Until now, the identity of Barcelona’s first manager has been shrouded in mystery.
Official club records only mention him as ‘B. Bare’, noting that he was an Englishman who was in charge for a brief period in 1912.
New research has revealed the truth about this football pioneer, with a history stretching back to the Durham coalfields and the first ‘World Cup’.
Here is the story of Barcelona’s first manager, Miles Coverdale Stocks Barron.
The British influence of early Barça
Futbol Club Barcelona was founded in 1899 by Swiss athlete and businessman Hans Gamper, who remained at the helm for more than two decades and later adapted his first name to the Catalan version, Joan.
Gamper was highly ambitious and he quickly made Barça a force in the nascent Spanish football scene, winning the Spanish Cup in 1910 and funding the construction of a new stadium.
But Gamper realized that his side were still well below the level of the continent’s top clubs and – like many early innovators of Spanish futbol – he drew inspiration from the source of the modern game: British football. He first raised the standards by signing a series of players including Alex Steel (formerly of Manchester City and Tottenham) and Billy Lambe (ex-Brighton and Hove Albion), the latter also serving as player/manager.
This, however, was not enough to satisfy Gamper, who also wanted to appoint a full-time manager and administrator to manage the team’s affairs off the pitch rather than handing these important duties to a player.
At this point, most likely through another of his British recruits, Jack Greenwell, Gamper was introduced to Miles “Sidney” Barron.
The winner of the “World Cup” in Barcelona
The full story of Barron’s involvement with Barcelona has been researched by Gavin Jamieson of Lapwing Publishing, who told BBC Sport: “Born in 1871, Barron was a surveyor, the son of a Durham mine manager.
“He was never a footballer but had been general secretary for a few amateur teams in the north-east, and was a very good organizer of European trips.”
These European exploits were Barron’s greatest attraction to Gamper, who knew Barron had been the manager of West Auckland Football Club, an amateur team of County Durham coal miners.
West Auckland – with Greenwell as a key player – had achieved fame in 1909 when they beat FC Winterthur of Switzerland to win the first Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, later dubbed the first ‘World Cup’, and then retained the trophy two years later with a 6-1 victory over Juventus in Turin.
But West Auckland, whose triumphs were made into a TV movie starring Dennis Waterman in 1982 (“The World Cup: the story of a captain”), quickly fell into financial difficulties and, only a year after that glorious victory against Juventus, the club disbanded.
It did, however, mean that their manager Barron was available, and after traveling to Barcelona to meet Gamper in the autumn of 1912, he was appointed the club’s first full-time manager.
One of Gamper’s priorities was to test his team’s playing strengths and promote his club by staging matches against top-notch overseas opponents. Barron – along with Barca management – has been tasked with assembling an England squad to travel to Barcelona for a series of friendlies.
Barron returned to his native northeast to assemble a squad, including players from his triumphant ‘world champion’ West Auckland FC. They traveled to Barcelona for three games at Christmas 1912 under the new name West Auckland Wanderers, all expenses paid by Gamper.
A famous victory
All three games attracted a lot of local attention among fans and media, with sold-out crowds flocking to Barca’s recently opened Camp Del Carrer Industria stadium for the first game on Christmas Day.
“When the West Auckland team arrived in Barcelona, they were treated like celebrities by a crowd of footballers who witnessed their own team’s transition from amateurs to professionals. Playing against an England team was seen as a major test,” Jamieson said.
“The first game was a thrilling 3-3 draw, with two of Barcelona’s goals coming from their British players, Alex Steel and Frank Allack. They played again the next day and Wanderers proved their class by winning 4-0. But the final match was played on December 29 and this time Barcelona got the victory their fans dreamed of: Steel scored both goals in a 2-0 win, and Barron coached Barca to a famous victory against his illustrious visitors from England.”
Gamper was delighted with his new coach and tried to persuade him to stay, but Barron opted instead to return home to his family and his full-time job as a colliery surveyor. Unfortunately, external events then intervened to prevent him from having more impact in the world of football.
“With the start of the First World War, Barron was commissioned into the Royal Engineers,” Jamieson explained. “While serving in Salonika, like so many Allied soldiers, he contracted malaria and this would affect his health for the rest of his life. In 1924, at the age of 52, he succumbed to the disease and is dead.”
Lasting legacy
Barron’s stay at Barcelona was brief, but his legacy proved to be lasting, particularly after his former player, friend and fellow County Durham player Greenwell decided to stay at Barcelona.
Greenwell ended his playing career with the club and was later appointed manager, becoming one of the most important figures in Barca history overseeing a glorious era in the early 1920s and enjoying the longest stay of all Barcelona coaches except Johan Cruyff.
Greenwell’s place in Barca’s record books is already well known and now Barron’s story can also be added.
