Advantages: A Great Finisher for his Goals
Disadvantages: None

...On 27th June 1977 Raul Gonzalez Blanco was born in a suburb of Madrid. His father signed him to the Athletico Madrid youth team at the age of 13. Raul was doing well and wanted to join the professional side but the club president dropped the entire youth team in a desperate bid to save money. Still only 17 and with no club to play for he turn to local rivals Real Madrid, he made an instant impact playing for Real’s C team where he scored 13 goals in just seven games. In October 1994, after only being with the club for a few months Raul was picked for Real Madrid’s first team, at just 17 years and 4 months he became the youngest player ever to wear a Real Madrid shirt. In his first season he hit the back of the net nine times in 28 appearances and won a Spanish league championship medal. He has played in three UFEA... Read review

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Advantages: David Beckham is like a license to print money
Disadvantages: United look as though they've lost out in a big way

...days has proved what we already knew – Becks is big business. And don’t think Real haven’t cottoned on to this making Beckham agree to go 50-50 on all money earned through promotion and merchandising. Real Madrid shirts with Beckham (and probably 11, not the famous 7) on the back will sell like no other shirt before it and not just in Spain. Every English schoolboy, especially those banned from wearing the red of United by rival supporting Dads, will want one and this will stretch as far wide as the Far East, a very lucrative market that Real have been so keen to break into. That’s also not mentioning the other merchandising he will endorse, from mobile phone covers to Beckham bedclothes – the man, and Real, will put his name to anything that sells. So onto the last part of the deal, the remaining £3 million. As I’ve already stated... Read review

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Advantages: Many things to see, Great underground subway, Nightlife
Disadvantages: Many "risky" places,

...Madrid... I have lived in Madrid for 17 years almost and I never regret having done so. Madrid is an excellent city that offers a variety of tourism for any culture. It has a great selection of good restaurants and bars that come from national selections to international/oriental gourmet but its all superb. The nightlife in Madrid is wonderful, having loads of bars and discotheques (many of them are huge). The best thing for me is the "football life" as madrid has home to one of the most prestigious clubs in the world "Real Madrid". Madrid is a city with many things to see and do and it offers a diverse range of activities and attractions, from museums to amusement parks. If you were to visit Madrid I would recommend 5 things "must see". -Plaza Mayor (many small typical spanish restaurants + shopping) -Santiago Bernabeu (football... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent read politically and for football. Great account of the Catalan nation and very interesting
Disadvantages: None

...The Barcelona Real Madrid derby games in the Spanish football league could be considered to be one of the most passionate and most colourful games in the football world. So good a story is the history of the Catalan giants Barcelona that Jimmy Burns decided to write a book about it. Simply called ‘A Peoples Passion’ that is what Barcelona is. It is more than a football club, they represent a whole nation, the nation of Catalonia. So much so they have refused to give into commercialism and disfigure their shirts with a sponsors message. The club is for the people with a huge and influential fan base that elects the president and public opinion holds large sway. The title of the book sums the club up nicely and it covers the whole history of Barcelona FC through its formation, civil war, the Franco years, right up... Read review

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Advantages: Very accessible, clean, comfortable
Disadvantages: None

...I was so incredibly pleasantly surprised by the Madrid airport! With the city itself not being exactly a paragon of cleanliness and organisation, the airport was everything one could ask for in an airport -- very easily accessible from downtown (the new underground extension takes you right there, for very cheap, under £1, and even had flight information on the underground platforms); clean; comfortable (well, as comfortable as airports get). It is a very modern building, easy to find your way around, staff generally friendly, nice big washrooms. I even got to see a Real Madrid footballer there!... Read review

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Advantages: Splendid architecture and surrounding nature
Disadvantages: destinations are scattered and hard to reach by public transport

..., 70 and 100 miles west of Madrid respectively. 2. To the city of Toledo in the province of Castilia - La Mancha, 50 miles south of Madrid. BUT: while all these places are beautiful and worth a visit, they are also flocked by tourists from March to October. Thus I have chosen a slightly different itinerary, maybe not completely off the beaten track, but exclusive enough to let you get away from the busloads of all-inclusive-tourists (went there, did that, bought the T-shirt) and Japanese visitor groups (view the world through the lens of a video camera). AUTHOR'S NOTE: INDIVIDUALISED RATING SYSTEM Starting with this article, I am applying this system to my longer travel reviews which cover more than just one sight in a city, region or country. This shall help the consumer... Read review

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Advantages: A great distribution and hard fought attitude to the game
Disadvantages: A slight lack of goals

...for him and Walter Smith was on the verge of kicking him out before Smith himself was sacked. After a few outstanding performances at the World Cup in 2002 he came back to a new look Everton under David Moyes. Since then Gravesen rightly became a real lynch pin in the Everton first team. He has been key to the way the team has played and I’ve felt they look slightly weaker without him now. His ability to read the game and get stuck in and despite his goal scoring record not being the best he is the type of player most managers would like in their side. He seemed to be quite a private person and really didn’t seem to fit the Madrid big name market but its down to his no nonsense, hard working attitude that brought the Spanish club to buy him. It seemed a lot of people doubted whether Thomas could go to Spain and really make much of an impact... Read review

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Advantages: More careful finances can prevent administration.
Disadvantages: Would lead to the death of many small clubs.

...their club to ransom with outrageous contract demands. David Beckham claims he would be lost without the game and where he would be without it. Yet what Mr.Beckham does not tell you is he gets 150,000 Euro a week from Real Madrid not including goal bonus and an appearance fee a bloody appearance fee for basically turning up for work Real Madrid are on the brink of administration due to players demanding unbelievable salaries like this. Come on lads there are millions of kids out there who would fill your shirt for the pride of just playing for their team. Administration is football cancer and it needs to be cut out before it kills the host and forces footballs smaller clubs to sell up and it will ruin the game.... Read review

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Advantages: culture, people, nightlife
Disadvantages: none

...influence arquitecture and arriving to plaza cibeles where Real Madrid celebrates their victiries and you can stare at banco de españa on your right, palacio de comunicaciones is like a cathedral front of you and palacio de linares onyour left. This is just a little itinerary around Madrid but is good enough for a quick view. Well at this point you propably will be a little bit tired so go to bar an ask for two cañas con tapas.... Read review

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Advantages: Good quality shirts, Extensive selection of teams, Delivery in reasonable time
Disadvantages: High postage costs

...Eeh, they don’t make them like they used to. Football shirts these days are all made from that polyester stuff and turn you into a walking billboard for your club’s sponsors – that’s if you can remortgage your house to be able to afford one, mind. Not only that, but everyone seems to have six different away strips and be changing designs every five minutes so you would have to virtually bankrupt yourself if you wanted to keep up with your team. These new-fangled fibres look cheap and nasty, feel uncomfortable and have become so over-commercialised that it was actually a novelty when Real Madrid produced a sponsor free shirt to celebrate their centenary a couple of years back. I’m quite sure I am not the only fan of the beautiful game to feel this way about modern shirts – and refuse to wear one... Read review

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