bowieinspace

May 20

Hey all,

If I had an interest in starting a new save from May 2024, reflecting the season that has just happened (to at least some degree, e.g. league placements, european competition, promotions/relegations etc), is there anyone who puts out an updated DB like this come the end of the major European league season?

May 15

3 hours ago, kurooben said:

Want to start an Athletic save but not sure if I should sign Nico to a new deal to get rid of his low release clause. Did you all do that cause I assume Chelsea or someone will pay for it but is it realistic?

Absolutely get him on a new deal with a very high release clause asap

May 14

On 10/05/2024 at 00:07, SK said:

I’ve been doing a Bilbao save on FM23. I’m three seasons in and have been a regular CL participant.

Just wondering how do most handle the better youth prospects. I’ve got a few that are 2 star CA, 5 star PA that are around 17/18 age. I’ve given them bits and pieces of first team action and they’ve done well when played. I’m thinking I’m at a point where I can give them more first team footy and kinda just throw them in the deep end. There all 2nd division standard. Was thinking of leaving them in the B squad (3rd div) so they get plenty of games still and fill the gaps when needed. Feel like this is better than loaning them out and there’s not loads of options on the transfer market anyways so it’s almost by necessity.

Anyone had downsides to this approach?

I generally have my hot prospects playing B team football. I like to have them in the first team squad and made available for the B team though so I can control their training, mentoring and give them minutes off the bench here and there.

May 6

4 hours ago, MattyC78 said:

I hope you are recovering well. A very pleasant way to pass the time until you are recovered though. Congratulations on your continued success. I enjoyed seeing the legends.

Thanks mate, yeah recovering well... Old man playing football sustains injury shocker :rolleyes:

Yeah this is longer than I'd usually sustain a save to be honest but I've really enjoyed the players/team I've had... Seeing them come through as young, inconsistent players and go through to hit their peak has been really enjoyable. I'm invested in Cordoba breaking the appearance record now.

May 6

5 hours ago, jcpclr said:

thanks mate! which skin are you using btw?

Wtcs

May 6

1 minute ago, jcpclr said:

You mean playable or in view only? thanks!!

I run most playable but I do have a few view only (the ones who are unlikely to compete with me at Champions league level). If I had a faster machine I'd run them playable

May 6

Bumper update! Still off work due to injury (I'll be fine), so smashing out FM for many hours a day while on paid leave and on bed rest. Lovely stuff.

2038/39 Season Review - The Last Dance

Going into this season I felt like it was the final hurrah of my existing squad before some upheaval was needed... I wanted to get as much as we we could out of it.

La Liga - Winners 101 points
Copa Del Rey - Winners
Supercopa - Winners
UEFA Super Cup - Winners
Champions League - Lost in RO16 to Bayern.

A superb domestic season, but sadly we didn't achieve our goals in the Champions League. We had a pretty poor run through the league phase leaving us going into the playoff round - we comfortably beat Hertha there but a tough draw as an unseeded team against Bayern awaited... Bayern and Liverpool are probably the scariest teams out there, so I didn't want to see them at this stage. We won 2-1 at San Mames and lost 2-0 in the second leg in Germany.

However as the summer rolled around it was time for sales:

Departures:
Jon Martin now 31, departed to PSG for 50million after 416 appearances for Athletic Club
Julen Diez, 29, departed to Chelsea for 40million. He'd been with us for 3 seasons and had performed admirably - we cop a big loss on him but money isn't an issue - I needed to make room for others coming through.
Aitor Aketxe, 26, departed to Bournemouth for 36million. An excellent servant in the defensive mid area, however he was never more than a rotation option and I had other options
Jon Castro, 31, departed to Arsenal for 40million. 403 appearances for Athletic Club and one of my personal favourites... he was hugely influential in the DLP role to our success and it was a sad day to move on from him.
Jose Jimenez, 29, departed to Arsenal for 31.5million. 331 appearances for Jimenez who was a superb rotation option for us throughout his time at Athletic - covering for Cordoba at LB and also at CB.
Ibon Marin, 28, departed to Arsenal for 40million. 364 appearances for Marin! He was a superb option in defensive midfield - I had quite a few options coming through so decided midfield was the primary area I was going to whield the knife initially in my squad overhaul. Without Marin, Castro and Aketxe I would be bringing through multiple new midfielders.

This meant new faces! In the summer of 2039 we saw the following new faces enter the side - note that these pictures were taken in November 2040, so around 15 months after summer 2039 - they've developed quite a bit since they first came into the squad! When we first reviewed the squad after the above sales with these guys in, we looked way worse than we did before, but now we're looking very strong.

Ok not exactly starting with a banger here, Jon Goni made huge strides while on loan and facilitated the sale of Jimenez - he's back up to the legendary Cordoba. I think he totally peaked at the end of his loan as he's not developed much since then, but Cordoba hogs the minutes so he's just a reliable back up really.

Victor Encaje is one who has had a few years on loan - primarily a DM but he's actually in the squad as the 4th choice CB first and foremost, but he's just solid and useful.

Raul Aizpurua came through at Osasuna and totally slipped under my radar really. I scouted him and he didn't seem to have much potential but I really liked his attribute spread - I signed him for 10million in the January 2039 window and loaned him back to Osasuna - he just improved so well and despite never having much potential according to scouts and coaches, he's become an excellent option in our midfield as a DLP - not world class by any means but a really good fit for our system. He is back up to Xabi Aizpurua who I shifted back to DLP from AM - he's really superb. These two replaced Castro and Marin.

Benat Virto was on loan at Hellas Verona in 2038/39 and I planned another loan for him, but a cruciate ligament injury in the April scuppered that plan. He remained with the team for 2039/40 to recover with the view I'd get him minutes as a 3rd choice right wing. I had planned initially to move key player Unax Urrutia from RB into the attacking line, but that wasn't working that well, so when Virto returned from injury he became back up to Jon Ibanez at right wing - he continues to improve and I can see him being an important player for us long term.

Jon Prieto joined from Alaves for 16.5 million - another one that I signed in Jan 2038 but loaned back to his original club to continue his development. I'd been targetting him since his intake, but he wouldn't join until he turned 18. He then joined as back up to Julen Aguirre at left wing and has come on leaps and bounds since then and at the time of writing (early 2040/41 season) he's a genuine threat to Aguirre's spot in the team... despite his incredible years, Aguirre is 31 now and just starting his decline.

This guy is a real diamond... he came through our academy and always showed middling promise, but two loans firstly at Zaragoza and then Sporting CP saw him come on really well... another who according to star ratings didn't have a high ceiling but I just liked the attribute spread. It's proven to be faith repaid as you can see now he's a top tier defensive midfielder and has exceeded my coaches expectations. He was the direct replacement for Aketxe.

Moving Unax Urrutia into the forward line was partly to allow this guy to come through at RB as back up to Alex Etxeberria. However... Urrutia struggled to find form in our front line and with Virto coming back from injury I needed to find solutions. I was conscious that Blasco and Javi, two long term central defender options for us were into their early thirties and would soon need replacements lined up. I hadn't really considered this guy to be a CB (he couldn't play the position at all), but after reviewing his attributes I thought he would definitely be decent there... it took nearly the full season of playing him most games at CB to naturally learn the position, and his attribute shift to suit a CB was remarkable, alongside his general development - certainly not a decision I regret. Centre back was an area of concern as Blasco and Aitor Etxeberria had held that area down for a long time... Etxeberria had shifted into defensive midfield to replace Javi (who moved back as cover), but everyone was ageing and I feel like I'd always kinda made do there for years... Etxeberria and Javi were both DMs really, Blasco was a retrained RB. Lafuente here taking to the position so well has been a god send... combined with:

Jewel of our academy Sergio Garmendia now forms a formiddable centre back duo with Lafuente - these two will be the central defenders we rely on long term.

Finally with the loss of Jon Martin, we needed a new centre forward to cover for Etxabe. Ander Garmendia was the man. He's a player we signed from Villarreal at 18 years old for 13.25million... honestly he was a total punt at the time because he didn't look like he would live up to that price tag really, there was just something I liked about him. He came in and played for the B team for a season and scored A LOT of goals. He then earned promotion to the first team as a 2* player (with one additional grey star potential) to replace a guy in Jon Martin who had made 400 odd appearances for us who was still world class... he has been amazing though, scoring goals for fun! Etxabe is so good though, but this guy is a reliable back up.

2039/40 Season Review - The New Recruits

Easily our biggest overhaul squad wise left us considerably weaker, but I knew the short term pain would probably be worth it long term.

I didn't expect how difficult it was going to be though...

In La Liga we started off with an opening day victory against Real Sociedad, but then it went down hill... an away loss to Barca was followed up with a draw away to Zaragoza, a loss to Real Madrid in the UCL and a loss away to Sporting Gijon in the league.... while imperious at home our away form was very poor with draws against Osasuna, Villarreal and Espanyol before Christmas. In January we lost in the Supercopa semi to Barca, away to Real in the league and a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Real Sociedad in a match we totally dominated. By the end of January we were 11 points off the top sitting in 4th place having already lost 4 and drawn 4, while sitting 1st in the xG table. I knew the quality was there and we were playing well, but we were conceding way more goals than we should have done. I just stuck with it and from there on we were superb - a great run in Feb-Apr saw us only drop points in a loss away to a srong Cartegena side. With 4 games to go with were 5 points behind Real Madrid and 3 points behind Barcelona and I felt like we were unlikely to win it, but we did at least have Real Madrid at San Mames on the final day which might allow us to do something. In the 3rd to last game Real Madrid had a surprising draw away to Sevilla, and Osasuna did us a huge favour beating Barcelona. Come the final day we were 3 points behind Real Madrid and all we needed was to beat them at home to secure the title... and we did!! A season which I thought was going to totally pass us by ended up in a domestic double.

La Liga - Winners, 91 points
Copa Del Rey - Winners
Supercopa - Lost in SF to Barca
Champions League - Lost in QF to Liverpool

In he Champions League we narrowly lost a tight game to a Liverpool side who are very impressive... no shame in that one.

Fortunately squad turnover was largely behind us, but we did see a departure for Josu Blasco in the summer of 2040, a man who made 458 appearances for Athletic Club. He left for Saudi for 32million. We also saw back up keeper Iker Zubillaga leave. Javi is also due to leave the club in January after many years of service.

Urtzi Saizer came in to replace Zubillaga... not impossible he usurps Alberto Etxabe but he has a way to go yet.

Now I think given this is such a long post it's a good chance to have a look at some of our legends:

Still in the 300s for league appearances (he rotated with Nico Williams for quite a few years), but Unax Urrutia is a club legend... a truly world class right back who has been a key player in our success.

466 league appearances and counting - Cordoba has been our main man at left back for a long time now.

Juan Etxabe is one of the most reliable forwards I've ever had on FM. 263 goals in 360 league appearances and counting, and a Ballon D'or winner.

Julen Aguirre at 31 is just starting to decline, but no significant impact yet.

Gorrotxategi... once an inconsistent woodwork specialist is now an incredibly reliable, clinical player. 431 league appearances and counting.

Jon Ibanez... an absolute legend. 393 league appearances, no thanks to a full year out with cruciate ligament injury.

Much younger, but a very impressive Xabi Aizpurua.

With Blasco gone, Javi soon to depart, Aguirre at 31, Gorrotxategi at 30, Ibanez at 30 and Cordoba at 32 we are reaching the end of this golden generation. We've had some wonderful new players come through but it'll be tough to replicate this group.

Cordoba is at 553 career appearances for Athletic, meaning he's only 61 shy of Iribar's record. Given our best LB prospect is only 16, I think he'll beat it.

May 3

12 hours ago, jcpclr said:

Guys, thank you for such a great thread, in particular to bowieinspace, you have inspired me to start my own save. Any tips on save setups to maximize the Athletic experience? I want to make it a light database to be able to play through it fast (no point in having too many players in DB if you can't signt them...) but I also want some realism and good teams in Europe from outside the Spanish setup, which tens to not happen when you don't select them. Any general tips bowieinspace?

The time savings for a smaller db are outweighed by the competitiveness gained from having the right database size and loaded leagues. Unless absolutely necessary due to a terrible PC/laptop id always recommend having all the key European leagues loaded plus the top south American ones.

April 27

2037/38 Season Review - The best season I've ever had

I'll preface this by saying I've had a week off work so I've been on the FM buzz this week haha.

La Liga - Played 38, won 36, drew 2. Scored 115, conceded 16 - 110 points

I'm pretty sure that is the best season I've ever had on FM, or certainly in recent version of the game with Athletic. This team is completely at it's peak - a team full of consistent players, all but 1 or 2 love big matches and the average age is around 27 or so. We are going to be moving past this peak I'd imagine and our next generation doesn't look as good, so I'm enjoying this while it lasts.

Champions League - Winners

We went in at half time in the final 2-0 down to a Milan side who had just walked Serie A - but I hit the right notes with the team talk and we blitzed the second half, winning 4-2. Prior to that we beat Real Madrid in the semi final, Napoli in the 1/4 final on penalties and Porto in the round of 16.

Copa Del Rey - Winners

A 3-0 final victory against Real Madrid after favourable draws all the way to the final

Supercopa - Winners

We beat Barca 4-1 in the semi final and Atletico 4-0 in the final

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to recreate this season honestly, utterly incredible and the comeback in the Champions League final was the icing on the cake. Our draws in La Liga both came at home to the two Madrid clubs FYI, and we did lose a few games during the season against Bayern (league phase) and Porto and Napoli both away in the Champions League.

No major transfer business to speak of, just some young prospects from other Basque clubs (and a Basque player from Barcelona also).

One of the reasons I'm retaining an interest in this save is because we are close to another generation coming in. Currently we have:

Gk - Etxabe 22, Zubillaga 24, Etxeberria 25
RB - Urrutia 27, Etxebarria 24, Lafuente 20
LB - Cordoba 29, Jimenez 28
CB - Blasco 30, Etxebarria 27, Goti 26, Garmendia 20
DM - Castro 30, Javi 29, Aketxe 25, Marin 27
AM - Gorrotxategi 28, Aizpurua 24
RW - Ibanez 28, Diez 28
LW - Aguirre 29, Iturrino 21
CF - Etxabe 26, Martin 30

Cordoba at 29 is a key player, he's about to turn 30 next week in game (September), Castro is a key player and has already turned 30, Javi is first choice DM and hits 30 in Feb, Blasco will be 31 in April and is our key centre back, Gorrotxategi turns 29 in November but fortunately Aizpurua is a world class player in the same position, Jimenez is a key option to cover Cordoba and at 28 is not far behind him in years, Jon Martin is a super sub across the front line and will be 31 this season. Basically we have a large group of players who are going to be passing their prime in the coming years - we're probably good for 2 seasons and then we'll start losing elite players with young players coming through who don't look anywhere near their level, so I'm keen to keep playing the save to see how that transition plays out - we've got time, but it's such a big group of key players who are all going to need to be replaced around the same time that makes it fascinating.

April 22

2036/37 Season Review

La Liga - Winners, 103 points
Champions League - Lost in QF to Bayern Munich
Copa Del Rey - Winners
Supercopa - Lost in SF to Atletico
UEFA Supercup - Winners
Club World Cup - 3rd place, lost in SF to Liverpool

Our European winning run is over We ran into a stubborn Bayern Munich side in the QF, who beat us 1-0 in the first leg at San Mames (and deservedly so) and then 2-0 at their place. The 2-0 scoreline at the Allianz Arena doesn't really do it justice though... we were comfortably the better side, missed our chances while they scored an own goal and a freak one that bounced over the keeper off a goal kick. Over the last few years there's always been one knock out leg that felt a bit ropey... this one just didn't go our way.

We cruised the league and Copa Del Rey, and add i the Supercup and we won a treble of sorts, so still an excellent season. I was really hoping for success in the CWC at the end of the season but unfortunately we lost 2-1 in the semi final to Liverpool in a close game, before beating Milan in the 3rd/4th playoff.

Squad wise, we've sold a few youngsters in Inaki Goti, Ander Santos and Ismael Lafuente who plateued - they may be players we go back for in a few years but they are't good enough right now. This year our squad is basically the same, with the addition of a young centreback Sergio Garmendia, who looks promising.

Interesting the core of our squad are all approaching their late 20s... Jon Castro, Josu Blasco and Jon Martin will be 30 come the end of the season, with Ibanez, Gorrotxategi, Aguirre, Cordoba, Javi, Jimenez, Diez all 27-28 at the time of writing. Basically we're in our absolute peak at the moment, but within a couple of seasons we'll likely be crossing that peak. We don't have anywhere near enough quality coming through to replicate this squad at the moment, but it's a worry that's a few years away and I'm not sure if I'll keep the save going much longer anyway. It kinda makes it interesting to keep going though!

April 14

Season 2035/36 Review - The Perfect Season?

La Liga - 1st, 102 points
Copa Del Rey - Winners
Supercopa - Winners
UEFA Super Cup - Winners
Champions League - Winners

Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes!

We lost a handful of games during the season (away to Real/Barca in the league), but otherwise we were comfortable this season. I did feel like we lacked a bit of depth off the bench in the forward line (in terms of raw quality), as our youngsters were a bit of a step down from the forward line. Jon Ibanez came back around Christmas time from a 9-10month ACL injury and my goodness was he impressive on his return, notching 15 goals and 10 assists as an inverted winger on support from 18 league games, with equally impressive contributions in Europe.

In the Champions League we had a pretty friendly league draw and qualified at a canter, we then beat Leipzig comfortably in the round of 16 6-1 on aggregate, before beating Man City 3-0 on aggregate. We then took on Spurs in the semi final - the first leg at San Mames was comfortable, we took an early 1-0 lead and then they went down to 10 men about 20mins in, and we ended up comfortable 4-0 winners at home. The second leg at their place was a bit different, they really took us apart in probably the only game all season we were outplayed, they won 2-0 and honestly it could have been more, so I was happy to get into the final without a second leg bottle job! In the final we took on domestic rivals Barcelona, who have built a really good team now. A tight game but we didn't give up many chances and created the best one - Gorrotxategi getting the winner.

A couple of our youngsters, noteably Inaki Goni and Ismael Lafuente didn't really come on that well this season which contributed to the lack of forward quality off the bench, especially as we lost Aizpurua for large chunks of the season too. To fix this I've spunked 135million GBP on Julen Diez from Stuttgart - he came through the Alaves academy before moving to Man City, I didn't pick him up at the time due to the quality we had coming through at the time, but he barely featured for Man City over 4 years or so before moving on to Stuttgart, where he's become a key player. Now, a resolute personality, super consistent and enjoyer of big matches he's an ideal addition to my forward line. Inaki Iturrino was our other big highlight this season as he performed well off the bench and is improving well, so he sticks around to complete my forward line.

So 3 consecutive Champions League titles now is really something - this team is impressive. We still lack top, top players in central defence, goalkeeper and defensive midfield, but the players we have in those positions are pretty effective and our immense forward line just gets the job done.

April 13

Some good youngsters @MattyC78!

I've not had any poached this year I don't think, maybe 1? Certainly not that many anyway, and interesting they're being poached by smaller clubs. I'm not sure what prompts that happening but maybe someone knows about it

April 7

Also Aupa Athletic! I hope everyone was able to catch the Copa final over the weekend. Very stressful but so good in the end.

April 7

On 06/04/2024 at 23:56, vvegg said:

Great thread as always.

My question would be if there is a way to keep Vivian in the squad with the new database. He has a relatively low release clause fee and refuses to renew his contract. The Saudis were interested and eventually signed him in my first save. After a 5 season save I restarted a new game and the situation seems the same. After 3 seasons Nico Williams is also gone for 180 million euro release fee.

Another problem with the save I discontinued was too many gk newgens. Every year there were 1 or 2 4/5 star potential basque gk newgens with promising attributes.

There were not enough left backs to sign or produce from youth system. Any suggestions? I thought to retrain Vesga for a lb but could not take the risk and he is already fine for dm anyway. Javi lopez was a good option but I had to wait for Alaves to get relegated and Aihen Munoz to be transfer listed.

Quick tip for right back is if you sign Guillamon from Valencia he could be retrained for rb and becomes a rb for the national team level.

I can't comment on Vivian in the new DB sadly, I've not explored it with a full save (I started my save during the beta).

I certainly don't share your newgen goalkeeper experience haha, you can check previous posts I've made on this thread. I didn't get a single Basque newgen keeper in my entire DB with La Liga level potential for the first 7 or 8 years of my save, but I'm blessed with attacking talent... probably just variance/luck of the draw.

March 29

23 minutes ago, Rich162 said:

Thanks for the earlier feedback on youth development. For people starting their save, there is a goalkeeper in Barca B in 23/24 that is worth a look at. In my save he is 4 star potential. He is miles better than the Athletic goalies in the b team and could come good. His name is Andre Astralaga. I have had him for 6 months and he is developing nicely. Born in Berango - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berango. He cost me a million euros but given the goalie issues you were having I thought it might be worth it.

Yeah he's on my save, may have had a boost in the last update potentially. He's pretty good in my save he was on my list of potential options around the 1.5-2* CA, had a really good attribute spread, he's a good suggestion for sure if he has more potential that he showed in my save or in the new db update, or just as a good back up

March 29

You can find my save file here: https://filetransfer.io/data-package/KsTiiifp#link

The only odd thing I've done in this save is due to the insane lack of goalkeepers who came through, I was beginning to wonder if there was legimately a bug - from the game start through until 31/32 season when Alberto Etxabe came through my youth intake in late March, there wasn't a single newgen Basque goalkeeper who had the ability OR potential to be a decent La Liga keeper. At that point Simon was rapidly declining and other options who start the game such as Remiro etc were all too old also. My only option as a stop gap was Julen Agirrezabala who I resigned for a ludicrous fee just to give me a couple more years of having a playable keeper, he came back in summer 2032. Outside of Agirrezabala there were 1-2 2* CA options and the rest were absolutely miles off. I'd kept an eye on another keeper Jesus Valencia, who had been at Gernika and Lugo and was considered a top Liga 2 keeper, but he moved to a Saudi club the year before in 2031 and was miles off it according to my scouts, I've just re-scouted him and he's a 1.5* player despite looking half decent on the limited knowledge view on this save file). Agirrezabala was by far the better option despite the crazy fee, and Valencia was someone I could think about later if I was desperate.

In January 2032 a couple months before Etxabe appeared and I bought Agirrezabala back, I decided to sign a spanish keeper who was 16 who looked decent enough to be first team capable in the future, just as a fall back option in case the situation with keepers continued to decline, with the view I'd only use him if there were no viable other options. Worth noting at this time also Agirrezabala was a key player at Bournemouth and they wouldn't consider selling him under any circumstances. He played in the B team a bit and I gave him a few first team appearances in dead rubber games/off the bench/due to injuries while Julen Agirrezabala was my number 1 to allow him to develop a bit (he was very young and a big step down from Agirrezabala at the time). I didn't want to use him at all but the situation was dire so I wanted to at least give myself an option I could consider down the track. I was basically down to the prospect of 1.5/2* goalkeeper options within a year or so who had hit their peak already. Fortunately Etxabe did appear so now in summer 2035, although Etxabe is my best keeper at 2* CA, I at least have a bit of potential there and a couple options who will be decent longer term.

In the end I couldn't stick the idea of breaking my own rules for the sake of having a decent keeper, and Etxabe (although a way off first team level) looked like he would be decent enough in the future, so I sold the keeper for near enough what I paid in summer 2034, committed to my rules and throwing Etxabe in at number 1 despite his 1.5* CA - his name is Jose Angel Blanco and he's at Spurs now not getting any game time, I don't consider him as someone I would ever repurchase so I just ignore him on player search. If you search for Basque keepers now, you have him, Jesus Valencia (previously mentioned above) and then the rest is utter garbage.

My situation now at keeper is still pretty bad, Etxabe is number 1, he is 2* current ability, but I also have Carlos Etxeberria who is 2* and consistent with a nice attribute spread (he's improved well but always had low potential), and then Iker Zubillaga is my other back up - he's just had a really positive loan spell and looks set to be a long term squad member. I had a decent looking keeper in my last intake also.

March 29

8 hours ago, dothestrand said:

IRL, Athletic Club often re-sign players who didn't quite make the grade during the first spell at the club - Gorka Guruzeta and Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta being two current examples. Has anyone had this happen in their save?

He left FOUR seasons ago, and has been at his current club the best part of two years.

Id say that's a bug to be reported on the bug forum honestly. That message is supposed to be much shorter term

March 28

1 hour ago, TheMartello said:

Always love your posts in this topic!

Is it possible for you to share your savegame like you did in the past, so we (or at least I ) can take a look around?

Yep no problem. I'll sort that out next time I'm at my laptop

March 28

2034/35 Season Review - Defending European Champions

La Liga - 1st, 105 points (new La Liga record)
Copa Del Rey - Lost in final to Real Madrid
Supercopa - Lost in semi-final (penalties) to Atletico
UEFA Super Cup - Winners, beat Juventus in final
Champions League - Winners!

An excellent season as defending European Champions, firstly taking the Super Cup curtain raiser vs Juventus comfortably. We blitzed La Liga, winning 35 and losing 3 to score 105 points. Our losses game away to Valencia in the penultimate game of the season (heavily rotated team), and losses away to Barca and home to Real Madrid in games which could have gone either way. In the Copa Del Rey we had a superb semi final comeback against Barcelona to set up a final with Real, however superstar Julen Aguirre got himself sent off in the first half and we went on to lose 1-0. We rotated in the Supercopa and although being the better side, eventually lost on penalties in the semi final vs Atletico.

The Champions League defence was an impressive one, topping the league phase with 7 wins and 1 draw, the draw being away at Arsenal on the final day when we rotated our team, with wins vs Man City, Juve, PAOK, Rennes, Sporting CP, Club Brugge and Bayern (the latter a 5-1 pasting). Straight into the round of 16 and a draw against Juventus - a 0-0 at their place set us up nicely for the home leg and we saw them away 4-1. We then met Arsenal in the quarter final, a team who have caused us some issues in the past... the first leg at San Mames was comfortable and we scored 5 - unfortunately a late penalty made it 5-2 to give them a sniff at home if things went their way. However we held strong in the second leg despite being the worse team on the night, 0-0 through until the last minute when they got a late consolation goal giving us an overall 5-3 victory. We then moved onto a semi final against Man City - a tough first leg at their ground saw us run back to San Mames with a fortunate 2-3 defeat - it could have been worse so I was very happy to be in touching distance for the home leg. We then took control in the second leg with two first half goals to see us lead on aggregate, only for an equaliser against the run of play meaning we went to extra time. It came down to a bizarre lobbed header from young star Ismael Lafuente to see us take the lead, and the win in extra time. We then had a final against Bayern, meaning we had the odd coincidence of playing every knockout round against a team we'd played against in the league phase. We'd battered them 5-1 at San Mames in that phase, so I was optimistic going into the final, even with a squad plagued by injuries - over the last few months of the season we'd lost our starting keeper for 4 months, star player Jon Ibanez to a cruciate ligament tear for 9 months, Jon Martin (first back up in the forward areas) for a month (return date a few days after the Champions League final) and Unax Urrutia (starting RB) with a similar injury/timeline. We also lost Julen Aguirre, our other star winger on the opposite side to Ibanez, and he was set to return a few days before the final. We'd also lost our backup LB, back up striker for 3-4 weeks in April, and Juan Etxabe our starting striker for a month in April, meaning during the semi finals and league run in we had hardly any options to rotate players. By the time the final rolled around we were still missing Ibanez (out until Christmas), Unax Urrutia and Jon Martin, but we were otherwise mostly healthy... just a couple players still not fully match fit.

We kicked off the final to an immediate highlight - Alex Etxebarria our right back running down the line, beating his man and putting in a low cross which was turned in for an own goal 16 seconds into the final! We didn't look back from there and despite them equalising midway through the first half, we went on to win 4-1 and defend our Champions League crown!

Squad Building

No transfers of significance really, we did let Mikel Guruzeta, Isaac Gomez, Carlos Saenz and Jorge Murillo all leave as they were surplus to requirements - decent money for them but given we have 600million GBP in the bank I don't worry about transfer fees and just try to find good moves for my players now. By far the most significant departure though was on a free transfer - we have said goodbye to Nico Williams who has just turned 33 - he hasn't declined much (he has a bit but he was still a 4* player), however he wanted star player status still on a multi year new deal and he's not a starter anymore due to the insane level of Etxabe, Gorrotxategi, Aguirre and Ibanez - we allowed him to leave on a free after 17 odd years at the club and 452 league appearances. A wonderful servant to the club. That means we now have no real players left at the club - a full team of newgens.

Gk -
Alberto Etxabe (Academy graduate, from Barakaldo)
Iker Zubillaga (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)
Carlos Etxeberria (Tenerife academy, from Estella-Lizarra in Navarro)

Rb -
Unax Urrutia (Academy graduate, from Portugalete)
Alex Etxebarria (Academy graduate, from Galdakao)

Lb -
Eneko Cordoba (Arenas Club graduate, from Getxo)
Ander Santos (Academy graduate, from Azpeitia)

Cb -
Aitor Etxebarria (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
Josu Blasco (Academy graduate, from Leioa)
Josu Jimenez (Academy graduate, from Sestao)
Sergio Goti (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)

Dm -
Javi (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
Aitor Aketxe (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
Jon Castro (Academy graduate, from Sestao)
Ibon Marin (Academy graduate, from Basauri, also French Basque)

Am -
Aitor Gorrotxategi (Academy graduate, from Galdakao)
Xabi Aizpurua (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)

Rw -
Jon Ibanez (Academy graduate, from Erandio)
Jon Martin (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)

Lw -
Julen Aguirre (Real Sociedad graduate, from San Sebastian, also French Basque)
Ismael Lafuente (Eibar graduate, from Eibar)

Cf -
Juan Etxabe (Academy graduate, from Ermua)
Inaki Goti (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)

March 28

9 hours ago, Rich162 said:

Hi, I have a question about youth development.

In season 2 when the U19s have two matches per week (European and Spanish U19s) , is it better to put a couple of the best prospects in the C team so that they a) benefit from a higher standard of football and b) can spend more time training and working on their attributes? Most of the training categories of the C team are 4 star as they share trainers from the other Athletic teams so I think the quality of the training should be the same as the U19s. I think for U19s more training is better than 2 matches per week

I want to build a pathway of the C team in the 4th or 3rd tier, B team in the 2nd tier, loans at 1st division clubs and then the first team.

My b team were promoted last year to the 3rd division and the C team are now in the 4th. Both are top of their leagues

Honestly you could go either way with it. I prefer to keep them in the youth team until they turn 17 personally, I don't like them being in the c team. Once they've turned 17 they go into one of 3 pathways:

1) elite talent OR someone who needs mentoring, they go to the first team and are made available for B/c as appropriate

2) good enough for B team but not someone I think will be a future first team player go to the B team

3) the rest go to the c team

March 25

On 25/03/2024 at 01:02, dothestrand said:

It always annoys me that given Athletic Club's history of developing young players, the game never seems to start with many young players capable of stepping up. Vicandi and Huestamendia are the only players this year who really came good for me. Given the intakes I subsequently had, I'm amazed the game didn't really rate some of the young players higher.

I think the researcher has a tendency to give a lot of -7 to -7.5 potential spots, with the odd -8. This isn't necessarily wrong in a literal sense, but it often plays out badly in game. Those -7 to -7.5 guys more often than not hit the lower ends of those potentials when the game is loaded and a precise value is assigned, or they hit the higher end but then it's a dice roll as to whether they get the hidden attributes to achieve the potential (as often they have 0 values for professionalism, amibition etc in the DB), so you end up with a youth academy full of players hitting between 110-135 ish, which is never going to be a viable first team player. If you then get one or two -8 potential players on top, but one of them gets loaded in with poor hidden attributes as well, all of a sudden your pipeline is non-existant. Unai Gomez, Adu Ares, Prados, Paredes are all good examples of players who have historically always been basically useless in an Athletic save on FM, but this year all of them are somewhat significant in the first team squad.

Spoiler below contains factual CA/PA info from the 24.3 database (most recent) for the purpose of this discussion thus HEAVY SPOILER WARNING:

Spoiler

There's two primary issues here... firstly academy players who break into the first team are very slow to improve their CA, I don't think Athletic has a dedicated researcher so this probably makes sense as if it's a generic La Liga researcher then they're not going to be as clued in across the board.

Examples of this:

Unai Gomez - now a regular first team player in La Liga starts in game with a 122CA and a PA of -7 (120-150), meaning he needs the luck of the dice roll to be in the top area of that bracket to be useful, and his CA is probably too low to be immediately viable. He has 0 for all hidden attributes, so that's an additional diceroll.... If you're LUCKY, you may get a player who is decent off the bench.

Mikel Jauregizar - In and around the first team squad at 19 years of age has a PA of -6.5, so he's basically a total write off.

Gorka Guruzeta - 13 goals in 28 La Liga appearances this season, leading the line for a team currently in the top 4... 129 maxed CA after the recent update, e.g. a write off. He's been something of a revelation this season. His stats last season were modest in terms of goals scored and he's been a bit of a late developer, so I can understand a lower CA going into this edition of the game, but following his first half of the season, his lack of a boost in the recent update is an oversight, and I think his CA was too low based on his development last season anyway. His statistical output this season shows a high quality pressing forward, so his attribute distribution in game is ok, but it's all just too low. This guy is 27 years old and has all 0's for hidden attributes...

Aitor Paredes - 27 appearances, mainly as a starter in La Liga, ousting Yeray to sit alongside Dani Vivian... 130CA, 135PA.. e.g. a write off long term. Another player who has developed well this season after a modest 22/23. Did not get a fair bump in the recent update similar to Guruzeta. Based on his statistical data he shouldn't be a top tier CB, but 130CA is a chunk too low for a player with limited room to grow in game. Yeray for reference only has 136CA, so he's not far off. He probably doesn't need a huge move but he's a bit on the low side. Again, all 0's for hidden attributes.

Benat Prados - 19 appearances in La Liga and regularly starting, 120 CA which is scraping by as a Liga 2 player. He does have a bit of potential at least, but at best will be a rotation player. His statistical data for this season IRL shows a player with top level defensive attributes and a moderate passing game, but his profile doesn't really reflect it. Guess what - 0's across the board again for hidden attributes.

So there's some issues updating players who have come to prominence in recent times. This leaves the current save feeling like it's relying a bit too much on older players - I found personally it felt like there was no real pipeline when I loaded my game up. I did have one player in Alboniga-Menor who proved to be a very capable first team regular, but others who are highly rated at -7.5 or more went no where.

Second issue is related to depth of PA... in the B and C team there are 12 players with a PA of -7.5, e.g. 120-150. That should provide squad depth for many years, but if only half of them are in the top 50% of that band, spread between 135 and 150, and then half of those are loaded in with randomly generated poor hidden attributes, you might get 3 who become viable as rotation options longer term, which is pretty weak. I think the poor hidden attributes is perhaps the biggest issue, and a few of those players rated at -7.5 sit at 18/19 years old with less than 90CA, so it's a big reach for them to get to their potential anyway. There's also two players at -8 potential in Serrano and Vicandi. Vicandi's attribute spread is pretty specialised so he will likely never be world class even if his PA allowed it, and Serrano again despite being 20 years old has mostly randomised hidden attributes, meaning not only do you get the PA diceroll, but you also get the professionalism, determination and ambition dice rolls. The chances of him getting both a high PA and good hiddens to allow him to reach it is... pretty slim.

Basically it feels like Athletic's youth PA ratings are ok, arguably a bit low, but ok, but then youngsters emerging in the first team are very cautiously rated also, meaning the pipeline feels very slim indeed. Combine with far too many dicerolls in terms of PA and hidden attributes, it leads to a situation which doesn't quite reflect RL. If I was starting a new save I'd probably do a bit of database editing, keep a lot of the randomised PA's the same but fix the hidden attributes to stop people rolling in super low professionalism, ambition etc, and then I'd bump a few of those first teamers up to be more in line with their colleagues.

March 21

Just had a look at the updated DB in game, some nice improvements to Adu Ares, Unai Gomez and Benat Prados (not sure there was enough improvement on Prados to be honest) and some other rebalancing on players elsewhere, but a bit dissapointed that Gorka Guruzeta and Aitor Paredes particularly didn't see much improvement following their performances this season having been starting most weeks

March 10

On 08/03/2024 at 05:59, KristianT said:

I have a journeyman save from FM23 that I have carried over to FM24. I am in 2056 and took over Athletic. They had just been promoted after one season in Segunda. Bit of a new challenge taking over the team after so many years and with no known players.

On the plus side usually Basque youth development is quite strong, so hopefully there's plenty of options around for you signings wise

February 23

What a name

February 17

6 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Presumably you have opted to load up all players from Basque nationality also. (Silly question 😂)

Yes but honestly not that important in my opinion - if you load all of Spain and the main European leagues you are getting everyone relevant anyway

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