FC Barcelona’s longest serving manager inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame

On 16 April 2024, Jack Greenwell was inducted into the English National Football Museum Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at Durham University. Jack who? While that might be your first response, especially as he died over 80 years ago, it was long overdue recognition for a truly remarkable figure.

Greenwell was part of a group of English and Scottish players who found fame – if not fortune – as coaches beyond the shores of the British Isles in the early years of the 20th century.

Born in the mining town of Crook, in north-east England, he played for his local club Crook Town, as well as guesting for nearby West Auckland FC at the famous 1909 tournament for the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in Turin. It was there that he gained his first experience of football on the continent, and it is said that after West Auckland FC beat Switzerland’s Winterthur in the Final, he was approached by Barcelona’s Swiss founder Joan Gamper to come and play for the Catalan team.

Three years later, in August 1912, Greenwell gave up his day job as a miner and moved to Barcelona. It was a move that changed his life and was the start of a relationship with the club that lasted on and off until 1933. Shortly after his move he became player-coach for the team in January 1913. During his playing career, he appeared 88 times and scored 10 goals. In 1917 he became Barcelona’s full-time manager, leading the team to the 1920 Copa del Rey, a tournament that at that time was the Spanish championship. A second title came in 1922 but the following year he took on the job of coaching the newly created UE Sants, before ending up at Español in 1928 via Castellón.

A third Copa del Rey title was won when Español beat Real Madrid in the 1929 Final, the last before the launch of the Spanish League the following month. He returned as Barcelona coach in 1931 for two years. When he left the club in 1933, he was, and still is to this day, the longest serving manager in FC Barcelona’s history.

After spells in charge of Valencia and Sporting Gijón, the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 saw his life take another twist after just shy of a quarter of a century in the country. Fleeing the fighting his next destination was Turkey before ending up in Peru. He was appointed the national team coach and led the team to the title at the inaugural Bolivarian Games in 1938 in Bogotá. Whilst manager of Peru he also coached Universitario to the League title, but perhaps his greatest achievement came when Peru won the 1939 South American Championship. It was Peru’s first success - their only other title coming in 1975 – but what makes the achievement even more remarkable is that he remains the only non-South American coach to have won the Copa América.

Greenwood’s final stop was in Colombia. As coach of Independiente Santa Fé, he died of a heart attack in 1942 at the age of 58, leaving behind a legacy of innovative coaching methods that contributed to the development of the game in Spain and in South America.

His place in the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame is well merited and was long overdue.