Seven and a half years ago, Manolo Lama, one of the great monsters of radio and television in Spain, started ‘The Goal’in Goal TVwhere he took her Jaume Rouresthe ‘alma mater’ of Mediapro and, now, outside the company with a Chinese majority, with the phrase “Hello, how are you, here we are, the bores!” And, today, seven and a half years later, in his last program, which he attended by temporarily leaving the coverage of the Eurocup-2024 with the COPE networkstarted with an announcement that was only half-fulfilled. Sorry, it was fulfilled until the last minute: “We came here to laugh, not to cry”There were millions of laughs and an ocean of tears, yes.
But, after so many memories, after so many emotions, after sharing, for the last day, with all his colleagues, with all the editors, with all his collaborators, correspondents and commentators, Lama, one of the greats, whether you share his style or not, burst into tears, emotional, to thank everyone for their help, to shed his first tear when he heard his daughter. Cayetana saying “more than a great journalist, he is the best person in the world, something that only thinks about helping people”. It was the moment when Lama looked at the camera and said: “I tell you: these people are very good, very good, they are all very good”.
Successful program
Lama began his last comment, after two long hours of information, praise, thanks and tears, by recalling “something that our own company points out, not us: ‘El Golazo’ works like a charm commercially, but…but we have to respect and accept business decisions, even if we don’t like them.” Lama had to go further on his last day. He had to deny, without too many laughs or giggles, that “it was Florentino Pérez who kicked us out; no, no, it wasn’t like that.”
Irony was certainly one of the programme’s main points throughout the two hours, in which the main thing was to demonstrate that they, dozens and dozens of professionals who are now losing their best job or the one they enjoyed the most, formed a large family.
Because, as Lama told them all on more than one occasion over the course of these seven and a half years, “you can only work hard and well by getting along with your loved ones, enjoying your work, with complicity and sharing, with passion, our profession, which is the most beautiful in the world.”
All those present, who were numerous, pointed out, throughout their speeches and interventions, three things that are extremely important for any job, program and profession. One, here we have always tried to tell what was happening and never make things up. “Today you can say whatever you want, we have already been fired,” Lama said to his people.
Second, freedom has been complete, total, for seven and a half years. “Never, never, at any time, have they told us what we had to say, they have never prevented us from speaking about what we intended to speak about and, above all, they have always, always, defended us from criticism or phone calls from those in power,” said Ricardo Rosety.
“When I was young, I wanted to be Manolo Lama and, as you can see, now I work with him, I can even touch him! One thing is clear to me: if Lama calls you for whatever and wherever, you must leave everything and go with Lama,” Carlos Pozuelo, co-presenter with Manolo Lama of ‘El Golazo’
And, above all, the point on which the dozens and dozens of professionals who have been on the set of ‘El Golazo’ today agreed to say goodbye and close the curtain on the most watched programme on the channel – incredible fact! They are closing the programme with the highest audience on Gol TV! – was to affirm, swear, highlight that “Lama has been the axis of everything, the cement that glued everything together, the guy who would go all out for you, whoever you were, he has always defended us in everything and from everyone”, it was common sense.
Carlos Pozuelo, the presenter, the companion, Lama’s alter ego at the programme’s presentation table, the professional who replaced Jesús Gallego, stated, summarising and expressing the thoughts of all those present on the set, that “there is only one thing greater than working, than having a job, and that is working with friends.”
Working with friends
Pozuelo said that the environment that Lama fostered was not just a work environment, but an environment of friendship, complicity, collaboration, of thinking about others and what they needed from you. “When I was young, I wanted to be Manolo Lama and now I am here, at his side and I can even touch him!”
Pozuelo said something that was also expressed by all those present and that has been part of it, I can confirm this because it happens to me with him and with Paco González, that “when Lama comes to look for you, when Lama calls you to work with him, in whatever, wherever, on the radio, on TV, wherever and at whatever price, you have to leave everything and go with him. All of us here would go wherever with Lama.”
And that’s what I call the ‘Pied Piper’ effect. They joked a lot about how little they were paid (“I would have come paying and you didn’t know it,” Gonzalo Miró told Lama), how demanding Lama was, and how, in this last program, they hid all their anger from him, although they showed expressions that foreshadowed more than shouting, but, I insist, above all they shared “enjoying making television, having a good time in an attempt to make people enjoy our program.”
“We started by telling the story of Kylia Mbappé’s birth and we are going on to tell the story of another unique star, Lamine Yamal. We are seeing the exciting and beautiful end of Leo Messi and we are saddened not to be able to tell the story of the title that Spain will win on Sunday,” said Pozuelo. “And we are leaving,” said Lama, bursting out laughing, “without being able to attend the presentation of Mbappé on ‘El Golazo’, we who, throughout these seven years, have narrated his signing, year after year. They throw us out, just when Mbappé arrives. But, I insist, Florentino Pérez has had nothing to do with this.”
“We have worked with enormous freedom. Never, on Lama’s programme, have they told us what we should say or what we couldn’t say. There is nothing better for a journalist than to work with freedom and Lama guaranteed it,” Ricardo Rosety, Collaborator of ‘El Golazo’ on Gol TV
As Carlos Carpio, one of the regulars on ‘El Golazo’, said, “when ‘El Golazo’ used to end, you heard insults from all sides; that is, if they called you a culé, if they insulted you for being a Real Madrid fan, if they made fun of you from all sides, it means that you had certainly done your job well. We have been daring, especially you, Manolo (Lama), by surrounding yourself with so many daring people, we have never crossed the red lines, in the same way that we never submitted to the dictates of others. We have been free and, my friend, we have you to thank for that.”
And yes, after listening to his daughter Cayetana, in a sea of tears, Lama burst into tears, very, very, discreetly. And that’s when he said, emotionally, “these people are very good, I tell them: kisses to everyone and we hope to see each other soon. Take good care of yourselves.”
