 Pentland in 1909 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Frederick Beaconsfield Pentland[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1883-07-29)29 July 1883 | ||
| Place of birth | Wolverhampton, England | ||
| Date of death | 16 March 1962(1962-03-16) (aged 78)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Lytchett Matravers, England | ||
| Position | Outside right | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1898–1899 | Avondale Juniors | ||
| 1899–1900 | Willenhall Swifts | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1900–1903 | Small Heath | 0 | (0) |
| 1903 | Blackpool | 8 | (5) |
| 1903–1906 | Blackburn Rovers | 51 | (9) |
| 1906–1907 | Brentford | 36 | (12) |
| 1907–1908 | Queens Park Rangers | 37 | (14) |
| 1908–1912 | Middlesbrough | 92 | (11) |
| 1912–1913 | Halifax Town | ||
| 1913 | Stoke | 12 | (6) |
| 1913–1914 | Halifax Town | ||
| Total | 200 | (45) | |
| International career | |||
| 1909 | England | 5 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1914 | Germany Olympic | ||
| 1919 | AS Strasbourg | ||
| 1920 | France Olympic | ||
| 1920–1921 | Racing de Santander | ||
| 1922–1925 | Athletic Club de Bilbao | ||
| 1925–1926 | Atlético Madrid | ||
| 1926–1927 | Real Oviedo | ||
| 1927–1929 | Atlético Madrid | ||
| 1929–1933 | Athletic Club de Bilbao | ||
| 1934–1935 | Atlético Madrid | ||
| 1938–1940 | Barrow | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Frederick Beaconsfield Pentland (29 July 1883 – 16 March 1962) was an Englishfootball player and coach.
Pentland played club football inthe Football League forBlackpool,Blackburn Rovers andMiddlesbrough, in theSouthern Football League forBrentford,Queens Park Rangers andStoke, and in theMidland League forHalifax Town. He wascapped five times forEngland in 1909. He played as aforward, mainly atoutside right.
As a manager, he took charge of theGerman Olympic football team, theFrance national team, and Spanish club sidesRacing de Santander,Athletic Club de Bilbao,Atlético Madrid andReal Oviedo, before returning to England where he briefly managedBarrow.
Pentland began his football career with Avondale Juniors andWillenhall Swifts before joiningFootball League Second Division clubSmall Heath in August 1900 at the age of 17.[1][2] He played for Small Heath's reserves in theBirmingham & District League,[3] but made no senior league appearances, and after the club's promotion to theFirst Division at the end of the1900–01 season, it became more difficult to break through.[4][5] His only senior appearance was in a 2–1 defeat atPortsmouth in the1901–02 FA Cup, playing atinside forward in a team weakened by injuries,[4][6] and in 1903 he signed forBlackpool.[5]
Blackpool used him at centre forward: he scored his first senior goal on 26 September, at home toStockport County,[7] completed a run of five goals in four matches with a double in a 4–1 win away toBurnley on 17 October,[8] and eleven days later, signed for First DivisionBlackburn Rovers in a deal reported as "a good bargain" for Blackpool.[9] Over the next two and a half seasons, Pentland contributed 9 goals from 51 league appearances[10] as Blackburn twice finished near the foot of the division and once climbed to mid-table.[11] In 1906, the clublisted him for transfer at a fee of £250. There were no takers from the Football League, so he moved into theSouthern League, initially withBrentford.[12] He had been so popular at Blackburn that a "crowd of players and friends", accompanied by the Palace Theatre band, saw him off at the station with renditions of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne".[13]
He missed only two league matches and contributed twelve goals as Brentford finishedin mid-table, but was not retained. He remained in west London with another Southern League club,Queens Park Rangers, who had ended the previous season eight places below Brentford. Under the management ofJames Cowan,[14] QPR won the1907–08 title. Playing atoutside right, Pentland scored 14 goals from 37 Southern League matches,[15] and was selected for The South to face The North in an international trial.[16] Although his performance in the trial did not earn him selection for his country, he was first reserve at outside right for that season's internationals.[17] As Southern League winners, Queens Park Rangers faced the Football League champions, in this caseManchester United, in a match for the newFootball Association Charity Shield. Pentland played, and the match was drawn.[18] It wasreplayed in August, by which time Pentland had left QPR; although he was reportedly keen to play, and theFootball Association granted special dispensation for his inclusion, QPR's directors did not select him[19] because, according to theKilburn Times, he had been insistent on leaving the club despite being offered the maximum salary.[20]
In June 1908, Pentland returned to the First Division withMiddlesbrough,[17] who had to pay fees to both clubs with an interest in the player: £350 to Queens Park Rangers and £150 to Blackburn Rovers.[12] Playing with such teammates asAlf Common andSteve Bloomer,[21] he helped Middlesbrough finish ninth in his first season,[22] and in 1909, was rewarded with his first cap forEngland. He played at outside right, alongside captainVivian Woodward, as England beatWales andScotland to complete victory in the1908–09 British Home Championship.[1] He won three more caps, on a tour of central Europe that same year.[1] In the next two seasons, Pentland continued to play regularly, although Middlesbrough were less successful,[22][23] and in 1911 he spent some time suspended by the club for "neglecting his training".[24] He made only one first-team appearance in 1911–12, to take his totals to 11 goals from 96 appearances in all senior competition.[23]
In August 1912 he joinedHalifax Town, newly admitted to theMidland League.[25] He scored freely, finishing the season as the club's top scorer,[26] as well as acting asplayer-manager,[27] and helped Halifax reach the first round proper of the1912–13 FA Cup.[28] With the club in straitened financial circumstances, he was sold to Southern LeagueStoke in February for a substantial fee.[27] He remained with Stoke until December of that year, contributing six league goals in twelve appearances, before returning to Halifax[26] where his career ended a few months later through injury.
After retiring as a player, Pentland went toBerlin in 1914 to take charge of theGerman Olympic football team.[1] However within a few months, theFirst World War broke out and he was subsequently interned atRuhleben, a civilian detention camp in theSpandau district of Berlin. The camp contained between 4,000 and 5,500 prisoners. Gradually a mini-society evolved and football became a popular activity. Cup and league competitions were organised and as many as 1,000 attended the bigger games. Pentland was prominent in organising and playing football within the camp. He was chairman of the Ruhleben Football Association and regularly contributed to football articles in the camp magazine.[29][30][31][32]
Pentland was one of several former professional footballers at Ruhleben. Others included former club teammates and fellowEngland internationals,Samuel Wolstenholme andSteve Bloomer, aScotland international,John Cameron, aGerman internationalEdwin Dutton, andJohn Brearley, once ofEverton andTottenham Hotspur. On 2 May 1915 anEngland XI featuring Pentland, Wolstenholme, Brearley and Bloomer played aWorld XI captained by Cameron. Towards the end of the war an international triangular tournament called theCoupe de Allies, featuring aBritish XI, aFrench XI and aBelgium XI, was organised.[30][31] Pentland remained in the camp until the end of the war and then returned to England. During his recuperation, he met Nahneen Hayes, a war widow working as a nurse with aVoluntary Aid Detachment (VAD); the couple married in 1923.[1][33]
In 1919, rebuiltAS Strasbourg, formerlyStraßburger FV, appointed Pentland as manager-coach.[34] In 1920 Pentland coachedFrance at theOlympic Games. France received a bye to the quarter-final stages where they beatItaly 3–1. However, in the semi-finals they lost 4–1 toCzechoslovakia. The final stages of the tournament descended into farce and France missed out on the opportunity to win the silver medal. The host nation,Belgium won the gold medal by default after Czechoslovakia walked off in protest during the final, unhappy with the performance of the referee and the conditions surrounding the match. As a result, they were disqualified and a second consolation tournament was organised to decide the silver and bronze medallists. However France and Pentland, presuming the competition was over, had already returned home andSpain eventually won the silver medal.[33][35]
In 1920 Pentland joinedRacing de Santander but after one season he was hired byAthletic Club de Bilbao.[36] He revolutionised the way Athletic Club played, favouring the short-passing game,[37] and in 1923 he led the club to victory in theCopa del Rey.[36] However, in 1925 he left Athletic and went on to coachAthletic Madrid, leading them to the Copa final in 1926.[38] He spent the next season withReal Oviedo,[39] In 1927 he returned to Athletic Madrid and was manager during the inauguralLa Liga season.[36][40] In May 1929 he helped coach the Spain national team, under managerJosé María Mateos, when theybeat England 4–3 at Athletic Madrid'sMetropolitano Stadium. As a result, Spain became the first non-British team to beat England.[33][41]
In 1929 Pentland rejoined Athletic Club de Bilbao. He subsequently led them to La Liga–Copa del Rey "doubles" in 1930 and 1931.[36] He also guided the club as they won the Copa four times in a row between 1930 and 1933 and finished as La Liga runners-up in 1932 and 1933.[40][42][43] In 1931 he also masterminded Athletic's 12–1 victory overBarcelona, the latter's worst ever defeat.[36] He was known in Bilbao for his "trademark" cigar and bowler hat.[44]
In 1933 he joined Athletic Madrid for a third time but returned to England at the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War.[1]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Small Heath | 1901–02 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 1903–04 | Second Division | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 1903–04 | First Division | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7 |
| 1904–05 | First Division | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 1 | |
| 1905–06 | First Division | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 51 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 9 | ||
| Middlesbrough | 1908–09 | First Division | 28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 2 |
| 1909–10 | First Division | 33 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 2 | |
| 1910–11 | First Division | 30 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 7 | |
| 1911–12 | First Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 92 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 96 | 11 | ||
| Stoke | 1912–13 | Southern League Division One | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 1913–14 | Southern League Division Two | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | |
| Total | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 | ||
| Career Total | 163 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 169 | 31 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1909 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 5 | 0 | |
Athletic Bilbao[40]
Atlético Madrid
Pentland is a forward and half-back of some promise, but he never had much chance with Small Heath, it being thought that the club were possessed of more experienced men.
