Klippybo

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Kris Stuart Arrives In Bilbao
I arrive in Bilbao after Marcelo Bielsa quit due to him insisting that Athletic change their recruiting policy of only signing Basque players. I take the job and see that the club as several young talented players and are also due to move into a new stadium in a few years. Will the players take to an unknown Scot who doesn't speak the language? Will I be able to break the stranglehold of the two giants in Spain? Lets hope so....


Pre-Season
To find favour amongst the supporters I bring in club icons Joseba Etxeberria, Julen Guerrero and Ismael Urzaiz to help me out. I also bring in Santi Denia to assist me. Player wise I single out Cesar Azpilicueta, Natxo Monreal and Stephane Ruffier as long term transfer targets and am going for youth in this window.

Players In
Alvaro Vadillo (£8m from Real Betis)
Benat (£4m from Real Betis)
Saul (£1.4m from Atletico Madrid)
Alex Serrano (£1.3m from Sporting)
Jorge Espericueta (£1.2m from Tigres)
Alejandro Roy (£900k from Zaragoza)
Alberto Ruiz (£900k from Malaga)

The board agreed to give me some extra cash so I was delighted to get Vadillo. I also found a gem in Espericueta who is Mexican but has Basque nationality. Leaving the club was Aiter Ocio and Koikili.


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looks good. It defiantly will be hard with Bilbao with only being able to basque but should be good to watch to see what happens
 
August - September
Was going to do a 3 month update but have so many fixtures in October I will do a 2 monthly one for now

August

A solid start after negotiating my way through a tricky Europa League tie I got rewarded with an easy group. Good to see Llorente scoring. With me playing with just one up front I need him to perform.

Europa League Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Sochaux
Llorente, Susaeta


Europa League Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
Sochaux 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain, Llorente

Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Rayo Vallecano
De Marcos, Llorente, Movilla (og)

Europa League Draw
Braga
ATHLETIC BILBAO
BATE Borisov
Karpaty Lviv

Player of the Month
FERNANDO LLORENTE

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September

An excellent month with plenty of goals. Fantastic results away to Malaga and Braga and for some reason my centre half Mikel San Jose wants to outshine my lone striker Fernando Llorente (albeit being helped that he is my penalty taker)!

Espanyol 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
De Marcos, Muniain

Europa League Group B
Braga 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Herrera, Muniain 3

Athletic Bilbao 5-0 Real Betis
Llorente 3(1pen), Susaeta, San Jose

Malaga 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
San Jose 2, De Marcos, Susaeta

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Villarreal
San Jose 2 (2pens), Llorente

Europa League Group B
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Karpaty Lviv
Llorente, Vadillo, Benat

View attachment 231753

Player of the Month
MIKEL SAN JOSE
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(that is not me beside him i should point out!)
 
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Yeah my laptop is playing up a bit but will try and make it look nicer.
 

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October

Overall a mixed month. Losing the derby to two late goals against Sociedad was tough to take but bounced back with 3 straight league wins including a 4-2 win away to struggling Valencia. An under strength side struggled against lowly Alaves in the cup.

With about a quarter of the season gone Barcelona and Real Madrid have won every game. Real Madrid even won one match 10-0! Sevilla won their first 7 games before getting thrashed 6-0 by Barcelona. Bilbao are 4th and have already opened up a 6pt gap ahead of 5th place side Atletico Madrid.

I don't know what San Jose is on - scoring a hat-trick without any penalties and I don't have a special corner tactic set either!

(Internationally Scotland somehow beat Spain 1-0)


Real Sociedad 3-2 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta, Iturraspe

Athletic Bilbao 5-0 Osasuna
Muniain, San Jose 3, Herrera

Europa League Group B
Athletic Bilbao 5-1 BATE Borisov
Llorente, Herrera, Muniain, Toquero, Ekiza

Valencia 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain 2, Benat, Llorente

Copa Del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg
Alaves 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
Toquero

Sporting Gijon 0-2 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta, Llorente


Player of the Month
IKER MUNIAIN
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View attachment 231779
 
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November
  • Rafa Benitez returns to Valencia
  • Bilbao Ath. sack manager Ziganda
  • Bielsa takes charge of Hercules
  • Sevilla hammer Racing Santander 7-0
  • Iker Muniain out for over a month
Good month! Comfortable wins in Europe and in the domestic cup plus a game in which we played Barcelona off the park inflicting their first defeat of the season. Unfortunately losing to Sevilla put us further behind them. Indiscipline reigned as we went down to ten men 3 times this month.


Europa League Group B
BATE Borisov 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
David Lopez, Ekiza, De Marcos



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Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Barcelona
Amorebieta, Herrera, Susaeta

Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Alaves
Ruiz de Galarreta, Toquero, Gurpegi, Iturraspe

Sevilla 3-1 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Atletico Madrid
Susaeta, Ekiza, Llorente (pen)

Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Granada
Susaeta, Llorente, David Lopez

Europa League Group B
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Braga
Ekiza, Benat


Player of the Month
MARKEL SUSAETA
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your tactic is Raikan's AMC?

Don't know! Lol. If it is it is 100% coincidental - not that I would be ashamed of using someone elses tactic! When I first got fm 12 I went my beloved Newcastle and played the same formation but with 2 defensive midfielders (Cabaye/Tiote) and then after a season or two I pushed the CM's further up. I have just stuck with it since as it seems to work.
 
ABOUT TO START A NIGHTSHIFT AT WORK SO WILL HAVE A BIG UPDATE AFTER THIS ONE

December



  • Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
  • Barcelona win Club World Cup
Another very good month. Lots of goals scored and the only disappointment being my backup side losing away in the Ukraine. Having topped the group I draw German side Hannover in the next round of the Europa League.

Mallorca 0-4 Athletic Bilbao

Amorebieta, Llorente, Herrera, San Jose (pen)

Athletic Bilbao 4-3 Racing Santander
Mainz (og), Llorente, San Jose 2(1pen)

Europa League Group B
Karpaty Lviv 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Toquero

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Real Zaragoza
Muniain 3(1pen)

Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Espanyol
Susaeta

Player of the Month
BENAT
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/imgres?img...=21&hl=en&safe=vss&sa=N&gbv=2&tbm=isch&itbs=1
 
Good story mate, I have always admired Bilbao the way the club is run and the way they play :p

Just one question though, has no club tried to buy Iker Muniain or Javi Martinez?
 
Good story mate, I have always admired Bilbao the way the club is run and the way they play :p

Just one question though, has no club tried to buy Iker Muniain or Javi Martinez?

No thankfully! Did a few months last night so will post it soon. When I do a nightshift at work there is not much to do so basically I get paid to play FM! lol
 
No thankfully! Did a few months last night so will post it soon. When I do a nightshift at work there is not much to do so basically I get paid to play FM! lol

Lucky bugga :O

Quite suprising, maybe teams will come in when they are a bit older, or at the end of the season, who knows. Two top quality players though, look forward to the update. :)
 
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January
  • Barcelona crash out of cup
  • Real Madrid maintain 100% record
  • Real Union reach Copa del Rey semis!
  • Athletic smash transfer record to bring in Azpilicueta
  • Debuchy joins Sevilla for £16m
  • Valencia still in bottom 3
Having ajusted my season expectations I was given £12m to spend and promptly splashed out £11m on Cesar Azpilicueta. Pondered about putting it through in the summer but then Iraola got injured so pushed it through now. Rejected bids for Vadillo from Real Madrid, Susaeta from Sevilla and Iraola from Valencia. Leaving the club was Zubiaurre on a free

On the pitch we progressed to the cup semi-finals to face Real Madrid by knocking out our rivals Real Sociedad in the quarters but we couldn't dent Real Madrids 100% league record.

Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg
Espanyol 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, Benat

Getafe 0-4 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, Susaeta 2, Vadillo

Copa del Rey QF 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Sociedad
Llorente

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Levante
Amorebieta, San Jose

Copa del Rey QF 2nd Leg
Real Sociedad 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain, Susaeta



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x2

Real Madrid 3-2 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, San Jose (pen)

Copa del Rey SF 1st Leg
Real Madrid 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Vadillo

Rayo Vallecano 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta, Herrera, Llorente
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MARKEL SUSAETA


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February
  • Villas-Boas takes over at Malaga
  • Real Madrid finally lose 100% record
  • Real Madrid to play Granada in cup final
  • Herrera, San Jose and Azpilicueta win 1st Spanish Caps
Progressed in the Europa League comfortably but face Tottenham next which will be tough. Out of the Spanish Cup though after a thrilling 4-4 draw against Real Madrid. I had a goal disallowed which would have won it for me at the end! A small piece of revenge was had however when we drew with Real Madrid in the league to end their 100% record. Lots of players getting international recognition but why not Muniain?

Copa del Rey SF 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao 4-4 Real Madrid
Herrera, Casillas (og), Muniain, Toquero

Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Espanyol
Amorebieta, Muniain, Benat

Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid
Llorente

Real Betis 0-4 Athletic Bilbao
San Jose, Muniain, Llorente, Herrera

Europa League 1st Round 1st Leg
Hannover 2-4 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente 2, Amorebieta, Muniain

Athletic Bilbao 4-2 Malaga
San Jose, Muniain 2, Llorente

Europa League 1st Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Hannover
Gurpegi, Toquero, David Lopez

Villarreal 3-3 Athletic Bilbao
Amorebieta, San Jose (pen), Muniain
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
IKER MUNIAIN


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Do you think you could post the league table in your update? Helps if we actually know how well you're doing.
 
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March
  • Real Madrid finally lose
  • Clubs announce intake of new youth players
  • Valencia climbing out of trouble
A disappointing month really. The good was a derby win and knocking out Tottenham in the Europa League and have one foot in the semis after a good win over PSV. The bad was a humiliating 2-1 defeat to bottom side Osasuna who were down to 9 men. There was also a defeat against Atletico Madrid when we had a goal disallowed when we were 2-1 up.

At the end of the month I obtained Aitor Herrera - a 15 year old young player going straight into the first team squad. Cant keep smiling over him!
View attachment 232025

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Real Sociedad
Muniain, Llorente

Europa League 2nd Round 1st Leg
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Athletic Bilbao

Osasuna 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente

Europa League 2nd Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Muniain, Benat, Susaeta

Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Valencia
Javi Martinez, Iturraspe

Atletico Madrid 4-2 Athletic Bilbao
San Jose, Benat

Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Sporting Gijon
Vadillo, Amorebieta

Europa League QF 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-1 PSV Eindhoven
Llorente 3
View attachment 232026
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
GORKA IRAIZOZ
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(dont get many clean sheets so well deserved)
 
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April
  • Athletic Bilbao/Valencia book European final slots
  • Athletic Bilbao qualify for Champions League
  • Real Madrid clinch title
  • Rayo Vallecano go down
  • 15 y/o Aitor Herrera breaks records
  • Bilbao u19s win title

Tough month. Constantly having to rest players but we keep getting results. Javi Martinez is out for the rest of the season so I have thrown 15 year old Aitor Herrera straight in. Off the field Barcelona poached 2 of my coaches off me and Cesar Azpilicueta was unhappy with my team talk in the Granada game. Add to that that Toquero and Raul Fernandez wants to leave means we aren't a happy camp at the moment!

Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao

Europa League QF 2nd Leg
PSV Eindhoven 1-2 Athletic Bilbao
Herrera, Susaeta

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Sevilla
Llorente 2

Granada 3-3 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain 2, Llorente

Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Mallorca
Llorente

Europa League SF 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Benfica
Llorente 3(1pen)

Racing Santander 2-3 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente 2, Aitor Herrera

Europa League SF 2nd Leg
Benfica 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente

Real Zaragoza 1-4 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain 2, Llorente 2

View attachment 232107
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
FERNANDO LLORENTE

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