Dreaming of Europe..and a new Gaffer?

By: Jeremy | April 29th, 2008

I always thought Racing Santander was a paper tiger. They are up at the top of the standings fighting for a Champions League place and will likely end up in 5th or 6th and in the UEFA Cup which is where Mallorca should be. Although the first half showed too much defensive play, the Islanders came out in the second half and laid the smack down on their La Liga rivals with our hero Guiza putting the exclamation point on a 3-1 win at the Ona Estadi.

As much as I think Europe is out of the question, it certainly is possible. We now sit at 47 points, one behind Almeria and two behind Depor(where did they come from?) who sit in the Intertoto spot. Even Sevilla in the final UEFA spot is only at 52. With games left against Bilbao, Osasuna, Barcelona, and Zaragoza, we still cant rule Europe out just yet.

Despite the joy you feel at seeing your club beat top teams and actually discuss anything other then relegation odds is a thrill, but as the rumors continue to fly about players moving on, and it is more then just Guiza, you realize that after a summer of putting together a great team, they underperformed when it mattered and we will now lose many of them as they tease us at the end of the year with some brilliant and entertaining football.

To add to the worries, there is now talk that Valencia will swoop in and steal our great manager Manzano. Manzano is perfect for our team and has stated that the only job he would leave us for is the Spanish National team job. Now Valencia is going to throw big bucks at him and Manzano will strongly consider it if Valencia can somehow manage to lure players like Ibagaza and Arango to come with him. Hell, why dont we just rename our team Valencia Beach and give everyone away.

I understand that we will lose Guiza because we put a cheap ass buyout clause in his contract, but we need to step up and somehow keep the other players we have and most certainly our manager. Mallorca is considered a small club and does not have the revenue to purchase players on a grand scale, but we seem to have the ability to buy players we can afford who can keep us safe from relegation year in and year out. I dont think we are a yo yo club. But at some point, when you bring in players who are successful, you will lose them and must rebuild all while hoping to avoid relegation. This is the story of a Mallorca fan.

How many great players must we get and lose before we decide to figure out a way to keep them. Surely there has to be some business deals to be made to promote the team and bring in that revenue. With the club based in an ideal location for players and their partying ways, its not like we are in the middle of Arab desert trying to get players to play for us. We should be able to get players of our own who we can afford to keep. Now losing our manager because he finishes mid table with a strong team is a bit much.

No matter what is going on, I hope the players can finish strong. With upcoming winnable games, we are going to make a push for European football. I am excited and glad to see we arent battling relegation, but I want to keep the players we have and add some missing pieces, not constantly rebuild.

I wonder how long before we will be forced to sell Emilio Nsue, our next great player who you will be hearing about sooner rather then later because of the raid of our roster that may take place thanks to the bigger spanish clubs who had a bad year.

I will continue to see it play out but atleast we have something to play for which has not been the case in some time. Bilbao will be our next victim this weekend.