Project Bilbao

Johno - thanks mate but it didn't stay that way!

K3V0 - thanks mate, I'd like to make that spot my own until we're ready to really challenge them. Could be hard with the inevitable cycle of my key players going to top teams

sanka - it is mate. Apologies for the lack of updates, real world work hit me hard this past week or so! I should be updating by the weekend at latest

Thanks again to all for reading

And so I return! Apologies for the delays with this, the real world caught me up a little and my play time dipped somewhat. I would think that I should be able to at least finish season two over the next week or so
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September 2014

As I did mention in my last actual update, September was always going to be hard, starting at Madrid which isn't the best place to start. We then carried our poorness into the Champions League game at Benfica and Malaga, where we scraped a draw. Our only home game of the month saw us put away a very poor Espanyol and that was followed with a ridiculous draw with Almeria where we threw the lead away FOUR times.

Hands up if you know what we'll be working on in training.... DEFENDIIIIIING!

October 2014

So our month of away games (-1) was followed by 4 home games and 4 home wins, starting with a surprisingly potent performance against a very strong Leverkusen side. We then dispatched La Liga new boys Cordoba with little trouble and then and early goal from our newly appointed centre forward Iker took us past Getafe. Iker struck early again, grabbing the first of his 3 against Shakhtar in the 2nd minute in a great 4-2 win which I think will sit us well to qualify from the group. As we went back on the road we lost a big local game against Osasuna and grabbed a draw at Granada who are continuing to impress in the league.

We currently top our Champions League group, needing just 4 points to qualify with 3 games remaining and in La Liga we're lingering down in 6th, way behind what I wanted (the minimum being a repeat of 2013-14) and the media prediction of 4th. I don't see much point in posting a table yet/I forgot to take a screenshot

Other News

Not really anyone to spend it on and so as before, this is likely to go on wages and keeping the players we have! The work on the training and youth facilities was also completed, bringing everything up to 'Excellent'

Your home form seems to be really good but the away games are letting you down

Echo what Tommo said! Your home form is great them 4 wins in a row but alot of draws/losses away! But good too see this back and you are still doing really well

Tommo. - yeah that continues to a be a problem! Thanks for reading

George - thanks mate, it's been hard to stick to it, given this form:
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Well. Away form continued to be a problem for us, our home form is seemingly fine an the defence continue to play when they fancy. The fact that we had 3 league defeats in a row (all away) meant I was called in to the boardroom to beg for my future after the Sociedad defeat...where we were shocking by the way!

Progressing in the cup and the Champions League is great, although the reward of time against Sevilla and Chelsea make me wonder if it was actually worth it at all. Finding it harder and harder to motivate myself to play this, the lacking of a quick fix like other saves (signing a player to save the day) really does hinder you here, I didn't think I relied on it too much! I'd quite like the chance to try a new tactic, but with the pressure as it is I might not have move to manouvre.





And thus I endeavour

Let's hope normal service resumes

Tough season so far! Great at home not so away! But I am enjoying it and your not to far off 4th! Hopefully the signing of Arteta can give you a boost!

George - Cheers again for reading, unfortunately 4th was too far away, but we did manage something...
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Our form really picked up in the league at the turn of the year, one of my highlights being that we managed a few away wins which is pleasing considering our start to the season on the road. A fantastic win over Barca, our first win in the league against either of the big two was nice to get and kick-start our run of 5 wins to close the season, including paying Sociedad back for our earlier embarrassment. Aduriz signed off ahead of retirement with the 2 goals in his last game for the club. That leaves the league as so:


Sixth isn't the worst but also isn't the best, it is however below our expectations and really our capabilities which makes the following a little unsettling:

Europe

Not much to talk about really. The first leg gave us hope, second leg humbled us and batted us back down to earth.

Okay, so there's more good news than the above

Copa Del Rey 2015

Absolutely buzzing. I did say that I'd want to bring trophies to Bilbao and so hopefully this is the start of many. Given the way the season started, I really am surprised to still be managing the team, nevermind talking about the silverware we just brought home.


In true Bilbao style, we only managed one away win in this tournament and that was against lower league opposition. In the other away games we played, thankfully, we scored goals! The away goals rule isn't my favourite, particularly in domestic competitions but to be honest this year I LOVE IT as it helped us on our way past Sevilla and Real aswell as giving us a nice cushion against Atleticó.

Hopefully this keeps Guus out and Laverick IN!

Just realised that we actually accrued 2 points MORE this season and finished 3 places lower. Progress!

Not bad season and great to see you beat Barcelona in the final

Definitely going to start new save with Bilbao

Johno - Thanks mate, I was very happy to win a trophy so early in the save, has made it a little more interesting going forward. Glad to see I've inspired you to start a save
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Good news to start the summer, I keep my job and my gaffer stays in place too. He's demanding a top 4 finish which will be hard to achieve, especially with the addition of the Europa League to our busy schedule. Defending the Copa del Rey will not be a priority



Interest in these two has been high once again. The bidding for Muniain is wanted by PSG and so I've ensured that both of these guys have hefty release clauses of £60m as the bidding was getting really close to the current clauses of £42m and £46m respectively.


Long server (in 2 spells) Aduriz has retired as I mentioned in my last update and he has moved into the coaching department to work with the U19's.



Another of the improbables has joined! For some reason Barca let Martinez return to the Basque Country on the cheap, although his wages mean I can't really classify him as a bargain! He walks into the starting 11 alongside Laporte and instantly becomes our best centre half, according to my assistant anyways.

I will update preseason and any further transfers (of which there are so far none) in due course.

Good to see you managed to keep hold of Iker and Herrera.

Amazing why Barca letting him go on cheap! Screenshot of his stats?

I'm about to finish off my pre season and will post up my own thread soon

Johno - Here you go mate!

Back to the routine from season 1, lots of games thick and fast to replicate the busy season ahead but against poor opposition to get a bit of morale going! Our away friendlies took us to Mexico, Brazil and... Northern Ireland with teams from France, Portugal, Argentina and a Spanish team in Zaragoza coming to visit us. This didn't happen for any real reason, they were simply just the teams that came up on those dates!

As you can see from the results we scored plenty of goals, 47 (according to my maths) to be precise conceding just the 3, which hopefully means Martinez is having an effect, but probably means they weren't tested enough.

The San Lorenzo game by the way, was very pleasing as we were 2 down very early on and managed to turn the game around into a bit of a rout!

The season begins with Atleticó Madrid and then a game against their rivals Real in the first leg of the Supercopa.

Aurrera eta gorantz!!

Eek, I was trying to sign Martinez for years but never managed to sign him! You have a right gem on your hands.

A "trip" to Aghadowey for a pre season game is fucking random.

Not bad pre season. It's a tad shame you didn't play one of the big clubs to test yourselves against them.

Good luck against Atleticó Madrid

Sears - I know mate, when he signed for Barca I feared we'd lost him until his 30's, very happy with the capture

Shedender - I know as I said, I had no idea who they were when I selected it etc but with 8 goals I'm sure those that made the journey were happy

Johno - Thanks mate, the past 2 years I've played Arsenal in preseason as my tester but for some reason it they weren't available, neither were any team of note for that matter, lets hope it doesn't cost me!

Cheers all, will be updating this again soon

Some of the players you've got now are looking good KEZ! Be good to see you compete higher up this year! Well done on the cup win though!

So are you "cheating" and signing non-Basque 16-year-olds like most people with Athletic saves do or are you doing it the proper way?

And what on earth were Barca thinking letting Martinez go that cheaply?!?

Dan - I'd like to compete further up too, would be nice to get some consistency going and start to make it hard for the top 3/4 teams in the league, as now I know we can beat them I want to do it more often! Thanks for reading, as ever

Franck - I must admit, I have bid for a few non-basque 16 year olds and they simply haven't come to me! All of my youth signings so far have been Basque and so at the minute I'm sticking to that rule. However, I don't necessarily class that as cheating as I believe Bilbao can do that in real life

I believe they also do it as well irl. I don't think it's cheating at all tbh.

Great work mate! Fantastic copa del rey win and Martinez is a brilliant signing

Really enjoying this, the Martinez signing is a right coup!

doing well Kez and Martinez is a great signing keep it up

Well, I've dusted this save off having been re-inspired by Johno's ridiculous successes with Bilbao, a story that this story actually inspired. You'll notice that I'm nowhere near achieving the feats he has but I will plow on

George, Chewy and Jamie; a heavily delayed thank you for your comments
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Keeping it brief, we've had a hit and miss period to start the 2015-16 season and the new charge to regain a spot in that top 3...I can't see it happening. We started strongly with a win against Atleticó but then we were truly embarrassed against Real in the Super Copa and against Barca in the league. Starting to realise that there are a few teams that I really need to start editing my team for, I'm still trying to make a 'one size fits all' tactic which in reality, is probably an impossibility. Our away form still seems to dog us a bit too, excluding stealing a surprise 3-2 win at Villallalallalaalalalareal we haven't picked up any league points away from San Memés.

In the Europa League, 2 early group stage wins have set us up quite nicely to push on and drive for the Semi Final appearance that the board are expecting

ona da itzuli izan da

Good wins in Europa League

Good to see you're back Kez

Some decent results there, buddy! Glad to see you're back!

Wow, some shocking form mate, hopefully it picks up soon