 Greenwell during his time as manager ofEspañol 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]) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1913–1923 | Barcelona | ||
| 1923–1926 | UE Sants | ||
| 1926–1928 | CD Castellón | ||
| 1928–1930 | Español | ||
| 1930–1931 | Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII | ||
| 1931–1933 | Barcelona | ||
| 1933–1934 | Valencia | ||
| 1935–1936 | Sporting de Gijón | ||
| 1939–1940 | Universitario de Deportes | ||
| 1939–1940 | Peru | ||
| 1942 | Independiente Santa Fe | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an Englishfootballmanager and former player. He isBarcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as manager),[2] 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 theSouth American Championship when he guidedPeru to their first win. He also served as a manager withCD Castellón,RCD Español,Valencia CF,Sporting de Gijón,[3]Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII,Universitario de Deportes, andIndependiente Santa Fe.
Jack Greenwell was born inCrook, County Durham, on 2 January 1884. The son of a miner, he became a miner himself after leaving school and played as awing-half forCrook Town of the EnglishNorthern League from the age of 17. He also played withWest Auckland Town as a guest player in theirSir Thomas Lipton Trophy success in 1909.[1][4]
He made his debut as player forBarcelona on 29 September 1912 in a 4–2 win overFC Espanya de Barcelona. Following the departure ofJack 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 youngPaulino Alcántara,Francisco Bru andRomà Forns, Greenwell subsequently helped Barcelona win theCatalan championship 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 overCE 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 twoCopas del Rey.[1] As well as Alcántara, the Barça team under Greenwell also includedSagibarba,Ricardo Zamora,Josep Samitier,Félix Sesúmaga andFerenc 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.[1]
After leaving Barcelona in 1923, Greenwell became the inaugural managerUE Sants, a club based in theSants district of Barcelona.[5] 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.[5] Greenwell then joinedCD Castellón, who played in the Campeonato Regional de Valencia.[5] 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 rivalsEspañol.[5] In 1928, he led them into the inauguralLa 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.[5] With a team that included Zamora andRicardo Saprissa, Greenwell guided Español through the early rounds, beatingSporting de Gijón andArenas Club de Getxo. In the quarter-finals, they beatAthletic Madrid 9–3 on aggregate, before beating eventual La Liga champions Barcelona 3–1 in the semi-finals andReal Madrid 2–1 in the final. Greenwell remained in charge of Español for one more season, but failed to win another trophy.[5] He then spent a season withReal Sociedad Alfonso XIII, where the club retained the Baleares Championship.[5]
Greenwell returned to Barcelona for two further seasons in 1931, and guided the club to a fifth Campionat de Catalunya in 1931–32.[5] After leaving Barcelona for a second time, Greenwell joinedValencia for the 1933–34 season. The club only finished seventh in La Liga but won the Campeonato de Valencia and reached theCopa de España final.[5] 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 theSegunda División withSporting de Gijón and missing out on promotion to La Liga.[5]
Greenwell, along with his English wife Doris (née Rubinstien), fled theSpanish Civil War. After briefly coaching in Turkey, he went to Peru in 1939, as manager of bothUniversitario de Deportes and thePeruvian national team.[1] He coached Universitario as they won thenational championship. The same year saw Peru host theSouth American Championship.Colombia,Argentina,Bolivia andBrazil 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 ofBarranquilla, and worked with theColombia 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 in1946.
In 1942, he joinedIndependiente Santa Fe, with whom he reached the finals of the Torneo de Cundinamarca (at the time there was noFirst Division in Colombia), which the team lost againstAmérica de Cali. Later that year, he died there of a heart attack whilst driving home from a training session.[1][6] He was survived by his wife and their daughter, Carmen.[1]
Crook Town
West Auckland
Barcelona
Barcelona
RCD Español
Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII
Valencia CF
Universitario
Peru
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