The King is dead…!

In the days of yore, when I was an extremely young lad, it was the custom when the King died for someone to proclaim, “The King is dead!” Immediately followed by, “Long live the King”.

In other words, the transition was to be seamless – no need to look back, look forwards with confidence.

One such moment, in a footballing context, arrived for me this week.

With Newcastle United out of Europe this season, it was imperative that I find someone to cheer on as my own potential European monarchs. Step forward the FCB – Bruno’s Magpies of Gibraltar. A perfect fit!

The boys did us proud, defeating Derry City in the first round of the Europa Conference League but, unfortunately, came up against a far superior outfit in Round 2 in the shape of Copenhagen FC, 4 – 3 conquerors of the other United in last season’s Champions League home tie, a result which helped Man Utd to finish bottom of their group.

Ominously, the home leg ended with a resounding 3 – 0 victory to the Viking invaders and even worse was in store in Thursday night’s away leg with Copenhagen winning 5 – 1, despite the faint false hope promoted by FCB taking a shock 1-0 lead in Copenhagen. An eight goal possing, unfortunately.

So, what now? My adopted Magpies are out. The King has died – who can possibly assume the crown?

Well, imagine my excitement when I scanned the other results and spotted the perfect contender – the last of the eligible candidates and 4 – 0 conquerors on the night (5 – 0 on aggregate) of Premier League opposition. OK, Floriana FC may be in the Maltese Premier League but my new Kings still had to put them away and did so in style.

Congratulations to my new European hopes, Vitoria Sports Clube, popularly known as Vitoria de Guimaraes!

Guimaraes is a town in Northern Portugal, lying between Porto and Braga, two towns with considerable European pedigrees. I’ve never been there but Mrs Lass and I did drive past it on a road trip that we took to Porto and Lisbon last year. We did a guided tour in Porto and the guide informed us that Guimaraes had been the capital of Portugal but he didn’t know everything. He hadn’t heard of Bruno for a start!

Obviously, a beautiful and historic place, the city is commonly called the “birthplace of Portugal” or “the cradle city” because it was the birthplace of Portugal’s first King, Alfonso Henrique and is close to the site of the battle of Sao Mamede which is accepted as the seminal event in the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal.

Vitoria Sports Clube – or the Brunos as I’m going to call them from now on – was founded in 1922 and the name seems to be some sort of homage to Vitoria Setubal of Braga but the local fans will have none of that nowadays. Their nickname is Os Conquistadores (the conquerors) and of course they play in black and white – but sadly not stripes.

They play in Portugal’s top division, and have finished third in the Primeira Liga on four occasions, most recently in 2007/8. They have won one Taça de Portugal and one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira and been runners-up of the former on six occasions.

The club have competed regularly in European competitions, where their best finish was the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup back in the 1985/86 season.

In the Conference League qualifying rounds this summer they squeezed past the mighty Nogometni klub Celje of Slovenian 4 – 2 on penalties after a four-all aggregate draw. They then dispatched Floriana of Malta 5 – 0 as described above. In the next round they have drawn FC Zürich.

So no need to mourn the loss of the Magpies – nor even the Flight of the Conor to Madrid – because we have new Kings. Long live the Brunos!