The Valletta Chronicle
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Both of them Bruno Gomes's — 8.84
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 Sep 2028
Klaidi Cela hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Ştefan Ciupercă
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ştefan Ciupercă will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valletta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A move Zack Henry would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Zack Henry is living that version at Valletta, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Bruno Gomes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match16 Sep 2028
Bruno Gomes the difference as Valletta beat Hamrun Spartans
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruno Gomes. 2‑1 against Hamrun Spartans, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Thiago Lenza
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Zack Henry signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zack Henry and Valletta agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Thomas Scicluna kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
- The dugout Bruno Gomes has become a man the manager trusts
- Squad Samuele Baldacci is a square peg at Valletta
- Player ratings Shaft Brewer beats them one at a time