The football world is always embroiled in debates. While not overtly so, these discussions (which often turn into heated arguments) are usually political in some way. The idea of boycotting the 2022 World Cup due to slave labor is a huge topic, while the validity of Manchester City’s UAE-backed funding is another (funnily enough, nothing has been made of banning countries like the United States and Saudi Arabia from international competition, despite the thousands of innocent people their militaries and civilian police forces have murdered). However saturated your news feed is with football, you’ve probably taken part in at least one of these debates.
Sometimes, it feels like there’s nowhere to turn in the world of football. Clubs take money from killers. We support and partially fund said clubs. FIFA, UEFA, and other organizations fail to protect the physical and mental safety of players whilst taking money from killers (Qatar) in return for special priveledges. We buy their video games and watch their competitions. The world of football is rife with controversy, meddling, and...amoral behavior.
By choosing Athletic Bilbao to manage in Football Manager is a two-pronged decision. One, I feel that Athletic Club has the structural integrity (from the research I’ve done) to be a club exempt from any major moral failings. The club is socio-owned, which means the board president is democratically elected. Democracy is not always the most effective political system to achieve liberation for vulnerable citizens, but in this case, I believe it to be an adequate system to run a club in an ethical way.
Secondly, raising Athletic Club to the heights of Barcelona and Real Madrid will be a huge challenge to shoulder. We are only allowed to sign players of Basque nationality, which severely limits our potential player pool. Although Athletic Bilbao has had much success in recent years, winning La Liga and advancing far into the Champions League has always been a difficult task--near impossible with the conglomeration of talent and funding within the top of the footballing pyramid.
Finally, I want to make this a participatory save. Feel free to add your thoughts to any aspect of my club management -- tactics, squad management, what have you. Let's make this a (long-term) save to remember!
So...here we go.
At the end of each update, I will be offering a prompt. Feel free to reply and let’s get some discussion going in between my updates, in addition to your suggestions!
This time: Will you be protesting the 2022 World Cup because of Qatari’s exploiting of workers?
Sometimes, it feels like there’s nowhere to turn in the world of football. Clubs take money from killers. We support and partially fund said clubs. FIFA, UEFA, and other organizations fail to protect the physical and mental safety of players whilst taking money from killers (Qatar) in return for special priveledges. We buy their video games and watch their competitions. The world of football is rife with controversy, meddling, and...amoral behavior.
By choosing Athletic Bilbao to manage in Football Manager is a two-pronged decision. One, I feel that Athletic Club has the structural integrity (from the research I’ve done) to be a club exempt from any major moral failings. The club is socio-owned, which means the board president is democratically elected. Democracy is not always the most effective political system to achieve liberation for vulnerable citizens, but in this case, I believe it to be an adequate system to run a club in an ethical way.
Secondly, raising Athletic Club to the heights of Barcelona and Real Madrid will be a huge challenge to shoulder. We are only allowed to sign players of Basque nationality, which severely limits our potential player pool. Although Athletic Bilbao has had much success in recent years, winning La Liga and advancing far into the Champions League has always been a difficult task--near impossible with the conglomeration of talent and funding within the top of the footballing pyramid.
Finally, I want to make this a participatory save. Feel free to add your thoughts to any aspect of my club management -- tactics, squad management, what have you. Let's make this a (long-term) save to remember!
So...here we go.
At the end of each update, I will be offering a prompt. Feel free to reply and let’s get some discussion going in between my updates, in addition to your suggestions!
This time: Will you be protesting the 2022 World Cup because of Qatari’s exploiting of workers?
