San Sebastian is a small town of 200.000, we're a humble, yet historical club. Bilbao instead is the 4th city of Spain. They get the fame of playing with "only Basques" and they say of theirselves that they're a youth system team, but what they do it to plunder around and buy, not work with the players.
They grab with bad methods players of Osasuna, Real Sociedad, Santender and Logroñes realms, and then they present them to the world as of their own.
Real Sociedad instead works the youth system and signs foreigners where the youth system lads cannot reach, for instance in the early nineties we signed up Aldo as our local striker was not good enough.
So I can't stand them, most of their best players like Etxeberria or Urzaiz, come from RS or Osasuna, they haven't worked with them, they're arrogant bunch, and they use all kind of tricks to sign them up.
They're as arrogant as this, there was a thread in last summer in which they were totally convinced Xabi Alonso was willing to leave Liverpool to join Bilbao
. Their youth system hasn't made players like Arteta, or Xabi Alonso for ages.But the crowds get along well, there's not violence and we go to the stadium together drinking, despite we want each other to lose every game, it's quite special the relationship. I get alongwell with Bilbao fans, but I hate their club, mostly, because they try to pick the players that we've worked with tempting them with money, and that's frustrating because it's the work of many years.
We don't mind a player going to Bilbao at the correct price. For instance Liverpool came, talked to the club, reached an agreement for Alonso, and that's ok. Bilbao instead, when it's two years or one year to end the contract, press secretly the player in order he doesn't re-sign, and rarely they succeed like with Etxeberria. I think it's a sign of knighthood to talk to the club and negotiate, not to press the players offering higher wages so that they not renew the contract.
maybe next year
