Jon Uriarte and its Board passed their second review before the partner delegates with flying colors. The Assembly held yesterday at the Euskalduna Palace approved by a large majority the three main points, the management of the previous fiscal year, the annual account for the 22-23 season and the budget for the current one. The first point was approved with a result of 389 favorable votes (71.12%), 140 against (25.59%) and 18 blank votes (3.29%). The board management led by the Bilbao businessman received support from 349 member representatives (55.31%), 252 expressed their disagreement (39.94%) and 30 voted blank (4.75%). .
The budget for the current campaign is 128.7 million in revenue and 133.6 in expenses with a negative operating result of 4.9 million. The conclave gave the OK with 324 votes in favor, 64.93%, 152 against (30.46%) and 23 blanks (4.61%). For the second consecutive year, the current Board, elected on June 24, 2022 in the elections held in San Mamés, received the endorsement of the social mass.
In his opening speech, Jon Uriarte made a general assessment of the situation in which Athletic finds itself. “We are optimistic, the results prove that the path is right, but we are not in a good situation. We have to keep working, we still have a long way to go. We are a club focused on results. This is the way we manage Athletic. We know where we want to take Athletic and we know what to do. We will be first because we are united and we know the way. We have a plan in which we are very confident,” he said in front of partner representatives.
In the economic section, the Athletic president emphasized that they improved the budget for the 2023-24 season by more than 12 million compared to the previous one, in addition to reducing the deficit by 16 million. “The road is very long, we have not reached anything. Many challenges remain. We strive to have the best results in sports, to grow as a club with top level professionals. The economic balance is to achieve the best results in sports and to have the best youth team,” he added.
The Bilbao businessman was also very concerned because they were called “The Big Data, Power Point board.” “One thing that alarms me is how they try to mock us by messing with technology, they call us the Big Data board. I’m worried. In any sector, science, data and technology are important. If you don’t do this you’re sure to die. “I’m worried about mocking someone with it,” he said.
In his speech, Uriarte established some of his plans for the nearly three years remaining in his term. The first of them is to place Athletic as a unique reference in Euskal Herria. “We need to be the first to detect talent. We increased the scouting team from 11 to 12 people and created a specific team in Gipuzkoa, which did not exist. 32 footballers entered the Lezama structure. Another goal is to make Athletic the only club made in Euskal Herria, the perfect place for players to achieve elite football,” he said.
The Ibaigane entity increased by 50% the working hours of players from subsidiaries to Juvenil A and down by 25%, in addition to increasing the weekly hours of Lezama technicians by 60%, with a corresponding improvement of salary
Uriarte confirmed that Athletic has a shortage of fields in Lezama. In this sense, the goal is to develop more playing fields. The president added that they have achieved all the renewals of the first team proposed “except for Iñigo Martínez” and for this year they plan to complete all the contract extensions “under budgeted conditions”. “It’s a challenge,” he added. One of them, the most important, is Nico Williams.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
