Catalonia's dream of independence from Spain collides with some harsh realities on the streets of Santa Coloma.

This dormitory town of 120,000 people on the northern edge of Barcelona is sharply divided over the 9 November vote on breaking away.
Historically it was a summer retreat for rich people in the city, just across the River Besos. You can still see some of their mansions among the concrete apartment blocks.
But Santa Coloma de Gramenet mushroomed into an urban sprawl under the Franco dictatorship and these days it is one of Catalonia's poorest towns.
At one point in the 1980s it was possibly the least cool address in the Barcelona area, notorious for drug addiction.
With 20% unemployment today, it has a particularly high population of migrants from outside the region, who now slightly outnumber those born locally.
Walk around the town's Fondo area and you will soon see that the newest residents hail from around the world - China, Latin America, Pakistan.
Ask people you assume to be locals, and you will repeatedly find migrants or descendants of migrants from poor parts of southern Spain.
It is no surprise, then, that a Spanish national political party dominates the town's politics - unusual for Catalonia.
Santa Coloma's energetic young mayor Nuria Parlon is firmly opposed to independence, though she backs the right of Catalans to vote, seeking to distance herself from the hard line of the conservative government in Madrid.
The language of public administration at the town hall is Catalan, whatever the politics inside, and Mayor Parlon's party actually sits in a local coalition with the party of Artur Mas, Catalonia's pro-independence leader.
Independence, she argues, is a "placebo" which would not solve Catalonia's underlying problems.
Chief among those problems is the weakness of the economy after the debt crisis, she says, and half of the town's budget of â‚¬90m (Â£71m; $112m) is spent on social services.
A mothballed construction site, that symbol of crisis to be seen all over Spain, looms just around the corner from the town hall.
For the independence-minded Catalans of the old town, living in the streets around the nearby Major church, the challenge is to win over people with more on their minds than building new countries.
Health worker Galdric Arus, my hour-long guide to the old town's charms, used to feel lonely because he had never met another "Galdric" (an old Catalan name).
Then he discovered Facebook, he says laughing, and found a few Galdrics over the border in Perpignan, capital of old northern Catalonia in what is now France.
He sees himself as a patriot, not a nationalist, and his greatest contribution to independence, if it ever happens, may be the teaching of the Catalan language. He does that voluntarily two evenings a week, in classes for recent migrants from outside Spain.
His vision of an independent Catalonia is of a happily integrated, multi-ethnic society living in prosperity, separately from Spain.
But for now he burns with indignation at Madrid's efforts to deny him and other Catalans the right to decide their future.
On Sunday he will have to go to a secondary school just outside the town centre to vote because the organisers are not allowed to use the normal polling stations in the centre.
Heading to a different school on Sunday, though he lives just a street away in the old town, is statistician Manel Pons.
For Manel, the record of Spanish governments of both the right and left, including Mayor Parlon's Socialists, is dismal when it comes to Catalonia. It comes down to too many broken promises of greater autonomy.
We meet at a cafe just outside the town hall, a stone's throw from the voter registration booth set up in a doorway between shops, where activists are busy building an electoral roll of their own.
During my day in Santa Coloma, would-be voters are more a trickle than a stream.
Manel introduces me to Sabina, who will work as an election volunteer on Sunday. She does not want to give her surname - not because she fears repercussions, she says, but because of privacy concerns.
"We have to show the government what the people think," she argues. "They must be made to understand what the people think."
Among those definitely voting is Alonso Romero, an upholsterer who has a workshop in the Fondo area, still busy repairing sofas for the comfort of Santa Colomans at the age of 70.
But Alonso is voting the other way - a very definite "no" to independence.
Since arriving from Andalusia in the 1950s - he still remembers some lonely moments conquering his nerves as a young migrant in Catalonia's dance halls - he has become, in his words, "perfectly integrated" and feels completely Catalan, yet he is still a proud Spaniard.
A more recent arrival from Andalusia is Guillermo Alvarez, who owns a newspaper kiosk just below the town hall.
A Catalan independence flag adorns his kiosk, but the man selling news to Santa Coloma seems to be keeping his options open.
What people want most right now in Santa Coloma is work and a decent standard of living, he argues.
"If the economy doesn't work, nothing works," he says. "It's the economic crisis which has spurred the independence movement and independence is seen as one way out of it.
"Spain is not allowing the Catalan people to decide and people want a free, democratic, constitutional country."
Madrid's efforts to block Sunday's vote effectively mean that only the pro-independence campaign is visible on Santa Coloma's streets in the flags and posters and banners.
As Madrid is ignoring the vote officially there is no anti-independence campaigning.
The town remains outwardly calm, with Spanish-speakers and Catalan-speakers living peacefully side by side, but the tension is palpable in the mayor's office.
In the current atmosphere, Nuria says, she is uncomfortable stating her position in public.
"If I put out a tweet now saying I do not favour independence, because I regard it as a trap, a lot of people will attack me with verbal abuse," she says. "They'll call me a fascist."
It is an insult that hangs in the air briefly, like a ghost from Spain's civil war past, but it is hard to think of the people of this quiet town ever going back to open conflict.
Follow my blog on Tumblr and Twitter as I report on this fascinating vote. Join in the conversation with questions if you see me live-tweeting discussions.


BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson has made a prediction for all 380 Premier League games this season.

The final table based on all of his predictions is at the bottom of this page.
In Lawro's league table, Chelsea and Liverpool finished joint champions and, overall, he has seven teams out of 20 in their correct positions going into the final round of fixtures.
Lawro has been pitting his wits against a different guest each week this season and his opponent for the final round of fixtures is drummer Ben Thatcher from rock band Royal Blood.
Thatcher is a Brighton fan who is looking forward to seeing his side in the top flight next season after their promotion from the Championship.
"If you look at where the club was 20 years ago, getting to the Premier League is an amazing achievement," he told BBC Sport. "It is going to be a great season.
"It will be all about staying up and, with the right signings, it can happen. We might even do a Leicester and win the title - who knows?"
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The Seagulls held their promotion parade last week after returning to the top flight for the first time since 1983.
"It was a day that the club will always remember," Thatcher said.
"I won't remember it as well as most people because I got off a plane and went straight down to the seafront and partied hard.
"But it was great to see how excited the whole city was that we had been promoted - it has pulled everyone together and we are all supporting our club."
A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.
You can make your Premier League predictions now and compare them with those of Lawro and other fans by playing the BBC Sport Predictor game.
All kick-offs 15:00 BST
Arsenal v Everton
It appears Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going to stay on for another year or two and, if that is the case, I am not sure why they have kept it such a big secret.
So, it does not look like this will be Wenger's final game at the Emirates Stadium, but it could be Alexis Sanchez's - the future of the Gunners striker is still in doubt.
Arsenal have got next week's FA Cup final to think about but I don't think that will affect the result, because they can still finish in the top four and they have to go for the win in case Manchester City or Liverpool slip up.
Everton will finish seventh whatever happens and they will make a game of it, but the Gunners are on a good run and I think they will come out on top.
However, even if Arsenal do win, I think it will be too little, too late for Wenger's side as far as making the Champions League places goes - I think Liverpool and City will both win.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Royal Blood's prediction: This is going to be a great game - Alexis Sanchez is going to put Arsenal ahead and Everton will bring it back in the 70th minute. 1-1
Burnley v West Ham
Other than their win over Tottenham, West Ham's season has tailed off in the last few weeks.
Yes, the Hammers are missing some injured players but they have been very average for a while.
When their fans look at this season, it is their new stadium and their summer recruitment that have been the bugbears for them.
For a while it looked like Slaven Bilic's side were going to get dragged into a relegation skirmish but they are going to get a mid-table finish, which is probably what they deserve.
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West Ham are not a bad side when everyone is fit but, if they want a repeat of their seventh-place finish in 2015-16, they definitely need to sign some better players.
Burnley's target this season was to stay up and they have done it. It is mission accomplished and they can build again, which is great.
Their home form has been the key and I think it helped that they got an 'extra' match at Turf Moor early in the season - the venue of their game with Liverpool in August was switched because Anfield was not ready.
They won that game which not only gave them points on the board but it also set the tone for the rest of the campaign. They have never really been under much pressure.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Royal Blood's prediction: 1-2
Chelsea v Sunderland
Chelsea will get their hands on the Premier League trophy at the final whistle and and will want to sign off with a win but I am not sure what sort of team Antonio Conte will pick before the FA Cup final.
He made lots of changes for Monday's win over Watford but will have to be careful about doing the same for this game.
If, say, striker Diego Costa does not play then he will go two weeks without playing before facing Arsenal at Wembley and it is easy for players to lose their edge.
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Whatever team Conte picks, I don't think Sunderland will be able to stop the Blues from finishing their title-winning campaign on a high note.
There are more questions than answers about what will happen next at the Black Cats, and the only thing we really know is that they will be in the Championship next season.
Lawro's prediction: 3-0
Royal Blood's prediction: This is top versus bottom but I wonder who will play for Chelsea? I hope they give some young players a chance, and I think they will win anyway. 3-0
Hull City v Tottenham
Hull were relegated after losing to Crystal Palace last week but it was their home defeat against Sunderland in their previous game that really did the damage.
Tottenham said goodbye to White Hart Lane with a deserved win over Manchester United and they will want to finish the season strongly despite missing out on the title.
People will say they did not win anything but Spurs are a very good side who came close to winning the title - they did not bottle it one bit.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino is doing a great job and the rest of the top six would take a lot of their players if they could - that is how good they are.
Analysis: I'd back Spurs for the title if they were staying at White Hart Lane - Jenas
Lawro's prediction: 0-2
Royal Blood's prediction: 0-2
Leicester v Bournemouth
Bournemouth have already bettered their points tally from last season, despite having a slippery month or two at the start of 2017.
Joshua King has been brilliant since Callum Wilson was injured at the start of February and the Norwegian striker has made astonishing progress as a player since I saw him when he came on loan to Preston in 2010.
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The Cherries are already in the top 10 and, if they can become a little bit meaner defensively, then they can continue their progress next season.
Leicester will go above them - and into the top half - with a win, however, and that is what I think will happen.
I do not understand why the Foxes have not revealed yet whether Craig Shakespeare will stay on as manager, but he deserves to keep the job because he turned their season around.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Royal Blood's prediction: 2-2
Liverpool v Middlesbrough
A win for Liverpool will secure a top-four finish and surely even they cannot slip up this time.
It is all very well saying because Middlesbrough are down already, the pressure is off them and they can go to Anfield and play their football - well, I have not seen Boro play any for the past 37 games.
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One big effort from Liverpool will get them over the line, and there will be a good atmosphere which will help.
It is a big game and if they are not revved up and they cannot beat Boro, then they do not deserve to be in the Champions League.
Lawro's prediction: 2-0
Royal Blood's prediction: 3-1
Man Utd v Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace are safe from relegation and in normal circumstances I would be expecting an open game on the final day of the season.
But I have no idea what sort of team either manager will put out, so it is very difficult to predict the outcome.
Jose Mourinho will make lots of changes before Wednesday's Europa League final, but he has such a big squad that it could still be a strong Manchester United side, if he wants it to be.
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Royal Blood's prediction: United have not had a great season and might rest a few but I think they are going to win this one. 2-1
Southampton v Stoke
Southampton are guaranteed a top-half finish and can make sure of a top-eight finish with a win, which underlines that they have had another very good season.
Stoke's form has been heading in a downhill direction for a while now but the nature of the last day of the season always throws up some unexpected results, and I think this game will provide one of them.
Lawro's prediction: 1-2
Royal Blood's prediction: 2-0
Swansea v West Brom
This could have been a very tense affair but the pressure is off Swansea after they secured their survival last weekend, and instead it will be party time for them.
I was at West Brom's defeat at Manchester City on Tuesday and they will not change - Tony Pulis will set them up to try to make life difficult for the opposition.
Again, this game is hard to predict because there is nothing really riding on it but I think Paul Clement will have three points to celebrate, as well as staying up.
Lawro's prediction: 2-1
Royal Blood's prediction: 1-1
Watford v Man City
I had been wondering for a while what was going to happen to Watford boss Walter Mazzarri, and it was no surprise when it was announced this week that he will be leaving.
I think the Hornets will play well in his farewell game but I still think Manchester City will get the win they need to secure third place.
City are playing well and I thought Vincent Kompany looked great at the back when I watched him against West Brom at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
An open game would definitely suit Pep Guardiola's side and surely Watford will not sit in, because what would be the point of that?
Lawro's prediction: 0-3
Royal Blood's prediction: City are going to destroy them. 1-4
Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
Lawro's best score: 140 points (week 22 v James McAvoy)
Lawro's worst score: 30 points (week four v Dave Bautista)
From last weekend's Premier League matches, Lawro got six correct results, including two perfect scores, from 10 matches, for a total of 120 points.
He beat world tennis number one Andy Murray, who also got six correct results but with one perfect scores for a tally of 90 points.
Lawro also picked up 40 more points for correctly predicting the outcome of the four midweek fixtures, with more to come depending on Leicester v Tottenham on Thursday.


On 17 November 2015, after days of intense media speculation Hollywood star Charlie Sheen - no stranger to intense scrutiny of his wild private life - confirmed he was living with HIV, in an interview with NBC's Today show.

Sheen, the former star of the US sitcom Two and a Half Men, told host Matt Lauer he was compelled to make such a public statement to end "this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths".
He added that he had paid out "millions" in the four years following his diagnosis with the virus, to try to stop those who knew from making it public knowledge.
He said many people he considered friends had turned on him, leading to "blackmail and extortion and a circle of deceit".
"I think I release myself from this prison today," he said, stressing was "impossible" that he would have passed HIV on to anyone else.
The very public announcement comes after a period of relative obscurity for Sheen, who was once the highest-paid actor on American television, as star of Two and a Half Men.
He was paid $1.25m (Â£830,000) per episode for the ratings hit but it all came to an end when he was fired from the show after a downward spiral in his personal life that played out in public.
Two and a Half Men, about an irresponsible writer of advertising jingles who finds his nephew on his doorstep, was a runaway success when it made its debut on US network CBS in 2003.
Yet the star's role as a hedonistic, womanising alcoholic was indicative of his life behind the camera as well.
In his Today interview with Lauer, Sheen said his use of drink and drugs over the years had been a "bad decision" but added that he was no longer taking recreational drugs, although he sometimes "drinks a bit".
Sheen - the son of Hollywood veteran Martin Sheen and the brother to actor Emilio Estevez - got his big break in 1986 in Oliver Stone's Vietnam movie Platoon.
He went on to appear in Stone's Wall Street, the western Young Guns and action thriller The Rookie, opposite Clint Eastwood.
By the mid-1990s, however, the actor's partying lifestyle had become tabloid news and led to a stint in rehab.
In 1995, he was arrested and put in hospital for cocaine use. The same year he admitted under oath to spending nearly $50,000 (Â£31,000) at a brothel run by "Hollywood madam" Heidi Fleiss.
In 1997, Sheen pleaded no contest to misdemeanour battery charges against former girlfriend Brittany Ashland. He was given a year's suspended sentence and two years' probation.
Less than a year later, he was taken to hospital again following a near-fatal overdose and was ordered back to rehab.
By 2000, Sheen had mended his ways enough to be cast as Michael J Fox's replacement on the sitcom Spin City and a couple of years of relative calm led to his 2002 marriage to actress Denise Richards, with whom he had two daughters.
But the couple divorced three years later after Richards complained of Sheen's drug abuse and alleged death threats.
Sheen married the actress Brooke Mueller in May 2008. She would later give birth to twin sons.
In December 2009, he was arrested and charged with assaulting and threatening to kill her.
Two months later he entered rehab again, forcing him to take a three-month break from Two and a Half Men.
Not long afterwards, he hinted he was prepared to leave the show if his request for more money from programme makers Warner Bros was not met.
In October 2010, the actor was accused of causing damage to a New York hotel room. After security reported him, the actor voluntarily went with authorities for a psychiatric evaluation.
The incident was played down by his publicist, who said he had gone to hospital because he had had "an adverse allergic reaction to some medication".
The star went on to file for divorce from Mueller, citing irreconcilable differences.
In January 2011, he was taken to hospital after suffering severe abdominal pains - the result, it was reported, of a two-day "marathon party".
A day later, Warner Bros executives ordered Sheen to seek treatment and temporarily shut down production on the show so he could enter rehab.
Within two weeks, the actor said he was ready to begin shooting again after self-healing his addictions.
But production was cancelled after Sheen phoned in to a US radio show to criticise the show's creator, Chuck Lorre.
In a rambling rant, he made a series of bizarre statements, including calling himself a "high priest" and a "Vatican assassin-warlock".
He continued his attack on Lorre in numerous talk show appearances over the space of a week.
"I am on a drug, it's called Charlie Sheen," he told ABC's 20/20 programme. "It's not available because if you try it, you will die.
"Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body."
It was only a matter of time before Warner Bros took action.
In an 11-page letter to Sheen's lawyers, the studio's lawyers said "the totality of Mr Sheen's condition, statements and escalating destructive behaviour" made production "untenable".
It was "clear", they continued, that the actor "does not believe he has a problem and that he will continue to conduct himself in a destructive manner".
After a period in which the show was not in production, CBS announced later that year that Ashton Kutcher would take over as star of the show, playing an internet billionaire called Walden Schmidt.
Sheen's future remained uncertain after the actor seemed to be going through a form of breakdown, played out in public on the TV and the internet.
He gave interviews and posted videos of himself on YouTube and Twitter, claiming to be a "warlock" with "tiger blood" and "Adonis DNA", and coining the oft-repeated phrase "winning"
But in 2012, Sheen seemed to be back on track, landing a role in another sitcom, Anger Management, in which he continued until 2014.
He also made a brief return to Two and a Half Men for two episodes.
Asked on the Today show about his future, Sheen said that despite his initial reaction to his diagnosis leading to "a descent into substance abuse and fathomless drinking", he said he now felt "the responsibility to better myself and help a lot of other people".


Representatives from Yorkshire are in talks with the European Road Cycling Union to host the recently cancelled European Road Cycling Championships.

The event was due to take place in Nice in southern France on 14-18 September but did not happen due to security fears after July's lorry attack in the city, which killed 85 people.
Brittany, in north-west France, is also being considered.
Yorkshire hosted the Grand Depart for the Tour de France in 2014.
Organisers of this year's Tour de Yorkshire have said more than a million people turned out to see the race.


Film-maker Gurinder Chadha says her new film "subverts the genre" of movies about the British Raj.

Viceroy's House, a period drama about the partition of India, stars Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson as Lord and Lady Mountbatten.
Chadha shot the film last year in the Indian city of Jodhpur.
She hopes it will be released in cinemas to coincide with the 70th anniversary of partition in 2017.
"I'm so pleased with it," Chadha told the BBC. "It's proper epic.  It'll be the first British Raj film made by a British Indian.
"It looks and feels like a British Raj movie but people suddenly start saying things and you think 'hold on - I've not had that perspective before'. It slightly subverts the genre."
Made with backing from BBC Films, Pathe and the BFI, the cast also includes Simon Callow, Manish Dayal, Sir Michael Gambon, Om Puri, Huma Qureshi and Lily Travers.
Chadha, best known as the writer and director of Bend It Like Beckham, hopes to finish editing the film this summer.
She said the story shows the Mountbattens as they work out the details of Indian independence alongside a love story about a Hindu who is in love with a Muslim translator teaching the Mountbattens' daughter.
"It's also based on my family who were all refugees in 1947," Chadha said.
"I'm Punjabi and my ancestral home is now Pakistan - so it's a very personal story about my grandma and my uncles and aunts who were all refugees at that time."
Mountbatten served as the last Viceroy of India, overseeing the British withdrawal.
On 15 August 1947 British India was partitioned into the new states of India and Pakistan, resulting in widespread inter-communal violence.


Somerset seam bowler Tim Groenewald, all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe and batsman Johann Myburgh have all signed extended contracts with the county.

Formerly with Derbyshire and Warwickshire, Groenewald, 32, has taken 33 Championship wickets in 2016.
Netherlands international Van der Merwe, 31, had a T20 Blast batting average of 38 this summer.
Myburgh, 35, has averaged 58.50 in three County Championship appearances this term, with a highest score of 110.
Somerset play Nottinghamshire in the final round of Championship games, starting on Tuesday, as they look to win the title for the first time in the club's history.


League One side Peterborough United have signed Nuneaton Town defender Alex Penny for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract.

The 20-year-old former Hull City youth player had been on trial with the League One side and played in Tuesday's pre-season friendly game with Ipswich.
Penny's fee is a record received for National League North side Nuneaton.
"When I heard that Peterborough wanted me to sign, it was an easy decision to make," Penny told the club website.
"I want to be playing football and I will work extremely hard to try and break into the team here."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Kevin Braniff has given Glenavon a boost ahead of Saturday's Irish Cup final by agreeing a one-year contract extension with the Lurgan Blues.

Braniff fired all four Glenavon goals in their 4-3 Irish Cup semi-final over league champions Crusaders last month.
The ex-Portadown striker signed for Glenavon in June 2014 after returning home from a brief stint in Australia.
Braniff, 33, has earned two Northern Ireland caps.
Both of Braniff's Northern Ireland appearances came in 2010.
Glenavon face Linfield in Saturday's Irish Cup final.


The great British pub continues to make way for coffee shops and eateries on our High Streets, but it remains the most popular leisure venue in the UK.

Local Data Company figures, analysed by the BBC, show between 2011-16, the number of town centre bars, pubs and night clubs fell by about 2,000.
But cafes, fast food outlets and restaurants have gone up by 6,000 across England, Scotland and Wales.
However, there are still fewer coffee shops than pubs in our town centres.
The West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales were the areas with the highest growth in leisure businesses, while Greater London was the only area which showed a decrease, with a -0.3% downturn.
Roast dinner in a burger? How to compete in the food scene
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The figures - which do not include Northern Ireland - exclude shops and were collated by people walking up and down the country's high streets. The Local Data Company looks at businesses in the heart of town centres and not the surrounding areas.
The largest growth areas included lounge bars (116%), cake makers (51%), juice bars (46%) and speciality restaurants. There was also a 31% increase in the number of coffee shops.
Comedy clubs (-33%), snooker halls (-34%), internet cafes (-41%) and bingo halls (-22%) saw some of the biggest falls.
Although pubs are declining, they still make up 16% of town centre leisure venues, with cafes, takeaway food venues and bookmakers all in the top 10.
Prof Jonathan Morris, a historian at the University of Hertfordshire who has studied the proliferation of coffee shops, said the cultural revolution of coffee shops began in the 1990s when programmes such as Friends and Seinfeld were popular.
Technological advances, particularly laptops and the internet, were also behind the increase.
Longer commutes and work days were also having an impact, Prof Morris added.
"People socialise during the day or after work rather than evenings now," he said.
"Places like snooker and bingo halls take a bigger chunk of time, while meeting for coffee doesn't take long.
"To halt the decline, pubs needs to develop their daytime offer."
Prof Ken Roberts, who has studied leisure culture, said the demographic of who goes out has changed.
"The growth in young single people who are postponing the age of marriage and motherhood; a rise in students and older, retired people, are driving the change," he said.
Prof Roberts added that older people tend to spend their money on holidays, top restaurants or big events like theatre weekends to London, whereas younger people were more likely to go out in the evenings and also have cheap meals out.
The figures show the North East had the largest growth in restaurants, with an 18% increase, while London had the greatest drop in bars, pubs and clubs, at -14%.
Cafes and tearooms are the most popular types of leisure business in London, accounting for 20% of the total.
Indian, Italian and Chinese are the most popular types of restaurants across England, but there are regional quirks as well - in Leeds, there has been a rise in Spanish restaurants, while American diners are proving to be popular in Bristol.
Snooker clubs have seen a drop of about 35%. According to Sport England, the number of people who say they have played the game each week has dropped 43% from 64,400 in 2011, to 36,800 in 2016.
Jason Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said the clubs were a victim of the decline in the licence trade, and were fighting - like most sports - to get people away from mobile phones and laptops.
"We're dealing with a completely different world now and there is an argument to say that a reinvention is required," he said.
"The traditional snooker club, which the sport had in the 1970s and 80s, is not working now but there are many that are thriving. The snooker clubs that are closing down are probably not inviting; there's a little doorway on a street where people don't go in.
"Whereas those that are in the right location with the right facilities, such as in shopping centres and with head coaches, are doing well."
Additional data analysis by Paul Bradshaw


Newspapers, cricket writers and players have paid tributes to Australian Test player Phillip Hughes, who died on Thursday.

The 25-year-old New South Wales left-hander was hit on the top of the neck by a short delivery from Sean Abbott on Monday while batting for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match.
In Australia, cricket writers are shocked at the young talent's sudden death.
Most feel Australia has lost a "true gentleman" and a promising player.
"Hughes was one of the most exciting prospects Australian cricket had seen for years," writes Jonathan Healy on ABC website.
"After a number of high-profile retirements, Australia had not quite come to grips with the fact that the golden age was over and Hughes was earmarked to lead the next generation of stars."
The Courier Mail says no other tragic incident in Australian sports has caused "more widespread grief than this heartbreaking tale of a strong-willed young cricketer".
"An impish cricketer with a warm, cheeky grin who had no enemies in the game, Hughes will forever be remembered as one of the game's most likeable characters," the paper says.
"His quirky home-made technique fashioned on the family banana farm in Macksville made him a captivating study of originality and hand-eye co-ordination."
Beyond his amazing "hand-eye co-ordination"  and "subtle footwork", most writers are unanimous in their praise for Hughes' character.
"Loved by everybody in the cricket community and a close friend of captain Michael Clarke, the batsman's fate has stunned the game," sports pundit Peter Lalor writes in The Australian.
Sports expert Malcolm Knox writes in The Age that Hughes will be best remembered for his unique style and his demeanour as "a low-key country boy".
"Phillip Hughes was an unforgettable cricketer, a personality cricketer: a little battler who was also thrilling to watch, a low-key country boy who expressed himself on the field with a uniquely flamboyant style," he writes.
English papers too are shocked by the elegant left-hander's tragic death.
Russell Jackson of The Guardian says Hughes seemed "destined for greatness at a young age". "It was a level of expectation and pressure that Hughes wore with humility and a path for which he prepared himself diligently," he adds.
In South Asia, Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar has led tributes for Hughes.
"Shocked to hear about Phil. Sad day for cricket," Tendulkar tweeted.
Sandipan Sharma writes in the Firstpost website that Hughes' "unfortunate death... once again reminds us of the dangers of playing any game, even cricket, where the batsmen often walk out protected from head to toe like warriors".
In Pakistan, batsman Shahid Afridi has paid his "heartfelt condolences to the family of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes on the sad demise".
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook


A second group of people have been brought to safety after getting into trouble on Strangford Lough in the space of 48 hours.

The RNLI lifeboat was launched on the County Down lough on Thursday night.
A group of five men had got in to difficulty on a seven-metre yacht and were escorted back to safe water. No one was injured.
Seven others were rescued by the RNLI after becoming stranded on islands on the lough on Wednesday.


Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has questioned whether rival candidate Ted Cruz is eligible to become his party's nominee because he was born in Canada.

Mr Trump called it a "very precarious" issue for the party and said that Mr Cruz's nomination could be challenged in court.
Mr Cruz was born in Calgary to an American mother and a Cuban father.
Most legal experts believe Mr Cruz meets the requirements to be president.
The Cruz campaign responded by saying Mr Trump had "jumped the shark" - a pop culture reference to when a TV show or fad has overreached and fallen into decline.
The Texas senator is performing well in polling in the early voting state of Iowa. While Mr Trump leads most polls, several surveys show Mr Cruz is the top choice of likely Republican voters.
Much of Mr Trump's support comes from independents, disillusioned Democrats and people who have never voted before.
Some analysts are predicting that Mr Cruz will win because of how the voting process is structured in Iowa.
The caucus format requires more time and dedication from voters than a typical US primary election.
Before Mr Trump became a presidential candidate, the New York businessman had repeatedly questioned President Barack Obama's citizenship.
Mr Obama was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father.
Authorities in Hawaii and Mr Obama both provided detailed birth records after some conservatives such as Mr Trump questioned where he was born.
Mr Obama's allies have said the "birther" movement was a racist effort to discredit the county's first black president.


Laura Kuenssberg is the BBC's new political editor, taking over the role Nick Robinson held for a decade.

The 38-year-old journalist became well-known during the 2010 election as the BBC's chief political correspondent.
She then had a spell at ITV before returning to the BBC in 2014 on the Newsnight team.
Nick Robinson will join BBC Radio Four's Today programme in the autumn. He has taken time off recently to have chemotherapy to treat lung cancer.
Kuenssberg said: "I'm completely delighted and I recognise the responsibility on my shoulders.
"It's an honour for me to follow Nick Robinson who has been such an outstanding political editor."
Nick Robinson 2005 - 2015
Andrew Marr 2000 - 2005
Robin Oakley 1992 - 2000
John Cole 1981 - 1992
John Simpson 1980 - 1981
David Holmes 1975 - 1980
Peter Hardiman Scott 1970 - 1975
BBC director-general Tony Hall said: "Laura's an exceptional journalist - I saw that for myself in our studio on election night.
"Her knowledge of Westminster politics is second to none, but she also has a real flair for asking the questions the audience want answering."
BBC director of news James Harding said there was no role quite like political editor at the BBC.
"It is one of the toughest and most influential jobs in journalism. I am delighted Laura will be our next voice from Westminster."
Kuenssberg was born in Italy, spent her childhood in Glasgow and gained a first class honours degree from Edinburgh University in modern history.
She joined the BBC in 2000 as a trainee journalist in Newcastle and became a political correspondent in 2003, working on the Daily Politics and the Today programme, Breakfast and the News at Ten.
In 2009, she was appointed the BBC's chief political correspondent, but moved to ITV News two years later to be business editor.
She returned to the BBC last year in the role of Newsnight presenter.
She has lived and worked in France and in the US, covering two White House presidential races.


A taxi driver accused of murdering a woman missing since 2003 told police he was "sick" as he confessed to her killing, a court has heard.

Christopher Halliwell denies murdering Becky Godden between 1 January 2003 and 3 April 2008.
Jurors were told he led police to her body and asked officers if it was "too late to get help".
They also heard Mr Halliwell, 52, is serving a life sentence for murdering Sian O'Callaghan in 2011.
Miss O'Callaghan went missing after a night out with friends in Swindon.
Her semi-naked body was discovered in undergrowth in Uffington, Oxfordshire, while the remains of Miss Godden were found "hidden in the middle of nowhere" in Eastleach, Gloucestershire in 2011.
The court heard that, while in Uffington, Mr Halliwell told Det Supt Steve Fulcher, who was leading the investigation: "We need to have a chat."
Mr Halliwell allegedly informed Mr Fulcher he would show him the "exact spot" where Miss Godden's body was buried.
The jury was told the accused asked what was wrong with him and said to Mr Fulcher: "Normal people don't go round killing each other."
Bristol Crown Court was told: "This defendant, Christopher Halliwell, confessed to the police that between 2003 and 2005 - he couldn't be sure of the date - he had taken a girl from the streets of Swindon.
"He told the police he had sex with her and then he killed her by strangling her. He told the police he stripped the girl of her clothes and concealed her naked body.
"Not only that but the defendant took the police to the location."
The court was told Miss Godden's skeletal remains were recovered from a field in March 2011 and soil from the area was later matched to dirt found on garden tools found at Mr Halliwell's house.
Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC told the jury  the "last reliable sighting" of Miss Godden, then aged 20, was in Swindon town centre in January 2003.
"After that nothing more was heard from her. She quite literally disappeared."
The court heard Miss Godden's parents separated when she was aged about six.
"It is right to say Becky had a troubled adolescence," Mr Haggan said.
"She became a heavy user of Class A drugs and, at some point during her early to mid- teens, she began earning a living as a sex worker."
Miss Godden was last seen by her mother on 16 December 2002, and 11 days later a police officer recorded seeing her.
Then, in early January a friend spent time with her outside the Destiny and Desire nightclub in Swindon.
A taxi pulled up and Miss Godden approached it, returning to the car a short while later and arguing with the driver, Mr Haggan said.
"A short time later, Becky told her friends that she was leaving and she went back to the taxi," he told the jury.
"She got into the rear of the vehicle and the vehicle drove away."
"Extensive inquiries by the police indicate that this probably was the last known reliable sighting of Becky."
The case continues.


Drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time will not only get you drunk but may also upset your heart rhythm, say researchers.

They did a field experiment in Germany with 3,000 adults at Munich's famous annual Oktoberfest.
The odds of heart arrhythmia increased as beer consumption went up.
Most of the arrhythmias were "apparently harmless" sinus tachycardia, where the heart just beats faster than normal, but a few were not.
Around 5% of the arrhythmias recorded were potentially more worrying, and included one type called atrial fibrillation, which, if it persists, is linked to an increased risk of stroke and heart failure.
These odds are very low, which meant there was no significant link between alcohol and dangerous heart arrhythmias in the study.
But there was a significant link between alcohol consumption and more benign arrhythmias.
The volunteers, who were all deemed sober enough to take part in the tests, had heart traces taken using a mobile phone app while they partied.
Although it is not surprising that heart rate might increase in a party atmosphere, sinus tachycardia was far more common among the drinkers who had downed a few Steins of beer at the Oktoberfest than in the 400 or so abstainers.
The likelihood of a cardiac arrhythmia increased as the number of grams of alcohol per kilogram of blood (measured with a breathalyser) went up.
Even though the "lively atmosphere in the beer tent" was not the ideal setting for doing the heart traces, the researchers were able to get reliable recordings for almost all of the volunteers, the European Heart Journal reports.
They found arrhythmias in 30% of these 30-second recordings - more than would be expected in a general population.
The researchers think it is possible that innocent arrhythmias could sometimes lead to more serious ones, such as atrial fibrillation, within days of drinking lots of alcohol, although they did not test this out in their study.
They now plan more research to check if this "Holiday Heart Syndrome" - arrhythmia triggered by an a sudden alcohol binge - exists and, if it does, whether it remedies itself.
Researcher Dr Moritz Sinner from the University Hospital of Munich said: "What we have found is that alcohol does interfere with heart rhythm, which hasn't been shown like this before.
"What we still don't know is what happens after people stop drinking or continue to drink. What happens the next day or the day after?"
Dr Mike Knapton from the British Heart Foundation said: "Using the Munich Oktoberfest as a real world laboratory is a unique approach and has given us an insight into how heavy drinking over a short space of time can increase people's chances of having an abnormal heart rhythm. However, longer-term follow-up is needed to confirm if this type of drinking has a lasting effect in giving people potentially life-threatening arrhythmias.
"Extensive research has shown that alcohol consumption is associated with a range of diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Our advice is to drink in moderation, or no more than 14 units of alcohol per week."


The bodies of four missing US soldiers have been recovered after their vehicle overturned while crossing a flooded riverbank at Fort Hood, Texas.

The discovery brings the death toll from the accident to nine.
Three soldiers were found dead shortly after the incident and two more bodies were recovered late on Thursday night.
Foot Hood officials said the 2.5-ton vehicle was conducting a routine exercise when it was swept away by the current amid heavy flooding.
Three of the occupants survived and were discharged from Fort Hood's hospital on Friday.
The four bodies were found downstream from the Owl Creek Tactical Crossing where the vehicle was swept away, said Maj Gen John Uberti, deputy commander at Fort Hood.
The army has not identified any of the victims while it notifies relatives.
"This tragedy extends well beyond Fort Hood and the outpouring of support from the country is sincerely appreciated," said Gen Uberti.
The Light Medium Tactical Vehicle was at a low-water crossing point when it was swept away, said Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug.
The vehicle was in the "proper place for what they were training", Mr Haug said, adding: "It's just an unfortunate accident that occurred quickly."
Aircraft, canine search teams and swift-water rescue watercraft were deployed to sweep the 20-mile (32km) Owl Creek for the missing soldiers.
News of the deaths comes as torrential rains and flooding continue to grip large swathes of Texas. May saw record-breaking downpours. At least six people have died as a result.
Gov Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in 31 counties across Texas.  Severe storms were expected to hit the state Friday and Saturday, intensifying floods caused by swelling waterways and rivers.


As sure as "Results Wednesday" follows Super Tuesday, Americans were reacting to the outcome of the voting by searching on Google for how to move to Canada.

On this occasion, a tweet by Google's data editor, Simon Rogers, alerted the world to renewed interest. He noted a spike of 350% in searches over a four-hour period for "how can I move to Canada" coming from the United States.
The peak in relative interest was at 05:32 GMT, around 20 minutes after Mr Rogers' tweet. Analysis of Google's own data shows that interest had apparently reached a plateau shortly before his tweet, which sparked considerable further interest...
Toronto City councillor Norm Kelly's helpful direction to the Canadian Immigration Service's website has garnered over 32,000 retweets, suggesting that there was also significant interest on social media...
The link to the "Apply to immigrate to Canada" page has been tweeted more than 29,000 times in the past 24 hours, a staggering growth in interest.
Some kind Canadians have offered to take in those fleeing the US.
While others recommended the move on the basis of Canada's finest cuisine.
What is poutine, you ask. The national dish of Quebec, consisting of chips, cheese curds and gravy. It looks like this.
Not that the website administrators will be thanking Norm Kelly or anyone else - it had a yellow bar warning about delays, which may or may not be related to the recent interest.
This is but a speed hump in the long and glorious history of American threats to emigrate or secede, which are at least as old as the internet.
The biggest recorded spike in interest was when George W Bush was elected president for a second term in November 2004. Back then the Canadian immigration service reported a six-fold increase in interest on its website.
Below we've shown both searches for "move to Canada" (in blue) and "moving to Canada" (in red) over Super Tuesday/Results Wednesday. The blue peak is at about 06:30 GMT on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, most interest has come from Massachusetts, where both the leading candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump won their primaries.
The state with the most interest in a "move to Canada" - since Google's records began in 2004 - is Washington, which lies on the border. So, not far to go.
We've been here before. Studying the trends, there's an uptick whenever the country elects a new president. Barack Obama's two elections come nowhere near the peak of George W Bush, but there are still noticeable peaks around the time of both his victories.
Alec Baldwin is perhaps the most famous American to threaten departure in the face of an incoming president. He was besieged by email in the pre-social era for his threat to leave if George W Bush was elected in 2000. There is no indication he left the US after Mr Bush was re-elected in 2004.


Alan Henning's apparent death has stunned people to the core in his hometown of Eccles, where yellow ribbons remain tied to lampposts in the heavy morning rain.

A video purporting to show the 47-year-old taxi driver being beheaded has been released by Islamic State (also known as IS, ISIS and ISIL) militants.
He had been delivering aid to Syria in December when he was kidnapped and then held hostage by IS.
When I arrived here about half an hour after the news broke on Friday night, people who knew Alan Henning well said they simply couldn't comprehend what had happened.
With Islamic clerics and so many other people around the world putting pressure on Islamic State to release Mr Henning there was a modicum of hope - people genuinely thought he would survive.
And so it was such a crushing blow on Friday night when they discovered that he had apparently been murdered in such a horrible way.
Speaking to taxi driver Mike Hyde - one of Mr Henning's former colleagues - he broke down in tears. He said he had had to come out on his own and drive around to try to get his head around what had happened.
Mr Hyde, a man usually known to Mr Henning as "Rambo", said: "I am just heartbroken - I can't speak, really. He was just doing his best, you know?
"He was just a nice ordinary man, making a living like all of us. I've never heard him say a bad word about anybody."
Mr Hyde described what his friend, who was widely known as Gadget or Gadge because of his uncanny ability to fix anything, as "fun to be with - we used to work nights all the time together and he'd cheer you up.
"I spoke to him about these convoys and he just wanted to make a difference. When he went on one, he enjoyed it and said 'you should come on one too'."
Many other cabbies I spoke to were too upset to speak on tape, but they just could not understand why anybody would do this to a man who had gone out to Syria to help refugees displaced by a terrible civil war.
They pointed out that Mr Henning didn't have to go out to Syria - he didn't have any political connections and he just wanted to help people in their hour of need.
While there was understandably a degree of anger here, with comments like "the Islamic State are just barbarous killers" and "they are psychopaths", people were at pains to tell me they did not want any comeback for Muslims living in Eccles and the wider Greater Manchester area.
"They [Islamic State] don't represent Islam," was something I heard time and again, echoing a statement from the Manchester Council of Mosques, which said: "This was a cowardly and criminal act of appalling brutality by a group who do not represent Islam and are an insult to the Islamic faith.
"We will remember him as a tireless and selfless humanitarian aid worker whose only concern was to help people in need."
Mr Hyde said: "There's quite a big Muslim community here - everybody gets on fine, really, and let's hope that continues.
"I just hope there's no backlash over here - but the people who are responsible for this should get everything that is coming to them.
"You've just got to throw the book at these people now - gloves are off. Enough's enough. They've obviously got no heart whatsoever, no humanity."
That view was shared by many others.
One former soldier urged the government to extend its military remit from solely carrying out airstrikes in Iraq. He said: "It's time for boots on the ground."
For now though, the community here just wants to come to terms with what has happened, and to respect a man they will always fondly remember as somebody who paid the ultimate price while trying to make a difference in a faraway land.


Bats "showering" parishioners with faeces and urine at a Norfolk church appear to have "more rights that the worshipping community", a vicar said.

A 300-strong colony of Natterer's bats roost in the roof of St Andrew's Church in Holme Hale but cannot be removed as they are a protected species.
Rev Stephen Thorp said the bats are "off-putting" and have made couples look elsewhere for their wedding.
The church hopes new ultrasound technology will resolve the problem.
The Home Hale colony, near Swaffham, is thought to be one of the biggest in England.
The bats tend to fly within the body of the church where excrement can then damage furnishings and sometimes irreplaceable objects of international significance, said experts.
In some cases the colony can also restrict the use of a church for worship or other community functions.
Mr Thorp, who has been the rector at the church since 2006, said the "pungent" faeces and urine from the bats in the pitch of the church roof "showers down on anybody inside".
"This does an awful lot of damage and in the breeding season it's also possible for pubescent bats to fall from the roof onto the floor," he said.
Funded by Defra, researchers from Bristol University have been working at the Grade I listed building which has suffered from the effects of the large maternity colony for a number of years.
Possible solutions to "deter" the colony include the use of strong artificial lighting to create "no-fly zones" within the church and ultrasonic signals.
"We don't want to kill or harm the bats in anyway, but we do think it's fundamentally wrong that human beings and bats should be forced to share the same indoor dwelling space," said Mr Thorp.
"It's one of those cases where the bats seem to have more rights that the worshipping community and that's why we've been involved with Defra and Natural England to try and come to a reasonable solution to the problem."
Julia Hanmer, chief executive officer at the Bat Conservation Trust, said they were "deeply sympathetic" to the church community at Holme Hale who "experience real challenges due to an unusually large number of bats in a small church".
She added the trust was "committed" to helping churches and where problems are experienced to find "lasting solutions that help both people and bats".


A panel of EU privacy watchdogs has demanded changes to a pact meant to govern cross-Atlantic data transfers.

The group urged the US and European Commission to revise and clarify several points in the proposed Privacy Shield agreement in order to safeguard EU citizens' personal information.
The Privacy Shield is meant to replace an earlier data transfer pact called Safe Harbour.
Safe Harbour was invalidated by a court decision last year.
The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party said it was still concerned about the possibility of "massive and indiscriminate" bulk collection of EU citizens' data by the US authorities.
It added that it wanted further guarantees about the powers a US official would have to handle complaints from EU citizens.
"We believe that we don't have enough security [or] guarantees in the status of the ombudsperson and in their effective powers to be sure that this is really an independent authority," said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, the chairwoman of the group.
The group's recommendations are not binding on the EU or US, but should prove influential as the watchdogs can suspend data transfers they are concerned about.
"I am grateful to the experts for their thorough analysis," responded Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Justice.
"[They provided] a number of useful recommendations and the Commission will work to swiftly include them in its final decision."
The European Court of Justice effectively brought an end to Safe Habour in October when it ruled that the pact did not eliminate the need for local watchdogs to check that US firms were protecting Europeans' data.
The agreement had been used for 15 years to allow American firms to self-certify that they were carrying out the necessary steps.
But a privacy campaigner challenged the process after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed details about US authorities spying on foreign citizens' data held in the country.
The EU privacy regulators are concerned that a similar challenge could be brought against the proposed Privacy Shield unless its language is toughened up.
Earlier in the week, Microsoft had endorsed Privacy Shield on the basis that the US could take "additional steps" to protect data at a later point.
One US-based lawyer expressed concern that the matter had not been resolved.
"The working party's opinion today can really be summed up in two words: transatlantic chaos," said Phil Lee from the law firm Fieldfisher.
"If the Privacy Shield doesn't get adopted, countless US businesses will be left scratching their heads in wonder as to how they can continue to service their EU customers lawfully.
"The working party's opinion creates a real problem for the commission. Does it go against the view of the working party and adopt the Privacy Shield anyway? Or does it go back to the drawing table with the US Department of Commerce and try to negotiate a better deal?"
An Edinburgh-based lawyer echoed his concern.
"The reality is that international transfers of data are vital to economic growth and there needs to be a pragmatic solution adopted by the courts, policy makers and data protection authorities to recognise this," said Kathryn Wynn, a data protection expert at the law firm Pinsent Masons.
But Max Schrems - the campaigner who challenged Safe Harbour - welcomed the latest development.
"I personally doubt that the European Commission will change its plans much," he said.
"There will be some political wording, but I think they will still push it through.
"Given the negative opinion, a challenge to the Privacy Shield at the courts is even more promising. Privacy Shield is a total failure that is kept alive because of extensive pressure by the US government and some sectors of the industry."


Russia's right to host the 2018 World Cup amid revelations about a state-sponsored doping programme has been questioned by MP Damian Collins.

A World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report detailed an "institutional conspiracy" involving more than 1,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Football was one of 30 sports implicated by the McLaren report.
"Fifa now have to look very seriously at the way in which the World Cup is going to be staged," said Collins.
"How can Russia give confidence to Fifa and to the world that there will be proper anti-doping measures in place during the World Cup?"
Russia's sports ministry denied claims of a state-sponsored doping programme, but Richard McLaren, author of the Wada report, said international sports competitions had been "unknowingly hijacked by the Russians" for years.
The Canadian described the London 2012 Olympic Games as "corrupted on an unprecedented scale".
Collins, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, added: "It does taint the London Games. What is shocking from the report is this was state sanctioned.
"It's not just widespread abuse by Russian coaches and athletes, it is something that has been planned and executed with the authority and support of the Russian government."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko was sports minister during the time detailed by the McLaren report, and is seeking re-election to the ruling committee of Fifa, football's governing body.
"It does call into question how someone like Vitaly Mutko, who was sports minister - and in the Wada report they said it would have been impossible for him not to know what was going on - can sit on the Fifa council," added Collins.
"The sports bodies have to not only take action against Russian athletes competing, until we can be confident the anti-doping regime in Russia is robust and being honestly pursued, but also look at the role of Russian sports administrators and politicians who have senior positions in the governing bodies of world sports.
"How can they hold these positions if they are implicated in this massive state-sponsored doping scandal?"
Mutko, who chairs the 2018 World Cup organising committee, has said Russia will resort to legal action in response to the allegations of institutionalised doping.


Wearable technology is playing a growing role in sport all over the world, from the UK's football Premier League, worth more than Â£5bn ($7.1bn; â‚¬6.3bn) in global TV rights alone, to Aussie Rules Football, the first to pioneer the use of location-tracking GPS devices in 2004.

Analysis of data transmitted to the cloud from increasingly sophisticated sensors is helping teams keep their players at the peak of physical fitness.
Leicester City Football Club, for example - currently clinging to the English Premier League's top slot against all odds - has also had the fewest injured players over the season, a fact that may have a lot to do with the club's clever use of technology.
Players wear Catapult Sport's OptimEye S5 device, which collects data relating to acceleration, direction, position and, crucially, the impact of collisions. These sensors can collect 800-900 data points per second.
Scott Drawer, formerly Rugby Football Union's performance manager and now with cycling's Team Sky, says: "It may be that they have been using the data in a much smarter way to rest, rotate and recover players appropriately.
"Fundamentally, they are able to have their best players available a lot more, so there is no doubt some of their processes are helping them to do that."
Rival club Southampton FC makes its players wear GPS units during training, and Alek Gross, the club's head of sports science, says players have experienced fewer soft tissue and overuse injuries since introducing the tech.
And Richard Byrne, business administrator at StatSports, another tracking device manufacturer, says: "One of our biggest European clients recently reported having only 20 muscular injuries last season once they started using [wearable] technology, compared to 44 the previous season," he says.
Rugby has also been a big convert to this type of analysis.
Every club in UK rugby union's Aviva Premiership - and a number of international sides - has adopted the tech, with players wearing GPS units between their shoulder blades to measure speed and distance covered while training and playing.
"Heavier rugby players often find that if they run over a certain distance in a week they can inflame an Achilles [tendon], so some want to spend more time off their feet to maintain fitness and minimise injury risk," explains Corin Palmer, head of rugby operations for Premiership Rugby.
"Wearable technology is able to monitor that load on a day-by-day basis to ensure those players are not just injury-free but in peak condition for competition," he adds.
When it comes to American football, NFL team the Cincinnati Bengals uses Viper Pods - monitoring devices made by StatSports - for GPS data collection during on-field training sessions.
Players also wear Polar heart rate monitors during conditioning sessions and circuit weight training, to monitor response to the training load.
"Anytime you can quantify what you are doing, it allows you to see the results in concrete terms," says Chip Morton, the Bengals' strength and conditioning coach.
"Having the data from wearable technology has helped the head coach to make positive adjustments to our weekly practice schedule. The data can also alert us to the recovery and preparation needs of the individual athletes."
But while wearable tech provides reams of data, it is what you do with it that counts.
Bill Gerrard, professor of business and sports analytics at Leeds University Business School, has worked with the Saracens rugby team and with baseball's Oakland Athletics, whose executive vice president of baseball operations, Billy Beane, was made famous in the film Moneyball.
Mr Gerrard believes the ultimate goal is to combine data from wearables with other data sets, such as tactical analysis of previous games and opponents' playing styles.
"That is where the cutting edge is - pulling tactical and physical data together to optimise training workloads on an individual basis."
But can too much data mean you lose sight of the ball?
"Our greatest asset is that we coach players and not spreadsheets," Mr Gross reminds us. "If you don't understand the context in which the numbers were found, they don't mean an awful lot."
And it's not just about fitness, he suggests.
Revered football players like Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer "read the game so incredibly well," he says, "they didn't need to sprint to get into position."
But if you don't have that degree of natural ability - and you're a bit lazy, frankly - the data will catch you out.
Andrew Gray, physical performance manager at Australian rugby league club, Cronulla Sharks, says data gathered from wearable devices during training makes it easier to manage the under-training player.
"Providing these athletes with a clear picture of their performance at training compared with what is required in competition at the highest level can be a real eye-opener for them and helps them to gain a more complete understanding of what is required to perform at their best," he says.
Southampton FC's Mr Gross observes that under-training increases the risk of injury.
"If a player hasn't hit a certain percentage of high speed runs during a given week, for example, they are more susceptible to a hamstring injury.
"The GPS data has been useful because when we individualise training programmes we can see if people drop below or above a certain point."
This kind of data is also used real-time analysis during matches by some Premiership and international rugby teams, including England and Ireland, helping to inform their decisions about when to make changes.
"You can see the coaches with laptops in the stands; they have a constant live feed on each player, their fatigue index, collision load, distance covered et cetera," says Mr Byrne.
"This can allow them to make in-game decisions regarding substitutions or injuries."
Premiership football teams are also now allowed to use wearable devices during games, although the data gathered can't be applied in real-time. Yet.
In this data-saturated age, sporting purists may take some comfort from the fact that natural born skill still matters.
Follow Matthew on Twitter here: @matthew_wall


Cardiff Blues are looking to sign Tomas Francis from Exeter Chiefs for the start of next season on a dual contract with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).

The York-born 24-year-old has a year season on his Exeter contract and it is understood a deal would involve a fee.
The WRU, the Blues and Exeter are in discussions over the fee, but the feeling is the deal is edging closer.
Francis has usurped Samson Lee as Wales' tight-head prop, starting four of five 2017 Six Nations games.
Francis, who has won 22 international caps, has never played rugby in Wales, having previously played for Doncaster and London Scottish.


Wicketkeeper Phil Mustard is to leave Durham at the end of the season after 16 years with the county.

Sunderland-born Mustard, 33, made his limited-overs debut in 2000 and has won Championship and one-day titles, and captained the team in all formats.
But more recently he has been a one-day specialist and, following talks, he has failed to agree a new deal when his current one expires in September.
"Phil has been a fantastic servant," said chief executive, David Harker.
"He embodies competitive spirit, loyalty and skill and will be greatly missed by everyone at Durham".
Mustard, who made 10 one-day international appearances for England, is the first player to score 3,000 domestic T20 runs for one club.
He added: "I have achieved great success, winning the Championship three times, and the one-day competition twice.
"However, it is the right time for me to take up a new challenge in my career with a different club."


Thistlecrack justified his favourite's tag to win the World Hurdle at Cheltenham in impressive style.

Tom Scudamore's mount, trained by Colin Tizzard, was barely troubled in the three-mile staying hurdle on day three of the Festival.
The even-money favourite got away from his closest rival Alpha Des Obeaux (8-1) approaching the last.
He powered up the hill to win by seven lengths with Bobs Worth (33-1) a distant third.
It gave Scudamore his ninth Festival success and his second of 2016 and was the only English-trained horse to win in the seven races on St Patrick's Day.
"I've spent my whole life running around in these races, nearly getting there, and finally I've got a horse like this," he said. "It's unbelievable, I never realised it could be so easy.
"I always had lots of confidence in my fella, once we jumped the last it was all over. That was fantastic, what a racehorse. I think it's fair to say he's the best I've sat on."
BBC racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght:
For jump racing, Cheltenham is all about crowning champions. Some winners ooze quality more than others, but Thistlecrack was magnificent, stalking the leaders before easing into the lead when asked and quickly putting the race to bed.
Colin Tizzard spoke of not having to be part of a "big battalion" to find a superstar, and that was not lost on anybody.
Of course Willie Mullins is doing great things, but it's important too that the smaller outfits like Tizzard's get a look-in. Tomorrow they take on Mullins and Co in the Gold Cup with Cue Card.
Earlier, Vautour (evens) landed a comfortable win in the Ryanair Chase - one of three wins on St Patrick's Day for jockey Ruby Walsh - who passed the 50-winner mark at the Festival - and trainer Willie Mullins.
The pair combined to take the opening race of the day, the JLT Novices Chase, with Black Hercules (4-1) to give Walsh his half-century of winners and they later landed the Trull House Stud Mares' Novices' Hurdle courtesy of the 8-11 favourite Limini who kept up her unbeaten record
Vautour had been due to run in Friday's Gold Cup but bypassed that one to land his third Cheltenham Festival win in a row.
Road To Riches tried to challenge but once Walsh got his mount into gear as they turned from home, he looked impressive.
He went on to win by six lengths with stable-mate Valseur Lido (11-1) grabbing second from Road To Riches (7-1).
"If you were watching him at home I'm not sure you'd even have run him in the Ryanair," said Walsh.
"He worked half all right on Saturday morning, I wouldn't say he worked well. If you'd watched him up until then - I'd written him off in my mind, but Willie gets it right doesn't he?"
While Black Hercules had to battle hard against rivals Bristol De Mai and L'Ami Serge to win by three lengths in their encounter, Limini, like Vautour owned by banker Rich Ricci, showed a great turn of pace up the hill to emerge victorious by four and a half lengths from outsider Dusky Legend (50-1) with Bloody Mary (7-1) third
"She's a very talented filly, all we had to do was iron out her jumping but she schooled really well the last fortnight, very slick," said Walsh.
"There was never a moment's worry. She travelled well and jumped well. If she'd got beat it wouldn't have made sense as she's been working with some good horses.
"Stamina wasn't an issue. We told everyone for the last six weeks and she was just a shade of odds-on."
Jockey Davy Russell made up for his disappointment after being unseated from Zabana at the start of the opening race of the day when Mall Dini (14-1) took the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle Final to give trainer Patrick Kelly his first Festival success.
In a tightly contested finish the winner came out on top by three-quarters of a length from Arpege D'Alene (14-1) with the unlucky If In Doubt (10-1) a head away in third and top-weight Taglietelle (14-1) fourth.
"He's still a novice, all credit goes to Pat Kelly. What a man, not many people know him, he's a very shrewd man from Galway," said a delighted Russell.
"The tongue strap has definitely helped him, he was overdoing things a bit and not breathing properly. It's all Pat Kelly's doing. He knew what the horse wanted. He's a genius."
There was yet more Irish success in the day's other two races, as Bryan Cooper, who will ride the well-fancied Don Cossack in Friday's Gold Cup, gained his first win of the week when Empire of Dirt (16-1) won the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate for trainer Colm Murphy.
Then, in the final race of the day, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup for amateur riders, Jamie Codd claimed his fourth victory in the race on board the Gordon Elliott-trained Cause of Causes (9-2).


A crackdown on illegal immigrants in the UK has seen almost 27,000 drivers have their licences revoked since 2014.

The figures also found a 22% rise in voided licences in 2016, compared to the year before.
Some people caught had entered the UK illegally, but most obtained a licence while on a legitimate visa and had then illegally overstayed.
However, critics say the "small" number of licences that actually go on to be surrendered "undermines" the system.
The Home Office gave the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) the powers to revoke licences in July 2014.
That month more than 3,500 licences were revoked. In 2015 it was 9,700 and in 2016 that number rose to 11,900, the figures released under the Freedom of Information Act to BBC South East show.
The driving licence is the second most recognised form of ID after the passport, so can be used by illegal immigrants to secure work, open bank accounts or sign tenancy agreements.
To make it harder for them to do any of these things, the UK Immigration Act 2014 created "hostile environment" measures for migrants in the UK.
As well as revoking licences, it introduced:
In 2015, five times more people had their licences revoked in the UK on medical grounds than those suspected of being illegal immigrants.
9,782
licences revoked because of immigration status in 2015
47,000 car and motorcycle licences revoked on medical grounds in 2015
98,000 drivers disqualified by the courts in 2015
Chris Hobbs, a former special branch officer in border controls, said: "How likely is it for that driver to be stopped bearing in mind the number of traffic police has been hugely reduced? There are all sorts of issues around stopping vehicles and asking for details, you have to have a valid reason to do that."
Asked why, on having the person's address, immigration enforcement officers did not doorstep them instead of waiting for police to pick them up during routine checks, the Home Office has yet to respond.
In the most recent report from David Bolt, the chief inspector of borders, he raised concerns over the measures.
He criticised the small number of deportations as a result of the crackdown - of the thousands who had their licences revoked, 583 people left the UK in the 2015-16 tax year.
Mr Bolt also said the small number of people physically surrendering their licences "undermines" the new system.
Since then, the Home Office has announced plans to allow police and immigration officers to search for and seize these documents.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "This will help ensure revoked licences are removed from circulation. We are making it harder for illegal migrants to live in the UK - as these figures show."
Mr Bolt's report also stated the Home Office's database was incomplete and incorrect and its failings meant "some people without leave to be in the country were being missed", while others were "wrongly flagged" as being here illegally.


It is hard to find an immediate motive behind the murder of Pakistan's Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

The courageous battle he had vowed to fight against the country's draconian blasphemy laws had already been abandoned by the government in the wake of Punjab governor Salman Taseer's murder.
In fact, the final surrender had come from no less a person than Pakistan's prime minister who had only last month pleaded with a large gathering of religious personalities to believe him when he said that his government had no intention of reviewing the blasphemy laws.
And unlike the slain governor - a veteran politician, a high profile socialite and one of the president's many billionaire friends - Mr Bhatti neither had the status nor the political clout to influence the state's agenda.
Some evidence of that also comes from the eerie silence on social media, from the extremists' side.
All that one sees are some anguished rants from some of Pakistan's best known liberals, many of whom are not even resident in the country.
Even hours after the assassination, we have seen none of the fierce onslaught against free speech that erupted on social media within minutes after Mr Taseer's murder.
Nor have we seen eulogies of his killers mushrooming on Facebook as they did after Mr Taseer's murder. It is a silence smug in the knowledge that their agenda is not at risk.
So why kill a man who considered himself - and was indeed considered by the world around him - to be so ineffective that he had not even bothered to seek proper security for himself, despite being constantly threatened by Pakistan's millions of faceless fanatics?
The answer perhaps lies in the difference between the commitment of the government and the extremists to their respective agendas.
The government had unambiguously decided to lay off the blasphemy laws after Mr Taseer's murder, its ministers hinting privately that it was a hornets' nest best left untouched.
The country's liberal political and social leadership had meekly followed suit and perhaps understandably so.
In their silence had rested a hope that by abandoning their agenda to rationalise any legislation-feeding extremism, they would perhaps be able to keep the extremists quiet.
It was never about any ideological commitment, just hard, cold politics that made tactical sense.
For the extremists though, it is all about ideology. It didn't matter if Mr Bhatti's battle had proved to be a non-starter or if he was an ineffective and powerless minister.
What mattered was that he had spoken against blasphemy laws in the past and was likely to do so again if a situation arose. That made him a legitimate target, not to be tolerated, not to be ignored.
Mr Taseer had said that he would continue to fight against blasphemy laws even if he was the last man standing. He could not stand for long.
And the ideology that led to his assassination has now sent another determined and deadly message to the state - that it will continue to fight till the last liberal falls.
This is how different the two commitments are. And for the liberals in Pakistan, this is how hopeless the situation seems to be.


The global response to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone helped avert 40,000 deaths but if aid had been offered sooner, thousands more lives there might have been saved, say researchers.

Britain's donations of more than Â£100m in the summer of 2014 helped to set up nearly 3,000 hospital beds.
This vital provision, researchers estimate, prevented 56,000 Ebola cases.
But a further 12,500 cases could have been averted if the beds been available even a month earlier, they calculate.
The UK government insists that it did act swiftly and says the international community as a whole could have done more.
It's not the first time the government's response to Ebola has come under scrutiny.
In February, the Public Accounts Committee said funds had not been released quickly enough to deal with the crisis.
In the months following the Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization was also heavily criticised for being slow to act.
The work from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, published in the journal PNAS, details how much of an impact a delay in international aid may have had.
Researchers used a mathematical model to estimate how many cases of Ebola were averted thanks to foreign aid efforts that set up treatment centres where patients with the infectious virus could be quarantined and cared for.
From September 2014 onwards, more than 2,700 treatment beds were introduced in Ebola holding centres, community care centres and treatment units to support the overwhelmed health system in Sierra Leone.
The researchers calculate that these beds prevented some 56,600 cases of Ebola.
Had they been installed a month earlier, tens of thousands more would have been avoided.
With Ebola killing more than half of those it infects, thousands more lives would also have been saved.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the world's deadliest to date.
11,312
Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected
(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)
4,808 Liberia
3,955 Sierra Leone
2,534 Guinea
8 Nigeria
The three West African countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic have recorded their first week with no new cases since the outbreak began in March 2014.
But experts agree there is no room for complacency - experience shows that the disease could easily break out again.
To date, the UK has committed Â£427m to defeating Ebola.
A spokeswoman for the Department for International Development said: "Britain has been at the forefront of the international response to Ebola in Sierra Leone.
"By deploying NHS medics and military personnel and building treatment centres across the country, our swift action helped save countless lives and contain the spread of the disease."


It really is Groundhog Day for a group of moviegoers watching a cult comedy film non-stop for 24 hours.

Liverpool's Small Cinema has attracted a "hardcore" of fans to watch the movie a dozen times on Tuesday 2 February - the day depicted in the film.
The 1993 classic stars Bill Murray as TV weatherman Phil Connors, who has to relive the same day over and over.
One spectator said: "It's a really good film. It's well-made - it seems to be funnier the second time around."
The event at the 56-seat auditorium started at 06:00 GMT, and is running until the same time on Wednesday with only a 20-minute break between each screening.
People had to pay once to get in and can stay for 24 hours.
The cinema says it is providing tea to keep customers awake.
And according to reports in the United States, the handlers of Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, said he failed to see his shadow which means he has "predicted" an early spring.
Cinema-goers in Liverpool know how he feels.
A small band of the film's most ardent fans has gathered to watch it over and over in a special tribute event.
Half a dozen were at the first showing at 06:00. They remained in their seats for the second showing at 08:00 and intend to see it through to the 12th and final screening at 04:00 tomorrow.
Most of those taking part will watch the film a mere three or four times.
The evening showings are sold out.
Then they do it all over again. And again.
Speaking after four screenings of the film, projectionist Christopher Brown said: "I'm going to keep awake with the steady stream of tea.
"I'm too scared I'd fall asleep in the booth if I had anything stronger.
"We are getting lots of people walking up and staying for a few screenings, which is really lovely."
One fan who intended to go the whole hog told the BBC: "I thought why not? I've got nothing else better to do for the next 24 hours."


A Caernarfon lifeguard has been charged with the rape and kidnap of a 10-year-old girl in the United States.

Gareth Vincent Hall, 22, is alleged to have flown to Oregon in April where he hired a car and then took the schoolgirl to a hotel.
Hall, a lifeguard at Arfon Leisure Centre, was suspended in October following a separate criminal investigation by North Wales Police.
He is due to appear in court in the US on 10 June. Bail has been set at $1.5m.
It is believed he met the girl on an internet chat site before flying to meet her, returning home four days later.
He was arrested trying to re-enter the US on 2 May at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and charged with rape, kidnap and other serious sexual offences.
North Wales Police confirmed a man in his early twenties from Talysarn was arrested in October 2014 "on suspicion of offences committed online and remains on police bail".
A Gwynedd council spokesman said: "Whilst it would not be appropriate for us to comment on the details of the on-going North Wales Police investigation at this stage, we can confirm that all relevant child protection procedures have been followed by the council in the management of this case."
The spokesman confirmed they are "aware of separate allegations" about Hall in the US media but said it was "not appropriate" to comment at this stage.


Russia has freed jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who became a symbol of resistance against Moscow.

"I am free," Savchenko told a crowd of reporters and politicians as she arrived in Kiev as part of a prisoner swap with two alleged Russian soldiers.
She was sentenced to 22 years in jail for killing two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, charges she denied.
The two Russians - Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov - were earlier flown from Kiev to Moscow.
Savchenko was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin before her return to Ukraine.
Mr Putin said he had acted after meeting relatives of the two Russian journalists, who had asked him to show mercy to Savchenko.
In Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko pardoned the two Russian nationals.
In a tweet (in Ukrainian) earlier on Wednesday, Mr Poroshenko wrote: "The presidential plane with Hero of Ukraine Nadiya Savchenko has landed!"
Speaking to reporters at Kiev's Boryspil airport, Savchenko was in defiant mood.
"I am ready to once again give my life for Ukraine on the battlefield," she said.
At a joint news conference with President Poroshenko later on Wednesday, Savchenko thanked her family and the people of Ukraine for supporting her while she was held in Russia.
"Ukraine has the right to be, and it will be!" she said, pledging to do everything she could to free all Ukrainian nationals still being kept prisoner in Russia and in parts of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
Meanwhile, President Poroshenko - who awarded Savchenko a Hero of Ukraine star - said: "This is our common victory!"
He also personally thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and US President Barack Obama for supporting Ukraine.
Nadiya Savchenko is back on Ukrainian soil, and the first indications are that she will be the same outspoken firebrand that she was during Russian captivity.
Undoubtedly, the Kremlin will remain one of her main targets. But it will be interesting to watch which Ukrainian politicians will become the focus of her ire.
Her politics apparently lean towards the nationalist camp - though how far they extend in this direction remains to be seen.
While in prison she was elected as a parliamentary deputy from Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland party. Both Savchenko and Ms Tymoshenko are strong-willed personalities - and conflicts between them might erupt.
But the biggest question is how she and President Petro Poroshenko will get along. Savchenko voiced her support for the Minsk peace agreements, and Mr Poroshenko looked pleased as he stood beside her.
But she also said that "peace is only possible through war". If she decides to turn against the president, the anti-Poroshenko camp will be strengthened by what at the moment is Ukraine's most powerful political voice.
Reacting to Savchenko's release, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini described it as "long awaited good news, that the EU celebrates with her country", while German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was "good news that we have long worked for".
Savchenko was captured in 2014, as pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions battled government forces.
She was charged with directing artillery fire that killed the two journalists, but she says she was kidnapped prior to the attack and handed over the border to the Russian authorities.
Her time in jail saw her mount a hunger strike and she was even elected in absentia to Ukraine's parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The two pardoned Russian nationals flew to Moscow's Vnukovo airport on a specially chartered plane.
They were met by their wives, as well as media representatives.
Ukraine said the pair were elite members of Russian military intelligence - but Russia insisted they were not on active duty when they were captured in eastern Ukraine.
They were sentenced to 14 years in jail last month after being found guilty of waging an "aggressive war" against Ukraine, committing a terrorist act and using weapons to provoke an armed conflict.
Ukraine and the West had repeatedly called for Savchenko's release and a prisoner swap was long been considered likely.
"It's been a long and complicated road," said Nikolai Polozov, one of her lawyers.
"But we have been able to prove that there are no insurmountable tasks and we've managed to free the hostage from the jaws of Mordor," he added, referring to the cruel land in the Lord of the Rings saga.
Savchenko's capture contributed to the deterioration in Russia-Ukraine relations since 2014.
Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula in March 2014 after an unrecognised referendum on self-determination, and is accused of sending weapons and its regular troops to support the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies this, but admits that Russian "volunteers" are fighting with the rebels.


In the maelstrom of the Romanian revolution, filmmaker Vlad Paunescu found himself appointed as minister of culture - for a few hours.

Mr Paunescu, who today owns and runs Romania's largest film studio, Castel Film, was a 37-year old-cinematographer living in the country's capital Bucharest back in 1989.
When the revolution broke out in December of that year, he picked up his camera and rushed to film the mass protests outside the vast palace of the parliament building, where the then communist government was based.
After Romania's leader Nicolae Ceausescu fled by helicopter, Mr Paunescu joined the protesters who stormed the building.
Amidst the euphoria and sense of hope, Mr Paunescu, now 63, says he and a fellow cameraman did a "dance of happiness".
The protesters occupying the palace decided to form a new administration, and as Mr Paunescu worked in the film industry he was tasked with leading the department of culture.
Yet only a few hours later, a more formal interim government was appointed instead, and Mr Paunescu's political career was over before it had properly started. So he went back to his job at the state-run film studio, Buftea.
But with the Eastern European country opening up to both the world and private business, in 1992 Mr Paunescu registered his own business, Castel Film.
Castel Film has gone on to build a vast 11 hectare (27 acre) film studio 40km (25 miles) outside Bucharest, and remains much in demand among the big American film and TV companies.
Everyone from Paramount to Miramax, Universal and Sony Pictures, regularly uses Castel Film to help them make movies in Romania. Such films include the Oscar-winning Cold Mountain, and Borat.
Castel's studio has no less than nine soundstages and four permanent sets - an urban street, a US wild west town, a mediaeval town and village.
For Mr Paunescu, who is worth an estimated â‚¬11m ($13m; Â£9m), it is a far cry from his younger days under communism, when he earned so little as a filmmaker for the communist government that he had to also drive a taxi to supplement his income.
It is often said that out of adversity comes opportunity, and in Mr Paunescu's case, it was the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s that gave him his biggest career break.
Back in the early 1990s a US film crew was filming a movie in Yugoslavia (today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia) which bordered Romania.
When fighting broke out in Yugoslavia, the US film crew fled to Romania, which Mr Paunescu says they found "a beautiful country, with qualified personnel in the industry, and the studios from Buftea".
Mr Paunescu was asked to provide some examples of his filming work, and the Americans were so impressed they employed him as a director of photography.
After a couple more successful films, Mr Paunescu and his costume designer wife Oana were invited to Los Angeles to discuss future plans, and it was proposed that he set up his own film-making business to help American studios make more movies in Romania.
So with some backing from Hollywood, Castel Film was up and running.
It now makes between 10 and 14 movies per year, and in 2014 had an annual turnover of â‚¬4.6m.
On a recent morning at Castel Film's studios, two actors from the Game of Thrones TV show are filming a mini-series about the founders of the well-known US motorbike company Harley Davidson.
To help them and other visiting overseas crews, Castel employs 114 permanent members of staff.
Mr Paunescu is happy to admit that a big reason why Romania is popular with the big US film studios is its low cost - a day's shooting is typically 70% less than in the US.
Yet he says Romania also offers a wealth of other benefits.
"Actually it is a combination of what we offer in terms of stages, skilled labour, and a beautiful, absolutely superb country," says Mr Paunescu. "We have the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube Delta, Transylvania."
In terms of the type of movies that Castel Film helps make, Mr Paunescu says he is pleased that Hollywood has moved away from the early days when it wanted films about Dracula, the fictional Romanian vampire.
He says that these releases were not greatly appreciated in the wider Romanian movie industry. "They were considered blasphemy," he says.
When it comes to his own taste in films, Mr Paunescu says: "I don't like to see blood in a movie, I can't stand seeing people who suffer.
"But at the same time, I don't like comedies too much either. I watch movies that have received important awards, or that have been [at least] nominated."
Numerous Hollywood stars have now filmed in Romania with Castel, including Nicolas Cage, Glenn Close, Sharon Stone, Kevin Costner and Steven Seagal, but out of everyone, Mr Paunescu seems most smitten with Nicole Kidman.
He says that the Oscar-winning actor initially "seemed untouchable, like a crystal statue", but after speaking to her, found that she was "more normal than I am".
As Castel Film continues to thrive - Mr Paunescu is unlikely to ever have to go back to driving taxis.


Bristol Rovers first team coach Steve Yates will leave the club at the end of the current season to return to Crete.

Yates, 47, made over 200 appearances for Rovers as a player between 1988 and 1993, helping win promotion in 1990.
He returned as the Pirates' kit man in 2013 and was made first-team coach by manager Darrell Clarke in 2014, but is now leaving to move back to Greece.
"I will always be grateful to Darrell for giving me a coaching role at this, my club," he said in a club statement.


Shares in social media website Twitter plunged by a fifth on Thursday amid worries about a lack of takeover interest.

Technology website Recode reported that Google, Apple and Walt Disney were unlikely to bid for the company.
Cloud software company Salesforce.com is now thought to be the most likely buyer of the business.
Twitter shares rose 5.74% on Wednesday on reports that it was expected to receive takeover bids this week.
Last month, the company's shares shot up by 20% after a report said it had received takeover approaches, and that its directors were open to a deal which could come by the end of the year.
Twitter had been the subject of takeover rumours prior to that, but was getting closer to a sale, according to US business news channel CNBC.
Twitter has suffered because its user figures have plateaued at about 300 million and it has not "been able to figure out a way to make money on those 300 million people, so they've had lots of swings at it and it hasn't worked," Douglas McIntyre, from 24/7 Wall Street in New York, said.
The boss of Salesforce.com has declined to be drawn on his intentions as regards Twitter.
Chief executive Marc Benioff told CNBC on Wednesday that he would not "start a precedent by having to address specific deals".
He then added: "The reality is we have to look at everything, but we're going to pass on most things.".
Salesforce.com's shares closed up 4.15% at $71.26.
Twitter closed down 20.10% at $19.87.


A specialist team of counter-terrorism experts aimed at tackling extremism in prisons is being launched on Monday.

The 100-strong task force will train staff on how to deter offenders from being radicalised and advise jails on how to deal with dangerous prisoners.
It will be the "nerve centre" for all counter-terrorism work across prisons and the probation service.
The Ministry of Justice said the team builds on progress already made to address extremism in prisons.
The new unit will be tasked with examining intelligence from around the country to assess the danger posed by radicalisation in jails across England and Wales.
Last year, a government-ordered review found that Islamist extremism is a growing problem within jails.
It discovered evidence of offenders advocating support for Islamic State and "charismatic" prisoners acting as "self-styled emirs" to radicalise other prisoners.
In response, the government announced plans to hold dangerous extremists in separate prison units.
The new unit is part of proposals to tackle radicalisation under prison reform measures announced by the government in November.
Other measures already adopted to combat radicalisation include an instruction to governors to ban extremist literature.
Prison management also has the power to remove anyone from communal worship who is promoting anti-British beliefs or other dangerous views.
Prisons minister Sam Gyimah said the new team will "lead a strand of important work" to help combat terrorist threats posed by offenders.
He added: "It is right we come together to bolster our response to the threats posed by radicalisation behind bars, and give our hard-working staff the skills and knowledge they need to keep our prisons and communities safe."