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News coming out of the north of Spain this evening is that Athletic Club de Bilbao have applied to return to the FFO structure next season.
The board at San Mames stadium has been hopeful of a return this past few seasons since they left 4 years ago, the club stepped away from the structure after a tribute season was managed by Bradwell due to the very sad and unexpected passing of their long term manager Dave Phillips, Bilbao finished in a reasonable 11th place in the league that final season and even though it was reasonable, the decision was made by all parties to leave the FFO structure, fast forward 9 seasons, Bilbao have decided with the new landscape and the ability to have an academy setup now is the right time to return.
For those that are not aware of the culture at Athletic Club its pretty simple, they operate under a very strict transfer policy, only players brought up or born in the Basque region (which covers the north of Spain and small portion of southern France) are eligible to wear the red and white of Los Leones, its their most important tradition, many would think they would struggle with this policy but its kept them in the top tiers of the football pyramid throughout their existence, Dave Phillips followed this tradition for his many years in charge of Bilbao and Bradwell adhered to the same in the tribute season that followed, Phillips operated extremely shrewdly in the market picking up slight improvements here and there but they managed to keep a sustainable mid table position throughout, Bradwell said at the time how swept up he became when he moved to the city, the culture and the passion being the main things that overwhelmed him early on, Bilbao finished 11th that season with Inaki Williams, Antoine Griezmann, and Oscar De Marcos being key players that season.
Phillips and Bradwell spoke so highly of the club on many occasions with Bradwell at the time there's 2 clubs where he left pieces of his heart, its well documented that one was FC Porto and the other is Athletic Club and Bradwell maybe tempted to swat away thoughts of retirement to the latter to Bilbao and the Basque Country should the board look to the last man they had in charge when they were last in the FFO structure.
The noisy neighbours down the road in San Sebastian, Real Sociedad are already in the league structure and Bilbao will be hoping this could help their case to add another mouth watering EFL tie to the calendar.
This decision obviously firmly lies with the FFO FA who have been mulling over a decision on the application, we can probably expect an answer soon but no one around Bilbao are of any certainty the answer will be a positive one, however if it is a positive response, Los Leones will be hoping they can get there former steward to return to the helm.
The board at San Mames stadium has been hopeful of a return this past few seasons since they left 4 years ago, the club stepped away from the structure after a tribute season was managed by Bradwell due to the very sad and unexpected passing of their long term manager Dave Phillips, Bilbao finished in a reasonable 11th place in the league that final season and even though it was reasonable, the decision was made by all parties to leave the FFO structure, fast forward 9 seasons, Bilbao have decided with the new landscape and the ability to have an academy setup now is the right time to return.
For those that are not aware of the culture at Athletic Club its pretty simple, they operate under a very strict transfer policy, only players brought up or born in the Basque region (which covers the north of Spain and small portion of southern France) are eligible to wear the red and white of Los Leones, its their most important tradition, many would think they would struggle with this policy but its kept them in the top tiers of the football pyramid throughout their existence, Dave Phillips followed this tradition for his many years in charge of Bilbao and Bradwell adhered to the same in the tribute season that followed, Phillips operated extremely shrewdly in the market picking up slight improvements here and there but they managed to keep a sustainable mid table position throughout, Bradwell said at the time how swept up he became when he moved to the city, the culture and the passion being the main things that overwhelmed him early on, Bilbao finished 11th that season with Inaki Williams, Antoine Griezmann, and Oscar De Marcos being key players that season.
Phillips and Bradwell spoke so highly of the club on many occasions with Bradwell at the time there's 2 clubs where he left pieces of his heart, its well documented that one was FC Porto and the other is Athletic Club and Bradwell maybe tempted to swat away thoughts of retirement to the latter to Bilbao and the Basque Country should the board look to the last man they had in charge when they were last in the FFO structure.
The noisy neighbours down the road in San Sebastian, Real Sociedad are already in the league structure and Bilbao will be hoping this could help their case to add another mouth watering EFL tie to the calendar.
This decision obviously firmly lies with the FFO FA who have been mulling over a decision on the application, we can probably expect an answer soon but no one around Bilbao are of any certainty the answer will be a positive one, however if it is a positive response, Los Leones will be hoping they can get there former steward to return to the helm.
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