Brendan Madden spent years searching through the forgotten corners of Spanish football history and discovered that some of the most fascinating stories were not the ones played out under the bright lights of the biggest stadiums.
The author of "Once Upon a Time in La Liga" built his book around overlooked moments, forgotten characters and events that reveal how football has been shaped by Spain's wider political and social history.
For Madden, the aim was simple: uncover stories that even knowledgeable supporters may never have heard before.
He told Football Presse, "I want someone to pick it up, and even someone who knows quite a lot about Spanish football, to sort of say, 'Wow, I didn't know that happened.'"
After spending almost two decades analysing Spanish football in the betting industry, Madden swapped numbers for words and began exploring the stories that existed beyond the usual headlines surrounding Real Madrid and Barcelona.
His fascination with La Liga developed through years of watching Spanish television, listening to Spanish radio and studying the personalities that shaped the game.
That eventually led to the creation of his blog "Fútbol es la Leche", where many of the stories that later appeared in *Once Upon a Time in La Liga* were first published.
Rather than focusing on transfer speculation or the latest controversies, Madden searched for different angles.
"I like to try to look for different sort of angles on stuff."
Those angles often came from unexpected places, including forgotten newspaper archives where he uncovered events that had received little attention outside Spain.
One example was the story of Juan Alcorta, a businessman and former Real Sociedad director who publicly refused an extortion demand from ETA during a period when the Basque separatist organisation had a powerful influence across the region.
Madden found references to an open letter Alcorta had written but struggled to locate the original document.
Eventually, after searching through obscure digital archives, he found it.
"I was going back in the newspaper archives. There's a lot of references to the letter, but I couldn't quite find the letter.
"Then one night, quite late at night, I was in some sort of random Basque archive with PDFs of old newspapers and I found it.
"I don't think I slept a wink that night."
For Madden, finding the original source material was only the beginning.
The next challenge was finding the people who could explain what those moments really meant.
That approach shaped one of the book's most powerful chapters, which tells the story of Racing Santander players Sergio Manzanera and Aitor Aguirre protesting against Spain's final use of the death penalty under Francisco Franco's dictatorship in 1975.
Rather than relying solely on newspaper reports, Madden tracked down both men and travelled to meet them decades after the event.
The interviews revealed not only the political significance of their actions, but also the friendship between two players who remained connected half a century later.
"The enjoyable thing about the book is you need to make that extra effort to get the interviews and get the people's voices."
That search for personal testimony runs throughout "Once Upon a Time in La Liga".
Madden explores the unlikely story of Johan Cruyff's brief spell at Levante, the tragic career of Espanyol and Barcelona defender Canito, and Michael Robinson's extraordinary transformation from English footballer into one of Spain's most influential broadcasters.
Each story offers a different perspective on Spanish football, showing how the game reflects the country's culture, politics and changing identity.
Madden's own journey into Spanish football began in a very different world.
Working in analytics and betting, he found himself becoming the person responsible for covering La Liga, often spending late nights watching games while developing a deeper understanding of the country's football culture.
Over time, that interest became something much bigger.
The stories he originally shared online attracted attention from respected football writers, including Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter, and eventually became the foundation for his first book.
The biggest reward, however, remains the reaction from readers who discover something new.
"You're kind of looking for stuff that if you can get out there and people come back to you and say, 'Oh wow, that's the sort of story I didn't know.'"
Spanish football history is often told through the achievements of its greatest clubs and players.
But Madden's research shows that the story of La Liga is also found in the forgotten moments: the individuals who shaped communities, the players whose careers took unexpected turns and the events that reveal football's connection to wider society.
By bringing those stories back into the spotlight, "Once Upon a Time in La Liga" preserves a part of football history that might otherwise have been lost.
Brendan Madden is the author of "Once Upon a Time in La Liga" from Pitch Publishing - which is available here.
