Bruno announces his retirement
Adios, El Capitan. It’s a sad day for everyone connected with Brighton and Hove Albion as captain Bruno has announced that he will retire from playing after Sunday’s final Premier League game of the season against Manchester City.
The 38-year-old will bring the curtain down on a fantastic career and his seven year association with the Albion as a player, although the club are keen to keep him at the Amex in some capacity – as they bloody well should be.
Since arriving from a free transfer from Valencia in the summer of 2012, Bruno has gone onto establish himself as one of the most popular players in Albion history.
He is only the second man after Brian Horton to captain a Brighton side to promotion to the top flight and has played 236 times for the club, scoring goals along the way.
He was a clear and popular winner of our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Season Award at the end of the 2015-16 season and that summer he was the natural successor to inherit the club captaincy from Gordon Greer.
Bruno was the consummate professional and that’s borne out by the fact that he enjoyed his best seasons in the twilight years of his career.
He was 35 during that Player of the Season campaign, 36 when he missed only a handful of games as the Albion won promotion to the Premier League, 37 in his first season of Premier League and 38 this year when he’s done a sterling job in keeping some of the finest attacking players in the world quiet, most recently Arsenal’s devastating front pairing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette at the Emirates last weekend.
It isn’t just on the pitch that Bruno has excelled during his time in Sussex, but off it as well. Just like another Spanish right back who went onto secure honorary Brightontian status in his compatriot Inigo Calderon, Bruno is the ultimate gentleman.
He always has time to stop and talk to fans, he is one of the keenest supporters of Albion in the Community and he just comes across as a bloody nice bloke. Even his hipster look of bald heard and big beard fits in with the image of the city.
It’s that approach-fullness and the way he just seems to get what it is to play and live in Brighton that have fuelled his popularity. You just have to look at the outcry over the last few days when his mural in the city centre was painted over to see what he means to Seagulls supporters.
He’ll be sorely missed as a player, a leader and a person, even if he does stay on at the Albion in a non-playing capacity. Hopefully he gets the send off he deserves at the Amex on Sunday as we probably won’t see his like again. Adios Bruno, the gentleman footballer.
