Fred Pentland

Playing career

Pentland began his football career with Avondale Juniors and Willenhall Swifts before joining Football League Second Division club Small Heath in August 1900 at the age of 17. He played for Small Heath's reserves in the Birmingham & District League, but made no senior league appearances, and after the club's promotion to the First Division at the end of the 1900–01 season, it became more difficult to break through. and in 1903 he signed for Blackpool.

Blackpool used him at centre forward: he scored his first senior goal on 26 September, at home to Stockport County, completed a run of five goals in four matches with a double in a 4–1 win away to Burnley on 17 October, and eleven days later, signed for First Division Blackburn Rovers in a deal reported as "a good bargain" for Blackpool. Over the next two and a half seasons, Pentland contributed 9 goals from 51 league appearances as Blackburn twice finished near the foot of the division and once climbed to mid-table. In 1906, the club listed him for transfer at a fee of £250. There were no takers from the Football League, so he moved into the Southern League, initially with Brentford.

He missed only two league matches and contributed twelve goals as Brentford finished in mid-table, but was not retained. He remained in west London with another Southern League club, Queens Park Rangers, who had ended the previous season eight places below Brentford. Under the management of James Cowan, QPR won the 1907–08 title. Playing at outside right, Pentland scored 14 goals from 37 Southern League matches, and was selected for The South to face The North in an international trial. Although his performance in the trial did not earn him selection for his country, he was first reserve at outside right for that season's internationals. It was replayed in August, by which time Pentland had left QPR; although he was reportedly keen to play, and the Football Association granted special dispensation for his inclusion, QPR's directors did not select him because, according to the Kilburn Times, he had been insistent on leaving the club despite being offered the maximum salary.

In June 1908, Pentland returned to the First Division with Middlesbrough, who had to pay fees to both clubs with an interest in the player: £350 to Queens Park Rangers and £150 to Blackburn Rovers. Playing with such teammates as Alf Common and Steve Bloomer, he helped Middlesbrough finish ninth in his first season, He made only one first-team appearance in 1911–12, to take his totals to 11 goals from 96 appearances in all senior competition.

In August 1912 he joined Halifax Town, newly admitted to the Midland League. He scored freely, finishing the season as the club's top scorer, With the club in straitened financial circumstances, he was sold to Southern League Stoke in February for a substantial fee. He remained with Stoke until December of that year, contributing six league goals in twelve appearances, before returning to Halifax where his career ended a few months later through injury.

Prisoner in Germany

After retiring as a player, Pentland went to Berlin in 1914 to take charge of the German Olympic football team.

Pentland was one of several former professional footballers at Ruhleben. Others included former club teammates and fellow England internationals, Samuel Wolstenholme and Steve Bloomer, a Scotland international, John Cameron, a German international Edwin Dutton, and John Brearley, once of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. On 2 May 1915 an England XI featuring Pentland, Wolstenholme, Brearley and Bloomer played a World XI captained by Cameron. Towards the end of the war an international triangular tournament called the Coupe de Allies, featuring a British XI, a French XI and a Belgium XI, was organised.

Olympic Games with France

In 1919, rebuilt AS Strasbourg, formerly Straßburger FV, appointed Pentland as manager-coach. In 1920 Pentland coached France at the Olympic Games. France received a bye to the quarter-final stages where they beat Italy 3–1. However, in the semi-finals they lost 4–1 to Czechoslovakia. The final stages of the tournament descended into farce and France missed out on the opportunity to win the silver medal. The host nation, Belgium won the gold medal by default after Czechoslovakia walked off in protest during the final, unhappy with the performance of the referee and the conditions surrounding the match. As a result, they were disqualified and a second consolation tournament was organised to decide the silver and bronze medallists. However France and Pentland, presuming the competition was over, had already returned home and Spain eventually won the silver medal.

Manager in Spain

In 1920 Pentland joined Racing de Santander but after one season he was hired by Athletic Club de Bilbao. He revolutionised the way Athletic Club played, favouring the short-passing game, and in 1923 he led the club to victory in the Copa del Rey. He spent the next season with Real Oviedo, In 1927 he returned to Athletic Madrid and was manager during the inaugural La Liga season. In May 1929 he helped coach the Spain national team, under manager José María Mateos, when they beat England 4–3 at Athletic Madrid's Metropolitano Stadium. As a result, Spain became the first non-British team to beat England.

In 1929 Pentland rejoined Athletic Club de Bilbao. He subsequently led them to La Liga–Copa del Rey "doubles" in 1930 and 1931. In 1931 he also masterminded Athletic's 12–1 victory over Barcelona, the latter's worst ever defeat.

In 1933 he joined Athletic Madrid for a third time but returned to England at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

• La Liga: 1929–30, 1930–31
• Copa del Rey: 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933

Atlético Madrid

• Copa del Rey runner-up: 1926

References

References

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42. {{ENFA