Athletic presents an Action Plan that will not be left behind

Athletic in San Mamés presented today an Action Plan for the next three years, the duration of the mandate of the current Board of Directors led by Jon Uriarte. Accompanying the president in the event open to the media was the director general, Jon Berasategiand the director of football, Mikel Gonzalez.

Ibaigane made a diagnosis of the situation the entity was going through in a context of growing difficulties. There is a concentration of income in some teams at the European level, there are big clubs with international investors from the Middle East, the United States or Asia and the competition from the Premier is greater every day. This League has doubled its income in the last ten years and multiplied by 2.4 the expenditure on transfers (824 million, 51% of the total) that it did last year in the winter market, while the other competitions decreased. More than half of what was invested in players was from England.

All this is detrimental to the entity, as is the distribution of cake on television. The lowest clubs grew in the heat of this profit and therefore reduced the economic distance that once separated them from the most powerful, including Athletic. This can be seen in neighboring teams such as Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Alavés or Eibar and also in competitors for Europe such as Atlético, Betis or Villarreal.

The CVC investment fund agreement, in which all First and Second clubs join except Athletic, Barça or Real Madrid, mortgages the future, but in the short term it means an important input of resources to sign to football players. Added to this is the fact that the first team has not qualified to play continental competition in the last five seasons and has not won any titles, except for two Super Cups.

The reflection made from Ibaigane is clear. Need to act and wake up. In this context, Athletic has created an Action Plan called ‘AC Aurrera’ which aims to “carry out deep changes that will allow us to build the Athletic of the future”, says the dossier delivered to the press. “If we want to repeat the image of the barge, we need to act, we cannot stand still.” Those responsible do not want to advance its cost.

The economic analysis is based on good financial health, the best with Real Madrid, without debt, with liquidity of 89 million, assets of 103 and a provision of 60, but with repeated deficits every season which is 30 million adding amortizations for the purchase of players. There is an imbalance between income and expenses of sports personnel, which represent 80% of total income and the market makes it difficult to attract and retain talent.

This study considers that Lezama has areas to develop and the women’s group also has a wide margin for improvement and the opportunity to have more income to alleviate its current shortage. The club is very satisfied with the performance offered by the cheerleaders in support of the men’s first team, but considers it necessary to act in other areas with the aim of winning titles again and playing on a recurring basis for the old continent, both regarding the masculine as well as the feminine.

Ibaigane also wants to continue being a world reference at the academy level and be a priority option for all players in Euskal Herria. At the economic level, the goal is to achieve a sustainable model in the long term by controlling spending, but placing special emphasis on increasing revenue, maximizing existing business models “and promoting new”, all without rejecting the philosophy and values ​​that have guided the 125 years of history that will surely take place in 2023.

The Action Plan is presented on four axes. The first has to do with sports success. To do this, the number of scouts increased from 11 to 22 and the number of reports of footballers who entered the philosophy increased from 0 to 1,050. 100% of the agreed clubs were renewed and an agreement was reached with four new ones outside of Bizkaia.

The club has increased the contracts of full-time coaches, hired six psychologists and will try to get its youth players to spend more time at Lezama as long as it is compatible with academic studies. For this, they made an agreement with the universities. The club is considering having Basconia train in the morning as Bilbao Athletic already does, but it will not force players under the age of 18 to go to the rojiblancas’ facilities in the morning, something that could harm their academic performance. The Action Plan also highlights the influx in San Mamés, an 81% average occupancy, which is 10% more than the average for the five years before the pandemic.

The search for international sponsorships is another of the goals and the club also highlights the 4.7 million achieved in commercial income and the initiatives to generate more resources such as the launch of the AC Football Center or the goal of -host stages for European clubs that can generate resources.

The Board of Jon Uriarte has committed to follow up on this Action Plan every six months. “If we do nothing, we risk falling into mediocrity and losing leadership. Carrying out this plan boldly will increase the chances of continuing to be a champion team, be among the greats and maintain our unique model”, the document concluded.