Athletic Bilbao - Journey To The Top

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Athletic Bilbao

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January 2019

FM Ander Herrera is a lot better than real life one as he makes the World Team of the Year! I think winning the World Cup with Spain helped a bit

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The board have just gone and given me close to £50Million and i know exactly who im going for!

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Antonie Griezmann joins for £41Million, i believe that was practically a steal at that price to get the best Basque player in the World at the moment, he will probably play upfront for us as we have so many decent wingers already

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Griezmann hadnt had the best of seasons with At Madrid and had been unhappy throughout most of it so far but lets just hope with a new club he can now kick on and get us some goals

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Athletic 2 - Valencia 1

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They scored just 6 minutes in but that was as good as it got for them as we were all over them for the rest of the match with Muniain equalizing before Raul Garcia netted yet another late winner! Griezmann had a debut to forget though.

Aketxe was a good prospect when i took charge of the club but hes now 25 and looked unlikely to ever break into the first team squad so moves on to St Etienne for £1.2Million

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Spanish Cup 5th rnd 1st Leg
Athletic 3 - Villareal 1

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A strong result to take into the second leg with Griezmann getting his first goal for the club

Susaeta out for 2 Months

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Celta 2 - Athletic 2

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2 dropped points which could be huge come the end of the season! We were 2-0 up in this match before letting in a very late equalizer, at least Griezmann how has 2 goals in 2 games.

Next match is my 200th as Athletic Manager

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Spanish Cup 5th rnd 2nd Leg
Villareal 1 - Athletic 3

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Captain Raul Garcia nets a superb Hattrick to seal another 3-1 win which takes us into the Quarter Finals of the Cup we won last season.

Raul Garcia breaks his own record for most Man of the Matches in a season

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Real Betis 1 - Athletic 2

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Raul Garcia puts another man of the match performance in whilst Griezmann and Muniain net our 2 goals and set each other up.

So unfortunately i lose my second youngster to a English team as AMC Marin who has played quite a lot for us this season joins Man City for just £3.5Million! I lost Sanz in the summer to Chelsea and now this, i was gutted but he refused a new deal and that was that, i could never match paying a 17 year old almost 20k a week

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So in just over a year after buying him for £1.2Million he joins Man City for £3.5Million

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Spanish Cup Quarter Final 1st leg
Athletic 2 - Barcelona 2

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2-0 down by half time but my subs in the second half really turned the game on its head and we were all over them for the last 20 minutes with Llorente netting in the 87th minute before Benat got the equalizer through a very late penalty.

Athletic 2 - At Madrid 0

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Williams opens the scoring early in the second half before Griezmann nets his 4th goal since joining to seal the win.

Spanish Cup Quarter Finals 2nd Leg
Barcelona 2 - Athletic 1

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So thats us out of the competition as Barcelona dominate us back at the Camp Nou, the scoreline was pretty close but they were all over us for most of the match.

We won the Spanish Cup last year but there will be not repeat as we crash out in the Quarter Finals

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I finally get my Coaching Continental C License badge

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The winter transfer window was all about At Madrid, after we spent that £40Million on Griezmann they had an oil baron take over and spent £120Million in this window signing the likes of Ayoze Perez for £50Million

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League Table

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Despite that draw with Celta we are still just 2 points behind Real Madrid and the showdown with them is getting closer and closer whilst Barcelona have kept up pace and are just a further 3 points behind us.​
 
Athletic Bilbao

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Deportivo 1 - Athletic 2

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Yet another come from behind win with Raul Garcia winning the man of the match yet again and Llorente netting a last gasp winner.

Athletic 4 - Real Sociedad 1

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This was actually a really close game but literally every shot we had on target early on seemed to find the back of the net whilst Griezmann netted against his former club.

Captain Fantastic Raul Garcia out for 5 weeks

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Athletic 4 - Racing 0

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A really impressive win! I finally realised why Griezmann wasnt playing to his full potential! I still had the striker role as Poacher for him, i changed it to Trequartista and he nets a beautiful Hattrick like this!

Champions League 1st Knockout rnd 1st Leg
Athletic 2 - PSG 3

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After taking the lead we really should have won this game! They came back with 3 goals even though they had a player sent off, we got one back late on to make it interesting in the return leg.

Malaga 1 - Athletic 2

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Griezmann nets his 9th goal since joining the club just 8 weeks ago as we secure yet another win in the league

League Table

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Real Madrid slip up with another draw and its all even going into March, we face them at their place in 6 weeks which could well be the Title decider.​
 
Nice signing in Griezmann and unlucky in losing Marin especially for such a low fee. Going to be tight in the league good luck
 
Griezmann looks amazing for you so far that £40 million seems like a steal
 
Athletic Bilbao

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March 2019

Cordoba 1 - Athletic 4

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A comfortable 4-1 win keeps up the Title dreams but Muniain did go off with a nasty injury

Muniain out for 2 Months

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Athletic 2 - Levante 0

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Another good win with Llorente letting us know once again that hes still a fantastic striker despite his age.

Real Madrid are having a wobble!!! 3 draws in a row sees them drop 6 points in just 2 weeks

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Barcelona 3 - Athletic 1

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So just after pointing out the fact Real Madrid have slipped up we go and drop 3 points of our own as Barcelona yet again comfortably beat us.

Champions League 1st Knockout rnd 2nd Leg
PSG 2 - Athletic 0

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The megabucks of PSG easily knock us out of the Champions League with the likes of Barbosa, Neves and Saul added to their side in recent years they will be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.

We dont make it past the Champions League Knockout rnds

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Is last years Europe League Quarter Final exit better than a Champions League Knockout stages exit?

Athletic 4 - Eibar 0

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Raul Garcia nets twice in a man of the match performance whilst Llorente got two more, Griezmann had to settle for a couple of assists this time round.

Holland Squad Announcement sees 2 new youngsters join the squad with the likes of Ola John out injured they have been given the chance to step up

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Sevilla 1 - Athletic 2

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An important win against a tough Sevilla side with Ander Herrera putting in an impressive display i think mainly because he just got left out of the Spain Squad.

We get two players who look half decent from our own youth intake but nobody has taken my fancy so far from the other teams youth intakes

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Our main Keeper Tim Krul is rule out through injury

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Euro Championship Qualifiers
Turkey 0 - Holland 1

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Depay playing on the wing instead of upfront puts in a decent shift getting the only goal of the game whilst winning the man of the match award to go with it.

La Liga Table

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After our loss to Barcelona and Real Madrid's draws the tables have turned and we are now 1 point clear at the top of the table with just 8 games left to play, we really need to get something from the Real Madrid game coming up even if its just a draw!


​
 
Great piece of business getting Griezmann into the team. Could give you that extra something for the remainder of the season!
 
SiempreMadridista said:
Great piece of business getting Griezmann into the team. Could give you that extra something for the remainder of the season!
Click to expand...
Yes mate, he has been superb so far! Real Madrid slipping up has given us the chance to win the league for the first time since i took over and being out of both cup competitions might help us as Real Madrid have a load more games to play than us
 
Athletic Bilbao

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April 2019

Winger Dilrosun makes his Holland Debut

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European Championship Qualifiers
Holland 2 - Wales 0

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Winger Depay nets the first goal before AMC Klassen grabbed the second 10 minutes later, striker Ghazi had an absolute mare upfront again though.

Athletic 4 - Villareal 1

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Griezmann had been on a bit of a drought before smashing in 4 goals in this game to show his true quality.

Athletic 1 - Real Oviedo 0

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Griezmann is single handedly trying to win us this League Title as he gets the only goal of the game to seal all 3 points, his arrival in the winter window could be crucial.

Real Madrid 0 - Athletic 0

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So i knew we couldnt beat Real Madrid and all we needed was a draw to keep in contention for the Title so i stuck all our players behind the ball and just withstood a barrage of Real Madrid shots, Ronaldo even missed a penalty early on and from that moment on i knew luck was on our side.

5 League games to go and the best team we still have to face is 8th placed Valencia

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Real Madrid have to face At Madrid in a massive Madrid Derby in the league yet whilst being in Europe and the Cup may well leave them spread too thin for retaining their Title

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Granada 2 - Athletic 4

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Another impressive win, this time against Granada with both Griezmann and Llorente getting goals as they race for the Top Scorer spot amongst Athletic.

Real Madrid keep up their side of things beating Valencia 2-1 in a fairly comfortable game

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Athletic 1 - Elche 0

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Griezmann scores the only goal of the game to gain all 3 points, His goals in recent games have secured us 9 of our last 12 league points.

Celta Hold Real Madrid to a 2-2 Draw!!!

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League Table

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3 points clear at the top of the table with just 3 games to go! Surely we cant let it slip now!​
 
Athletic Bilbao

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May 2019

Athletic 1 - Almeria 0

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Inaki Williams gets the only goal of the game just 10 minutes in but unfortunately Real Madrid also got a 1-0 win to keep pace with u

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New Dutch Star Dilrosun out for 6 Months

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New President set to be elected at Athletic

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Valencia 0 - Athletic 0

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We only manage a bore draw in the penultimate game of the league season giving Real Madrid a chance to catch up with us.

But they dont and At Madrid go and do us a massive favour by beating Real Madrid with a last gasp winner by Diego Godin

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That loss for Real Madrid means we secure the League Title with 1 game to spare!

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What a rise its been! When i started 4 years we had a brilliant start winning the Spanish Super Cup then followed it up 2 years later with the Spanish Cup and now have that elusive La Liga Title to our name!!!

We hadnt won the league in over 30 Years

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4 points clear of Real Madrid with just the one game to go! I think this League win is just as much about Real Madrid failing at important times of the season than just us playing well. Griezmann signing in the Winter Window really kicked on the Title race for us to.

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We end the season in real League Winning Style beating Celta 6-1 with Griezmann netting 4 goals!

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If your not one of the big two in Spain you dont get a lot of money, sponsors and tv deals are still not that good for us and you get just £4Million for winning the League!

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The Final League Table of the season

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I think it shows how big of a deal beating Real Madrid to the Title was as they went on to win the Champions League, Spanish Cup and Spanish Super Cup this season.

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Ask and you shall receive!

Great end to the season, and maybe Bilbao's new hero has been found?!

Next challenge... EUROPE!
 
Athletic Bilbao

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May 2019 - Part 2

Athletic Squad in Order of Most Apps

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We had Joint Top Goalscorers with both Llorente and Griezmann netting 20 goals

34 Year Old Llorente netted 20 goals in just 27 starts

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Record Signing Griezmann manage to net 20 goals too despite only joining in January.

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Best Player - Captain Raul Garcia - Like a fine wine hes got better with age, at 32 years of age he still managed 18 goals and 10 assists along with 13 Man of the Matches

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Breakthrough Player of the Year - Andoni Ruiz- the recently turned 19 year old has made 30 appearances for the club this season and is likely to push Elustondo out of the side next season and partner Laporte.

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I Win Manager of the Year

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6 Athletic Players make the Team of the Year with Griezmann just making the bench

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Herrera and Elustondo both join the Best Eleven Ever

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Best Eleven Ever
( 4 Seasons)

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Old man Llorente's goals to games ratio is brilliant at nearly a goal every other game

End of Season Awards see Oscar De Marcos win the Fans Player of the Year whilst 24 year old Inaki Williams some how wins Young Player of the Year

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Season Review shows that we didnt have the best time in Cup Competitions but there was definitely progress, whilst our stadium averaged nearly being at full capacity every home game.

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After 2 seasons with Barcelona Jurgen Klopp gets the Chop

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Holland Squad Announced for International League Semi Final

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I hope our second team spending nearly £13Million on a new stadium doesn't affect my budget too much? Not sure if we would share finances?

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The board are happy to do that but wont increase our capacity despite having nearly 50,000 season ticket holders for a 60,000 seater stadium.


​
 
Nice job winning the league Griezmann certainly paid off. Can't believe the board on the stadium although I think it is a new one so that could be it but, never seen a B team get a new stadium
 
ninjaskill said:
Nice job winning the league Griezmann certainly paid off. Can't believe the board on the stadium although I think it is a new one so that could be it but, never seen a B team get a new stadium
Click to expand...
I know i thought orginally something was being done about our stadium but unfortunately they wont do nothing for the first team
 
Athletic Bilbao

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June 2019

Business is about to pick up at Barcelona as former At Madrid Manager Diego Simeone takes charge

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Young Striker El Harouchi out of the squad through injury

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Luuk De Jong comes in to replace him

International League Semi Final
Holland 3 - Germany 4

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We usually come out on top in these highscoring games but it wasnt to be today with make believe Germany to strong for us

Another youth player with a small release clause wont talk to me about a new deal

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England Win the International League Final

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We will face Barcelona for Iturraspe's Testimonial

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Man Utd this time are the English club looking to steal one of my players

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Athletic Bilbao

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July 2019

There wasnt a lot to chose from in the transfer market but i did decide to bring in 19 year old central midfielder Sangalli

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Enrique Sangalli -CM

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Juan Jose opts to join Man City after his small release clause is activated

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With Sangalli coming in i decide to let 32 year old Benat leave and join St Etienne

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When you have a small squad, money to spend and just a few players to chose from i had to swallow my pride and pay a lot more for striker Christian Sanz than i lost him for a couple of years ago.

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Christian Sanz has matured a lot since leaving and is now probably my second choice striker behind Griezmann

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With Sanz coming in i allow 34 year old Llorente to join Fiorentina

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Susaeta also joins Fiorentina for a much better fee of £4.1Million, so allowing 3 of our most experienced players to leave for a couple of youngsters with high potential could possible end badly.

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So the new President has decided to not give us any money whilst also taking out a bank loan lovely

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Season Expectations are Champions League football and we probably with nudging the budget around have £15Million left to spend especially after getting rid of some of the high earners.

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Starting another coaching course for my Continental B Licence

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Iturraspe gets his Testimonial after 12 years and 350 games for the club

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