Freddie Pentland

Freddie Pentland was a gun manufacturer’s assistant before starting a football career in 1898 with junior West Midland clubs Avondale Juniors and Willenhall Swifts, before joining Small Heath (Now Birmingham City). In 1903 Pentland joined Football League club Blackpool and then saw moves to Blackburn Rovers, Brentford, Queen’s Park Rangers (with whom he won his only domestic playing honour, the 1908 Southern League title), and Middlesbrough, and, in 1912, he was appointed player/manager of Halifax Town. He played a few games for Stoke FC before returning to Halifax where he suffered a knee injury in April 1914, which ended his playing career. Pentland was capped by England five times and made his début in England’s 100th international in 1909, but was injured after just 15 minutes.

In 1914 Pentland was appointed the German national coach with a view to taking them to the 1916 Olympics but, instead, he was held in a civilian internment camp. After World War I, Pentland was appointed coach to the French team at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics and shortly afterwards embarked on a 15-year career coaching in Spain, starting at Racing Santander in 1920. He also coached at Real Oviedo, Atlético Madrid, and Athletic Bilbao, where he enjoyed his greatest success. In two spells, with the Basque club, Pentland won the Spanish league twice, in 1930 and 1931, and the Spanish Cup five times 1923, 1930-33. In 1930, they were the first team to complete the Spanish League and Cup double, a feat they repeated the following year. Pentland won 79 of the 115 matches that he was in charge of at Bilbao.

In May 1929, Pentland was coach to the Spanish national team, under manager Jose Maria Mateos, when they became the first foreign side to beat England, winning 4-3 at Madrid. Pentland left Spain at the outbreak of Spanish Civil War in 1936 and moved back to England as assistant manager at Brentford before becoming manager of Barrow from 1938, up to the outbreak of World War II.