Let’s all cheer on the FCB tomorrow! | OneFootball

One of those annoying posts appeared on my Facebook page yesterday.

One of those “suggested posts” that we seem to get all of the time now, instead of actual news from friends and family.

I normally scroll down but the words “Bruno” and “Magpies” caught my eye and I had a closer look.

It turned out to be more interesting than the average uninvited post, being a blog by someone calling themselves the “Oldham Groundhopper”, a footy enthusiast who spends his time visiting as many grounds as he can (365 and counting!) and ferreting out unusual football trivia.

He posts some interesting stuff, to be fair. One that caught my eye was a video of Sunderland fans wallowing in a mud bath at Wigan’s Springfield Park in the 1980s.

The post in question here, though, was about a club in Gibraltar, called Bruno’s Magpies, which has surpassed all expectations to reach the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, being drawn against Copenhagen.

The club was formed in 2013, initially as a group of friends who drank at the Bruno’s Bar and Restaurant in Gibraltar and giving the club the Magpies nickname as they were staunch Toon fans.

To further strengthen the link, Newcastle United fan Mick Embleton was appointed the first manager of the team and was instrumental in the initial setting up, organising and managing of the squad. Mick is no longer with the club but in its first two seasons, they achieved respectable mid-table finishes in the Gibraltar Second Division.

Mick eventually moved on and seems to be billed on Linked-in as a self-employed football manager based in Gateshead. Maybe someone on The Mag knows Mick and can let us have more up-to-date information about him.

Mick was succeeded in 2016 by Davie Wilson as manager. Davie had previously been assistant-manager of the Gibraltar national football team and had recently moved on from First Division side Lions. The club continued to prosper though without actually winning anything.

The real upturn in their performances though, came with the appointment of Nathan Rooney (no relation to Wayne) midway through the 2021- 2022 season. He brought a new level of professionalism to the club with updated training routines and massively increasing the players’ fitness. Sound familiar? As a result, they earned a 4th-place finish and a first Rock Cup final. They improved in both respects the following season by gaining a 3rd-place league finish and winning the Cup.

However, on 17 May 2023, Rooney announced his departure from the club, only to return as manager on 1 September. Maybe he needed a bit of time with his wife, Liverpool and Wales player Rhiannon Roberts, who he married in 2022. As far as I can work out, he’s still the manager and doing even better. Having made it to the UEFA Conference League qualifying stage and defeated Derry City in the first round. They won the home leg 2 – 0 and lost the away leg 2-1, so a very impressive 3-2 aggregate win

Their reward was a draw against Danish club Copenhagen.

The first leg is at home on Thursday evening (6pm kick-off local time) with the away leg following on 1st August (7pm kick-off).

Of course, the club nickname (the Magpies) is no coincidence – it was most definitely chosen in tribute to the mighty Toon. Being Bruno’s Magpies, though, is a nice coincidence – but there is another, less savoury one, to point out.

Bruno’s Magpies FC is abbreviated on UEFA, club and league publicity to FCB Magpies, so who’s going to join me in cheering on the FCB tomorrow night?