MaVilla Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 (edited) Just saw this video about Athletic Bilbao, thought it was a really interesting video. Could you imagine having a policy of "only Birmingham and surrounds" players in the first team? (would peobably need to be a wider area for a similar effect, like......"West/East mids players only".......? Basque Country (area?), has roughly 2.2m population. They must have an amazing youth setup/development to keep these policies working. Amazingly they have spent only 94m on players in ten years, and made 210m from player sales, they finished 7th last season in La Liga, and are one of only 3 Spanish teams never to be relegated. Edited July 7, 2019 by MaVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 While it's a great achievement that they haven't been relegated with that policy, I can't really help but feel it's a negative stance for a club to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 Just now, kurtsimonw said: While it's a great achievement that they haven't been relegated with that policy, I can't really help but feel it's a negative stance for a club to have. well, its their choice, so i suppose they dont feel that way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 (edited) Think it was them or Barca that was the last team to have a sponsor in la liga They're also the 3rd most successful Spanish team of all time (albeit that success was a long time ago) I like them standing by it*, they've made it more flexible (think they signed a kid from eastern Europe last season) and they use the traditional Basque region, so parts of southern France too (I guess that's why laporte was there, I seem to remember lizarazu being eligible too) they also compete with sociedad in the region who have brought through some good youngsters over the years Was looking at their team in the week because of ander Herrera, think they do have some players who maybe stay there too long and then disappear, iker munian from that team, where's the buzz gone from inaki Williams? They're a brilliant FM challenge *It's almost got to be the stage now where if they scrapped it they won't compete with Madrid and Barca anyway so why scrap it? Edited July 7, 2019 by villa4europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 3 hours ago, MaVilla said: well, its their choice, so i suppose they dont feel that way? How many players from Birmingham have gone on to be brilliant in the premier league over the last few years? If we adopted this policy we would still be in championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 1 minute ago, Demitri_C said: How many players from Birmingham have gone on to be brilliant in the premier league over the last few years? If we adopted this policy we would still be in championship. didnt say we could replicate it, just sayin its interesting what Athletic do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 2 minutes ago, MaVilla said: didnt say we could replicate it, just sayin its interesting what Athletic do. Yeah j know you didn't I was just talking generally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 It's not just the city, it's the region and they can sign any player who has come through the youth ranks in the region via another club They can sign griezmann because of coming though at sociedad, they did have laporte (who supposedly got placed at a youth team in the French Basque region by bilbao making him eligible) The mad thing for me is they don't allow a grandparent rule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 not sure who they all are but there were 41 players born in the midlands playing in the PL last season and that doesn't then take in to account players who have come through midlands academies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Was in stadium recently and **** amazing how they have survived this long. Good to see a football club sticking to morals As said in other thread, 1st game they ever wore Basque flag in the San Mames stadium was vs Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Went to the UEFA game in Bilbao and it ranks amongst the best experiences I’ve had following Villa. Despite all the political issues surrounding them, we couldn’t have had a warmer welcome. We went to Madrid later in the competition and their fans and police were awful. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 They do have a big pull for Basques playing abroad or in other clubs in Spain. Raul Garcia was still a regular for Atletico Madrid and they signed him. Yuri had played a fair bit for Emery at PSG but they still managed to get him. They signed Inigo Martinez from Real Sociedad to replace Laporte mid season. This season they signed Ibai Gomez from Alaves when they were about 10 places higher in the league (Bilbao were in relegation zone at xmas). When they click their fingers basque players generally come running back so little different to La Real, Alaves or Eibar even if they're having better seasons. That said I do respect their policy and traditions lots and it's brilliant how competitive they remain given how football has evolved in last 20 years. They've played many times in europe last 20 years, I can't imagine any London club remaining as strong if they could only select players born within M25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, VillaChris said: They do have a big pull for Basques playing abroad or in other clubs in Spain. Raul Garcia was still a regular for Atletico Madrid and they signed him. Yuri had played a fair bit for Emery at PSG but they still managed to get him. They signed Inigo Martinez from Real Sociedad to replace Laporte mid season. This season they signed Ibai Gomez from Alaves when they were about 10 places higher in the league (Bilbao were in relegation zone at xmas). When they click their fingers basque players generally come running back so little different to La Real, Alaves or Eibar even if they're having better seasons. That said I do respect their policy and traditions lots and it's brilliant how competitive they remain given how football has evolved in last 20 years. They've played many times in europe last 20 years, I can't imagine any London club remaining as strong if they could only select players born within M25. Nice. Their youth development mist be insanely good considering their policies, if I were a manaher ibwould want to go and see how they develop their youth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Pretty boring to play on Football Manager thou. Pretty much the only player you could sign was Bixente Lizarazu who for some reason was really cheap to get from Bayern from what I remember. Might even been back in the Championship Manager days... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Just looking at Brummies we could put out reasonably decent attack for premier league if we did the rule: Front trio of Redmond-Sturridge-D. Gray with Jack as number 10. Struggling for defenders and a keeper though, Ashley Williams was born in Wolverhampton and he's the best I can come up with for CB. Thought Butland was midlands born but he comes from just outside Bristol. Shows how tough the policy is in the modern game and how well Bilbao do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Fwiw Real Sociedad have a no Spanish players policy, or used to at least. They can sign foreign players and managers, but not Spanish players who are not Basque. May have changed that now, not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 2 minutes ago, MaVilla said: Nice. Their youth development mist be insanely good considering their policies, if I were a manaher ibwould want to go and see how they develop their youth. I remember in the mid 90s they took Joseba Etxberria from Real Sociedad when he was just 18 and there was massive row about that. He played against us in 1997 and went on to have a very good career, played for Spain at a few tournaments. Other names people might remember from that time, Julen Guerrero and Ismail Uruzaiz, also played for Spain at major tournaments. There also have a club award that recognises long term servants of other clubs, Le Tissier and Maldini both received one in recent times. Surely Gabby is next on the list... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, sne said: Fwiw Real Sociedad have a no Spanish players policy, or used to at least. They can sign foreign players and managers, but not Spanish players who are not Basque. May have changed that now, not sure. Changed years ago with one of the Presidents, think they had a vote on it. Signed Portu the other day from Girona, he's from the South. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 7 minutes ago, sne said: Fwiw Real Sociedad have a no Spanish players policy, or used to at least. They can sign foreign players and managers, but not Spanish players who are not Basque. May have changed that now, not sure. They stopped that in 2003 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 37 minutes ago, Robbie09 said: Went to the UEFA game in Bilbao and it ranks amongst the best experiences I’ve had following Villa. Despite all the political issues surrounding them, we couldn’t have had a warmer welcome. We went to Madrid later in the competition and their fans and police were awful. pretty interesting to read how welcoming they were, i have read something somewhere else saying how welcoming the club/fans were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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