Patrick O'Connell

The above sculpture celebrates Betis Balompié's La Liga win in 1935. Among the names on the sculpture is that of Betis' manager- former Manchester United captain Patrick O'Connell.  The team (currently Real Betis) had been promoted as winners of the 1931–32 Segunda División.

Patrick O'Connell wasn't among the 7 players suspended as a result of the Football Association's investigation into the 1915 betting scandal. There must have been some doubts, however, over his penalty miss in the Good Friday match against Liverpool that gave rise to the charges. 

Liverpool Daily Post - 03.04.15

O'Connell was raised in Dublin but began his professional football career with Belfast Celtic. 
After spells with The Wednesday (where he struggled to hold a first team place) and Hull City, O'Connell joined Manchester United in 1914, by which time he had represented Ireland 6 times. 

O'Connell was captain of Manchester United at the time of the match fixing affair.
 In 1919 he moved to Dumbarton.
 O'Connell returned to England in 1920, joining Ashington of the North Eastern League. The following season Ashington joined the Third Division (north) and O'Connell was player manager.

O'Connell moved to Spain in 1922 and was manager of Racing Santander for 7 years. he then moved to Real Oviedo before joining Betis in 1932. Following the La Liga success O'Connell moved on to Barcelona. He continued coaching in Spain until 1949.

La Liga 1929 - 1936

A director of the Basque club Arenas Club de Getxo first proposed a national league for the whole of Spain. 

The Real Federación Española de Fútbol selected 10 clubs to make up the original Primera División:  

Barcelona Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao Real Sociedad Arenas Club de Getxo Real Unión Irun	Selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey
Atlético Madrid Espanyol Europa	Selected as previous runners up in  Copa del Rey
Racing de Santander	Qualified via tournament

1928-29 Barcelona
No Camp Nou (les Courts) or Bernabau (Estadio Chamartín), but a familiar look to the top of the first ever La Liga table, with Barcelona beating Real Madrid by two points. 

1929–30 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao were to emerge as the dominant team of the era. They won La Liga by 7 points from Barcelona,with a goal difference of +35 in an undefeated season.

1930–31 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Racing de Santander all finished the season on 22 points, but a goal difference of +40 ensured that Bilbao retained the title. 

1931–32 Madrid CF (Real Madrid)
Madrid  (no longer 'Royal' due to Spain becoming a Republic) won La Liga for the first time, going through the season undefeated with 28 points. 

1932–33  Madrid CF (Real Madrid)
28 points again won it for Madrid.

1933–34 Athletic Bilbao
Having finished runners up to Madrid in the two previous seasons Bilbao turned the tables, scoring 61 goals in the process (goal difference +34).

1934–35 Betis Balompié 
La Liga was expanded to 12 teams.
Managed by Patrick O'Connell, (an Irish international who had played for The Wednesday, Hull City and Manchester United) the side now known as Real Betis won their only La Liga title to date.

1935–36 Athletic Bilbao
A return to form for  Athletic Bilbao. They beat reigning champions Betis 7-0 at home (Bilbao scored 4 or more goals in 7 of their 11 home games).
Betis finished only 7th as they lost players to more affluent clubs. 
Real Oviedo's Isidro Lángara was top scorer for the third consecutive season (an aggregate of  81 goals in 61 league games).

The Fascist invasion of Republican Spain then led to The Civil War. Football was suspended and on its resumption in 1940 many surviving players who had supported the Republic were forced into permanent exile in South America.