Galvez to stay on until June?

New signings have to be good enough to get the Palma side back up the league and into the higher echelons of the Spanish second division where they should be. There are a possible 72 points up for grabs from our remaining 24 games. The start of 2016 sees a mountain of tough fixtures of Everest proportions on the horizon. After Elche, we play Cordoba and Ponferradina (away) and receive Valladolid and Alcorcon at the Son Moix, all in January. It's a vital month for Mallorca's expectations of escaping the nether regions of the second division.

Several bit players are expected to be offloaded to make room for new arrivals, including the unpopular Fofo who looks likely to move to Tenerife, now coached by ex-Mallorca player Pep Luis Marti. A huge question mark also hangs over Italian striker Rolando Bianchi who's failed to make any sort of impact at the club. Rumours have it he may be heading out the “salida” door next month. There's also good news of a cash injection of 21 million euros being brought on board again, a week on Monday. This money will put the club on a reliably firm financial footing which they haven't been for a long, long time.

All kinds of rumours have been appearing on social media regarding coaches, investors and the longevity of president/owner Utz Claassen but most of what's being circulated is pure conjecture. One thing that does seem to be pretty well nailed on is the appointment of interim coach Pepe Galvez on a permanent basis until June. A lot of people (myself included) are worried that Pep's inexperience as a coach to a professional outfit may not do the trick, but he has to start somewhere and Mallorca don't want to do what rock-bottom Almeria did last Tuesday and hire their third coach of the season, when they appointed the mullet-headed Argentinian Nestor Gorosito.

I remember Galvez in his heyday as a player. In 1997, he came home to help push Real Mallorca into La Primera. After a miserable season in 1996, when he had a serious knee injury playing for Valencia under Hector Cuper, he lost his first team place. With 14 under-21 caps for Spain, the signing of Galvez way back then was a major coup for the club and his arrival put another 3,000 on the home gate for his first match in Palma. Galvez is very introvert, keeps himself to himself and comes across as being the shy type. Perhaps we need a more animated track-suited coach who barks out orders from the technical area, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, as do many other local football coaches.

One question I get asked more than any other is why do I show such allegiance to a team which has been in the doldrums for some years. After all, it's just eleven guys in shorts running after a ball, trying to put it inside a rectangular area more times than the other eleven guys on the pitch.

But it's much more than that. It's about anticipation, hope (springs eternal), despair (we've had shedfuls of that lately), and it's a roller coaster ride of emotions. It's also about going to a few away games with lovely people who are near enough in the same situation as I am as a fan of the team and we are supporting our local professional side.

Over the 32 years I've followed Real Mallorca, there have been trials and spills galore, we've been in administration, won the cup, been in the Champions League, European Cup Winners Cup final, and the UEFA Cup twice, beating both Arsenal and Chelsea in these European competitions, plus we have won promotion and suffered the heartbreak of relegation. Despite all the setbacks, kicks in the teeth, the joy, the tears and especially, at the moment, frustrations, supporting Real Mallorca is not easy nor is it enjoyment for many fans but it's a duty - missing a match is for me unthinkable – we just have to keep the faith.

Many new expat fans have stuck with the team over the past two years never having seen Mallorca play in top competitions or even La Liga. Our little band of around twelve attend regularly, but I must give a heads up (as the year draws to a close) to the expat supporters club from Bar Son Flo. These guys and gals, numbered around sixty, have stayed with the team through adversity and although their ranks have dropped off a bit over the past few seasons, their input with regard to supporting Real Mallorca has been nothing short of brilliant. Much credit for that goes to fellow avid fan Billy Morris who holds the record of having been to most of the away grounds in professional Spanish football watching “Los Bermellones”. As is his right as a long-time season ticket holder, he's very vociferous about the present team's performances, but what would you expect from a West Yorkshire Haligonian !