Win Your Place, Warns Wiseman as Door Opens for Youth

Again just twenty-four hours before Gibraltar faced Albania, head coach Scott Wiseman sent out another message, his clearest signal yet: no position on the field is secure for any player. Since taking over the interim role following Julio Ribas’ departure, Wiseman has implemented his own management and selection style. Speaking to the media about the inclusion of new players and the absence of some key figures, he made his stance clear.
With his latest squad selection excluding experienced players such as Lee Casciaro and Liam Walker—and with veterans like Roy Chipolina and Wiseman himself having now hung up their boots—the head coach emphasised that this was the perfect opportunity for players previously overlooked or rising through the ranks to claim their place.
“It’s a chance for them to come in now and make sure they stop those players coming back in. That’s what it’s all about. Once you get the shirt, it’s about playing, ripping it, and keeping it. You’ve got a point to prove—go out there, you have the opportunity, now go and take it.”
Wiseman highlighted that even the absence of some key players created an opportunity to strengthen his squad depth, with the aim of increasing his selection pool from 30–40 players to fifty or more, should players rise to the challenge.
Sharing a similar view, Graeme Torilla—one of Gibraltar’s more experienced players—described the current phase as a transitional period and called the changes over the past decade “phenomenal.”
“Seeing that transformation during the past ten years has been phenomenal,” he said. “You can see the difference in how Gibraltar has been progressing as a nation. Before, when we started, it was all new to us.”
Torilla also welcomed the challenge posed by the influx of younger players, saying: “It helps us improve ourselves when you see the new blood they bring.”
A former teammate of Wiseman at both club and international level, Torilla is himself not guaranteed a starting place. During the press conference, Wiseman jokingly reminded him—and everyone present—that selection must still be earned, at one point adding “if selected,” as the room wished Torilla a happy 28th birthday.
Wiseman is working to instil a renewed sense of camaraderie within the squad—something he felt was lacking upon his return from English football to Gibraltar. He noted that players in Gibraltar often spend less time together at club level before and during matches compared to what he had experienced in England.
The shift in mentality from the “warrior talk” under Ribas to a “play to win” approach is already evident. Ahead of Gibraltar’s 100th international match against the Faroe Islands, Wiseman was clear: the game is a “must win.”
“It’s a must,” he said when asked if Gibraltar were aiming to turn the tide and secure their first win in qualifier group matches. “We don’t go into games with a negative mentality—we go into games to win. It’s there to be seen that we go out there to win the matches.”
He left little doubt about his expectations: “It’s a game we expect to make history.”
While his comments reflected confidence ahead of the Faroe Islands clash, they also highlighted a broader shift in philosophy. Wiseman made it clear that he expects his teams to play to win, not to sit back, defend, and settle for narrow defeats—a sharp contrast to the impression left by the defensive matches he himself played under the former head coach. Without directly criticising the past, he underlined his determination to change attitudes, drawing from his own experience as a national team player who had endured many tough defeats over the past decade.
As we went to press Gibraltar was taking on Albania in an international friendly (see online for latest report), adding its 99th international match since joining UEFA. Its next match on Monday against the Faroe Islands.