Uriarte avoids meeting Athletic captains and keeps pressure on former players and ex-presidents

Tension at Athletic Club shows no signs of cooling down. The first-team squad, with Unai Simón and Iñaki Williams leading the demands, is still waiting for Jon Uriarte to sit down with the captains and tackle a series of disagreements that have been festering for four years and go well beyond the removal of ticket privileges. While the players keep pushing, the club has moved on other fronts: it has sent a letter to the Veterans Association making clear that free passes will not return, and it has written to former presidents offering them a lifetime seat in the San Mamés directors' box.

Captains demand a meeting Uriarte keeps avoiding

• Unai Simón said there are unresolved internal issues affecting club employees and the women's team.
• Players stopped talking to the media at Camp Nou as a protest.
• Iñaki Williams publicly asked for a quick solution to make everyone happy.
• The president has not shown up at Lezama or travelled with the team in recent away games.

The Athletic squad has changed its attitude in recent weeks. After the match against Barcelona, the players decided not to go through the mixed zone and suspended their media duties, a move that was widely read as a direct message to the board. Shortly after, against Celta, Unai Simón explained that the frustration is not only about the removal of ticket allocations but about a number of unresolved issues that have been building up for years.

Some topics have grown into a snowball over these four years and they affect club employees and the women's players. It is not about the tickets. There are other things we want to talk about and settle for good.

Iñaki Williams, the first captain, added his hope that the situation can be turned around as soon as possible. However, that conversation with the president has not happened yet. Uriarte remains absent from Lezama and did not travel to Barcelona or Vigo to support the first team. With the match against Atlético Madrid already looming, a meeting in the hours before the game looks increasingly unlikely.

The standoff with former players and the end of free passes

The ticket dispute hits former players directly. Until now, ex-footballers received a number of tickets through the Athletic Veterans Association, an organisation that brings together players with a past at the club and regularly takes part in Foundation events and institutional representation. The board has decided to remove that benefit and, far from reconsidering, has put the decision in writing.

The protests of recent days have not changed the club's course. The letter sent to former players explains the reasons behind the removal of free passes and suggests there is no way back. The message has landed badly among a group that saw itself as an active part of the club's social life for decades.

Former presidents caught between concern and a box seat offer

Six of the eight living former Athletic presidents met on Thursday for lunch at the Carlton Hotel, a gathering that attendees say is part of their usual routine. This time, the conversation focused on the institutional drift of the club and the damage that the pile-up of open conflicts is causing to its public image.

José María Arrate, the only one who stopped to speak to reporters on his way out, said the group's alarm stems from the situation created among the different sectors that coexist at Athletic. Hours before the lunch, the former leaders received official communication from Ibaigane offering them a lifetime seat in the San Mamés directors' box. Arrate declined to confirm the content of the letter.

What is at stake for Athletic amid the institutional crisis

The institutional wear and tear comes at a delicate moment for the first team. The side faces a demanding run of fixtures and internal stability tends to be a key factor in any dressing room. The players have decided to step forward and make public a set of disagreements that, rather than cooling down, have now spread to the club's social fabric.

Uriarte's management faces a confidence test from the dressing room leaders, former players and past presidents. The image of unity that has historically defined Athletic as a unique club is now being questioned by a series of decisions that have sparked unrest in several sectors at once.

How Lezama and the Foundation fit into the new ticket policy

The removal of ticket allocations does not only affect veterans. Club employees and players from the women's team are also part of a group that has seen its stadium access conditions changed. The decision, part of a broader review of free passes, has caused unease that the captains see as structural and want to address as a whole.

Within that review, the Veterans Association loses the allocation that served as a bridge between the club's past and present. The Foundation, which relied on the former footballers' involvement in many events, loses a regular channel of participation. The board insists the new ticket policy is based on control and transparency criteria, although the reputational cost is already visible from the outside.