GFA part ways with national manager Allen Bula

National manager Allen Bula has been fired from his position by the Gibraltar FA, less than a month before the upcoming qualifier with Scotland.

Bula, who has worked with the national team since 2010, was relieved of his duties in a statement released by the GFA this morning.
The GFA statement reads: “After a thorough and careful investigation, into internal matters, the Gibraltar FA has come to the decision that an immediate change was appropriate. It is not a decision that has been reached lightly or hastily.”

“The Gibraltar FA is committed to safeguarding football on the Rock and ensuring that the National Team remains the pinnacle of Gibraltarian football. Consequently the search for a new Gibraltar National Team Manager will begin immediately.”

There is no news yet as to who will succeed Bula, or if a new manager will be in place before the qualifier at Hampden Park on March 29. The big decision for the GFA will be whether they stay local with their new appointment, or look abroad for a potential coach, which may irk those who believe the role of the national manager should only go to a local.

Since joining UEFA in 2012, Bula oversaw nine official Gibraltar matches, earning a win against Malta and draws vs Slovakia and Estonia, all in friendly matches. Gibraltar’s four qualifiers have seen the team lose all four games, conceding 21 goals in the process,

Fixtures announced for Group D of the Euro qualifiers

Gibraltar will start their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a home game against Poland on September 7 2014.

 

The fixtures, announced by UEFA, see Gibraltar’s 10 games spread out over thirteen months.  The campaign ends with a home game against Scotland in October 2015.

 

Fixtures:

Sunday 7th September 2014: Home vs Poland (20:45 KO)

Saturday 11th October 2014 Away vs Republic of Ireland (18:00 KO)

Tuesday 14th October 2014 Home vs Georgia (20:45 KO)

Friday 14th November 2014 Away vs Germany (20:45 KO)

Sunday 29th March 2015 Away vs Scotland (18:00 KO)

Saturday 13th June 2015 Home vs Germany (20:45 KO)

Friday 4th September 2015 Home vs Republic of Ireland (20:45 KO)

Monday 7th September 2015 Away vs Poland (20:45 KO)

Thursday 8th October 2015 Away vs Georgia (18:00 KO)

Sunday 11th October 2015 Home vs Scotland (20:45 KO)

Gibraltar draw Germany, Republic of Ireland and Scotland in European Championship qualifiers

In Gibraltar’s first campaign as a full member of UEFA, Allen Bula’s team have drawn Germany, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Scotland and Georgia in Group D.

 

The draw, held in Nice, sees Gibraltar face the likes of Mesut Ozil, Robbie Keane, Robert Lewandowski, Steven Fletcher and Guram Kashia in their first campaign.

 

By drawing Scotland and Republic of Ireland, at least four of Gibraltar’s games are guaranteed to be on Sky Sports, with the rest also likely to be televised in Europe thanks to the ‘Week of Football’ concept.

 

Fixtures will be released later on today.

Potential opponents for an October friendly

The past few days has seen numerous articles discussing Gibraltar looking for a potential October friendly, their first in the 11-a-side game since joining UEFA back in May.

This will most likely have come from a tweet from national manager Allen Bula, who noted that he was hoping one of the five nations who only have one October qualifier may accept a friendly.

The friendly date could be between October 11-15, and Scotland, Belarus, Georgia, France and Finland are the five nations Bula is presumably referring to.

However, Belarus are already booked up for a friendly against Japan, meaning that there are currently only four nations available.

Serbia also have one qualifier, but they’ve already arranged a friendly, also against Japan, so they are unavailable to play against.

The friendly would most likely be played away from home, or at a neutral venue, due to the limitations of the Victoria Stadium, especially if Scotland were to agree to a friendly match.

2014 should see Gibraltar arrange a number of friendlies, as more nations will be free on dates to face Gibraltar in matches.

Whoever agrees to a friendly, if the GFA can get a team at relatively short notice to play Gibraltar, will give Gibraltar a stronger test than anything they have come up against as a national team. It will be an exciting occasion in the history of Gibraltarian football, and one that, regardless of the result, won’t be forgotten quickly.