Hello! or perhaps that should be Bonjour. I hope you enjoyed the Portuguese adventure with Wolves, but I’m back for a new challenge now. Where am I heading? Well, this is a twist on an old favourite, which you don’t want to miss, or you might find PC Danny Butterman coming up to you and saying…

Anyway, last Christmas, the blog squad bought each other football shirts for our annual secret Santa, and the challenge was to write a blog about the team who’s shirt we received, and Andrew (KingOfTheRooks) got me this beauty..

At the time, I was mid-way through my Wolves save, so I’ve had plenty of time to think about how to resurrect my original and favourite blog, Basque Boys. I could, of course, have carried on with Bilbao, but having won the lot, that wouldn’t have been much fun, would it?

And then it hit me… Basque Country isn’t just in Spain, but it extends into France as well, and the fact that I’ve not done a blog in France yet makes it an obvious next destination.

The scenario I’ve settled on is that the Athletic Club board of directors want to expand their franchise and set up a new club in France, so I present to you… Athletic Club Bayonne.

The City of Bayonne is the largest in the French Basque Country, and local rugby union club, Aviron Bayonnais, have agreed to a ground share of the Stade Jean-Dauger, which has a capacity of 14,370, so that will be our home.

When setting things up, I had to tinker with our reputation because I initially set it to zero, but literally no players were interested, so I kept upping it and found that 11 was enough to make a decent number of players want in.

Our following has been set at 6 and blend at 9, which are the averages for the French 2nd division, which is where we start at the expense of recently-promoted Wasquehal.

The other two leagues I’ve chosen to run are Spain (obviously) and Portugal because it borders Spain, which borders France, and the Athletic Club ethos is all about keeping it local.

The rules are as per the original Basque Boys – Only sign players who were either born in the Basque Country, or who came through the academy of a Basque club (Alaves, Eibar, Osasuna, Real Sociedad, and Athletic Bilbao).

I’ve been a lot more diligent with my player research this time, and after trawling through every Spanish and French player in the database, I have a list of 252 players who I can sign, compared to last time’s list of around 70.

I start with an empty squad, and the board have given me £5m to spend, which I’ll have to use wisely. I have exactly a month to assemble a squad for our first match against Louhans-Cuiseaux on 16th August, so let’s get recruiting.

Right after we learn our fate for the first round of the Coupe de France (me neither)…

Let the transfers commence… It’s only fair that we start with a Frenchman, and Francko looks ok considering the small pool I’m fishing in…

Iru looks like he could be a more than able deputy, or maybe a number one, who knows…

The Lizard. He’s not the quickest of wingbacks, but has stamina and can tackle, so he’ll do…

I’ve seen Xav on the free transfer list loads in past saves, but now it’s his chance to shine…

Interested left backs are few and far between, but below-average looking Dani Boy takes pity on us…

Flaco is the first man to cost me money, and looks worth every penny of the £5k Norwegian side Træff demanded. Rock me Amadeus…

Ribera was the pick of the bunch in terms of free centre backs. Age isn’t on his side, but he has good stats in all the right places…

Axier makes up the other half of my centre back pairing. He can tackle well enough, but hopefully he’ll leave the heading to Ribera…

This man needs no introduction. A Champions League winner with bags of experience, he’ll be my captain. His regen is a beast, and will be high on my wanted list when the time comes…

I don’t expect 34 year-old Bakero to manage every game, so here’s some ever so slightly younger cover, who hopefully won’t leave the defence exposed as his name suggests…

Since when did any midfielders called Xabi ever amount to anything? Maybe this one will, providing he doesn’t turn out to be Pantz…

ACG must have random ability and potential as I’ve seen him cost £40k before, so hopefully his value of £625k this time is a good sign…

Borja looks like he might cause a few defences some problems with his dribbling and pace, but he definitely won’t be outmuscling anyone.

Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Alejandro… Quick, creative and full of flair. What more could you want in a winger?…

Strikers aren’t exactly queueing up to join us, but luckily Oscar isn’t fussy. He can’t shoot for toffees, but maybe he can be a hold-up man…

Double D doesn’t look much better, but his key stats are a slight upgrade on Oscar. A bit older, but much better at shooting and heading…

And lastly is the pick of the three attackers I’ve managed to sign. Fingers crossed he won’t put in too many lukewarm performances…

Here’s how we’re looking on the eve of our first match after 17 arrivals, 15 of which were free transfers. I’ve tried to keep the squad small and leave room for better players rather than flood it with rubbish. I know some of them won’t be good enough long term, but it’s the best that I could cobble together for now…

So, we’re up and running. No match action this week (sorry!) but I thought it would be fun to show the whole squad-building process from scratch. Join me next time as the league season gets underway. Will we get off to a good start? Or are we in for a rude awakening? Find out next week. Au Revoir!