Patrick O'Connell (Irish footballer)

Football manager infobox
playername = Patrick O'Connell


fullname = Patrick Joseph O'Connell
dateofbirth = birth date|1887|3|8
cityofbirth = Dublin
countryofbirth = Ireland
dateofdeath = death date and age|1959|2|27|1887|3|8
cityofdeath = St Pancras, London
countryofdeath = England
position = Centre-Half / Half-back
youthyears = 1xxx-1xxx
1xxx-1xxx
youthclubs = Frankfort (Dublin)
Stranville Rovers
years = 190x-1909
1909-1912
1912-1914
1914-1919
1915
1918-1919
191x
1919-1920
1920-1922
clubs = Belfast Celtic
Sheffield Wednesday
Hull City
Manchester United
→ Clapton Orient "(guest)"
→ Rochdale "(guest)"
→ Chesterfield "(guest)"
Dumbarton
Ashington
caps(goals) =
18 (0)
58 (1)
34 (2)
31 (0)
19 (1)
nationalyears = 1912-1919
nationalteam = fb|IRE
nationalcaps(goals) = 6 (0)
manageryears = 1921-1922
1922-1929
1929-1931
1932-1935
1935-1937
1942-1945
1947-1949
managerclubs = Ashington
Racing de Santander
Real Oviedo
Real Betis
FC Barcelona
Sevilla FC
Racing de Santander Patrick Joseph O'Connell (born March 8 1887; died February 27 1959), also known as Paddy O’Connell or Patricio O'Connell, was an Irish footballer and manager. He played as a defender, most notably, for Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Manchester United. As an international he captained Ireland and was a member of the team that won the 1914 British Home Championship. However O'Connell is probably best remembered for managing several clubs in La Liga. In 1935 he led Real Betis to their one and only La Liga title and during the Spanish Civil War he took FC Barcelona on a tour of North America. Despite these successes, he died destitute in London in 1959.

Club career

Early years

O'Connell played junior football in his home city of Dublin with several clubs, including Frankfort, later to become founder members of the League of Ireland [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesi/ierhist.html www.rsssf.com] ] , and Stranville Rovers, before joining Belfast Celtic [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2008/02/pat-oconnell.html Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats] ] . In March 1909, together with left-back Peter Warren, he was transferred from Celtic to Sheffield Wednesday for a combined fee of £50 [ "The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club" (2007) Tony Matthews] .

heffield Wednesday

A terrific performer in the heart of the defence, O’Connell made his English First Division debut for Sheffield Wednesday against Bury on the last day of the 1908-09 season. However in subsequent seasons he was unable to establish himself as a regular in the Wednesday first team due to competition from English McConnell, Jimmy Spoors and Bob McSkimming. As a result he made just 21 senior appearances, 18 in the league and 3 in the FA Cup. However while with Wednesday, O'Connell made two of his six international appearances for Ireland [ "The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club" (2007) Tony Matthews] .

Hull City

O'Connell left Sheffield Wednesday for Hull City in March 1912 and subsequently made 58 Second Division appearances for City during the 1912-13 and 1913-14 seasons. While with City he also made a further three appearances for Ireland [ "The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club" (2007) Tony Matthews] .

Manchester United

O'Connell’s impressive performances with Ireland attracted the attention of Manchester United who he signed for in May 1914 for a fee of £1,000 [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2008/02/pat-oconnell.html Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats] ] . During the 1914-15 season he served as United team captain, made 34 First Division appearances and scored twice. He also played one further game for the club in the FA Cup. He made his league debut and scored his first goal for the club on September 2 1914 in a 3-1 home defeat against Oldham Athletic. He scored his second goal on April 10 1915 in a 2-2 home draw with Middlesbrough and made his final English League appearance for the club on April 26 in a 1-0 home win against Aston Villa [ [http://www.btinternet.com/~keano16/manupag/legends/oconnellpag/oconnell.html Manchester United fansite] ] [ " Manchester United - The Complete Record" (2007) Andrew Endlar] .

O'Connell’s time at United saw the club finish eighteen out of twenty, narrowly avoiding relegation by a single point. He also became embroiled in the infamous 1915 British football betting scandal. On April 2 1915 relegation threatened United defeated mid-table Liverpool 2-0 in a home league game. It subsequently emerged that the game was fixed by a small group of players from both sides. David Goldblatt ["The Ball Is Round" (2007) David Goldblatt] argues that the players concern was not who went up or down the league, but due the First World War, that there would be no league at all the following season. Believing they would soon be unemployed, the players arranged a betting pool and backed United to win 2-0. This was the score when O'Connell took a penalty which went well wide ["Don Patricio O’Connell:An Irishman and the Politics of Spanish Football" (2008) Jimmy Burns [http://www.irlandeses.org/0803burns1.htm pg. 1] ] O'Connell escaped punishment but three of his team mates - Sandy Turnbull, Arthur Whalley and Enoch West - and four Liverpool players later received lifetime suspensions from the Football Association ["The Man Utd Miscellany" (2007) Andy Mitten] . During the war, O'Connell remained a United player and also guested for Clapton Orient, Rochdale and Chesterfield [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2008/02/pat-oconnell.html Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats] ] .

Dumbarton

In August 1919 O'Connell moved to Dumbarton and during the 1919-20 season made 31 league appearances and played twice in the Scottish Cup. He made his Scottish League debut as a right-half in a 1-1 draw with Ayr United on August 16 1919, the opening day of the season. His first three appearances for Dumbarton were at right-half while all the rest were at centre-half, with the exception of the home game against Hamilton Academicals on September 27 1919 when he again played at right-half. He made his final appearance for Dumbarton in a 4-3 away defeat against Aberdeen on April 24th 1920 [ [http://www.scottishleague.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461 www.scottishleague.net] ] .

Ashington

O'Connell finished his playing career with Ashington. During his first season with the club, 1920-21, they played in the North Eastern League and finished ninth out of twenty teams. The 1921-22 season saw O'Connell appointed player-coach and Ashington playing in the English Division Three North. O'Connell saw massive changes at Ashington with the clubs league status having changed. Their home ground was upgraded from a typical non-league venue containing no more than a simple seated and covered stand to a stadium designed for 20,000. O'Connell played in the clubs first ever English League fixture, a 1-0 win against Grimsby Town in front of 9,000 supporters. Ashington eventually finished the season in a respectable tenth position with O'Connell making his last appearance for the club in a 2-2 home draw against Southport [ [http://www.ashingtonafc.com/index.php?page=patrick-oconnell www.ashingtonafc.com] ] . In January 1921, while with Ashington, O'Connell also represented the North Eastern League against the Central League [ "The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club" (2007) Tony Matthews] .

Ireland international

Between 1912 and 1919 O'Connell played 6 times for Ireland. He made his international debut on February 10 1912 in a 6-1 defeat against England at Dalymount Park. His team mates on the day included, among others, Billy Scott, Val Harris and Bill Lacey. On March 16 1912 he also played in the 4-l defeat against Scotland at Windsor Park. In 1914 together with Harris, Lacey, Louis Bookman and Billy Gillespie, he was a member of the Irish team that won the 1914 British Home Championship. After beating Wales 2-1 away on January 19 , Ireland then beat England 3-0 at Ayresome Park on February 14. O'Connell then captained the team, while playing with a broken arm, as a ten man Ireland clinched the title with a 1-1 draw against Scotland at Windsor Park on March 14. He made his last appearance for Ireland in a 1919 Victory international against Scotland [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2008/02/pat-oconnell.html Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats] ] [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scot-intres1920.html Scotland results] ] [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres1900.html England results] ] ["Don Patricio O’Connell:An Irishman and the Politics of Spanish Football" (2008) Jimmy Burns [http://www.irlandeses.org/0803burns1.htm pg. 1] ] .

La Liga manager

Racing de Santander

In 1922 O'Connell succeeded Fred Pentland as the manager of Racing de Santander. He subsequently guided the team to five regional titles and in 1928 they became founding members of La Liga. He would later return to Racing for a second spell as manager between 1948 and 1949 [ [http://www.lfp.es/historico/primera/entrenadores/historial.asp?ent=003 La Liga stats] ] ["Don Patricio O’Connell:An Irishman and the Politics of Spanish Football" (2008) Jimmy Burns [http://www.irlandeses.org/0803burns3.htm pg. 3] ] .

Real Oviedo

From September 1929 until May 1931 O'Connell managed Real Oviedo in the Segunda División [ [http://www.telecable.es/personales/emunoz1/entrenad.htm Real Oviedo managers] ]

Real Betis

Between 1931 and 1935 O'Connell managed Real Betis, at the time known as "Betis Balompie". After leading them to the Segunda División title in 1932 he then guided Betis, with a team that included Lecue, to their one and only La Liga title in 1935. Betis won the title on April 28 1935 with a 5-0 win against O'Connell’s former team Racing de Santander. The night before the game, which was played in Santander, O'Connell visited the Racing squad at a hotel where they were staying and allegedly tried to persuade them to lose the game. Betis had to beat Racing to overtake their rivals Real Madrid ["Don Patricio O’Connell:An Irishman and the Politics of Spanish Football" (2008) Jimmy Burns [http://www.irlandeses.org/0803burns3.htm pg. 3] ] .

FC Barcelona

O'Connell’s success with Real Betis attracted the interest of FC Barcelona who appointed him as successor to Franz Platko for the 1935-36 season [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/club/historia/entrenadors/patrickoconell.html www.fcbarcelona.cat] ] . With a squad that included Josep Escolà, Domènec Balmanya, Joan Josep Nogués and Enrique Fernández, O’Connell guided Barça to the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa de España final. In the final they played Real Madrid and with Real leading 2-1, Escolà was denied a late equalizer after a spectacular save by Ricardo Zamora.

During the 1936-37 season La Liga was suspended because of the Spanish Civil War. However clubs in the Republican area of Spain competed in the Mediterranean League and, under O’Connell, FC Barcelona won this title. During the summer of 1937 O’Connell took the club on tour to North America. In Mexico they played against, among others, Club América, CF Atlante, Necaxa and a Mexican XI. In the United States, they played against Brooklyn Hispano, Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic and an American Soccer League XI. They finished the tour with a game against a "Hebrew XI" [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesb/barca-international.html www.rsssf.com] ] [ [http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1937.html The Year in American Soccer - 1937] ] .

In financial terms this tour saved the club, but O’Connell returned to Spain with only four players after the others chose to go into exile in Mexico and France. By the 1937-38 season the Republican area was reduced in size and a second Mediterranean League was impossible to organise. However a Lliga Catalana, featuring just Catalan teams, was organised. Despite a depleted squad, O’Connell and FC Barcelona won both the Lliga Catalana and the Campionat de Catalunya ["Don Patricio O’Connell:An Irishman and the Politics of Spanish Football" (2008) Jimmy Burns [http://www.irlandeses.org/0803burns4.htm pg. 4] ] [ "Barça: A People’s Passion" (1998), Jimmy Burns. [http://www.amazon.com/Barca-Peoples-Passion-Jimmy-Burns/dp/0747545545] ] .

evilla FC

O'Connell went onto manage Sevilla FC between 1942 and 1945. During his first season in charge, 1942-43, he guided the club to second place in La Liga [ [http://www.lfp.es/historico/primera/entrenadores/historial.asp?ent=003 La Liga stats] ] [ [http://www.sevillafc.es/historia/liga11.htm www.sevillafc.es] ] .

Honours

"Player"

Ireland
*British Home Championship
**1914: 1

"Manager"

Racing Santander

*Cantabrian Champions
**"Winners" 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1928-29: 5

Real Betis

*La Liga
**"Winners" 1934-35: 1
*Segunda División
**"Winners" 1931-32: 1

FC Barcelona
*Mediterranean League
**"Winners" 1937: 1
*Lliga Catalana
**"Winners" 1937-38: 1
*Campionat de Catalunya
**"Winners" 1935-36, 1937-38: 2
*Copa de España
**"Runners-Up" 1936: 1

Sevilla FC

*La Liga
**"Runners Up" 1942-43: 1

References

External links

* [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes/increible/Liga/Mr/Connell/elpepudep/20070428elpepidep_5/Tes La increíble Liga de Mr. O'Connell]
* [http://www.footballpoets.org/poem.asp?Id=6671 The Ballad of Patrick O'Connell]