria Hernandez Coronado the Sub Director of Medical Services and Juan Carlos González, the Head of Communication. They are going to send me a list of projects in the UCI for children and the pediatric ward too. We will then make a decision on where we think the money should go.

Thanks again for an amazing effort in helping us, as you can see from above this is helping a lot of people in lots of different ways.

Last Saturday evening we were sat on the roof terrace of Can Pedro restaurant in Genova celebrating our Son Jude’s 11th birthday. When all of a sudden my phone lit up with messages. It couldn’t be Arsenal losing as that game was on Sunday, so what was it? The final nail in the coffin of this years tourist season here in Mallorca had been announced by the UK Government. All travellers who were in or going to Spain would have to quarantine for two weeks upon their return.

They weren’t even giving you a few days grace, it was happening at midnight. Utterly mad and I don’t know anybody who can understand the decision. Even their own transport secretary had just arrived in Spain. Surely the Cabinet were talking to each other?

These were the official numbers up to the 23rd of July, since the pandemic started. This was taken from the official Government website (GOIB)

Mallorca: Active cases: 86, recovered cases: 1812, deaths: 204.

Ibiza: Active cases: 9, recovered cases: 193, deaths: 13.

Menorca: Active cases: 9, recovered cases: 86, deaths: 12.

Formentera: Active cases: 8, recovered cases: 7, deaths: 1.

The current numbers in Mallorca taken on Thursday 30th of July from the Ultima Hora are, 52 in hospital, of which 6 are in intensive care and 234 are self isolating at home and being looked after by the Primary Care Centre.

With those current numbers, why the UK Government wouldn’t discuss air corridors for the Balearics is beyond me. The only thing I can think of is something has happened at the Brexit negotiations and Spain are playing hardball with a part of the agreement. I’m surmising of course, but how quickly it was rushed in I can’t see another reason.

One of the papers though this week was reporting that with Britons potentially avoiding a holiday abroad this summer, “staycations” could boost the national economy by £3.7bn. That could be another reason. In fact while I’m writing this I’ve heard a traffic report in the UK of a 20 mile queue on the M5 heading into the West Country. That’s basically from Palma to Inca!

According to the Metro this week, just one person has been fined for breaching quarantine rules after arriving from abroad, new figures from England and Wales show. The data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council comes after British holidaymakers in Spain were told they would have to self-isolate for 14 days after returning to the UK. Under the new foreign arrival rules, only one fine has been issued by Lincolnshire Police. It was one of only eight coronavirus related fixed penalty notices handed out in England in the two weeks to July 20th with none in Wales.

It’s a sad state of affairs and the fallout for the tourist industry on the island could be catastrophic. Lots of people have worked very hard to get their businesses open only for it to be cruelly taken away.

2020 has so far been a year to forget, hopefully we can look forward to better times ahead.

Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11http://www.radioonemallorca.com.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at 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

Big thanks to everyone who read, liked, shared & commented on my column and blog last week. It was seen and read in all of these different countries.

UK, Spain, Ireland, USA, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, Denmark, Luxembourg, Andorra Mexico, Malta, Sweden, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Saudí Arabia, Norway, Netherlands, Kuwait, Singapore, Jersey, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, Vietnam, Belgium, Thailand and China. It was one of the most read columns and blogs I have ever written. It just goes to show what an important subject the story of Magaluf is and judging by the positivity I saw in the comments, a lot of people care about it’s future.

Let’s be clear there is a whole lot more to Mallorca than a street in Magaluf and I urge you to get out and discover the whole of the island. But there is a problem in that street that needs solving and I don’t believe by closing the street you’ve solved the issue. Words are not enough, plans are needed and right now there doesn’t seem to be too much coming from the powers that be.

The main plan i understand is to make the resort more family friendly and less appealing to the younger market. I still believe the two can go hand in hand and you also need to think that in the low season families from the three main source markets are banned from taking their children out of school during term time. So to have younger holiday makers in the shoulder months wouldn’t be a bad thing.

In 2019 Mallorca received 11,869,977 passengers. 4,182,626 were from Germany, 2,425,356 were from the UK and 1,597915 from Spain.

In 2013 Michael Gove of the UK government introduced a ban on term time holidays, previously school heads could allow up to ten days at their discretion, supported by a system of fines for parents who break the ban. There’s a £60 fine per child, rising to £120 if not paid within 21 days with a threat of prosecution for non-payment and penalties of up to £2,500 or three months in jail.

In Germany, school is compulsory so it is illegal for parents to take their kids out of school before their vacation officially starts. A truancy fine can be as high as €1,000. Parents must apply for an exemption with the school headmaster in order to legally take their kids out of school before the start of the holidays.

In Spain, School holiday dates are published by schools and local communities well in advance, thus allowing parents plenty of time to schedule family holidays. Normally, you aren’t permitted to withdraw a child from classes during the school term, except for visits to a doctor or dentist, when the teacher should be informed in advance.

So our three main markets won’t be filling the resort with families during the low season. I know that pre-school children come particularly in May but not enough to fill a resort.

What about asking Governments to relax the rules on not allowing kids to travel during term times? Before 2013 this was the case and do we 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 away. Seeing new countries, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages and tasting different cuisines should be part of their education.

This would boost the economies of all countries in a time when it is needed most. Not to mention the travel and hospitality sectors that are on their knees right now.

As we hopefully move towards a vaccine for COVID, there is lots of talk about how long the travel industry will take to recover. There hasn’t been to my knowledge such a huge impact on all aspects of travel in my lifetime. There was of course 9/11 in 2001 and also the ash cloud in 2010 but these had more of an impact on the aviation industry than other sectors. Also stricter security measures were put in across the World very quickly and the terrorism seemed to be linked more to the US, so consumer confidence returned quicker particularly in Europe. This is a different Worldwide problem and according to the experts will take longer to solve.

Here in Mallorca we have a great advantage, we’re an island in the Med only a couple of hours flight from most European cities and the longer passengers are on a plane, the thought is, that there is a greater risk to infection. So there’s definitely an argument that, if you’re going to take a risk on Covid, you’d rather do it on a flight that’s only two hours long.

Remember Mallorca is a safe destination, in the whole of the Baleares there have been 2,326 cases equal to 0.86% of the total number of cases in Spain. Also there have been 224 deaths in the Baleares equal to 0.78% of the total number of deaths in Spain.

Going back to my point about the younger people above. They are according to statistics less at risk of catching and dying from COVID. So a short haul flight, that’s cheaper and closer to home suddenly looks really appealing. Trips to Thailand, Bali, USA, Australia and New Zealand will probably be off limits for now, so a trip to Mallorca looks very attractive.

I was on the beachfront in Magaluf last Saturday evening and to be honest you could have been anywhere in the world. It is beautiful and suitable for people of all ages.

So why is their a push to discourage the younger people to come? Right now our travel industry here needs all the help it can get and according to the bar, cafe owners and staff I’ve spoken to. That’s the ones that are left open by the way, it feels more like North Korea than a holiday resort in the Med. I’m hearing also that these strict rules have been applied elsewhere. I’ve heard of police being heavy handed in Portals Nous, Santa Ponsa and El Toro in places that to be honest should be left alone to do what they do best.

Back to Magaluf, set the rules, make bar owners accountable for their actions, police the resort properly and you might just be surprised that you’ve got a resort that appeals to all and doesn’t make the headlines of the tabloids every week.

Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11http://www.radioonemallorca.com.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at 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

Real Mallorca ended their season with a 2-2 draw against Osasuna. They played a mixture of squad players and normal starters and ironically they got a point. They have given it a go which was good to see but their relegation was down to a few factors.

Conceding 65 goals made them the worst in the league.

Collecting just 6 points away from home.

Hardly any top flight experience in the squad.

Playing behind closed doors definitely affected the team.

On Tuesday the club held a press conference which everybody believed would reveal the future of coach Vincente Moreno. Instead all we got was “we want him to stay”. He is contracted to 2022 and has a one million euro release clause that his suitors Espanyol and Alaves do not want to pay. If Mallorca fire him they would have to pay up his contract and forfeit the release clause so they’re hanging on. Not an ideal scenario as the club plan to return from their break on August 12th, with the La Liga 2 beginning on September 12th.

Of the first 11 that played in the penultimate game against Granada here’s my assessment of what they will do next season.

Reina: Has a contract until the end of next season. Will probably stay.

Lumor: End of loan, returning to parent club Sporting CP.

Valjent: Just signed a new contract to the end of the 2022. Possible move.

Raillo: Just signed a new contract to the end of the 2024. Will probably stay.

Pozo: End of loan, returning to parent club Sevilla.

Baba: Has a contract until the end of 2024. Possible move.

Sevilla: Has a contract to the end of next season. Will probably stay.

Rodriguez: Has a contract until the end of 2023. Will probably stay.

Take: End of loan, returning to parent club Real Madrid.

Budimir: Has a contract until the end of next season. Possible move.

Hernandez: End of loan, returning to his parent club Watford.

Four of the team Lumor, Pozo, Take Kubo and Cucho Hernández have gone back to their parent clubs after their loan deals expired and I don’t see any returning. Of the remaining seven players I’d say Budimir, Baba and possibly Valjent could be the only players to move if a bid came in for them. There is still a good core of players that were part of the consecutive promotions and it remains to be seen what happens to the rest of the squad and who they bring in. The club said they were keen to keep investing in the youth system which is good to see. It’s good for local football and the club know that it could be where future money in transfer fees will come. Two players in particular have been promoted to the first team squad from their Juvenil team. 15 year old attacking midfielder Luka Romero and 16 year old left back Rafael Obrador. Both look good prospects and are under long term contracts.

If you look at the relegated teams from last season all have finished in the top half of La Liga 2. Rayo Vallecano finished 7th, Girona 5th and Huesca finished Champions. In fact Huesca also conceded 65 goals in their relegation from La Liga, so Real Mallorca have a good chance to bounce straight back.

Atlético Baleares blew their chances of automatic promotion against Cartagena. In a game of few chances both teams cancelled each other out and it was no surprise that it ended 0-0 after extra time. After 3 penalties each were successfully scored, both Sam Shashoua and Jorge Ortiz missed theirs, so they lost 4-3. Such is how the play-offs work here they do have another opportunity as they now join the teams who finished second,third and fourth in their respective leagues. They will now have to win three games to claim the final play-off promotion place. Starting this Thursday at 20.00 v Cornelia. The team that surprisingly beat UD Ibiza 2-1 at the weekend. I saw UD Ibiza play and beat Atlético Baleares just before the lockdown and thought they looked really strong. Better news for Ibiza’s other team Pena Deportivo who beat Marbella 2-0 and now go on to play CD Castellón also on Thursday at 22.00.

Real Mallorca B who were relegated from Segunda B to Tercera when the first team were relegated to Segunda B three years ago, have the chance to return this weekend when they play Poblense in Santanyi on Saturday at 21.00. It’s a great opportunity for the younger players to get greater experience at a higher level earlier in their career.

Finally this week, me and the Man in San An, Martin Makepeace have decided to do a Balearic Football zoom/podcast. It will take into account Real Mallorca, Atlético Baleares, Ud Ibiza, Pena Deportivo, plus all local football too.

We need a name so feel free to make a suggestion.

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

A band from Paisley in Scotland called Stealers Wheel can for me perfectly sum up what has happened this week here in Mallorca. There’s a line in the song that goes “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right here I am stuck in the middle with you”.

Firstly we had the mask debacle. Do we have to wear them or don’t we? If I’m honest I’m still none the wiser. Government policy started to change as there were reports of a sudden rush of hotel cancellations. Who in their right mind wants to where a mask on holiday? It’s only a mask you say, yes I agree but it didn’t go down too well with prospective holiday makers. As long as I have my trusty wind instrument with me, I know I’m safe. Then after the much publicised events on the Punta Ballena over the last few days the Government have decided to close the whole street. Oh and a couple of surrounding streets too since that seems to have gone under the radar. So does this mean the death knell for Magaluf as a party resort? Possibly, as the authorities have made it quite clear that “excessive tourism” as they call it is not wanted. There has been a concerted effort by the Government and hoteliers to change the image of the resort. Since 2012, Melia Hotels, one of the biggest hotel chains in the area, have been working on a long-term plan to transform that perception of the resort. Eight years later, and after investing more than 250 million euros along the way, what has changed? Thanks to the ripple effect on the rest of the industry, almost 70% of hotel beds in Magaluf are now in 4 and 5-star hotels, well above the average for both Mallorca and Spain.

That’s eight years and without doubt the hotels are impressive but what about the rest of the resort? There has definitely been a drive to get more quality restaurants, bars and retail outlets into the area and in parts that has been successful especially along the seafront. But what about the rest of the resort? I didn’t see the restaurants and shops busy at the Meliá flagship hotel Innside Calvia beach last year, which right now is sadly all closed up. Costa Coffee has now closed both of its outlets in the area. How many more will give up the ghost after this disastrous summer? Is this what Melia and the other hoteliers signed up to?

So what’s the plan now? I’m interested to know what the Mayor and Calvia Town Hall think about what’s going on. They’ve been on the whole quite quiet in all of this. Surely an empty resort isn’t good for the image and they’re standing as one of the richest councils in Spain is right now going to take a massive dive.

I still think Magaluf beach is one of the most beautiful on the island. For me it’s undeniable, though as I walk down the beach front today most of the beach bars and restaurants are shut. It’s July, this place should be buzzing, it’s a very sad state of affairs.

Personally I’m all for keeping the island safe and COVID free, none of us want to return to a lockdown. But are we seriously saying that just one breach of the rules actually leads to a closedown of whole areas? Judging by the comments I’ve had from people the closedown fits the agenda and that’s a dangerous precedent to set. This has been media led and the Government have caved in. So are we saying that if a similar breach happened on the Paseo Marítimo or Santa Catalina the whole area will be shut? I’ll leave you to make up your own mind. Remember this is every business on the strip not just the bars. How can that be fair? You’re taking away peoples livelihoods here that have nothing to do with “excessive tourism”. If you want to change something then surely it’s better to talk to the people directly involved in it? Get their opinions and listen to the concerns. The powers that be were constantly told that the prostitutes and muggers were ruining the resort but nothing was done about that. There was definitely no talking when the excessive tourism bill was passed, in fact it took most by surprise. Then there was the famous map of businesses that were in the “excessive zone” and businesses that weren’t. In fact you could have one side of a street that was in the zone and another which wasn’t. All the Lawyers I’ve spoken to said it’s wrong it should be all or nothing. Many businesses though were willing to embrace it but most haven’t been given the chance. There’s a lot of good people in this town who if given the chance could help in the way forward but as usual are not given a voice.

I’ve lived and worked in and around Magaluf for 30 years so I think I have at least half an idea of what I’m talking about. When I arrived in 1990, families and young people mixed with hardly any problems. I worked as a holiday rep in the hotel Guadalupe and in the same week I could sell 100 tickets to family Pirates and 100 tickets to adults only Pirates. The resort and the Punta Ballena existed then as it does now. At night families went to their bars and the younger people headed to the strip. In fact maybe I’m not the right person. Successful businesses are now listening to their younger employees and setting up middle management teams. It’s something we set up in Pirates last year, to give our employees the chance to progress within the company but also these guys see things in a totally different way to how we do. We found it very rewarding. Look at our governing representatives and ask yourself are these the right people to move this resort and island forward?

As I write this I’m on my way to a meeting in Palma with the Mallorca Tourist Board. They asked me to do an interview with the Daily Telegraph about Magaluf and I asked if we could meet up too. I’ll update you next week.

I understand things change but if it’s going to be for the better there needs to be a plan, so whoever is in charge here call a meeting let’s get round a table and get this resort moving again. Last week I said #Mallorca2021 let’s add #Magaluf2021.

Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca

Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11http://www.radioonemallorca.com.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at 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