[FM23] Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Aupa Athletic!

[MattyC78]

22 hours ago, vvegg said:

Are there any purists who purge the staff on day one and terminate non-basque staff?

I know it's not the club's policy in real life but I keep doing it in all my Athletic saves.

I'd be pleased to hear any staff advice from those who do it.

Personally hiring Edorta Murua as HOYD is the first move I do. Not sure him remaining Qatar U19 manager as well affects his job efficiency though.

That is a bit extreme for me.  I'd have to be the first out the door.  I'm happy with non Basque staff but do like to still keep a strong Basque contingent.

[MWE]

Finished my second season with Bilbao

4th in the league which is a bit of an improvement from the season before

Ending up selling Vencedor at the end of the season for £45m after he became unsettled from a Liverpool bid

 

 

 

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

second season is over and we could achieve place three in the league which gives us the possibility to play Uefa Champions League next year. Some thing I never expected so soon. 

Our team of the season:

Best performance by Nico Williams who also had the most assists. His brother Inaki Williams scored the most goals. Youngster of the season with a lot of joker goals was Luis Bilbao. 

In the Uefa Conference League we lost against Celtic in a dramatic match in the quarterfinal on penalties and in the Copa del Rey we lost in the second round at home against Gijon.

Our B-Team also had a good season finished on place ten. One of my goals in the next year is to be promoted to LaLiga Smartbank with the second team. 

The U19 Team was again winning the league.

We won against Real in a dramatic match in the quarterfinal but then unfortunately lost against Sevilla in the half final. Also here a nice target is to win the national title with the U19 team in the next years.

The youth intake again was phenomenal. We've got some decent players in the midfield. 

Alex Bengoetexea, an attaking mitfielder who will be developed as a Mezalla.

Javier Melendez, a central midfielder who will be developed as an ball winning midfielder (nice aggression )

and Unai Perez, who will be developed as a defensiv midfielder.

Next season:

Facilities are now on the highest level, we have solid finances and very good coaches. The future is shining bright at San Mames. 

Unfortunately two of our best players, Unai Simon and Iker Muniain doesn't agree and decided to leave the club. So  we had to react on the transfer market to fill the gap. 

We could convince Aimar to come to San Mames and replace Muniain on the left side.

Daniel Vivian is coming back from Arsenal after one year. A solid defender.

The we were able to sign Cesar Azpilicueta from Chelsea. A experienced player for the defensive. 

Last but not least we also got a new goalkeeper. Alvaro Fernandez from Huesca. For sure not an upgrade to Simon. 

I think we've got a solid squad to start season three and our first season in the Uefa Champions League

Take care 

Volker

[Pablo Sanchez]

anyone sold nico Williams? being offered 150 mil for him... plus 50% of next sale.. he is our best player by a mile (starting season 3) but i could grab a few others for this

[Pablo Sanchez]

also has anyone ever got a good injection of cash? whats the best method to grow, just develop youth?

[dothestrand]

21 hours ago, Pablo Sanchez said:

anyone sold nico Williams? being offered 150 mil for him... plus 50% of next sale.. he is our best player by a mile (starting season 3) but i could grab a few others for this

Do you have a bigger release clause fee than that? Well done if so! You can't easily sign players so I'd be reluctant to let my best player leave unless there was a like for like replacement. You won't really need the money as it won't do much for you. If he isn't desperate to move I'd hang on. 

[dothestrand]

19 hours ago, Pablo Sanchez said:

also has anyone ever got a good injection of cash? whats the best method to grow, just develop youth?

If you're qualifying for the CL your balance will just naturally grow. Usually a few seasons in, with CL football in the bag, you'll never have to worry about money and you'll have a healthy transfer fund. It's only the first season or so where you look like you may slip into the red.

Generally, your youth development is going to be your greatest way of succeeding in the game. There are only a few good current Basque players who will join you and those who won't will need to be sold (by mainly Real Sociedad) to other clubs and become transfer listed. Your own youth production line, and he youth players of other Basque clubs,  will really come good a few seasons in. 

[MattyC78]

On 05/02/2023 at 11:05, Pablo Sanchez said:

also has anyone ever got a good injection of cash? whats the best method to grow, just develop youth?

I haven't sold Nico.  I had a similar dilemma with Inaki Williams when I received a never to be repeated offer and I didn't sell.  It hurt because sensible financial management is a big part of my style but in the early years these players are irreplaceable and by the time some newgens develop cash is not an issue any more.  The difference with Bilbao is just to get the best Basque players available and shape your team around their strengths.  Never mind the money.

Youth development is key.  Improve your facilities at any opportunity, get good staff and focus on youth training in a way you'd never bother at any other club.  

Money can be used to tie down contracts where required but I keep my wage bill as low as possible because if you have available budget every player wants a cut.  Wage demands go up the more you have in your budget so keep it in transfers and go over the wage budget if you have to but then adjust the budgets. 

[brod_104]

I finally got round to giving a Bilbao save a go, after many years of thinking about it. Not doing too badly at the moment, just about to go into April 2023 in my first season. We're currently 4th in the league with 54 points from 28 games - Real Madrid are running away with the league, 14 points clear, but there's 11 points separating Valencia in 2nd and Atletico in 8th. In the cup, we've reached the final, and did it the hard way, somehow managing a 1-0 win away to Real Madrid in the quarter final, then a 3-1 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the semis - we play Zaragoza in the final in a couple of weeks.

I did have a few concerns throughout December and January, as some of the squad and fringe players like Guruzeta, Zarraga and Vesga started to complain about game time. Vesga ended up being sold to West Ham for £5.25m, while the other two left on loan. I also allowed (perhaps foolishly) both Capa and De Marcos to leave on loan, leaving me with only Lekue as a recognised right back. The Capa loan did bring in a £450k loan fee though, with a potential £2.7m fee if he plays 10 league games, although this seems unlikely at the moment. It did allow me to free up some space to bring back Serrano (who wasn't getting enough game time on loan), and give an opportunity to a couple of other youngsters, who haven't let me down so far. Vicandi and Peio Canales have both opened their goalscoring accounts for the club, as has right-back Hugo Rincon, who scored a long range screamer to secure 3 points against Mallorca.

The exits I sanctioned also allowed me to bring in an extra centre back, in the form of David Garcia from Osasuna. Admittedly, there was an element of panic about this signing, for two reasons. Firstly, injuries; Dani Vivian has been a tad injury prone thus far and has made just 12 appearances all season, which has meant Martinez and Yeray started to struggle with fatigue following a hectic post-world cup schedule. Secondly, transfers; Martinez decided very early on that he was going to consider his options, and eventually signed a pre-contract agreement with Barcelona, whilst Vivian has been attracting interest from a number of clubs and was unsettled by an offer of around £8m from Bayern Munich, which was rejected for being too low. Vivian subsequently handed in a transfer request, which I reluctantly accepted after he started to kick off. No offers have been made since, but interest continues to grow, despite his lack of appearances. With only three senior centre backs in the squad, one of which is leaving at the end of the season, and another who has barely featured through injury and could have left in January (and may still leave in the summer), I needed cover fast. David Garcia fit the bill and came in for around £5.5m, and has actually done very well so far, scoring twice in seven starts.

The other aspect of managing in Spain that I'm struggling to get to grips with is how to deal with the B and C teams. In the middle of Vivian's tantrums and the complaining fringe players, I started to get inundated with messages about players from the B team and Basconia, asking for better contracts. The thing is, these were all players aged between 21-24, the majority of which only have 2-star potential and will never really be good enough for the first team. Now, I'm used to playing in England where, if a reserve team player gets to that age with that level of ability, then I'll move them on or not renew their contracts. However, in Spain, I'm conscious that the B and C teams actually play in actual leagues (although I don't have Basconia's league loaded). So with this in mind, I have a question - should I be looking to retain these 24-year-old reserve players for the B team? Or should I move them on and just fill the squad with my youngsters? If I keep them, what playing time/squad status should I offer - they'd likely be regulars for the B team, but is there an option for this? They're also asking for contracts with wages more than 10x higher than what they're currently on, which seems unreasonable... Any advice on this area would be much appreciated!

[Harryseaess]

 

2022-23 - End of Season Update

Nailed my first season in just a couple of days, and what a great first season it was!

Competitions

La Liga - 3rd

A solid 3rd place finish which included doing the double over Madrid. Thankful we managed to get Champions League football for next season because in January Bayern and Juventus came in for Vivian and I. Williams respectively and the only way I could keep them happy after rejecting the bids was to promise they'd be playing Champions League football next season.

Copa Del Rey - Knocked out 1st round (to Zamora who I think are 4 divisions below us...)

Transfers

Only the three signings.

Moncayola was great, he played 31 games contributing 5 goals, 6 assists and a 7.20 average rating.

Munoz was decent, he played 36 games, 2 assists and a 6.90 rating.

Odriozola showed his class when he joined in January, he played 22 games, scored 2 goals (in the home and away wins vs Madrid no less!), 4 assists and a 7.22 average rating.

Only sale I wasn't happy with was Lekue, I forgot to extend his contract and then he announced his intention to leave on a free in the summer, so I decided to cash in. The rest of the sales I'm happy with and are mostly older players.

 

I've also made a few future transfers that will be joining us at the start of next season:

Aimar Oroz - £6m + £11m over 2 years

Jorge Barrenetxea - A newgen striker that I managed to steal from Osasuna for £725k compensation

In terms of our newgens, there were two standouts:

Fernando Agirrezabala - Goalkeeper

Ruben Aranguren - Right Back

So nothing special really there.

Star Players

The Williams brothers were insane, Inaki played up front as a Pressing Forward and Nico played at AMR as an Inverted Winger.

2023-24 - Looking Ahead

Looking to get top 4 again next season and stay in the Champions League places. Hoping to be competitive in the Champions League to bring some much needed extra money in.

Squad:
GK - Simon, J. Agirrezabala, F. Agirrezabala
RB - Odriozola, Capa
LB -  Aihen Munoz, *new back up needed*
CB - Martinez, Vivian, Yeray, Nunez, Nolaskoain
DM - Vencedor, Vesga
CM - Moncayola, Sancet, Zarraga, Artola, Prados
RW - N. Williams, Serrano, Morcillo
LW - Muniain, Oroz, Berenguer
CF - I. Williams, Guruzeta, *new player needed*

Edited February 10, 2023 by Harryseaess

[Doyce7]

I'm back after a prolonged break from this save. 

2031-32 Season

 

For the first time since 26/27, Bilbao have not won a single trophy. I'll get to the league in a second. In the Champions League, we had a fairly tough schedule for the league phase. Man United, Newcastle, Chelsea and Bayern Munich is a tough 4 and we only managed 4 points from these games. We did get through the league phase but would have to play in the first knockout round, which has not been kind in the past. Hoffenheim was not the hardest draw we could have gotten and didn't break a sweat getting past them. For the round of 16, PSG(defending champs) awaited, we went up 3-0 in the first leg but a late goal kept PSG in it going into the second leg. PSG would go up 2-0 in the first half but a Mario goal off the bench sealed the win. Bayern Munich is a team we have had no success against, they have won 2 Champions League titles in this save, once by beating us in the final, they also beat us at San Mames during league play. I was not looking forward to this, we managed to scrape a 1-0 win at home but we were no match in Germany. Another earlier than we wanted exit in Europe. There's always next year, I guess.

We also exited the Copa Del Rey in the Quarters, we went away to Atletico Madrid and lost 1-0.

In the league, a near unbeaten season was not enough. 100+ goals for the 5th straight year, was not enough. 99 points, was not enough. The only loss, annoyingly, was away to Sociedad 2 days before the Bayern Munich match. I bet they celebrated that like they won the title themselves. We even got 4 points from the Valencia games, it was not enough. 

In more fun news, Iker Hernandez became the 3rd Bilbao player to win the European Golden Boy award, following the lead of Unai Vallejo and Gorka Aizpurua. Hernandez also finished 3rd on the Nxgen list. 

The Youth intake had something a bit special this year, Gorka Etxaniz is a LB that is almost good enough already to be my backup LB. 

In fact, he broke a record held my Iker Muniain, youngest ever player for the club. Now I am not crazy, he will not be a permanent member of the first team at 16, but he will come up and make the occasional appearance. 

Here is the team of the year. 

Jose Angel Garai was a part of the class of 25, but left the club for Arsenal in 2028, he moved on to Wolfsburg in 2030 before coming back home this past summer to be the first option off the bench at CB. Roberto Alonso really emerged as a star this year. He came a regular started last season but exceeded all expectations this year and now has an argument to be the teams best overall player. Of these 18 players, 12 are under the age of 25 and that really makes me happy. 

Going forward, I expect no big moves either in or out over the summer, the team is pretty settled and I can see a few players coming into the team from the B team or that have been out on loan but for the most part, heading into 32/33, this is the squad I have planned for.

White is the class of 23, red is 25, Blue is 27, magenta is 28, purple is 29

I went back and looked because I was curious. The class of 23 has 622 league appearances between 4 players, those 4 are still first teamers, there is a GK from that class that could take over for Simon one day but he gets a loan every year. 24 has had 1 player make 6 appearances and that player is in the B team now, all others are gone. 25 has 4 players still at the club, totaling 305 appearances. 26 has 5 players in the B team but nobody has made senior appearance. 27 has 2 first team players and 3 B teamers that total 120 appearances. 28 has 1 first teamer and 5 B teamers and 25 appearances. 29 has 2 first teamers and 4 B teamers(one has made a cameo off the bench) and already have 52 appearances(mostly Iker hernandez). 30 has 1 player that has made his debut and so has 32, nothing from 31 yet but this is to be expected, they are 17 after all. I may be the only person in the world who cares about this but I find it very interesting in a save such as this. 

[Muttley84]

I know this isn't exactly the best place to ask, but have any of you tried to play Basque only but with a lower club? 

Something like Eibar or Alaves, and for the hardcore players Arenas Getxo or Real Union Irun...

I played with Amorrebieta years a go but was not very succesfull, but might also be from my poor gaming skills.

[DerKopite]

Just going into my third season, and having str uggled to raise funds over the first couple I've just made my first - and hopefully, only - big sale: Vencedor to Manchester United for £150m. Anybody managed to get a bigger fee than this?

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

good sell on clausetoo. 

[Harryseaess]

14 hours ago, DerKopite said:

Just going into my third season, and having str uggled to raise funds over the first couple I've just made my first - and hopefully, only - big sale: Vencedor to Manchester United for £150m. Anybody managed to get a bigger fee than this?

 

Great price but I think you’re going to have to rely on a newgen to replace him so you’ll need luck on your side.

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

I just finished my third season with Athletic and it worked very well. We finished on place five. We had a nice mid-season run and could secure a champions league qualification spot.

Something which I honestly didn't understand, I always thought only 4 teams are able to qualify?

Anyhow, a good result. Our best goalscorer was again Inaki Williams with 18 goals. Also good was Oihan Sancet with 11 goals. Most assists by Aimar which also has the best average rating this season.

Our best starting eleven this season is:

In the Uefa Champions League we had a good run and defeated Lyon in the round of 16 after a dramatic match in overtime. 

In the round of last 8 we finally lost against Milan. But a very good run.

Our B Team again secured a mid-table finish. Not good but enough to stay in the league.

The U19 team won the league without a loss. We were defeated by Sevilla in the half finals. 

But we one our first title in the Uefa Youth League with a win over PSG in the final. Very nice 

The youth intake this year looks promising again:

Last but not least one of our youth players, Bittor Martinez, is on place 8 of the NXGN Wonderkids. 

But I personally like this guy a lot. What a nice development over the past three years.

Take care 

Volker

[Doyce7]

14 hours ago, sgevolker said:

Hi Guys,

I just finished my third season with Athletic and it worked very well. We finished on place five. We had a nice mid-season run and could secure a champions league qualification spot.

Something which I honestly didn't understand, I always thought only 4 teams are able to qualify?

Anyhow, a good result. Our best goalscorer was again Inaki Williams with 18 goals. Also good was Oihan Sancet with 11 goals. Most assists by Aimar which also has the best average rating this season.

Our best starting eleven this season is:

In the Uefa Champions League we had a good run and defeated Lyon in the round of 16 after a dramatic match in overtime. 

In the round of last 8 we finally lost against Milan. But a very good run.

Our B Team again secured a mid-table finish. Not good but enough to stay in the league.

The U19 team won the league without a loss. We were defeated by Sevilla in the half finals. 

But we one our first title in the Uefa Youth League with a win over PSG in the final. Very nice 

The youth intake this year looks promising again:

Last but not least one of our youth players, Bittor Martinez, is on place 8 of the NXGN Wonderkids. 

But I personally like this guy a lot. What a nice development over the past three years.

Take care 

Volker

If one of the teams won the Champions League or Europa League then a 5th slot gets handed to that country

Edited February 14, 2023 by Doyce7

[Yisz]

On 13/02/2023 at 15:23, sgevolker said:

Hi Guys,

I just finished my third season with Athletic and it worked very well. We finished on place five. We had a nice mid-season run and could secure a champions league qualification spot.

Something which I honestly didn't understand, I always thought only 4 teams are able to qualify?

Anyhow, a good result. Our best goalscorer was again Inaki Williams with 18 goals. Also good was Oihan Sancet with 11 goals. Most assists by Aimar which also has the best average rating this season.

Our best starting eleven this season is:

In the Uefa Champions League we had a good run and defeated Lyon in the round of 16 after a dramatic match in overtime. 

In the round of last 8 we finally lost against Milan. But a very good run.

Our B Team again secured a mid-table finish. Not good but enough to stay in the league.

The U19 team won the league without a loss. We were defeated by Sevilla in the half finals. 

But we one our first title in the Uefa Youth League with a win over PSG in the final. Very nice 

The youth intake this year looks promising again:

Last but not least one of our youth players, Bittor Martinez, is on place 8 of the NXGN Wonderkids. 

But I personally like this guy a lot. What a nice development over the past three years.

Take care 

Volker

What regen pack is that?

[brod_104]

Just got my first Champions League group. Man City, Dortmund and Salzburg... why Man City??? Target is to finish ahead of Salzburg and get Europa League after Christmas I think. If we can sneak ahead of Dortmund, that's a bonus.

[Harryseaess]

10 hours ago, brod_104 said:

Just got my first Champions League group. Man City, Dortmund and Salzburg... why Man City??? Target is to finish ahead of Salzburg and get Europa League after Christmas I think. If we can sneak ahead of Dortmund, that's a bonus.

I got PSG, Juventus and Shakhtar . Finished 3rd eventhough I got 10 points, went in to the Europa League and got to the final where I lost to Chelsea. So it's not all doom and gloom.

[sgevolker]

Am 14.2.2023 um 05:49 schrieb Doyce7:

If one of the teams won the Champions League or Europa League then a 5th slot gets handed to that country

True but not the case. Bayern won the CL  and Arsenal the EL. For me it looks like a bug. 

[sgevolker]

vor 19 Stunden schrieb Yisz:

What regen pack is that?

https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2022/12/15/fmugens-newgen-facepack-fm23/

[brod_104]

2 hours ago, sgevolker said:

True but not the case. Bayern won the CL  and Arsenal the EL. For me it looks like a bug. 

I suspect it's the new Champions League format - how have Spanish teams done in general on your save? From the 2024-25 season, there will be 36 teams in the new league phase, which will include "2 teams from associations with the highest 1-year country coefficient" (from the Wikipedia description). So even though Bayern won the CL the previous year, if the other three semi finalist teams were Spanish for example, La Liga would probably get a 5th spot

[sgevolker]

vor 7 Minuten schrieb brod_104:

I suspect it's the new Champions League format - how have Spanish teams done in general on your save? From the 2024-25 season, there will be 36 teams in the new league phase, which will include "2 teams from associations with the highest 1-year country coefficient" (from the Wikipedia description). So even though Bayern won the CL the previous year, if the other three semi finalist teams were Spanish for example, La Liga would probably get a 5th spot

Barca and Atletico both lost the finals. That's it. But maybe it's the explanation. 

[brod_104]

1 minute ago, sgevolker said:

Barca and Atletico both lost the finals. That's it. But maybe it's the explanation. 

Might be able to tell for certain by going to Nations > Nation Club Coefficients on Europe's overall profile, and sorting by the coefficients for the relevant previous season. When the UK media was trying to explain how the extra places were going to be allocated, they said that if the new format had come in for the 2022/23 season, then England and Netherlands would have gained an extra Champions League spot, which you can see if you sort the club coefficients by the score achieved for 21/22.

[sgevolker]

Yes, Spain is on place two there. 

Thanks for the explanation 

Edited February 16, 2023 by sgevolker

[brod_104]

48 minutes ago, sgevolker said:

Yes, Spain is on place two there. 

Thanks for the explanation 

No worries!

Mini update below:

First Champions League game done tonight, at home to Man City to open the group. Was a bit worried going into the game, so used the international break to prepare a new variation on my usual tactic, with 2 DMs and an MC, rather than one DM and 2 MCs. Seemed to work as we generally managed to hold them off for almost the entire game, and even had a couple of chances on the break. Sadly a 90th minute own goal from Dani Vivian, under pressure from Bernardo Silva, ended up giving City a 1-0 win and the 3 points. Rather harshly, that one own goal seemed to absolutely destroy the match ratings for both of my centre backs, and my keeper - they'd been a solid 7+ rating for the entire up to that point, and Vivian ended up with a 5.8, David Garcia got a 6.0, and Simon in goal went down to 6.4. Seems very harsh!

Going well in the league so far, with 5 wins out of 5, with 5 clean sheets. Currently level with Real Madrid, but we play them next, away, so I suspect my 100% record will come to an end! A recent news item I received showed the extent of the challenge domestically, as it quoted the commercial income earned across the league. Real Madrid and Barcelona are both making in excess of £165m so far in this save, whereas 13 out of the 20 teams, including Sevilla, Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Bilbao are making less than £5m. Even Atletico have earned £47m, and they didn't even qualify for European football for 2023/24!

Edited with a question: does anyone else have matchday 2 in the 2023/24 played on a Monday/Tuesday pairing, rather than the usual Tuesday/Wednesday? I can't see anything online to suggest that is planned for the real life competition?

Edited February 16, 2023 by brod_104

[Harryseaess]

On 10/02/2023 at 22:37, Harryseaess said:

Jorge Barrenetxea - A newgen striker that I managed to steal from Osasuna for £725k compensation

I think it's safe to say I made a good decision to steal Barrenetxea away from Osasuna. Two years later and he looks like this:

Edited February 18, 2023 by Harryseaess

[sgevolker]

What do you think is better? 

Send talented players on loan to a second division club club or to keep them and try to get promoted to the second division? 

From a long term perspective I think the second option makes sense but for an individual player it' maybe better. 

[bowieinspace]

10 hours ago, sgevolker said:

What do you think is better? 

Send talented players on loan to a second division club club or to keep them and try to get promoted to the second division? 

From a long term perspective I think the second option makes sense but for an individual player it' maybe better. 

Depends on the players level - you can check their coach report to see if they're considered a second or third division player. It's only worth sending them on loan to a second division club if:

1) The player is of that level
2) The club is going to do at least fairly well (average rating is important for development, so sending a central defender to a team so bad they will concede 100 goals during the season may not be that beneficial).
3) The clubs facilities are at least good

[Harryseaess]

On 20/02/2023 at 11:54, sgevolker said:

What do you think is better? 

Send talented players on loan to a second division club club or to keep them and try to get promoted to the second division? 

From a long term perspective I think the second option makes sense but for an individual player it' maybe better. 

I sent players out on loan the first couple of seasons but I've now decided to keep them all at the club in the B team. Our training facilities are top notch and they're still getting a lot of game time so I feel they improve better.

[airwolf350125]

Firstly @bowieinspacegreat read and has definitely inspired me to do a Bilbao save. Just a question about the database, did you set yours up any differently using the advanced settings or just in the normal way. Apologies if that is somewhere in the forum and I’ve missed it. Thanks

[Harryseaess]

7 hours ago, airwolf350125 said:

Firstly @bowieinspacegreat read and has definitely inspired me to do a Bilbao save. Just a question about the database, did you set yours up any differently using the advanced settings or just in the normal way. Apologies if that is somewhere in the forum and I’ve missed it. Thanks

I don't know what others have done but I just went for a large database with all leagues from Spain and France loaded, as well as the top 3 leagues from England and the top 2 leagues from Germany, Italy and Portugal just to bulk the game out a bit.

[sgevolker]

Am 20.2.2023 um 23:14 schrieb bowieinspace:

Depends on the players level - you can check their coach report to see if they're considered a second or third division player. It's only worth sending them on loan to a second division club if:

1) The player is of that level
2) The club is going to do at least fairly well (average rating is important for development, so sending a central defender to a team so bad they will concede 100 goals during the season may not be that beneficial).
3) The clubs facilities are at least good

Thanks, this makes sense. I decided now to keep the Players in the B-Team when the interested team is on the same level and only send them on loan when the team is one league above. And I will try to get promoted soon to the second league. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by sgevolker

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

so, I've finished the fourth season and again it's a very good result with place 3. I'm still struggling with Real and Barca but we're on a good way. I think It only takes time.

Out Team of the Season. Again, Inaki Williams with the most goals and Nico Willams with the most assists. Also Oihan Sancet convinced.

In the Champions League we reached again the knock out round but lost agains Tottenham after a home win in London. 

Forget Copa del Rey   Again we couldn't get over the first round. A small curse is on us (can I say it like this?)

So, I've reached 200 games with Athletic and I really enjoy the save. Such a nice challenge 

The U19 could again secure the title without any loss.

But then we loss again against Sevilla. Same as last year.

Our B-Team reached the Playoffs for the first time. 

We had a dezent little run at the end of the season. 

Finally lost against Castellon in the first Play off round. But I like how the team develops and we will try it again next season.

What a famous season for Bayern. They win all possible titles.

Two of our players, Unai Vencedor and Dani Vivian, are taking part at the World Cup 2026. At the end Italy won against Croatia, Spain was send home n the quarter final against Belgium. 

Last but not least our youth intake this year. Again a good group of young players with a lot of potential. 

My goal is to create a team with only players from our own youth academy. So I also stop scouting the other basque teams. 

I've got a question to all of you: Are this to many screen shots? Honestly I'm struggling a little bit with writing a huge text in english as it's not my native language.  Maybe only the results of the first team is relevant for you? Please let me know. 

Take care

Volker

Edited February 23, 2023 by sgevolker

[couragewolf101]

Anyone have a tip for dealing with big clubs constantly unsettling my players?

[sgevolker]

Am 23.2.2023 um 02:17 schrieb couragewolf101:

Anyone have a tip for dealing with big clubs constantly unsettling my players?

Usually I try to give young players long term contracts and try to convince them to stay at the club. Sometimes it works and sometimes I have to bear with an unhappy player. 

At some point I will sell them, because it is realistic and I try to play like this. With Athletic you always have the possibility to have a new player which you can develop as an replacement.

Good squad planning is everything  

[sgevolker]

I like when my newgen with Technique 16 and First Touch 16 does things like that in his first league macht against a local rival 

https://youtu.be/A809KvbSjxU

[bowieinspace]

On 22/02/2023 at 02:48, airwolf350125 said:

Firstly @bowieinspacegreat read and has definitely inspired me to do a Bilbao save. Just a question about the database, did you set yours up any differently using the advanced settings or just in the normal way. Apologies if that is somewhere in the forum and I’ve missed it. Thanks

Thanks!

MY DB recommendation is to go medium size, then have all of the top EUropean first divisions as playable (view only below) (improves transfer market but also strength of opponents in European competitions), then also Brazil/Argentina with the same to help with regens from SA.

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

I was able to secure promotion with the second team to the second division. I was really happy about this, because it should give me the possibility to give my top talents time to develop in a higher league. Unfortunately I can see now that the squad salary is limited. I was not ware about this.

What does this mean? 

Does this mean that 4 Players from the first tram can play without counting to the salary gap?

I'm really frustrated now, this would mean that I will not get a competitive squad. 

Thanks in advance for help.

Volker

[dothestrand]

Managing the salary budget when the B team is in the second division is frustrating, partly because your young players ask for ridiculous wages when they sign a second contract, say. It's hard to keep a good young squad together. I end up loaning out the higher paid youngsters and filling the squad with cheap veterans. Not ideal. It's crazy that you get young guys without a first team game asking for 20k per week. 

[sgevolker]

Am 8.3.2023 um 22:42 schrieb dothestrand:

Managing the salary budget when the B team is in the second division is frustrating, partly because your young players ask for ridiculous wages when they sign a second contract, say. It's hard to keep a good young squad together. I end up loaning out the higher paid youngsters and filling the squad with cheap veterans. Not ideal. It's crazy that you get young guys without a first team game asking for 20k per week. 

You're right. Difficult to build a competitive squad. Beside a view key players and some talented under 18 youngsters to the squad because I do not need to register them. 

But it doesn't go well atm. 

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

yesterday I finished the fifth season at San Mames. It was a memorable season with two promotions and one title. Unfortunately not for the first team 

We secured the fifth place in the league: 

Bittor Martinez took over the Advance Forward Role and scored 23 Goals. Inaki Willams had to switch to the right win where he scored 14 goals.

Martinez also claims the Talent of the Season award and was named as the best Wonderkid in Football (wow).

Our B-Team won the league and secure promotion to La Liga Smart Bank. As you can read above, I've got some problems to build the squad for next years season.

Also the third team, CD Baskonia won the league and is now playing in the third league. 

The U19 team won the league and was able to win the Spanish youth title. 

The youth intake again looks good, lots of potential.

Last but not least I had some retirement with Herera and Azipilicueta, both will stay as U19 assistant couches at the club. Therefor I signed two experienced players with Moncayola and Karrikaburu two improve the squad depth.

Take care

Volker

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by sgevolker

[Branst23]

Anyone else have the same problem...

 

As soon as youth players get their 2nd professional contract they are wanting nearly 10k a week! Seems a huge increase and something the club can't afford especially in the first season?

 

Thoughts/ideas?!

[sgevolker]

vor 26 Minuten schrieb Branst23:

Anyone else have the same problem...

 

As soon as youth players get their 2nd professional contract they are wanting nearly 10k a week! Seems a huge increase and something the club can't afford especially in the first season?

 

Thoughts/ideas?!

Same here. After a view seasons the want 40k and above. 

[KristianT]

Never made any update on this forum before, but will do one here. Inspired by this thread I have played the first season with Athletic in the last days. I'm a bit late to the party, but still is fun.

In my first season I lost the title at the final matchday. In truth it was very unlikely given that after 37 games I was tied with Barcelona, but behind them on head-to-head. In the final game they had an easy home game while I was going to Real Madrid. For me to win I needed a better result than Barca, but that didn't happen. Also I lost the Copa del Rey final, but all in all I was pleased with the first season.

La Liga - 2nd, 3p behind Barca
Copa - lost the final to Valencia

No real surprises in the team as this is still only the first season. I sold De Marcos and Balenziaga in January, but apart from that no one of any importance came or left. The Williamses were really dominating together with Muniain who impressed both as mezzala and inverted winger.

It is safe to say I was pleased with the first youth intake which gave me both quality and quantity with five elite talents. Very happy to get fullbacks on either side and also a central defender. I also got the central midfielders with potential and one striker who has developed nicely since the intake (YP1G, listed as a right winger in the screenshot).

TRANSFERS:
As for transfer in the summer 2023 there won't be much coming in or going out. I renewed some contracts in the B team which everyone here is familiar with costs a lot of money. I also made some staff additions. So there is not so much room financially to go for any of the Sociedad players, for example. Also there are no real problem areas in the team, Lekue and Berenguer will hopefully be enough until the regen fullbacks develop to become first team players. I made a deal to sign Ander Herrera permanently very early in the season which I later realized was a mistake because he will have a huge wage, luckily only for one year.

With Unai Nunez returning from loan I was planning on selling Nolaskoiain, but then Yeray wanted a new challenge and I sold him to Atletico. I also got rid of Yuri's wages and the Garcias (Dani and Raul) were let go on a free.

I have decided to give Artola a chance for a rotation role both in central midfield and as a winger or striker in my 4-3-3. Imanol, Serrano and Zarrago have also been promoted.

Edited March 11, 2023 by KristianT

[sgevolker]

Hi Kristian,

impressive achievement for the first season. Can you share your tactic? 

Also a very nice youth intake 

[KristianT]

Thank you!

I claim no credit for my tactic. As you can see from the label in the screenshot it is a Knap tactic downloaded over at FM Scout with some tweaks inspired by one of the tactics presented by someone earlier in this thread. I cannot remember who it was, I'll look it up when I have time. In my current life situation I don't have time to learn, understand and develop anything on my own and I prefer to get the game progressing so I also use instant result.

I have got a lot of inspiration and learned a lot from this thread, but also from @twoleftfeet's thread The Eleven Villagers - Athletic Club [FM23] - FM Career Updates - Sports Interactive Community (sigames.com). Over the years I have more and more grown fond of saves with transfer restrictions. I used to hoard wonderkids and have 30 wonderkids out on loan all the time, but now I like the feeling of having to make due with what comes through the youth intake or players of a certain nationality etc, so an Athletic game really fits the bill. It also reduces the amount of information that both my computer and I have to process

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by KristianT

[twoleftfeet]

2 hours ago, KristianT said:

Thank you!

I claim no credit for my tactic. As you can see from the label in the screenshot it is a Knap tactic downloaded over at FM Scout with some tweaks inspired by one of the tactics presented by someone earlier in this thread. I cannot remember who it was, I'll look it up when I have time. In my current life situation I don't have time to learn, understand and develop anything on my own and I prefer to get the game progressing so I also use instant result.

I have got a lot of inspiration and learned a lot from this thread, but also from @twoleftfeet's thread The Eleven Villagers - Athletic Club [FM23] - FM Career Updates - Sports Interactive Community (sigames.com). Over the years I have more and more grown fond of saves with transfer restrictions. I used to hoard wonderkids and have 30 wonderkids out on loan all the time, but now I like the feeling of having to make due with what comes through the youth intake or players of a certain nationality etc, so an Athletic game really fits the bill. It also reduces the amount of information that both my computer and I have to process

 

Great to hear that you follow along! I'm glad you're jumping into a Bilbao save, its a really fun challenge and its nice to follow the development of your youngsters, rather then replacing them with a ready made South American wonderkids. Hope you get more use out of Nico Williams then I did.

[KristianT]

Nico Williams did well for me last season in a similar role to that which you play him in, so you seem a bit unlucky to get so sub par performances from him. First season he played 38 games in totalt with 18 goals, 18 assists and 7.38 average rating. In the league he played 31, scored 14 and 13 assists. So far this season he has 11 games and 7 goals.

Some thoughts on the B team as well. My B team got relegated last season and now play on level 4. (I have a file with Spain to level 7 so Basconia plays in an active league and they are rocking it at level 5). My first thought on B teams is always to have them as high up in the league structure as possible in order to give the youngsters the highest possible level of competitive matches. However, for that to happen you need a few things. You need to have a constant pool of players aged about 18-22 in that squad with the quality that is need to play at level 2 and given that these players are bound to be really good you probably need to spend a lot on wages to maintain this squad. Also, many of the players in that age group and of that quality are likely to be knocking on the 1st team door, many of which probably only marginally worse or may even be better than some of the weakest players in your 1st team squad. And for every player you promote, his replacement from the u19 team will be a lot weaker, which increases the relegation threat. If a player in the B team is too good for the B team, but maybe not good enough for your 1st team, do you sell him and replace with a 18 year old with potential or do you keep him around to keep the B team afloat at level 2? Is it worth his wages?

Ideally the B team is only a team that the best talents pass by for a shorter period before they are promoted to the 1st team, so is it worth the effort to keep the B team at level 2? Basically you are looking at the need to have about 35-40 players of high quality and with corresponding wages and that the players are constantly being replaced or challenged by players coming from your U19 team

I may be echoing thoughts of old here, but it is always interesting to hear what people think. I feel that to have the B team on level 4 is too low, I'd like them at least at level 3 and then Basconia at level 4 or 5, hopefully already from next season.

Edited March 13, 2023 by KristianT