FM14: Athletic Club - Beti Zurekin

[john1]

Madrid have now just bid €55 million , all up front. Can't reject that. Accepted.

Wow not bad offer!

[john1]

Shall I sell him or hold onto him until the summer?

EDIT: I managed to negotiated their offer to 5M up front and 18M = 25M.

His minimum release clause is 30.5M.

[Jean0987654321]

Keep him FOREVER, FOREVER, FOREVER. It is impossible to replace such player because of the youth policy and Laporte is already young. However, if you can get Inigo with that money, then go ahead...

[BoxToBox]

Say yes, but put San Jose in the post instead. I absolutely would not sell him for that price, not in instalments at the very least.

[Sears]

You've sold De Marcos + Muniain already so absolutely do not sell him! Bilbao have a shortage of good CB's

[Wyer]

Managed a 3rd place finished in my 1st season.

Sold :

Muniain PSG 20 mil

Susaeta OM 7.5 mil

Ibai Gomez Hoffenheim 5 mil

Bought :

Igor Gabilondo Free.

Using my own tactic, which can be found here : http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/369183-FM-14-Tactic-4-1-3-2-MBB

Just starting my 2nd season, not been able to sign anyone.

Going to be tough.

[Sears]

Pretty bizarre transfers (I'm sure you had your reasons, I'm guessing you don't like wingers) but you still did very well to finish 3rd.

[Sears]

Wasting €300,000 p/w on Martinez + Muniain who never play for me anymore. Thankfully they're contracts run out at the end of the season but I'd like to see them go now.

[Sears]

Don't think I could have asked for a better start, bar the two cup defeats previously mentioned....

[john1]

Brilliant start there Sears!! Have you managed to offload Martinez and Muniain ?

[BoxToBox]

Geez, that is ridiculously good.

[Sears]

Brilliant start there Sears!! Have you managed to offload Martinez and Muniain ?

Nope. Martinez has come in handy at times due to injuries and that. But Muniain hasn't played a game yet. No one has tried to buy him, despite me offering himm out for as little as €4 million

[john1]

January 2015 – Athletic Club

Somehow we started New Year in a row with away to Real Sociedad :confused: We got absolutely lucky to snatch 3 points, they was all over us. Went behind 45+1 minutes after Iñigo Martínez put them ahead after Gorka Iraizoz parried Carlos Vela's cross into his path. Guillermo level the score on 70th minutes, Bravo passed it to Martinez just outside the box, which was intercepted by Guillermo and ran inside the box and blasted it into bottom corner. We got the winning goal thanks to own goal, Iraola crossed the ball into the box, Jon Gaztañaga got in front of Guillermo to divert Iraola's cross into his own net to give us 3 points.

We was so, so unlucky against Barcelona, a game where we should have beaten them by 3-4 goals but our finishing touches let us down.

We face Celta, away. Again, we played crap and lucky to come away with a 3 points thanks to Ruiz's goal.

We faced Barcelona for 2nd leg of Copa del Rey. It was massively disappointing to go out, Barcelona simply took their chances and we never did.

Absolutely thrashed Malaga, could have been more than 5. Captain Herrera was on fire.

Our loss against Villarreal really disappoint me, our defending was pathetic and wasn't doing there job.

Last game of the month we face, Osasuna away. We went behind after Iraola let Roland Lamh get past him to put them ahead. Guillermo scored on 24th minute after a counter attack by us, Iker Undabarrena tackled Torres, and through passed it to Susaeta who saw Guillermo running into the box and played it across the box which Guillermo gracefully converted it into the net.

We went ahead on 41st minutes thanks to Herrera's beating 2 players to set up Ibai Gomez's goal. Saborit's motored down the left hand side and passed it to Herrera who was outside of the box and slipped it through to Gomez and slammed it into middle of the goal to give us the lead. 2nd half was totally borefest and they had chances to score but thankfully our defence did their job. Iker Undabarrena got himself sent off with 2 footed tackle on 68th minutes. immediately, I took off Guillermo and brought on Benat which I dropped the ST position to DMC position which Undabarrena was playing in so we was playing without a striker for remaining of the match.

2 points at top. Definitely in Barcelona's hands now

Transfers

I only made one signing in the January transfer windows.

3.3M - I brought him in for future replacement for Laporte or San José. He was chased by top clubs and surprised to see him sign for us.

[Higgy]

After months of trying to get into a save on FM14 I gave it one last try with Bilbao, on the latest patch. Always struggled with tactics since they became a more influential part of the game around FM12, but persevered and reckon this save could have given FM one last lifeline.

Started with transfer budgets disabled, with only Spanish league playable (as I plan a long term save, only signing Basque players and a pre-historic laptop didn’t see the point in inflating the database).

Tactics I settled on ate a 4-2-3-1 rigid, attacking for home/easier away ties and a 4-1-4-1 fluid, defensive/counter for difficult away games and home to Barca and Real. I will post screenshots later with player roles/duties and shouts.

Finished my 1st season and delighted with our final league position and cup run but some performances were disappointing, but probably down to my tactics in those games will be looking to fine tune these in preseason/season 2. Finished 3rd in La Liga behind Barca and winners Real and did my best in the last few games to hand 3rd and CL football to Espanyol but managed to hold on so looking forward to CL football next season. Got to the semi-finals of CdR where I lost to Real after drawing at San Mames we lost 4-0 (I think) at their place. Real went on to win it so not too disappointed.

Incidentally Real won the treble, beating Man City in the CL final.

Will update with transfer ins/outs, staff changes and a full 1st season review later when I’m home and on FM.

[john1]

You've done well Higgy. Looking forward to see your update

[john1]

February 2015 – Athletic Club

Big match of the season, home to Real Madrid. We raced 2-0 up and they scored two goals in succession after we scored, which I was bloody livid, went 2-2 at half time, Real took ahead thanks to offside goal from Benzema. We should have clawed one back but poor shot from Guillermo which denied us. We had the last laugh with Susaeta grabbing a goal to snatch a draw for us.

Was brilliant to see Ibai Gomez ran the show for us, could have got 4 but one was disallowed.

Went for 4-4-2 against Chelsea and once again, we raced to 2 goals up and Chelsea scored 2 goals in 7 minutes period on 32nd minutes, which we basically plated it up for them and was too easy for them. Fat Lampard got the winner for them after somehow Laporte missed the ball and which Lampard tapped it in ffs.

Against Real Betis, Once again, we went 2-0 up ( I know!, tell me about it!) Betis pulled one back on 24th minutes. Laporte gave us breathing space on 41st minute with a header from corner. Told the team at half time that good performance but there more room for improvements and it seems it didn't work which Kike Sola pulled one back for them for nervy finish for us, thank to Susaeta finished the game off with a goal on 90+4 minutes. Went ballistic at full time and told the team we got lucky to win. But what was more disappointing that Betis crocked Ibai Gomez and now he's out for 3-4 months

I took a screenshot after our match against Granada on first of March. 4 points ahead of Real Madrid, after they drew at home against Getafe.

[Higgy]

Tactics

4-2-3-1 used at home and away against weaker teams, aim is to press high and quickly and retain possession while looking to get forward when the opportunity presents itself. Pretty happy with it but caught out sometimes with pacey forwards and balls in behind my LB due to poor positioning and concentration.

4-1-4-1 used for tough away games and home matches against Real and Barca. Other shouts include 'Retain Possession', 'Hit Early Crosses' and 'Play Narrower'. Against Real and Barca I use a much deeper defensive lines and it did well except the first Real game where I wasn't using this tactic at the time.

2013/2014 Season 1 Review

Aduriz and Muniain provided most of our goals with a few chipping in to help. My player of the year was Herrera who kept us ticking and although 14 assists isn't earth shattering the number of passes he made that lead to Gomez/Susaeta/Muniain providing an assist was key.

Transfers & Youth Intake

The only real transfer in of any note was a newgen from Osasuna who I found searching through their youth intake, got high hopes for this lad and he cost me £1.8m up front with the rest in installments

Other signing found by my scout;

Academy graduates:

And last but not least, during 1st half of season the board gave me a transfer budget of around £6m which was spent on the 2 Osasuna lads and these staff changes:

.

I'm now on 1st July 2014 and preseason is about to start, will sort out tutoring for the young players above and look to fine tune my tactics. Only transfer action so far is a loan offer for Griezmann (who joined Barca for £26.5m in Jan) as he is listed for loan and would be an amazing signing. I've been given £7m to spend with around £30k wage budget to spare.

Apologies about the length of the post but now that 1st season review is out the way, regular updates should be shorter and sweeter.

Ta

[john1]

March 2015 – Athletic Club

We face Del Bosque's Granada away, It was a poor match and we managed to nick a win thanks to own goal from Rico.

We face Barcelona at San Memés. We went ahead on 3rd minute after San José headed in Herrera's corner into the net. Poor defending from us on 23rd minutes let Neymar slip through after Sergio Busquets chested down which allowed Neymar to fire in to level the score. Once again, poor defending from Laporte and Saborit let Sanchez run into the box to fire Barcelona ahead. 4 minutes later, Doria managed to diverted Susaeta's cross after Guillermo missed the ball which bounced off Doria to level the score. We went down to 10 man before half time after Ander Iturraspe two footed tackle on Neymar, As we went in half time. I switched formation to 4-1-1-2-1 with Rico dropping to DM. We went ahead on 47th minutes thanks to Captain Herrera's strike, Susaeta with another assist as he was running toward the box from right hand side and passed it to Herrera, who beat Alba and took a shot at the Ter Stegen, which he parried it, Herrera slammed it home to give us 3 points. We got lucky as Barcelona was all over us and we managed to see it out with 10 man.

I have no complaint about us going out of Champions League. Chelsea was the better side and we just couldn't stop Eto'o scoring two goals against us. Iraola was at fault for both goals.

Only 3 days break after Chelsea match. The players was jaded and we face Valladolid and we went 2-0 down after 2 goals from Vama from corner. Guillermo pulled it back for us after they scored their second goal. Went in aggressive team talk telling the team to do it for the fans which got the team motivated for 2nd half. Took us 59th minutes to level the score thanks to Guillermo, a great cross into the box from Saborit and Guillermo headed it in to level the score. We went ahead thank to Laporte's header from corner. They had a corner on 84th minute which Javi Guerra converted to level the score with 6 minutes to go. Herrera didn't mark him and let him headed it in. Toquero got the winner for us with a minute left, they was around their own box and Rubio attempted to pass it to Rukavina from the right hand side pitch, which Toquero intercepted to score the winner for us. Told the team at half time that that was poor performance and lucky to win.

We went ahead on 14th minute after Guillermo headed Susaeta's cross into top corner. We double our lead after a brilliant pass from San José which he kicked it down the pitch which Guillermo ran onto the ball and slotted past the keeper to score his second goal of the night.

We are 4 points behind Barcelona, they got lucky to win last few games with late winning goals in injury time. Real Madrid seems to have fallen behind, they got beat by Atlético, 3-0.

It's up to us to keep putting pressure on Barcelona.

[john1]

Poor intakes, left it to Wim Jonk (HOYD) to see if they're good to sign up.

[john1]

Will be keeping an eye on him over next few years. Is being tutored by Herrera.

[Higgy]

Poor intakes, left it to Wim Jonk (HOYD) to see if they're good to sign up.[/center]

In general how have your youth intakes been? In my first one you can see the prospects I got above and had 3 4.5* come through, guess I just got lucky.

31st August 2014 and PSG have been chasing Muniain all summer with regular bids of around £22.5m. They tried with £29m deal which I tried negotiating to £29m + £12m over 24 months which they rejected. I now have an offer sat on my desk from PSG of £41.5m all upfront, he played well last season getting into double figures in goals and assists but that's A LOT of money for a club like Athletic, plus I was hoping to blood Unai Lopez more as he's shown promise. Plus I've got Jesus Maria Jiminez in my U19 who I think could be a good IF

Basically, do you think I should sell him or not?

[john1]

I would cash him in tbf, and I would play Ibai Gomez He have been superb since Muniain left.

[Higgy]

I would cash him in tbf, and I would play Ibai Gomez He have been superb since Muniain left.

thanks I think I will, turned off now so I could think it over haha. Ibai Gomez has started the season on fire on the right as a winger (s) but will allow me to bring youngsters in and get more minutes for Susaeta and Oscar de Marcos

Plus earlier in summer Muniain threw a hissy fit when I rejected a bid so probably best to cash in and move on

[john1]

Yeah, he did the exactly the same when I turned down PSG bid for him. I find Ibai Gomez perform fantastic as IF- Support.

[john1]

April 2015 – Athletic Club

We found it hard to break Getafe down until we managed to score on 72nd minutes with a header from Laporte.

Susaeta ripped them apart and only got 9.9 rating?! with 4 goals and 2 assists. Decided to give Torres his first start alongside Captain Hererra, and did well for us, also nice to see Casado grabbing a goal as well.

We face Valencia and We took the lead with Guillermo's 20th goal of the season. Their keeper parried Susaeta's shot into his path which he converted it to give us the lead. After half time, Susaeta got his 2nd assist of the match, We was awarded a free kick and booted it toward the 6 yards box, Herrera got above Bernat to head in to give us 2-0 lead. After we scored, I decided to take Herrera off as he was exhausted, replaced him with Aitor Seguín. He ran through Valencia defence and 2 Valencia players was marking him and passed it across the box as Susaeta was unmarked which he slammed home to put the game to bed.

We was really, really incredible lucky to escape with a point, they was all over us like rash. We went ahead thanks to Susaeta, they converted 4 minutes later to level the score. We took the lead on 52 minutes which Susaeta double his goal tally. Raul Garcia capitalized on Moran's mistake to level the score on 69th minutes. But we JUST managed to get a point.

We was superb against Las Palmas and we deserve the win.

Barcelona just keep on bloody winning, the gap is 4 points. Would be some miracle if we catch them with 4 games left. But I'm happy enough to finish 2nd.

[john1]

May and end of the season 2015 – Athletic Club

We was far too good for Zaragoza, just lack of focus in last few minutes let them scored 2 goals.

We battered our biggest rival, but thanks to fan favorite, Toquero, grabbing two goals for us.

Was all over Celta but just couldn't break them down until 10 minutes period set us 3 points up.

Disappointed to end the season with a defeat against Sevilla, it was simple reason why we lost, we didn't take our chances and they did.

Pretty happy we finished 2nd, 12 points ahead of Real Madrid. Barcelona was confirmed champions after they thrash Real Madrid a day before, 4-0.

Players stats

Impressed with Guillermo, Captain Herrera, Susaeta and Ibai Gomez this season. They have been massive for us this season. Also impressed with Casado, have improve massively since he came through the academy. His stats for us and U's 19 are impressive for at his age.

Captain Hererra just recently signed new contract with us until 2019 and got minimum release clause at 105M. Man City wants him but If I get a offer over 50M for him then who knows. Laporte is being chased by Arsenal and Chelsea.

Here Casado when he first popped up

A season later

===========================

John Olsen ( scout) is retiring at the end of the season, so I will be bringing in couple scouts next season.

The board gave me 20M in January which I haven't touched, so I will be looking to bring in a goalkeeper, right back and 2-3 midfielders.

We're going on tour to England against Millwall, Yeovil and Sheffield United.

[john1]

Another fantastic news for us. Good to see the board upgrading the youth facilities, hopefully we can get better youth intakes next season.

[john1]

Brilliant. Double than our previous deal. Nice to see our income getting boost.

Not so brilliant.

Not bad transfer budget for next season, could possible increase it more if I need another players in.

[john1]

I like Urruita and pretty much accepted everything I requested.

Another boost to our income. I asked the club for merchandise feeder and they let me pick one which I picked a Japan club and came back 2 weeks later saying both club failed to agree.

[john1]

Pre season 2015 – Athletic Club

Played a young side with few first team players. Nice to see Susaeta carrying on with his goal scoring for us.

Was great to see Raul Garcia bagged 2 penalties for us on his debut, was disappointing that we conceded a goal right after his first penalty for us.

We was the better side against Sheffield United and we only scored on 34th minutes and just couldn't score again.

Went on another tour to Japan, Facing Antlers, we was playing well up to half time and 2nd half we just simple exploded and they battered us.

We went ahead on 54th minutes thanks to Casado's header. We conceded 5 mins later due to sloppy defending. We was heading for a draw until Susaeta got fouled in the box which Arteta converted to give us the win.

We was far the better side and could have scored 2 more goals. Both of his goals was from corner.

Decided to play them twice, We went behind this time after San José mistime his clearance kick which they scored from it. Told the team to keep on going at half time and two of our youngsters got themselves on the scoresheet and Ibai Gomez finished the game off in injury time.

Transfers

Busy summer for us, Laporte was in a bidding war between Real Madrid and Barcelona and Juventus blew them away with 41M bid for Laporte. Decided to get rid of deadwood players and brought in decent players that could improve the team.

Send couple of youngsters out on loan to get game time.

I agreed to sign him in January, will be working on his technical and mental attributes.

It was no brainer for me. Surprise I got him for 800k. Will improve our midfielders immensely.

I decided to get Ruffier in as Iraizoz is getting past his best. Definitely number 1 keeper in upcoming season.

Brought him in as my scout rated him very highly and spent just under 6M on him.

Another experience player joins us, after selling Ander Iturraspe to them, Raul was transfer listed. To my amazement, I was the only club was interested in him. Will be interesting to see how Raul, Arteta and Captain Herrera perform together in my formation.

Good to see him staying on

I got transfer budget of 30M after selling Laporte. I'm still on the look out for a right back, hopefully I can sign one before transfer window closes.

[BoxToBox]

Interesting moves, very nice score with Arteta.

Also, what is that amazing skin you're using now?

[Higgy]

John1, where and in what role were you playing Susaeta? I'm struggling to get him to perform.

Well done on your success getting 2nd that far ahead of Real

[BoxToBox]

I found him to be quite a good right winger. Sometimes backing up as a left inside forward.

[Higgy]

I found him to be quite a good right winger. Sometimes backing up as a left inside forward.

I've mainly been trying him as a winger (S) with PI's of cross aim target man, stay wider and get further forward but constantly getting my assistant advising me that he's error prone and having a poor game. He's been coming in at AML too as IF(S) as sub but I can't really judge him from that as its normally last 20 minutes to give Unai Lopez a rest, who has been playing well out on the left since Muniain left

[john1]

Interesting moves, very nice score with Arteta.

Also, what is that amazing skin you're using now?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/388603-Siam-14-%28WIP%29

[john1]

John1, where and in what role were you playing Susaeta? I'm struggling to get him to perform.

Well done on your success getting 2nd that far ahead of Real

I use him as Winger - attack. I haven't changed it ever since.

[BoxToBox]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/388603-Siam-14-%28WIP%29

Cheers mate.

[Higgy]

I use him as Winger - attack. I haven't changed it ever since.

Thanks I'll persevere and give him more time.

2014/2015 Summer Transfers

Raul Garcia - transfer listed, and a good signing for squad depth. On £40k/week with £10k appearance and £5k goal bonus (helped lower his wage demand from about £60k/week)

Inigo Martinez - Couldn't resist while I had the money from Muniain sale, wouldn't accept anything less but is a Key Player and best player to pair with Laporte. Again wanted around £65k/week but got him down to £42.5k/week with £10k appearance and £10k clean sheet bonus (we don't keep many so happy with that contract).

Tarsi - Good potential and has gone out on loan to Numancia where he will play regular 1st team football (and needed to register Raul Garcia)

Aitor Arroyo - Another newgen from Osasuna, paid more than I would have liked but a 4.5* prospect.

Other staff changes were made including bringing Jason Wilcox in as my assistant manager from Man City.

Sociedad (H) 3-1: Win - Great result and completely played them off the park.

Granada (A) 1-3: Win - Played well again but fell behind, a Benat freekick got us level before 2 Ibai Gomez goals wrapped the result up.

Betis (H) 0-2: Lost - Should have learnt my lesson from last season where they hit me on the break, kept my pressing attacking tactic and they scored twice with counters. Bad management, but played well other then the result not too dissapointed.

Sevilla away next in the league followed by a midweek trip to Benfica, so may shuffle some squad players into the starting line up against Sevilla

[john1]

August 2015 – Athletic Club

We start our season with away to Getafe, both sides was wasteful on chances in front of the goal. We went behind thanks to Arteta being stupid by getting booked and gave away a free kick, immediately, Pedro Leon scored a free kick on 8th minutes. Guillermo was the guilty one of missing hostful of chances, we went in half time a goal down, I took off Guillermo for Toquero. He became a supersub for us. 3 goals in 8 minutes period!! Toquero had a chance of getting his 4th goal but was tackled as he was about to shoot.

Atlético travel to San Memés for our match, this time we was the better side. Captain Herrera took the lead for us, with a well worked finish between him, Ibai Gomez and Arteta. Which Herrera slotted it after being set up by Gomez inside the box. They couldn't break us down which was I was pleased about. Susaeta finished the game off in 84th minutes to give us 3 points.

Definitely a fair result for us. We took the lead with a header from Guillermo inside the 6 yards box. He disappointed me again as he keep missing chances, might play Casado or Toquero next few games. They level the score 3 mins after we did.

Pretty happy to take 7 points so far in first 3 games tbh.

UEFA Champions League

Yikes. Will be looking at 3rd place finish.

Transfers news

Brought him in for cover at right back.

Yup, blew all my transfers budget on him. I decided we need to strengthen our AML position as Ibai Gomez is only decent player we have got there.

[john1]

September 2015 – Athletic Club

We absolutely battered Sevilla. We took the lead thanks to Aurtenetxe header from corner. We then doubled our lead after Susaeta headed in Saborit's cross from 4 yards out. We conceded as Dzeko jumped above Aurtenetxe and San José to head in. Thankfully Captain Herrera finished the game off on 66th minutes.

We faced Juventus at their place, amazingly we took the lead under 60 seconds with a header by Etxeita. Munoz grabbed his first CL goal with a good strike. Former player, Llorente scored 2 goals on 23rd and 26th minutes to level the game for them. Could have done better with his first goal. Captain Herrera went off injured on 41st minutes which I replaced him with Sebas. We then went on counter attack with Ruiz setting up Guillermo's goal. Ruiz cut out Bonucci's pass and flicked it to Guillermo, did one two one with Ruiz and ran toward the box and drew Juventus's defender into him which left Guillermo unmarked and Ruiz slipped the ball through which set Guillermo one on one with Begovic, which he slammed home to give us the lead. Juventus was all over us 2nd half and thankfully the team held on for famous win!

After the game, found out that our captain is out for 4 months Our injuries are stacking up in our midfielders department, Arteta out for 3-4 months, Raul Garica is out for 3 weeks.

We welcome Real Madrid at San Memés. Before the game I told the team to exploit middle of the pitch as there was a huge gap between their attackers and 2 defensive midfielders. It was a even games, we went behind on 39th minutes after Ruffier parried Benzema's shot into Bale's path to give them the lead. Until 80th minutes Undabarrena drew us level, by heading in Munoz's corner from outside 6 yards box. Griezmann ( the 31.5m man) grabbed the winner for us 2 minutes later. We crowded around Alonso which forced him to lose the ball on the half way line, which started our counter attacking, Munoz chipped over 3 Real Madrid players, just few yards away from the box which Undabarrena, chested it down to Guillermo, Griezmann lost his marker and ran onto Guillermo through ball and slammed home to give us 3 points over Real Madrid.

As our injuries in midfielders leaves us short, which forced me to play Etxieta as MC. Surprisingly he set up 3 of our goals before got injured. Malaga had no chance against us. As we ran riot and should have got a cricket score.

As we got Benfica few days later, I decided to rest Guillermo and play Hernandez his first start, Griezmann gave us the lead on 11th minutes with a good finish inside the box. Poor defending by us let them equalized the score on 15th minutes. Hernandez got his first goal of the club on 29th minutes. We got lucky to come out of this match with 3 points.

What an crazy game against Benfica. Once again, Griezmann scored on the 11th minutes. We kept pushing for another goal. 2nd half, Benfica level the score after they capitalized on San José's mistakes. We was heading for a draw until Benfica went for 2-4-4 formation against us. Undabarrena mopped up Fabaino's hopeless pass and passed it through to Guillermo who saw Susaeta unmarked and slipped it through to him and blasted it home to give us fantastic win.

[Higgy]

Finished 2nd season last night and had a great season.

La Liga: Finished 3rd again after holding 2nd spot for most of the season but injuries really did us in over the final few weeks/months (Herrera 4 months with broken ankle, Aduriz 4 weeks) as well as suffering match fitness. Dropped to 4th with 2 games remaining but managed to win those and regain 3rd from Sociedad . I had aimed for 3rd at start of season so not too unhappy.

Champions League: Well, what can I say...WOW! Drawn in a group with Benfica, Dortmund and Hapoel Tel Aviv. Aim was 6 points from Tel Aviv and 3rd spot securing Europa League. I breezed through the group stage finishing top (can't remember results, but highlight was dominating Dortmund away). Knockout stage I drew Ajax, first leg was at Amsterdam Arena where I escaped with a draw before finishing them off at San Mames. Quarter final draw brought us Juventus a 4-3 first leg defeat in Turin left me with hope of completing the job and we managed to beat them 3-0 or 3-1 can't recall and we were through to the semi's . Real awaited us, with the 1st leg at home, we played well but lost 1-2 to 2 Benzema rebounds but deserved better! Sadly a respectable 1-1 draw at the Bernabeau meant we were eliminated but in our first European adventure I was delighted to have made the semi-finals.

Copa del Rey: Awful, knocked out 5th round. One to forget :o

Transfers In:

Summer-

Inigo Martinez - £25.5m

Raul Garcia - £1.9m

Arroyo - £5.5m P/Ex

Jan -

Ruffier - £6m ish (Played brilliantly but injured after 4 games, came back just in time for last few to help us secure 2nd) now valued at £10.5m

Arranged the transfer of a 4.5* AMC Newgen from Barcelona (Basque 2nd nationality) for £1.5m + 20% profit next sale.

Can't remember outs as most are insignificant except for the sale of Muniain for £41.5m to PSG

Standout performers:

Ibai Gomez - double digits assist and goals, tailed off towards end of season.

Aduriz - top scorer once again with 14 in the league.

Unai Lopez - double digit goals, La Liga young player of the year

Unlike last year goals were well distributed with 4 or 5 players hitting double digits, now if I can only shore up the defence a title challenge shouldn't be too far off. Ruffier staying fit will assist with that as he immediately made an impact in his few games before injury.

Season 3 preview will come later with my last youth intake (poor in comparison to my first but one interesting prospect (5ft 1" 7st CM))

[john1]

Epic season there Higgy! Would have love to see you beating Real to get to the final

[Higgy]

Epic season there Higgy! Would have love to see you beating Real to get to the final

Cheers John1, our performances in the 2 legs against Real deserved more but in the end their quality just did it for them. From memory they won the treble so they had a pretty good season.

How is your season going? Look to have had a good start and a nice win over Real. How does Raul Garcia perform for you? I don't think I managed 1 good performance all season, has been very frustrating.

Congratulations on getting Griezmann, he's at Barca on mine and playing regularly but keeping my eye out because I know what Barca are like at buying then selling not much later at a loss so fingers crossed lol.

[john1]

Not too bad thanks I will update save later. Garcia just came back from his injury, so hopefully he can make impact for us.

Thanks Yeah, I felt lucky to get him, also surprising to get him to join us.

[john1]

October 2015 – Athletic Club

Disappointing with 3-3 draw with Elche. We went 2-0 down and clawed back to 3-2 until they scored 9 minutes after we took the lead. Mikel José's miss penalty on 20th minutes was the turning point.

We welcome Luciano Spalletti's Valencia to San Memés. Valencia was the better side but we took our chances to win the game.

Disappointed with the team, was hopeless in 2nd half and they deserved to win.

Another loss against Villarreal, ffs. We took the lead via Guillermo. The team capsulated on 60th minutes which let Villarreal player score 2 goals within a minute to give them a win, We had a chance to draw the game as Susaeta was fouled in the box on 65th minutes. Munoz stepped up and the keeper saved it to keep the score in their way.

Hammered them easily, shame it wasn't more than 3. Mikel Jose got us on our way with a header from corner. We won a free kick, Griezmann booted it down the box from right hand side and Moran headed it in to give us 2 goals lead going into half time. Guillermo finished the game off on 59th minutes.

We faced Osasuna , Brought on Ruiz at half time for Guillermo who had a shocker. Ruiz won a penalty for us on 84th minutes after a foul from their right back. San José stepped up to score the winning goal. Griezmann and Aurtenetxe both picked up injury, Griezmann is out for 10 days to 2 weeks with gashed leg. Aurtenetxe out for 3 months for torn hamstring.

our draw and loss definitely was the turning point.

Been given 40M as we got 120M in the bank, I'm not interested in spending the money.

[Higgy]

I reckon Betis and Levante are my versions of Villarreal for you, serious bogey teams! Look like your doing well this year, but its hard because Real are just so damn consistent.

I've got my Champions League draw and I'm grouped with Chelsea, Schalke and Monaco , hopefully I can get a few results at home. Would at least like Europa if qualification isn't possible.

I've loaned out most of my promising youngsters from 1st season youth, surprisingly most have gone to other La Liga teams and getting regular first team football so should develop. Benito one of the CD's I signed from Osasuna 1st season has progressed amazingly and has been promoted to the 1st team, will be backup to Laporte/Martinez/San Jose and starting cup games.

ARRRGHHHHHHH!!! Lost my save had to reset my laptop and my game was saved locally, not sure I can start again but will see :confused:

[Jean0987654321]

You have 40M in the bank?? Then go and get Inigo.

[john1]

November 2015 – Athletic Club

We start November with home match against Monaco. Was disappointed with the officials as they missed an offside player which set up Falaco's first goal. We drew level with San José header on 50th minutes. We took the lead 8 minutes later after Guillermo was fouled in the box, Iraola slammed it home. Monaco snatched a point after a counter attack from poor san José pass which Rodríguez intercepted it and started the counter attack. Wasn't impressed with Monaco, made 18 fouls and picked up 6 yellow cards. Dirty

Worst performance of my career. Team was utterly pathetic and deserved to get battered. Guillermo was pathetic and has 5.0 rating, after the game I told him I wasn't impressed with his performance, and said to me he thought he played well?!

Another disappointing performance against Córdoba.

Fantastic performance against Juventus. They went down to 10 man on 41st minutes after Vidal two footed tackle on Susaeta. We won penalty on 64th minutes, after Susaeta was tripped up in the penalty box. San José converted it to give us 3 points. After the match, it was confirmed we have qualified to Knockout Round Will rotate the team around for our match against Benfica.

After 3 days playing in CL, I rested Susaeta and play Ibai Gomez in his place. Sebas was fantastic for us and grabbed his goal on 7th minutes with a well work from Ibai Gomez, which passed it just inside the box to Sebas whom slammed it home. Meré's missed heading the ball and they level the score. Griezmann put us in front again with a brilliant pass from Sebas which Griezmann ran inside the box and booted it into left bottom corner. 2nd half we up the game and scores another 2 goals.

Our draw against Cordoba sees us trailing away from Real Madrid/Barcelona.

Thanks god I'm not in a shoot out for 2nd place

[john1]

December 2015 – Athletic Club

Disappointed with the team over 2 legs against Leganes.

Not surprised to see us lost to Benfica even we didn't take our chances as usual.

Fair result against Celta, was lucky to escape with a point.

GRIEZMANNNNNNNNN

Copa del Rey draw

Not bad draw.

Champions League draw

Not again ffs

Full draw

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Might look to strengthen in January, currently looking at Iñigo Martínez to improve our defence, possible another striker.

[MC-Leeroy]

When is the president election ?