John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English
football manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
and former player. He is
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as manager), later returning to coach for two more seasons in the 1930s. In 1939, Greenwell became the only non-South American coach to date to win the
South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
List of Championships
* ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...
when he guided
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
to their first win. He also served as a manager with
CD Castellón
Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' N ...
,
RCD Español
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...
,
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...
,
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...
,
Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII,
Universitario de Deportes
Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...
, and
Independiente Santa Fe.
Playing career
Jack Greenwell was born in
Crook, County Durham
Crook is a market town in the district and ceremonial county of County Durham, Northern England. The town is located on the edge of Weardale, therefore is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to Weardale".
The town is in an unparished area, ...
, on 2 January 1884. The son of a miner, he became a miner himself after leaving school and played as a
wing-half
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
for
Crook Town of the English
Northern League from the age of 17. He also played with
West Auckland Town as a guest player in their
Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was an association football competition that took place twice, in Turin, Italy, in 1909 and 1911. It is regarded as an early European trophy.[Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...]
on 29 September 1912 in a 4–2 win over
FC Espanya de Barcelona
FC Espanya de Barcelona, was a Spanish Catalan football club based in Barcelona. They enjoyed a golden age during the 1910s and were Catalan champions three times during the decade. They were also Copa del Rey runners-up in 1914. By 1923 the club ...
. Following the departure of
Jack Alderson, Greenwell became the club's new player-coach. 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
Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a football player and manager who played as a forward. Born in the Philippines, he spent most of his playing career at Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the Philipp ...
,
Francisco Bru
Francisco Bru Sanz (12 April 1885 – 10 June 1962), also known as Paco Bru, was a Spanish football player, referee and manager. As a footballer he played as a striker and midfielder for FC Internacional and as a defender for FC Barcelona, RCD ...
and
Romà Forns
Romà Forns Saldaña (died 26 April 1942) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He made his debut as a footballer in late 1902 playing one season for Irish FC but spent the rest of his career with FC Barcelona and the Catalan XI, always as a f ...
, Greenwell subsequently helped Barcelona win the
Catalan championship in 1912–13 and 1915–16.
Managerial career
In Spain
After retiring as a player, he was appointed manager of Barcelona by the club president,
Joan Gamper
Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably FC Barcelona and FC Zür ...
, and made his managerial debut on 7 July 1917 in a 3–1 win over
CE Europa
Club Esportiu Europa is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Gràcia, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1907, it plays in the Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at '' No ...
. 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.
As well as Alcántara, the Barça team under Greenwell also included
Sagibarba,
Ricardo Zamora
Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Cata ...
,
Josep Samitier
Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He lat ...
,
Félix Sesúmaga
Félix Sesúmaga Ugarte (12 October 1898 – 24 August 1925) was a Spanish (Basque) footballer who played as a forward for Arenas Club de Getxo, FC Barcelona, Racing de Sama de Langreo, Athletic Bilbao and Spain.
Sesúmaga won the Copa del Re ...
and
Ferenc Plattkó. 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.
After leaving Barcelona in 1923, Greenwell became the inaugural manager
UE Sants
Unió Esportiva Sants is a football team based in Barcelona. Founded in 1922, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5. Its stadium is Camp de futbol de l’Energia, with a capacity of 1,000.
It used to have a cycling section that was res ...
, a club based in the
Sants
Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobr ...
district of Barcelona.
During his three seasons with the club, he helped them stave off relegation in his first season, and finish third in the league in his last season, while also finally prevailing over his former team.
Greenwell then joined
CD Castellón
Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' N ...
, who played in the Campeonato Regional de Valencia.
In the 1926–27 season, the club finished as runners-up, and the following season, they repeated the same feat, but Greenwell did not see the season out as he moved mid-season to Barcelona's local rivals
Español.
In 1928, he led them into the inaugural
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
, 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 Zamora and
Ricardo Saprissa
Ricardo Juan Antonio Saprissa Aymá (24 June 1901 – 16 August 1990) was a lifelong athlete, coach, and promoter of sports. After being raised in El Salvador, he spent many years in Costa Rica, playing and coaching football. In 1935 he was co ...
, Greenwell guided Español through the early rounds, beating
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from 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.
He then spent a season with
Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII, where the club retained the Baleares Championship.
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
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
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. The 1935–36 season would prove to be the last time he managed a Spanish club, finishing in the
Segunda División with
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...
and missing out on promotion to La Liga.
In South America
Greenwell, along with his English wife Doris (
née Rubinstien), fled the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. After briefly coaching in Turkey, he went to Peru in 1939, as manager of both
Universitario de Deportes
Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...
and the
Peruvian national team.
He coached Universitario as they won the
national championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
. The same year saw Peru host the
South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
List of Championships
* ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...
.
Colombia,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Bolivia and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
all withdrew before the competition started, so the remaining five countries,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
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
Colombia national team in their build-up to the 1942 Central American and Caribbean Games. 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.
He was survived by his wife and their daughter, Carmen.
Honours
As player
Crook Town
*Crook and District League: 1902
The John Richard "Jack" Greenwell story
Retrieved 31 July 2012)
West Auckland
*Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was an association football competition that took place twice, in Turin, Italy, in 1909 and 1911. It is regarded as an early European trophy.[Campionat de Catalunya
The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929.
In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, ...]
: 1912–13, 1915–16
As manager
Barcelona
* Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...
: 1920, 1922
Events
January
* January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes.
* January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...
* 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
Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII
* Baleares Championship: 1930–31
Valencia CF
* Campeonato de Valencia: 1933–34
Universitario
* Peruvian Primera División
The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') —known as Liga 1 Betsson for sponsorship reasons and officially as Liga 1 — is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since 1966, when ...
: 1939
Peru
* South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
List of Championships
* ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...
: 1939
* Bolivarian Games
The Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'', full name ''Juegos Deportivos Bolivarianos'') are a regional multi-sport event held in honor of Simón Bolívar, and organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (''Organización Deport ...
: 1938
References
External links
Greenwell at www.crooktownafc.co.uk
La Liga stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwell, Jack
1884 births
1942 deaths
CD Castellón managers
Crook Town A.F.C. players
English footballers
English football managers
English expatriate football managers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
English expatriate sportspeople in Colombia
English expatriate sportspeople in Peru
Expatriate football managers in Colombia
Expatriate football managers in Spain
Expatriate football managers in Peru
La Liga managers
FC Barcelona players
FC Barcelona managers
People from Crook, County Durham
Footballers from County Durham
Peru national football team managers
RCD Espanyol managers
RCD Mallorca managers
Sporting de Gijón managers
Club Universitario de Deportes managers
Valencia CF managers
Men's association football wing halves
UE Sants managers