I started a football team with £500 at aged 18 and now we are playing in the Europa Conference League
THE closest most teenagers will get to be running their own football team is on a computer game but Louis Perry has done it for real.
The Brit moved to Gibraltar in 2013 when he was just 18 and was keen to continue playing football.
Perry showed promise during a trial at a club called Cannons, scoring twice from left-back.
But he was rejected by the club as he was told the assistant manager would take the position.
This rejection gave Perry the motivation to start his own club, which he did, at his grandparent’s bar.
Perry formed the team out of ex-pats who lived in the British Overseas Territory and were patrons at the bar.
And he was able to find enough players to fill out a first team and even a reserves team.
Perry then appointed Mick Embleton as the team’s first manager, however, he took the role as long as the word “Magpies” was in the team name and that they played in his beloved Newcastle‘s black and white striped shirts.
Perry spent £500 registering both teams with the GFA and was helped by his grandparents, who also provided finance for the kits.
And that combined with the name of Perry’s grandparent’s bar, Bruno’s Magpies was born.
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Perry told the Daily Star: “At the start we had a group of good, technical players.
“We had good footballers, but the problem was that we were all overweight and all big drinkers. Our recruitment was basically through my family’s bar.
“The first full training session we had was on a beach. Me and Mick were trying to gauge players’ football ability playing on a beach.
“You had boys who hadn’t kicked a ball in four years twisting their ankles and pulling their hamstrings!”
The club’s first-ever season was in Gibraltar’s second division, but little did Perry know the country had successfully applied to join Uefa.
The result of this meant that clubs from the top division could qualify to play among Europe’s elite at their home ground – Victoria Stadium, which also homes every other Gibraltarian team.
Bruno’s Magpies entered into the top league when the two divisions combined to give Gibraltar one senior league.
The club played in the Conference League last year but were knocked out by Northern Irish outfit Crusaders 4-3 on aggregate in the first qualifying round.
However, they have the chance to beat that this year as they are once again in the competition after finishing third last season.
The club have a qualifying clash against Ireland Premier Division side Dundalk, who faced Arsenal in the Europa League in 2020.
Perry puts much of Bruno’s Magpies success down to Jansen Dalli, the club’s director of football since 2019.
He has been able to attract the likes of former Birmingham City forward Jack Storer and ex-Real Betis midfielder Carlos Garcia to the club.
Although, Dalli has insisted it is hard due to the inconsistency of competition in the league.
He said: “I call it the Mickey Mouse League. It can be very professional against one team, but then you’ll play someone else and it can be very amateur.
“One day it’s like you’re playing against Wrexham and tomorrow you’re playing against a team in the seventh tier.”
The club is currently managed by Alfonso Cortijo, who is back at the club for a second spell.
He used to play for LaLiga sides Cadiz, Rayo Vallecano and Sevilla as well as being team-mates with Deigo Maradona.
Bruno’s Magpies also recently signed seventh Tier Hornchurch’s Liam Nash on loan for the European ties.