British coaches in the Copa

The development of Spanish Football was always heavily influenced by Britons. As was so often the case they founded the earliest clubs and spread the enthusiasm for the Association game among the locals.
English players (and officials) were very much in evidence in the formative years of the game in Spain. In the 1910s, when the game was more solidly established and less and less English names appeared on the teamsheets, Englishmen showed their influence in another sphere- appearing as coaches at the leading Spanish clubs.
Looking at the teams competing in the Copa del Rey (and later the Copa del Presidente de la República) shows us the following coaches from the United Kingdom.

1916
Athletic Club (Bilbao) defeated Madrid FC (later Real Madrid) 4-0 in the final. Both teams were led by Englishmen.

Barnes

Billy Barnes was at the helm for Athletic. Born in London in 1879 Barnes played for Thames Ironworks, Sheffield United, West Ham United, Luton Town, Queen's Park Rangers and Southend United.
He scored the winning goal for Sheffield United in the replay of the 1902 FA Cup Final.
He managed Athletic from 1914 to 1916 and again from 1920-21.

Johnson

The man in charge of Madrid FC was Arthur Johnson. He was Madrid's first full time coach. Appointed in 1910, he served until 1920. He had also been a player with the club, appearing in their first ever fixture and played in 4 winning Copa del Rey teams. Johnson, who was also born in 1879, later managed Athletic Club.

1917
Madrid beat Arenas Club de Guecho in extra time of the replayed final, giving Arthur Johnson a Copa win as a coach to add to his 4 as a player.

1918
Johnson led Madrid to a third successive Copa final, but they lost 2-0 to Real Unión.

Greenwell

1919
Barcelona were beaten 5-2 in the final by Arenas Club de Guecho. 
The manager  of Barcelona was the former Crook Town wing half Jack Greenwell.  Greenwell had also played in the West Aukland team that won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909. 
He joined Barcelona as a player in 1912, became coach in 1917.six Catalan titles and two Copa del Rey victories.
As well as 2 spells at Barcelona Greenwell coached Unió Esportiva Sants, Club Deportivo Castellón,  Español, R.C.D Mallorca, Valencia, and Real Sporting de Gijón. He then moved on to Peru. 

1920
Greenwell and Barnes were the adversaries as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 in the final. 

1921
Barnes was in charge of Athletic Club , who ran out 4-0 winners against Atlético Madrid. Some sources mistakenly identify the manager of the Madrid side as former Manchester United defender Vince Hayes However, Hayes was engaged at Preston North End until 1923. 

1922
Another win for Greenwell- Barcelona beating Real Union 5-1.

1923
Athletic Club won their ninth  Copa, beating Barcelona's Club Deportivo Europe 1-0. Both sides were led by Englishmen.
Fred Pentland won 5 England caps in 1909 (including 3 on a tour of Austria-Hungary) and played most of his  League football for Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough. he was interned at Ruhleben during the war, having gone to Germany to coach the national side. After the war his managerial career resumed, following a rather strange trajectory- he led France in the 1920 Olympics and retired as manager of Barrow 20 years later. in the interim he had spells coaching Racing  Santander, Athletic Club Bilbao (2 ), Atlético Madrid (3) and Real Oviedo. 

In charge of  Club Deportivo Europe was Conyers 'Ralph' Kirby, a winger who made 1 league appearance for Birmingham. He later joined Barcelona. 


1924
Real Unión Club (Irun) beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the final.Real Unión Club was coached by Steve Bloomer, the legendary Derby County and England goalscorer. 

Steve Bloomer

1926
Barcelona beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 in the final, which featured the same managers as 1923- Kirby leading Barcelona and Pentland Atlético.

1932
Spain was now a Republic, and the national cup competition was rebranded as Copa del Presidente de la República. A final between Athletic Club (who won their 12th Copa with a 1-0 win) and Barcelona saw 2 by now familiar faces in charge. Pentland (Athletic Club) and Greenwell (Barca). 

Platko

Platko was born in Budapest.  The peripatetic nature of his career led to him being known by 3 variants of his name: Ferenc Plattkó, Franz Platko Kopiletz or Francisco Platko. He began his professional career in 1917 with Vasas SC. He briefly joined WAC Vienna in 1920, then had spells with Hajduk Kula (Yugoslavia) and MTK (Budapest). He played 6 internationals for Hungary between 1917 and 1923.In 1922 Platko featured for MTK for in 2 0-0 draws against Barcelona. The Catalans were so impressed with his goalkeeping that they signed him.

Following the legendary Zamora, Platko was Barcelona's first choice goalkeeper from 1923 to 1930.

During this time he acried the following honours:

Spanish Champions-1928-29
 Copa del Rey winners- 1924-25, 1925–26, 1927–28
Campionat de Catalunya-1923-24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30

Platko's performance in the 1928 Copa del Rey final (a 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad) earned him the rare distinction for a goalkeeper of being  immortalized in verse. Diving at the feet of a srtriker, Platko had sustained a head injury that required sutures. He finished the game swathed in bandages and ended the day in hospital. Poet Rafael Alberti was at the match. Impressed by the courage of Platko, the golden haired Hungarian bear, spilling his Hungarian blood for Barcelona in a performance that could never be forgotten (I'm paraphrasing), Alberti wrote Oda A Platko. The poem appeared in the newspaper La Voz de Cantabria (27.05.28).

Here it is in the original:

http://www.laredcantabra.com/platko.html

There are of course, two sides to every story, and the Sociedad fan Rafael Celaya wrote Contraoda del poeta de la Real Sociedad, which attributed Barcelona's triumph to crooked refereeing.

 Platko  later coached Barca, and continued his career in South America.

Pagaza

Francisco Pagazaurtundua González-Murrieta, better known as Pagaza, studied in England and on his return to the Basque region he began his senior career with Arenas Club de Getxo- winning the Copa del Rey in 1919.
When his work took him to Santander he joined  Racing.
Pagaza played representative football with La Selección Norte and Cantabria . He was also a member of Spain's first international squad, playing at the the 1920 Olympics. He won a total of 7 caps.
Chocolates Bilbainos was, the card tells us, the chosen chocolate of footballers. 

Ricardo Zamora

He liked a drink (Cognac) and he liked a smoke (60 a day or Havana cigars, which he was once arrested for smuggling into Spain). Noted for spectacular saves and a trademark white sweater, Ricardo Zamora Martínez was probably the greatest goalkeeper of the first half of the 20th century. 

Club career:

RCD Espanyol  (1916–1919) Zamora's first success came in 1918 when Espanyol won the Campionat de Catalunya . He argued with the club directors and was transferred to Barcelona.

Barcelona (1919–1922)  At Barcelona  Zamora enjoyed 3 great years in which they won the Campionat de Catalunya 3 times (1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22) and the Copa del Rey twice (1920, 1922).

RCD Espanyol (1922–1930) During Zamora's second spell at Espanyol he enjoyed another Campionat de Catalunya / Copa del Rey double (1928–29). He had begun inauspiciously though- suspended for a year for tax evasion relating to his signing on fee. 

Real Madrid (1930–1936) From 1931 onward the club was known as Madrid Football Club (during the Second Spanish Republic). The Copa del Rey became known as Copa de España: Madrid were winners in 1934 and 1936. They also won  La Liga twice (1931–32, 1932–33).

Catalunya
 Zamora played for the Catalunya team on a regular basis in the 1920s, winning the Copa Princep de Asturies 3 times (1922, 1924, 1926).

Spain
Zamora made his international debut in Spain's first official international- the 1-0 defeat of Denmark at the 1920 Olympics. Zamora's performances won him rave reviews during the tournament , but in only his 4th game, against Italy, he was sent off in the 79th minute for striking an opponent. Following the chaos of the final , Spain played Netherlands for the silver medal and won 3-1.
In the 1934 World Cup Spain beat Brazil in the first round. They then held hosts Italy to a 1-1 draw. Italy's roughhouse tactics put Zamora out of the replay (which, of course, Italy were never going to lose).

Zamora won 46 caps for Spain (W31-D7-L8). He conceded 42 goals and kept 20 clean sheets.

Despite being awarded the Order of the Republic in 1934, Zamora was not a Republican or a Catalan nationalist. 
During the Fascist war against the Republic the Fascists promoted the rumour that Zamora had been killed by Republicans. He was later taken prisoner by the Republicans (accused of having Fascist sympathies) and went into exile in France. 

Barcelona- honours

1912 Victory parade 

Copa Macaya 1 win (3 editions)
1901-02

Copa Barcelona 1 win (1 edition)
1902-03

Campionat de Catalunya 22 wins (38 editions)*

1904-05, 1908-09, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1912-13, 1913-14, 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1933-34, 1935-36


Copa del Rey 8 wins (36 editions)*
1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1927–28

Pyrenees Cup 4 wins (5 editions)
1910, 1911,  1912, 1913

La Liga / Primera División 1 win (8 editions)*
1929 

1910 with Pyrenees Cup

1929 

* during our period - that is up until the summer of 1937

Steve Bloomer

I try to get there first... that was how Bloomer described the foundations of his success.

In 23 appearances for England from 1895–1907 he scored 28 goals. He scored in ten consecutive matches (his first ten, a total of 19 goals).

His club records are impressive:

Derby County- 1892-1905 appearances 395 goals 235
Middlesbrough- 1905-1910  130 appearances 62 goals
Derby County- 1910-1914  106 appearances 59 goals
Steve Bloomer went on to manage overseas, and won the Copa del Rey with Real Union, of which more later...

Madrid Football Club

 1902

The first football club in Madrid was Football Club Sky, founded in 1897 by students (including some Cambridge and Oxford University graduates) from the Institución libre de enseñanza. 
In 1900 FC Sky dissolved, and two new clubs emerged- New Foot-ball Club de Madrid and Club Español de Madrid. The latter was founded by Julián Palacios who in 1902 was involved in the formal foundation of a new club, Madrid Football Club. The driving forces behind Madrid Football Club were (ironically) two Catalan brothers, Juan and Carlos Padrós .

Madrid Football Club chose their colours in honour of the famous English amateur club Corinthians- white jerseys and knickers, blue stockings and cap, and a purple sash with the emblem of Madrid.
Three days after the club's foundation a trial match was played between 'Reds' and 'Blues': 
Reds: J. Giralt, Melendez, Molera, Salvador, Valcárcel, Spottorno, Stampher, J. Palacios, Varela, Celada,Good.
Blues: Meléndez, J. Padrós, Spottorno, Gorostizaga, Mendía, Paramo, Neyra, A. Giralt, F. Palacios, Martens, Rodero.
The Blues won 1-0.

Carlos Padros, inspired by the Catalan Copa Macaya, initiated  the Copa de la Coronación in 1902. It was in this tournament that on May 13th, 1902, Madrid played their first ever game against their arch rivals Barcelona, losing 3-1.
On April 18th 1905 Madrid sealed their first Copa del Rey victory when they beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 (the first time Athletic Bilbao had lost a Copa fixture). This was the first of four successive Copa wins for Madrid.

1905

  In 1920 King Alfonso XIII awarded the club the title Real (Royal) .

Campeonato de España – Copa de Su Majestad el Rey de Fútbol 1903

Athletic Bilbao 1903: Alejandro Acha, Luis Silva, Amado Arana , Enrique Goiri, George Cockran (England), Manuel Ansoleaga, Alejandro de la Sota, Eduardo Montejo, Juan de Astorquia, Cazeaux, Walter Evans (England).

 Following on from 1902's Copa de la Coronación, 1903 saw the first edition of the Copa de Su Majestad el Rey de Fútbol- popularly known as the Copa del Rey.

This Round Robin tournament was contested by three teams from three provinces. All matches were played at the Hipódromo in Madrid.

Españyol were beaten 4-0 by Madrid and 4-1 by Bilbao.

In the deciding match a crowd of 5,000 saw Madrid take a 2-0 lead before Bilbao hit 3 second half goals.