A tale of two cities

You need a vivid imagination to link sun-soaked Malaga to the windy English east coast city of Hull, but please hear me out.

My hometown club, Hull City, and the pride of the Costa del Sol were both promoted back to their relative top divisions last season via the play-offs after several yo-yo years when they both dropped down to the third tier of football.

Both have bounced back after a disconnect between the owners and fanbase. Both are having to make improvised plans for a somewhat unexpected promotion in a very short space of time. Both have managers who defied the odds to make it to the play-offs and thus the promised land.

That is where the comparisons end. Hull City are following the English blueprint of spending heavily to gamble on staying in the Premier League. At the time of writing, they have invested roughly 88 million euros on reinforcements with the promise of more to come.

Here in Andalucía, Malaga haven't spent a cent. Fans often want a splash of the promised cash, but I much prefer the more frugal approach. Realistically, both clubs are favourites to go down. If so, Hull would be left with a handful of disaffected players and a blown budget. At worst Malaga will just be licking their wounds.

I can't profess to be an expert on Malaga CF. I commentated on their comeback game at Atlético de Madrid this week. It was the first time I've professionally covered one of their games in eight years.

What's clear is that they have a spirited squad of players, bound together by an emerging and talented coach in Juanfran Funes. Many of the players were nurtured by him in a successful development team and together they took the Segunda by surprise when he was appointed in the middle of last season.

This is similar to Athletic Club in Bilbao or Real Sociedad where the locally bred players have an X-factor other clubs can't boast about.

For the first half of the game in Madrid, they gave last season's Champions League semi-finalists a real fright. Playing fearless football, showcasing their skills with confidence still flowing from last season. The on-screen graphic showed equal 50/50 possession in the first half. Atléti's coach Diego Simeone was forced to make emergency changes to alter the course of the game.

Los Boquerones and the huge travelling support can be very proud of the performance and shouldn't be too despondent. Survival won't depend on results against teams like Atlético; judge them on the matchups with teams in their sphere. How they fare against the likes of Alavés, Rayo, Elche and Levante will determine if they stick around. Truthfully, I think Malaga have a better chance of beating the odds than my beloved Hull City.

If the worst happens and neither stay up, the Spanish club will have balanced books and bunch of players who will still have their local club at heart. I made it eight of the starting XI are from Andalucía. Over in England, the lottery win will have been blown and those who jumped on the Premier League bandwagon will be looking for a ferry to their next destination.

And if anyone wants a mini-break to the Humber Riviera, give me a shout.