[FM22] Athletic Club: Cantera-attacking our way to glory

[bowieinspace]

On 28/05/2022 at 07:28, lingardinho_ said:

Am I the only one having trouble signing coaches for my b and c team?

Consider assigning that task to a staff member like DoF or TD

[Skywalk3r83]

Hi everybody. I loaded up a new save with Bilbao. Tried one in FM21 but ditched it after a couple of months in game. After reading this whole thread yesterday I decided to give it another go for FM22! No transfer budget at the beginning, so this is my tactic and first eleven. 

[ernemann]

1 hour ago, Skywalk3r83 said:

Hi everybody. I loaded up a new save with Bilbao. Tried one in FM21 but ditched it after a couple of months in game. After reading this whole thread yesterday I decided to give it another go for FM22! No transfer budget at the beginning, so this is my tactic and first eleven. 

Welcome always Nice with newcomers! If you have a good leftwing you trust, you should try Munain as a playmaker maybe together with Sancet 😏

[Skywalk3r83]

5 hours ago, ernemann said:

Welcome always Nice with newcomers! If you have a good leftwing you trust, you should try Munain as a playmaker maybe together with Sancet 😏

Thanks. Still tinkering with my tactics. Maybe I. Williams as an AF. His brother as IW/IF on the right. 

[ernemann]

So we reached five more years and we are now in 2044 and this save is one af the best in many years! Since the season 2038/39 we have won the league four times with Barca winning one in between, as they have been my biggest rival the latest years. This season we were a bit lucky but also strong winning the league. About 20 games left we were 9 points after Barca. and just 9 games before the league ended, we have caugtht up with them and were leading by one point, before we were going to Barcelona. We lost the game 1-0, but Barca threw it all away and we won the league by 6 points

In the Champions League we have had it very hard mostly against the english teams and we actually had 6 seasons without a titel, before we won the cup back to back in 2041/42 against Man City and the year after against Newcastle!! This season we went out in the semifinals against Man City who were just a bit to strong for us. In the Spanish Cup we won our third titel in a row, but this final against Espanyol were very tuff for us, as we were 2-0 behind despite being one more on the field, but we came back to 2-2 but got behind again before we at the 90th minute scored to 3-3 and in extra time we got that goal that gave us a winning 4-3 win

Our team will once again need to be freshen up a bit as we have two at 34 years old and one at 35, but we some very good talents ready to take the next step, but maybe the results wont that good for a season or two. Last but not least we are expanding San Mamès once again and this time to make it the biggest in Spain at 101,332

Last but not least just a picture of our strongest starting11 where Sukunza is our strongest young player while Ramirez on the left is 35 now and only got one more season left i think

We also have alot of amazing potential in our U19 as you can see here. The future looks great

Edited June 18, 2022 by ernemann

[dothestrand]

Well done @ernemann for taking your save so far. I haven't played my save for a while but maybe I'll need to play a few more seasons. I always like it more once the original squad have all totally moved on.

[ernemann]

49 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

Well done @ernemann for taking your save so far. I haven't played my save for a while but maybe I'll need to play a few more seasons. I always like it more once the original squad have all totally moved on.

Thanx. It’s actually quite fun now Nico Serrano is the manager in Sevilla FC and other players also Got great jobs. The main difference now is that Barca and Real dont spend the money anymore as they use too, and not too Many sugardaddy clubs as I have seen outthere. Getting closer to year 2050, which were the first Thing I wanted to reach 

[MattyC78]

After a break managing other teams I am returning for a final push with my Athletic team.   I've just been back over the messages as I always enjoy reading about what other people do with their saves.  I'm particularly impressed with the longevity  of Ernemann and their save.  I'm in the winter break in 2028-29 in a battle with Barcelona for the title.  I'll hopefully report back on progress soon.

[amathews3416]

Long time lurker and finally created account.  As someone who always does an Athletic save just want to thank those who participate in this topic as it always gives me great basis to start.

 

I know someone asked about it above, but have serious issue with hiring coaches for the B team.  They always request huge salary above I can offer, even those coach’s with bad attributes.  
 

So far in third season.  Took 4th year one and 2nd year two after going into final game 1 point above Real Madrid with me headed to Sociedad last game of years and only settling for 1-1 draw.  You know they enjoyed that one preventing me from title.  Year 3 I find myself 4 points clear of RM with 6 games left.  Hoping to close it as all tough fixtures behind us.

If you play with LWB in more attacking wanted to give a shout to Ivan Martin from Villarreal as a signing to retrain.  He has solid defensive attributes and is 3.5 star after retraining and my top rated player this year.  Great versatility as he can play CM or across attacking mid.  Dani Rodriguez from Barcelona youth is another great, young signing and can be had for a release clause under a million.  Looks like future first teamer.

Champions League is tough first few seasons as coefficient puts you in pod 4 and group of deaths.  

Edited July 12, 2022 by amathews3416

[dothestrand]

Ivan Martin is definitely one of the useful signings for the first couple of seasons whilst you wait for regens to develop. His versatility is a strength as you say. 

[ernemann]

So we played 3 more seasons and got to 2047 and we have now won the league 6 times in a row Someone wanna wake up Real and Barca just a bit  - the last to seasons Real Betis have been the team I`ve beat in the race The hardest thing the last season was that our long serving legend Raul Ramirez decided at age 37 to retire and he was a real monster for us

After so many years I`ve reached amazing 1500 games with Athletic - thats quite amazing I think but I want more so lets see how long this save is fun

When you go so long out in the future funny things happen and also in this game. Just look at some of the teams that have been in the final in the Champions League. Maybe we could think Newcastle with all their money, but Brigthon in 2 finals?

Our team isnt that amazing as it have been so might be tuff to make the same results in the future, but lets hope we will get some harder competition in the next seasons But we get amazing talents every season so lets see when we reach year 2050

[amathews3416]

1 hour ago, ernemann said:

So we played 3 more seasons and got to 2047 and we have now won the league 6 times in a row Someone wanna wake up Real and Barca just a bit  - the last to seasons Real Betis have been the team I`ve beat in the race The hardest thing the last season was that our long serving legend Raul Ramirez decided at age 37 to retire and he was a real monster for us

After so many years I`ve reached amazing 1500 games with Athletic - thats quite amazing I think but I want more so lets see how long this save is fun

When you go so long out in the future funny things happen and also in this game. Just look at some of the teams that have been in the final in the Champions League. Maybe we could think Newcastle with all their money, but Brigthon in 2 finals?

Our team isnt that amazing as it have been so might be tuff to make the same results in the future, but lets hope we will get some harder competition in the next seasons But we get amazing talents every season so lets see when we reach year 2050

Do you manage in game or simulate all the games and let ass man manage?  Impressed how quickly you move through the seasons. 

[ernemann]

1 hour ago, amathews3416 said:

Do you manage in game or simulate all the games and let ass man manage?  Impressed how quickly you move through the seasons. 

Quickly? Played 3 seasons in a Month 😀 No I dont simulate anything I play all games by manage it all, but i dont have Many leagues loaded 😏

[amathews3416]

How do you increase the salary cap for B team when in La Liga 2?  First year there and only have 45,000 cap, so over 1/2 my B team can’t be registered.  

[MattyC78]

Having returned to the game after a break, I had to remind myself where the team was.  It was November 2028 and we appeared to be in a battle with Barcelona to retain our title.

 In the summer the only signing in was Kepa Arrizabalaga who was brought back to Athletic from the Premiership for £8 million.  This allowed me to sell my back-up keeper Ivan Galan for £7.5 million to Wolfsburg.

For some reason that I cannot remember now, Iker Muniain was allowed to leave the club for £750,000.  He was 36 years old but I wish he was still around the team.

Back-up players, Iniago Uriarte (£6.25 million), Inigo Romero (£11 million), Lucas Sangalli (£6 million) and Pablo Lasa (£12.75 million) also departed in the summer

I had already arranged for Jon Morcillo to rejoin the club for £8.5 million in January.

With a strong group of young strikers, a shortage of midfielders Nico Serrano and Nico Williams, we made a few small tweaks to the 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation and set off back to the fun of an Athletic save.  The tactics were designed to be a fun attacking system that made the best of the players that we have available.  In November we were failing to meet the objective of making the most of set pieces so on my return we made a few tweaks to the corner and free-kick routines to try to boost our performance in this area.

We completed the season with a success in the league, the Spanish Super Cup and the Champions Cup.  WE missed out on a clean sweep falling to Barca in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey.

We managed to pull comfortably clear of Barcelona by the end of the season ands in Aritz San Martin and Gaizka Perez we had the two top goal scorers in the league.

The best eleven shows that with the exception of the young strikers how much we rely on real players eight seasons in.  There are some youngsters in the squad that get reasonable game time but at some point they are going to have to break into the core team.

The only other main news is that are after a couple of failed attempts to purchase St Mames we are now looking to build our own stadium.

 

 

[Bubbles_DK]

After trying out a few different saves lately I have decided that I will join you guys and be the manager of Athletic Club Bilao for my last save of FM22

For this save I want try something different with the tactical approach (heavily inspired by old school italian football).

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Bubbles_DK

[amathews3416]

14 hours ago, Bubbles_DK said:

After trying out a few different saves lately I have decided that I will join you guys and be the manager of Athletic Club Bilao for my last save of FM22

For this save I want try something different with the tactical approach (heavily inspired by old school italian football).

 

 

 

Good luck and welcome.  You may find this specific formation difficult initially as the current squad does not have great depth at CB and a plethora of options at AMR/AML with not so much at Striker or AMC.   

[dothestrand]

4 hours ago, amathews3416 said:

Good luck and welcome.  You may find this specific formation difficult initially as the current squad does not have great depth at CB and a plethora of options at AMR/AML with not so much at Striker or AMC.   

You've got Martine, Yeray and Nunez, plus Vivian and Paredes at CB. Your full backs can play as wing backs.

Muniain or Garcia can play the AMC role, but you're right, you'd have a lot of wide players you can't do much with.

But in the first posts, based on @bowieinspaceoriginal tactical suggestions, you can make 3-5-2 work. 

[Bubbles_DK]

Thanks for the advice to both of you.
 

Instead of limitation’s I see possibilities in training a lot of the wingers into either forwards or trequartistas. Hopefully I can succeed with it, otherwise I’m in for a hard time.
I'm also working on Vesgi to be a central defender and change the role to a Libero at some point.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Bubbles_DK

[Sabine]

Is anyone else getting insane youth intakes every year?   I still have Diego Gil De Gomez as my HOYD because the players he's brought in have been immense. 

For example: 

Eric Merino and Asier Simón from the first youth intake

Txetxu Vélez and Urko Galán from the second youth intake 

and David Galán from this year's intake.  

 

[ernemann]

13 hours ago, Sabine said:

Is anyone else getting insane youth intakes every year?   I still have Diego Gil De Gomez as my HOYD because the players he's brought in have been immense. 

For example: 

Eric Merino and Asier Simón from the first youth intake

Txetxu Vélez and Urko Galán from the second youth intake 

and David Galán from this year's intake.  

 

Maybe not every year but almost yeah. Have so Many crazy talents but no Room in my team for all of Them 😂😂😂

[MattyC78]

On 26/07/2022 at 19:43, Sabine said:

Is anyone else getting insane youth intakes every year?   I still have Diego Gil De Gomez as my HOYD because the players he's brought in have been immense. 

For example: 

Eric Merino and Asier Simón from the first youth intake

Txetxu Vélez and Urko Galán from the second youth intake 

and David Galán from this year's intake.  

 

Maybe not as insane and not every year but I have had a steady flow of good players which I have managed to top up with the odd Basque purchase.  I am in 2030 and some of them are making their way through into the team and the original group of players are moving towards the end of their careers,  As is often the case, it comes down to balance.  I have loads of high potential strikers but I am very short of defenders.  I am having to rely on a creaking defence currently and I'm not sure what is going to happen when they retire in the imminent future. 

[Chappy1019]

Hello all,

i was about to start my yearly Bilbao save. I’ve just read that the wage cap issue has spoilt a lot of peoples long term saves . Has anyone on these forums had any issues ? 

[amathews3416]

Any interesting dual-nationalities people have come across?  I just signed a Colombian who came through Numancia’s academy with Basque second nationality.
 

Curious if there any non-Basque clubs in Spain who tend to produce the occasional Basque player more than others.  Non-scientific, but I feel Real Sporting always has 1-2 Basque players in their intakes.  Any specific clubs to look at in France?  

Edited August 5, 2022 by amathews3416

[dothestrand]

Aviron Bayonnais is one of the club's Athletic Club are affiliated with, I think. It's where Aymeric Laporte started. You tend to get a number of French Basque regens each season, often at Spanish clubs. I also have a French Basque LB who came from Nice, I think, so not a French Basque club. 

Real Madrid and Barcelona get their share of Basque regens. In last year's game Gijon had a Basque born wonderkid who I couldn't sign for some reason which was really annoying! 

[dothestrand]

Athletic Club always pulls me back in after a while away from the game. Just finished the 2028-29 season and a nice domestic double to settle back in with. Only made it to the QF of the CL before Chelsea steamrolled me at the Bridge.

This was one of the better seasons I've had as the whole squad contributed. 19 players with an over 7.0 average rating. Nico Williams was the star - he may well win Player of the Season. 

Simon, Vivian, Sancet, Vencedor, Serrano, and Nico Williams are still at the heart of the side. Nunez and Zubeldia are nearly at the end of their time here - maybe one season apiece with fewer starts. Otherwise, it's all regens from the cantera or other Basque kids brought in from elsewhere. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by dothestrand

[ernemann]

So after my 2050 game crashed I`m back again and have played 4,5 season while we lead the league at the winterbreak. We have said goodbye to quite alot of players and as usual we dont buy any players, but use a standard Youth only save.

Our first seasons we have finished second, fourth twice and third last season and won the Supercopa and Copa del Rey once, so its been okay, but we fight against a crazy Barca team and Real got Mbappe

Inigo Lekue left for Al-Ain for 7,5 mio euro, Raul Garcia left for Ajax for 500,000, Unai Lopez went to Rayo for 5,5 mio, and Cordoba for 725,000 in the first season to Alaves. In season 2 we sold Aiser Villalibre to Leverkusen for 1,4, in season 3 we sold Peru Nolaskoain to Las Palmas for 325,000, Alex Berenguer to Anderlecht for 1.7 mio, Mikel Vesga to AZ for 2,5 and Imanol to Midtjylland for 875,000.

So we got alot of great money with 231 mio euro in the bank, and 40 mio euro to spend if we really wanted to, but we are in the proces of buying the stadium and in the future its the plan to make San Mamès bigger so we can get even more fans to the stadium

[dothestrand]

Great stuff @ernemann What are your youth players like? Looks like a few in the first team. 

[ernemann]

21 hours ago, dothestrand said:

Great stuff @ernemann What are your youth players like? Looks like a few in the first team. 

Well here there quite alot of talents incl Navarro (leftback), Hernandez (rightback) and ofcourse young starlett Seguin. Have attached the view of our current firstteam squad and then the U19, B-Team and ofcourse the C-Team. Still alot of talents in our reserveteams but will come more and more with time and we all know that they will just be bigger and bigger as we go out in the future

[Chappy1019]

Morning all,

quick question on the salary cap. Have people found this has made the game harder. I’m in second season and budget hasn’t improved much 

[bowieinspace]

On 23/09/2022 at 20:23, Chappy1019 said:

Morning all,

quick question on the salary cap. Have people found this has made the game harder. I’m in second season and budget hasn’t improved much 

Yeah definitely does have an impact. I found that it was ok once I got a couple consecutive champions league qualifications. Without that it’s hard to maintain some of the high earners for sure! Inigo Martinez in particular has such a high wage. 

[n1mez]

Anybody still playing? I have just started up with Athletic and i absolutely love it. It is such an unique FM experience, and you cant just buy all the new good regens. I dont buy u-17 spaniards, as i dont think they do that themselves irl. Im midway through my second season. Was nr 6 the first season, but here i season 2 im nr 3, and the Williams brothers is insanely good for me.

[dothestrand]

6 hours ago, n1mez said:

Anybody still playing? I have just started up with Athletic and i absolutely love it. It is such an unique FM experience, and you cant just buy all the new good regens. I dont buy u-17 spaniards, as i dont think they do that themselves irl. Im midway through my second season. Was nr 6 the first season, but here i season 2 im nr 3, and the Williams brothers is insanely good for me.

Didn't Sancet and Serrano start at Osasuna's academy? I'm probably pausing until FM 23 but will start at Athletic Club save first up. 

[n1mez]

On 29/09/2022 at 21:40, dothestrand said:

Didn't Sancet and Serrano start at Osasuna's academy? I'm probably pausing until FM 23 but will start at Athletic Club save first up. 

Maybe - but they are still Basque right?

[bowieinspace]

On 30/09/2022 at 02:07, n1mez said:

Anybody still playing? I have just started up with Athletic and i absolutely love it. It is such an unique FM experience, and you cant just buy all the new good regens. I dont buy u-17 spaniards, as i dont think they do that themselves irl. Im midway through my second season. Was nr 6 the first season, but here i season 2 im nr 3, and the Williams brothers is insanely good for me.

I've not played for a few months now - I've played FM so much over so many years I just can't keep interested for a full year (but when I'm into it I am ALL IN haha), but I will almost certainly pick up the new game and go again in November. 

I think 2023 should be pretty exciting for Athletic on FM but I wonder if this might come more in the January update, because while players like Sancet and Nico Williams will definitely get boosted up, the impact of this positive start to the season I'm sure will impact some player ratings a little if they keep it going. Sancet will be an interesting one simply because of the positional difference between under Marcelinho last season and Valverde this season!

[ernemann]

Im just waiting for the new game now but if we are lucky we can maybe play it next friday. Last year the game also came on november 8th and the Beta came on 21th October, so could we get lucky next friday?

One thing that would be amazing in the new game but we all know wont happend. Imagine you as a Athletic manager had the option to renew a contract and the player could choose like in real life not to have a releaseclause But again wont be made that way im afraid

[bowieinspace]

2 hours ago, ernemann said:

Im just waiting for the new game now but if we are lucky we can maybe play it next friday. Last year the game also came on november 8th and the Beta came on 21th October, so could we get lucky next friday?

One thing that would be amazing in the new game but we all know wont happend. Imagine you as a Athletic manager had the option to renew a contract and the player could choose like in real life not to have a releaseclause But again wont be made that way im afraid

Yeah same with fending off interest in Muniain and Williams who get upset and want out of the club at the first opportunity (historically De Marcos had significant issues with that too), despite the fact they’re fiercely loyal to Athletic. Their loyalty should just be extremely high but I’m not sure it’s ever been properly set. 

[ernemann]

9 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Yeah same with fending off interest in Muniain and Williams who get upset and want out of the club at the first opportunity (historically De Marcos had significant issues with that too), despite the fact they’re fiercely loyal to Athletic. Their loyalty should just be extremely high but I’m not sure it’s ever been properly set. 

I doubt it Will ever be. English leagues Will always be their biggest area but maybe there is a researcher who is from the basque arena, but I dont Think so 

[dothestrand]

I'd wish for some improvements to how contracts are dished out.

When contract talks break down, I dislike how you have to wait ages before you can offer another deal. That can't be realistic. I could understand how an agent may play hardball but rejecting any discussions out of hand?

I also would like the salaries paid to youth players to be more sensible. When you sign a youth player from the intake they usually ask for 5k or so a week - at 16yo! And then each contract becomes incrementally higher. I've usually got 19-20yo in the B team who've never played for the first team on 20k per week. 

 

[bowieinspace]

6 hours ago, dothestrand said:

I'd wish for some improvements to how contracts are dished out.

When contract talks break down, I dislike how you have to wait ages before you can offer another deal. That can't be realistic. I could understand how an agent may play hardball but rejecting any discussions out of hand?

I also would like the salaries paid to youth players to be more sensible. When you sign a youth player from the intake they usually ask for 5k or so a week - at 16yo! And then each contract becomes incrementally higher. I've usually got 19-20yo in the B team who've never played for the first team on 20k per week. 

 

The first part has been addressed - apparently you can speak to the agent now to convince them to get back to the table

[bowieinspace]

Fm23 is out and I'm currently playing my first pre season friendly with Athletic

Couple early notes:

 - Immediate interest in Nico Williams and Dani Vivian so they needed a new deal.
 - There's a few low release clauses for younger players in the first team which need to be sorted immediately to avoid risking losing them
 - With Dani Garcia, Ander Herrera both ageing, alongside Raul Garcia and De Marcos who can also play CM in a pinch all being out of contract at the end of 2023, a new CM to rotate with Vesga, Sancet, Vencedor for example will be important. Jon Moncayola is gettable.
 - Strikers as usual are an issue. Raul Garcia is old and on a huge wage, Inaki can do it but isn't a perfect number 9 and VIllalibre is just meh... Karrikaburu is gettable. 
 - Aimar Oroz looks worth looking at again, as does Julen Jon Guerrero...certainly both worth scouting.

Haven't found any other significant stand out changes yet, the youth teams are pretty weak though not much potential coming through. Unai Nunez looks to have had a bit of a downgrade, Nico Serrano potentially a bit of a downgrade also (not in terms of current ability, which has definitely gone up, but perhaps his PA has been fixed and/or tweaked...he just looks a bit more 'developed' in terms of how FM have rated him this year.

Edited October 20, 2022 by bowieinspace

[villan95]

I'm attempting this save myself on FM22 and just finished season 1. It's a pretty fun challenge trying to work with what you've got, developing players and having a few specific transfer targets you have to keep an eye on. The maximum squad salary is another challenge too.

2021/22

Pretty much the first thing I did was bring in some new coaches to make sure the players are getting the best coaching they can get. I also asked the board to improve anything that can be improved during the first few months which they accepted.

In the transfer window Hugo Guillamón was signed from Valencia for £15M rising to £17M. Jon Morcillo and Iñigo Vicente were recalled from their loans to provide depth. Raúl García was not part of my plans and I took the opportunity to free up the wages, selling him to Ajax for £1.6M. Oier Zarraga left on loan to get some football. New contracts were given to anyone with low release clauses that I wanted to keep long term and that was it for the summer.

Overall the first half of the season went pretty well despite a rocky patch in Sep/Oct where we lost 4 matches in a row. We were away to both Real Madrid and Barcelona during that run so maybe understandable. At the half way point we sat 2nd with 39 points.

In the January window Ander Capa was sold to Shakhtar for £6.25M, I would have liked to keep him but he intended to leave on a free so getting a fee seemed sensible. A few youth players whose contracts I didn't intend to renew were also sold for small fees. Imanol returned from his loan to provide more defensive cover.

The second half of the season goes even better results wise, collecting another 41 points from 19 matches.

Unfortunately Valencia and Barcelona also have very good finishes to the season and we finish 3rd. Champions league football is secured but I can't help feeling a little disappointed not to win the league when we were so close. I have no idea why Valencia did so well but fair play I guess. We had some standout individual performers with Iñaki Williams finishing top scorer in LaLiga with 32 in 35 and Unai Simón keeping the most clean sheets with 17. Nico Williams was very impressive too with 13 goals and 12 assists from the right. 

I'm pretty sure season 2 will be tough with the champions league matches added to the schedule and probably not the strength in depth to compete on multiple fronts. Improvement in a few positions is going to be key in allowing us to challenge again and I think we have at least managed it at full back. Mikel Balenziaga and Óscar de Marcos are leaving the club for £1.8M and £750K respectively. Replacing them are Álvaro Odriozola for £13M + £2M add-ons and Aihen Muñoz for £14.5M + £1M add-ons. There isn't much left to spend now unless we cash in on an asset so will have to see what the rest of the window brings. We did get a pretty good youth intake so I'm hopeful of at least one or two breaking into the first team in the next couple of years to help us out. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by villan95

[villan95]

Finally got back to playing this recently

2022/23

So transfer wise as mentioned above I used a big chunk of the budget to sign Odriozola and Munoz to upgrade the full back positions. I wasn't done there though, I decided to sign Jon Karrikaburu from Sociedad for £7.5M, not a small amount for a 19 year old who was still very raw. Next was Alvaro Fernandez from Huesca for £3.5M rising to £5M. It just seemed like a no brainer to get a good backup goalkeeper in for that price. Then we snapped up Ander Astralaga from Barcelona for £300K, another goalkeeper but one for the future this time. I also activated the clause to sign Unai Rementeria for £550K in the hope he can develop into a decent squad player. The final piece of business was to take Ander Herrera on loan for the season on deadline day with PSG paying half of his wages. The only other notable permanent departure was Oier Zarraga to Alaves for £450K.

We started the season slow, winning only 1 of our first 5 league games. Thankfully by the time of the winter break, form had picked up and we were firmly back in contention at the top of the table. We also managed to get through our champions league group, finishing top with 13 points, ahead of Sporting, Lyon and Roma.

We drew Juventus in the 1st knockout round though and unfortunately that's where our European adventure ended for the season, losing 3-0 on aggregate. We also exited the Copa del Rey in disappointing fashion to 2nd division Alaves in the 3rd round. League form held up well until around April before defeats to both Madrid sides and a last gasp defeat to Eibar thanks to a comical own goal which felt like it effectively ended our title chances. We only won 2 of our last 6 eventually and form deserted us at the business end of the season.

So it's successive top 4 finishes but disappointing that we fell out of the title race and got less points than last season too. Inaki Williams had another decent season, albeit scoring less than last season. Odriozola won LaLiga player of the season which is impressive considering he was injured for about 4 months.

The club did have another promising youth intake which bodes well for the future. We have 6 or 7 already that look like they will be first teamers in a few seasons and I even gave debuts to a few in the cup and more towards the end of the season when we had nothing to play for.

Off the pitch the club completed work on the youth facilities to take them to 'state of the art' and everything is about as good as it can be facility and recruitment wise so fingers crossed for more good homegrown players. I'm constantly renewing contracts, trying not to let them get down to 2 years or less and I'm happily paying players a little bit more to have higher release clauses e.g. paying Nico Williams £5K PW more to have his release clause set at £250M

The transfer budget for next season is only a couple of millions pounds and we're still not able to attract players like Laporte and Griezmann so it does seem like we'll have to go again with what we've got next season unless I can find a bargain.