Marca: Athletic Club’s crisis remains unresolved, expected meeting with players has still not taken place

The internal tensions at Athletic Club continue to escalate. The club is currently experiencing a particularly unusual crisis, triggered by the cancellation of the complimentary ticket policy, but behind this there are also other long-standing disagreements between players and the club’s management.

“Over the past four years, some things have gradually accumulated and affected club employees as well as the women’s team players. The issue is not only about tickets, but also other matters that we hope we can sit down, discuss and resolve.” One of the team captains, Unai Simón, said after the previous match against Celta.

In the previous match against Barcelona, the players chose to express their dissatisfaction with the club’s current situation through their actions. The match was played at Camp Nou, and after the game the players did not speak to the media, while also suspending the scheduled post-match press conference and waiting for the club president to meet with them.

“Hopefully in the coming days, we can all be happy.” The team’s first captain, Iñaki Williams, added afterwards.

However, as of now, the expected meeting with the first-team players has still not taken place. The club president has also made very limited appearances at the Lezama training ground. As with several previous away matches, he did not travel with the team to Barcelona or Vigo.

With the match against Atlético Madrid approaching, it may become even more difficult to arrange this meeting in the near future.

The impact of the complimentary ticket issue on club employees and former players has been more direct. Previously, these people could obtain a certain number of tickets through Athletic Club’s veterans association. The association is made up of former players who represented the club, frequently participate in activities organized by the club’s foundation, and also represent the club’s image to some extent.

However, recent protests over the complimentary ticket issue have not produced any practical results. The club has sent formal letters to the relevant people explaining the reasons for ending this preferential ticket policy. Based on the current situation, these complimentary tickets do not appear likely to return.

At the same time, the club’s former presidents have also become involved in the dispute. According to past practice, they also had a certain number of complimentary ticket allocations, but this benefit has now been removed as well.

Among the eight former presidents who are still alive, six of them had dinner together on Thursday. For those attending, this was actually an activity they often carried out in the past. However, the focus of this gathering was clearly more serious this time: with the club currently facing difficulties, what role should the former presidents play, and to what extent has the club’s traditional institutional operation been affected.

The former presidents remain cautious about the situation because, as former president José María Arrate said, “the different levels within the club have created the situation we have today.”

Shortly before they went to the Carlton Hotel for their meeting, the former presidents also received a formal letter from Ibaigane. The letter offered them lifetime seats in the box area.

Former president Arrate was the only person willing to speak to the media and make public comments after the dinner, although he was unwilling to confirm the aforementioned arrangement.