Season 2 kicks off with a bang, namely with me firing almost all of my staff to bring in folk that are worth a darn. I kept the Head Physio; everyone else got the sack. (Staff loyalty? I don’t know the meaning of the words.) Who gets axed next?
Well, oddly enough the next person to leave was the club’s owner, Ashley Ramagge, who wanted to retire. Enter new owner Paul Payas, who kept me on for the season.
I brought in a few extra players once the transfer embargo was lifted since the better kinds of players didn’t want anything to do with me yet. (The list: new starting GK Matt Cafer, eventual starting MCR Craig Gillingwater, surprisingly good prospect CD Jaron Vinet, and 2 backups [FB Bruggie and DF/MF Matias Angeleri])We were just the upstart newly-promoted team after all; there was no reason why last season’s success wasn’t a fluke.
The somewhat long preseason was rough again, going 5-3-7, including a 1-4 loss to Olumpique Lyonnais Reserves. Much of this is pulling in almost entirely higher class opponents to get the team used to playing against better folk. Probably most of it is leaving everything to my assistant; I don’t care about preseason results, only that player fitness levels get up. The good news was that we went undefeated against teams from Gibraltar.
The season started better than I expected: 7 straight wins going into the Lincoln match (a rematch of last year’s Rock Cup). Though we conceded early, the team fought back giving us a 2-1 win with goals from Mr. Inconsistency and a surprise header off a corner from defender Daniel Cameron. The first third of the season ended with a win over St. Joseph’s.
There was one glaring problem I needed to address, namely that Tom Harrison, last year’s excellent Center Forward, just wasn’t adapting well to promotion. He had 1 goal and 2 assists in 9 games, and generally just wasn’t playing as good as the man who usually came in to spell him after 60 mediocre minutes: Shane Dellipiani. Unfortunately, he wasn’t much better as a started.
The winter transfer window was pretty calm, as I only brought in two players: Spanish winger Borja Gomez Torres and young striker Jesse Victory. Both immediately went into the competition for starting roles. Victory especially has the potential to be the best player in the squad if he puts is mind to it.
These two pickups proved to be quite good, as, by the start of the final third of the season, Victory had a goal and assist and was playing well (until gashing his leg). Torres had a goal and assist as well, though Torres was a bit more disappointing overall.
In the 20th game of the season (with 7 still to play) against Lions, we clinched the First Division title and a spot in Continental competition. I have absolutely no dreams of succeeding there, but the massive amounts of money are always nice for a small, semi-pro club.
The season ended XX-X-X and the next 2 matches on the list are the Senior League Cup Final and the Rock Cup Final. Against Lincoln in the SLC Final, we won 1-0 after extra time to claim the double and Glacis Utd was the victim of our successful bid for a triple, as we won 1-0 in the Rock Cup Final.
Next year? European Competition and starting to look for the next stop in my career (but don’t tell the board that; they get mad when they hear that sort of thing). Bruno’s Magpies have been great, but there’s only so much to accomplish in lowly Gibraltar.
Final squad and stats:
2016-2017 Bruno's Magpies
| Name | Pos. | Num. | Age | Apps | Av.Rat. | PoM. | Goals (Conc.) | Assists (Shutouts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Cafter | GK | 1 | 22 | 33 | 6.76 | 0 | 0 (15) | 0 (20) |
| Jose Luis Enrique | D/M(R) | 2 | 22 | 33 | 7.13 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| German Cortes Navarez | D(L) | 3 | 23 | 14 (6) | 7.14 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Daniel Cameron | D(C) | 4 | 21 | 13 (1) | 6.79 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jovan Ocaña | D(C) | 5 | 26 | 23 (4) | 6.98 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Franco Jesus Iglesias | DM,M(C) | 6 | 22 | 20 (4) | 6.87 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ethan Abudarham | ST(C) | 7 | 18 | 22 (4) | 6.93 | 1 | 10 | 7 |
| Matias Angeleri | M(C) | 8 | 27 | 15 (12) | 6.83 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Harrison | ST(C) | 9 | 21 | 13 (8) | 6.77 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Carl Bradford | M/AM(LC) | 10 | 21 | 31 (1) | 7.59 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Ramon Saavedra Amador | AM(LC) | 11 | 20 | 13 (7) | 6.56 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Youseff Sabbari | GK | 12 | 24 | 1 | 6.70 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Bruggie | D(RL) | 13 | 30 | 1 (7) | 6.90 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Juanlu | D(LC) | 14 | 23 | 21 (4) | 7.19 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Jaron Vinet | D(C) | 15 | 19 | 27 (1) | 6.89 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Juanka | D(C) | 16 | 21 | 4 (3) | 6.82 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| James Castle | D(C),DM | 17 | 19 | 1 (5) | 6.72 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Ceballo Sanchez | AM(C),ST(C) | 18 | 28 | 11 (14) | 7.02 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| Craig Gillingwater | M(C) | 19 | 25 | 31 (1) | 7.15 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| Shane Dellipiani | ST(C) | 20 | 22 | 7 (4) | 6.53 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Oscar Casas Olmedo | M(C) | 21 | 22 | 4 (4) | 7.18 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Alfonso Gonzalez | M/AM(L) | 22 | 22 | 0 (3) | 6.53 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Fernandez Gutierrez | GK | 23 | 22 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Jesse Victory | M/AM(RC),ST(C) | 39 | 21 | 15 (3) | 6.86 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| Borja Gomez Torres | AM(RL),ST(C) | 41 | 24 | 21 | 6.92 | 2 | 7 | 1 |