AS you would expect, the island jungle drums were beating out a feverish rhythm on Monday night as followers of Real Mallorca tried to get their heads around Paul The Plumber's acquisition of the Club.
Expressions like a bolt from the blue, he came up fast on the rails and who's he were being banded about down mouthpieces.
Dyed-in-the-wool Majorcan-speaking fans are, as you'd expect, sceptical (nothing new there then !) with mutterings of foreigners and other unmentionable terms of mis-endearment.
The few ex-pat season ticket holders I contacted on Monday night seemed quite happy with the deal.
The fact that Grande will stay on as club president for the next five years has made things even better. He's well liked, is a huge fan of the club, and a popular figure around the ONO stadium on match days and is Majorcan, which is important when 90% of the supporters are Majorcan.
It's early doors but let's hope Señor Fontanero's (as he's now called in the Spanish media) reign at Real Mallorca will be as colourful as his CV appears to be.
There are a few points which, as a supporter of Real Mallorca of some 25 years standing, I think need to be looked at to make the club more successful.
1. We must try and fill the ground for every home game - it's demoralising for the players (and the loyal fans) when they come out and see rows and rows of empty red seats. We need to find another 8'000 to bring the ONO stadium up to its 23'000 capacity. Too many Spanish football fans on the island support the big two, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
2. There's precious little atmosphere at most games and the never-used running track doesn't help. Fans behind the goals feel isolated and far from the action.
3. The fact that all home games are live on TV doesn't help either, people just won't get off their backsides in a bar and come and watch a live game. Although the revenue from TV is not to be sniffed at. The price of season tickets here is half what can be paid for in the English premiership, and a lot of the games here are far better value for money if you like football played along the ground instead of up in the air at 100 mph!
4. Too many ex-pat fans on this island support teams in England and won't come and watch their adopted home team, Real Mallorca, because they feel they're letting their English team down - what utter tosh. I've got friends who are avid Real Mallorca fans and support their English favourites as well.
AND FINALLY, we must get out of the situation where we have to sell half the team every summer in order to survive. It's a heartache for fans and must be a nightmare for the coach when he has to build a new team every year. We need consistency and must be in the position to tell bigger clubs who come tapping up our players to go forth and multiply ! If small sides like Villareal can do it, there should be no reason why we can't.
Ideally Real Mallorca should have their own ground, not one leased from Palma City Council. A ground where fans can sit by the touchline and get involved - the ONO's got no character.
Well I can dream, can't I ?
Visca Mallorca
Monro Bryce
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