Jack Greenwell

Jack Greenwell

Greenwell during his time as manager of RCD Español in 1929
Personal information
Full name	John Richard Greenwell
Date of birth	2 January 1884
Place of birth	Crook, County Durham, England
Date of death	20 November 1942(1942-11-20) (aged 58)
Place of death	Bogotá, Colombia
Position(s)	Wing-half
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1901–1912	Crook Town
1912–1916	Barcelona	88	(10[1])
Teams managed
1917–1923	Barcelona
1923–19xx[2]	UE Sants
	CD Castellón
1927–1929	RCD Español
1930–1931	RCD Mallorca
1931–1933	Barcelona
1933–1934	Valencia CF
1935–1936	Sporting de Gijón
1939–40	Universitario de Deportes
1939–40	Peru
1942	Independiente Santa Fe
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English footballer and manager. He served as manager of Barcelona for seven consecutive seasons, a record that has only been beaten by Johan Cruyff and later had a second spell as Barcelona manager. In Rory Smith's book "Mister: The Men Who Gave the World the Game" it is contested that Greenwell was manager for ten years, which would make him Barcelona's longest serving coach. In 1939 Greenwell became the only non-South American coach to date to win the South American Championship when he guided Peru to their first win. He also served as a manager with CD Castellón, RCD Español, Valencia CF, Sporting de Gijón,^[3] RCD Mallorca, Universitario de Deportes and Independiente Santa Fe.

Playing career[]

Jack Greenwell was born in Crook, County Durham, on 2 January 1884. The son of a miner, he became a miner himself after leaving school and played as a wing half for Crook Town of the English Northern League from the age of 17. He also played with West Auckland as a guest player in their Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy success in 1909.^[1][4]

He made his debut as player for Barcelona on 29 September 1912 in a 4–2 win over FC Espanya de Barcelona. In 1913, Greenwell arranged for his former team Crook Town to play a series of games against Barcelona. The visiting English team beat them 4–2 and then held them to 1–1 and 2–2 draws. Together with a very young Paulino Alcántara, Francisco Bru and Romà Forns, Greenwell subsequently helped Barcelona win the Catalan championship in 1912–13 and 1915–16.

Management career[]

In Spain[]

After retiring as a player, he was appointed manager of Barcelona by the club president, Joan Gamper, and made his managerial debut on 7 July 1917 in a 3–1 win over CE Europa. He would eventually take charge of the club for 492 games and coached the club during their first "golden age". He survived early calls for his resignation after experimenting with Alcántara as a defender and went on to lead the club to four Campionats de Catalunya and two Copas del Rey.^[1] As well as Alcántara, the Barça team under Greenwell also included Sagibarba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko. At Barcelona, Greenwell was noted for his innovative approach to tactics, focussing on developing a passing game and building attacks from the back rather than concentrating on dribbling past opponents.^[1]

After leaving Barcelona in 1923 Greenwell went on to manage their local rivals RCD Español. In 1928 he led them into the inaugural La Liga, but the club only managed to finish seventh. However, Español made up for their disappointing league form by winning both the Campionat de Catalunya and their first ever Copa del Rey in 1929. With a team that included Ricardo Zamora and Ricardo Saprissa, Greenwell guided Español through the early rounds, beating Sporting de Gijón and Arenas Club de Getxo. In the quarter finals they beat Athletic Madrid 9–3 on aggregate before beating eventual La Liga champions Barcelona 3–1 in the semi-finals and Real Madrid 2–1 in the final. Greenwell remained in charge of Español for one more season but failed to win another trophy.

Greenwell returned to Barcelona for two further seasons in 1931, and guided the club to a fifth Campionat de Catalunya in 1931–32. After leaving Barcelona for a second time, Greenwell joined Valencia for the 1933–34 season. The club only finished seventh in La Liga but won the Campeonato de Valencia and reached the Copa de España final. The game saw Greenwell face old acquaintances Samitier and Zamora, now playing for Real Madrid. The Madrid club, at the time known as Madrid CF, beat Valencia 2–1 in the final.

In South America[]

Greenwell, along with his English wife Doris (née Rubinstien), fled the Spanish Civil War. After briefly coaching in Turkey, he went to in Peru in 1939, as manager of both Universitario de Deportes and the Peruvian national team.^[1] He coached Universitario as they won the national championship. The same year saw Peru host the South American Championship. Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil all withdrew before the competition started, so the remaining five countries, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru formed a single mini-league with each team playing all the others once. Uruguay and Peru both won their first three games so when they met in the final round, the game was effectively a final. Peru won 2-1 and became South American champions.

In 1940, Greenwell moved to the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, and worked with the Colombian national team in their buildup to the . However, the city's games were postponed due to the worsening political situation during World War II, eventually being held in 1946.

In 1942 he joined Independiente Santa Fe, with whom he reached the finals of the Torneo de Cundinamarca (at the time there was no First Division in Colombia), which the team lost against América de Cali. Later that year he died there of a heart attack whilst driving home from a training session.^[1][5] He was survived by his wife and their daughter, Carmen.^[1]

Honours[]

As player[]

Crook Town

• Crook and District League: 1902^[6]

West Auckland

• Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy: 1909

Barcelona

• Campionat de Catalunya: 1912–13, 1915–16

As manager[]

Barcelona

• Copa del Rey: 1920, 1922
• Campionat de Catalunya: 1918–19, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1931–32

RCD Español

• Copa del Rey: 1928–29
• Campionat de Catalunya: 1928–29

Valencia CF

• Campeonato de Valencia: 1933–34

Universitario

• Peruvian Primera División: 1939

Peru

• South American Championship: 1939
• Bolivarian Games: 1938

Santa Fe

• : 1942

References[]

External links[]

• Greenwell at www.crooktownafc.co.uk
• Jack Greenwell (history as Barça's first official coach)
• Greenwell at Valencia CF
• La Liga stats
• Greenwell at Universitario de Deportes