Winston BiscuitSimmopsWinston Biscuit There is something about Bilbao and wider Spanish Basque region that I find quite fascinating. I would be a Sociedad fan if I was out there. An old friend of mine was from San Sebastien and they always made it sound lovely.
I think Bilbao and Socieded (who recently stopped it) have a policy of only playing Basque born players and never ever buying anybody pretty much
Sociedad had for years a policy of having overseas players but not Spanish non basques
Fun fact - Athletic Bilbao fans never call their club by that name. It's called Athletic Club over there. Bilbao FC was another club, set up by British workers, that Athletic Club, set up by the Basques, were forced to merge with years ago.
I was going to say John Aldridge became Real Sociedad's first foreign player 30 years ago.
Dalian Atkinson played there as well. He was their first black player and this being less enlightened times, the fans nicknamed him The Squid.
Athletic Bilbao had a reputation for nicking all the best youth players in the region.