Having spent the last few chapters
of this series in central Europe we now head south to the Mediterranean,
starting with the story of ‘El Mister’ who coached the first team outside the
British Isles to victory over England and transformed Spanish football.
Born in Wolverhampton he had a distinguished
career as an outside right forward in the Edwardian era having spells in the
first division with Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough. Whilst with Boro he won
five England caps in 1909. Injury forced his retirement in 1914 and he was
appointed coach of the German Olympic team, unfortunately the subsequent outbreak
of World War One meant Pentland was interned in Ruhleben camp along with up to
5,000 other prisoners. Whilst there he organised cup and league competitions
for his fellow inmates. There were enough footballers in the camp to make up an
England XI and alongside fellow Middlesbrough and England team mate Steve
Bloomer; Pentland appeared in the triangular Coupe de Allies tournament which
also featured a French and Belgian team. He remained in the camp until the
armistice upon which he returned to England.
Appointed French national coach, he
took them to the semi-final of the 1920 Olympics held in Antwerp. After the
games he moved to Spain where he was to stay for fifteen years and make a lasting
significant impact on the development of the Spanish game.
During five years of internment
Pentland had plenty of time to debate and theorize about football with his
fellow ex professional footballers. This crystallized into a simple motto “Get
the simple things right and the rest will follow.”
Eschewing the English kick and rush
style which was brought by his countrymen to Iberia in the late nineteenth
century, Pentland instead focussed on skill, possession, short passing and
rapid movement, a style that became commonly known as push and run. This
philosophy necessitated a change of formation so Pentland abandoned the
traditional 2-3-5 in favour of a 2-5-3 which made for more creativity in
midfield.
This was tried first at Racing
Santander but after a year he moved on to Athletic Bilbao for the first of two
spells which would transform the history of the Basque team. Los Leones were
the most English of Spanish clubs, with even their red and white striped kit
having originated from Southampton but despite Pentland being the latest in a
long line of English coaches at San Mamés he was to lead the club in turning
their back on their forebears. Using the force of his considerable character,
Pentland introduced his favoured methods of play and won the 1923 Copa Del Rey.
Known in the city as El Bombin, Pentland would invite his players to stamp on
his trademark bowler hat when they won a big game. Addressing him by the more
respectful El Mister, the players were encouraged to be more professional,
being given lessons in how to dress and even how to tie their shoelaces.
Leaving Bilbao in 1925 he led
Atlético Madrid to the 1926 Copa Del Rey final then moved onto Real Oviedo for
a season, returning to Atlético in 1927, where he won the Campeonato Del
Centro, the regional league for clubs in the Madrid area. In 1929 he was coach
alongside manager José María Mateos of the Spanish national team which beat
England 4-3 in Madrid, England’s first ever defeat to a non-British team.
Barcelona won the inaugural La Liga
in 1929 using Pentland’s style of play but in 1930 El Mister claimed the title
for himself, making a triumphant return to Bilbao with an invincible season
which included another Copa Del Rey win. He made it a double double in 1931
(squad pictured above) and went on in the following two seasons to twice defend
the Copa Del Rey and finish runner up twice in La Liga. Going back to Athletico
Madrid in 1934, his third spell there was curtailed by the onset of the Spanish
Civil War and he went back to England.
After a short spell
as manager of Barrow, his career in football ended with the outbreak of World
War Two. His impact on Athletic Bilbao was not forgotten though and he was
invited back to San Mamés in 1959 to receive the club’s Distinguished Member’s
medal. He kicked off a special testimonial game against Chelsea on this
occasion, a feat repeated by his daughter Angela in 2010. His death in 1962 was
commemorated at the San Mamés stadium by a special ceremony reserved solely for
people who have significantly contributed to the Basque culture. His
statue remains at San Mamés to this day.
The high water mark
of his time at Bilbao was a 12-1 win over Barcelona in 1931, the record defeat
ever suffered by the Catalans. This established his footballing philosophy as
the superior one in Spain and was adopted nationwide with Barcelona and Real
Madrid going on to owe much to the influence of El Mister as they dominated
firstly Spanish and then European football.
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