Village Idiot

No idea Former Spanish president Zapatero hails from that region and was a Barça fan. They don't have any established club in the region, not a single club from the province plays in the top two Spanish divisions. I can only guess at some sort of rejection of Madrid because of regional identity. Madrid are the quintessential Castillian club, and León see themselves as non-Castillian. It's an odd one like. Here's the UK's based on viewing figures. There's a Twitter version but that doesn't seem right because it's almost entirely Liverpool fans. Liverpool fans being the most argumentative online? Say it ain't so!

No idea Former Spanish president Zapatero hails from that region and was a Barça fan. They don't have any established club in the region, not a single club from the province plays in the top two Spanish divisions. I can only guess at some sort of rejection of Madrid because of regional identity. Madrid are the quintessential Castillian club, and León see themselves as non-Castillian.

This map is probably more useful: http://www.jotdown.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mapa-1.png I've always found it interesting that, barring a couple of exceptions, the Spanish north has stronger local clubs. Madrid dominates over the poorest parts of the country, which don't have strong clubs. Atlético and Valencia have a very strong rivalry to settle who's "best of the rest". They are pretty close regarding fanbases. Atlético are a minority in Madrid, but since it's such a big city that leaves them with lots of fans still.

Yes, overwhelmingly so. Only a few "third teams" actually rule in their catchment areas: http://www.jotdown.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mapa-5.png Everything white-ish on the map means a majority of Real/Madrid Barça fans. Darker shades of green mean that province has a majority of non-Barçadrid fans.

Pedro had been linked with Chelsea since early in the window. ManU's interest got more press, but it seems they never actually tabled a bid.

Honestly, if Chelsea were so hellbent in fucking up, say, Liverpool they would have gone and met Suárez release clause. Like they give a damn about Liverpool anyway. None of the players mentioned in the discussion would have significantly strengthened Chelsea's rivals, and Spurs and Liverpool aren't Chelsea's rivals. I think people are looking at a poor transfer policy and trying to see malice where there's just too much money. I'll repeat myself, ManCity and ManU have bought countless players that have barely played and I don't see this accusation being thrown at them. That's what rich clubs do, they throw money at stuff. And when it fails they throw more money at it. Seriously, look at ManU these past two seasons. And why would Chelsea sell them Mata if they were so adamant of preventing rivals from getting good players?

I think it's bullshit too, tbf.

They have been languishing under financial duress since the late 90s, when they were forced to sell their stadium (and it was a bad sale, too). They have been crippled with debt and lack of revenue because they didn't own a stadium until they built Cornellà-El Prat. They operate on a shoestring, and even with their diminished fanbase they should still be one of the 7-8 richest clubs in the country. Theirs is a story of chronic mismanagement and short-termism. They have a decent board now. Building their own stadium should help in the long term, but it has crippled them in the short one. The residential developments that were attached to the deal didn't pan out because of the big real state crash in Spain. They have been unlucky, but in 4-5 years they should stabilize. Their challenge is keeping a decent fanbase until then; the attendances have been constantly dropping for the past years.

That list is easily countered by all the quality players ManCity/Arsenal/ManU have signed without Chelsea batting an eyelid. Certainly better that Steve Sidwell. And there's also loads of players that City and ManU have bought that haven't been given the time of the day. That's what rich clubs do.

It wasn't like that when I was younger. We were a majority but not by such an absurd margin. Besides the fact our recent success will have brought us more fans, the thing is that Espanyol are a zombie club.

Mourinho has made a mess of Chelsea's right wing. Suddenly somebody like Pedro becomes available who fits the bill of a Mourinho player and can play there, so they outbid the competition. What's fishy about that? There's always gonna be competition to sign good players, doesn't mean the buying clubs are signing them to prevent others from buying them. I don't think there's a counscious "let's steal all the players" tactic by Chelsea because it's just not feasible. They just don't make a proper assessment of a lot of their signings because they don't give a shit about the money.

Chelsea haven't signed and "thrown away" any player that could have made a difference to any of their true rivals. The only one that appears to be good enough is, guess that, currently playing for one of their true rivals (De Bruyne). They just have a horrible transfer policy because they don't give a f*** about the money.

It is full of shit, don't worry.

The Spanish public survey agency made recently a study of club followings throughout Spain. According to them, in the Barcelona area it was something of a 25:1 ratio. There's actually more Real Madrid fans in Barcelona than Espanyol fans. Comfortably so.

Not many regions in the world will have produced a better striker than Alan Shearer. We've always been better with midfielders, anyway: Guardiola, Busquets, Xavi, Fàbregas...

Just Athletic Club.

Raül Tamudo retires. Comfortably the best Catalan striker of all time and one of Espanyol's best players ever.

Too soon. Voted Janmat merely going off last season's form, but others should be able to step above him.

The Daily Mail has a Chelsea loan map. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/02/00/2BE3FFA900000578-0-image-a-23_1441149688982.jpg

De Gea in talks to extend his ManU contract, according to "As". He's been told he won't play until he signs a new contract, and he doesn't want to put his place in the Euros in jeopardy.

Didn't they put a Ballon d'Or clause when they signed Di Maria too?

That said, it's been a record year for La Liga, and that's without Barça or Madrid having spent a lot for their standards. Both Atlético and Valencia have outspent them this season. It seems clubs are starting to spend the new collective TV contract money.

Would be interesting to see the record signing of PL clubs against La Liga clubs. Would imagine a fair few Championship clubs have bigger record signings than a number of La Liga ones. Stupid Sky. Off the top of my head, and some googling: Real Madrid: Bale or Ronaldo, depending on who you believe: €100m/€96m FCB: Luís Suárez €94m Atlético de Madrid: Radamel Falcao €40m Valencia: Rodrigo €30m Sevilla: Negredo €15m Villarreal: Soldado €16m Athletic Club: Ríos €12m Real Sociedad: Illarramendi €15m Málaga: Cazorla €24m Depor: Diego Tristán €18m Betis: Denilson €30m () All the rest are probably below €10m or even lower. Heck, Eibar famously have never paid anything above €500k for a player.

Rafinha Alcántara says today in an interview that he and his father (Mazinho) tried to convince Thiago to chose Brazil instead of Spain, to no avail. Brazil could certainly have used him.