Jack Greenwell

John Richard "Jack"Greenwell (2 January 1884, in Crook, County Durham, Northeast of England – 20 November 1942, in Bogotá, Colombia) 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 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.

Crook Town and West Auckland

Greenwell, the son of a County Durham miner, 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]

Barcelona

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 Campionat de Catalunya in 1912/13 and 1915/16.

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] After leaving the club in 1923, Greenwell returned to Barcelona for two further seasons in 1931, and guided the club to a fifth Campionat de Catalunya in 1931–32. As well as Alcántara the Barça team under Greenwell also included Sagibarba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko.

Greenwell was notable 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]

RCD Español

After leaving FC 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 RCD Español made up for their disappointing La Liga 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 RCD 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 RCD Español for one more season but failed to win another trophy.

Valencia CF

After leaving Barcelona for a second time, Greenwell joined Valencia CF 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 CF 2-1 in the final.

Universitario and Peru

Greenwell, along with his English wife Doris (née Rubinstien), fled the civil war. After briefly coaching in Turkey, in 1939 he turned up in Peru, as manager of both Universitario de Deportes and the 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, guided by Greenwell, won 2-1 and became South American Champions.

Colombia

In 1940 he moved to the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, and worked with the national team in their buildup to the 1942 Central American and Caribbean Games. However, the city's games were postponed due to the worsening world situation, 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^[6]
  • 1902

West Auckland

• Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
  • 1909

Barcelona

• Campionat de Catalunya: 2:
  • 1912-13, 1915–16

As manager

Barcelona

• Copa del Rey: 2
  • 1919-20, 1921–22
• Campionat de Catalunya: 5:
  • 1918-19, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1931–32

RCD Español

• Copa del Rey: 1
  • 1928-29
• Campionat de Catalunya: 1:
  • 1928-29

Valencia CF

• Campeonato de Valencia: 1
  • 1933-34

Universitario de Deportes

• Peruvian Champions: 1
  • 1939

Peru

• South American Championship: 1:
  • 1939
• Bolivarian Games: 1:
  • 1938

Santa Fe

• Torneo de Cundinamarca: 1

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

Peru squad – 1939 South American Championship Winners (1st title)
1 J. Alcalde 2 T. Alcalde 3 Baldovino 4 Bielich 5 Castillo 6 Chappell 7 A. Fernández 8 T. Fernández 9 Honores 10 Ibáñez 11 León 12 Larios 13 Magallanes 14 Paredes 15 Parró 16 Pasache 17 Perales 18 Quispe 19 Reyes 20 Socarraz 21 Tovar 22 Valdivieso Coach: Greenwell