Patrick O'Connell is not a name usually associated with the likes
of Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola or Johan Cruyff, yet this is the man
who saved FC Barcelona from financial ruin. Born in Dublin in 1887,
Patrick O'Connell had a successful playing career with Belfast
Celtic, Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United, where
he was involved in one of the most notorious match-fixing football
scandals of his generation. On his retirement from playing,
O'Connell became a successful manager with Ashington but then left
his family in 1922 to work in Spain, first as manager of Racing de
Santander, then Real Oviedo, Real Betis de Sevilla and finally FC
Barcelona. In 1935 'Don Patricio', as he was affectionately known,
managed Betis to their only La Liga title success, as well as
bigamously marrying his second wife. At the outbreak of the Spanish
Civil War in 1936, the President of Barcelona, Josep Sunyol, was
assassinated, leaving the club in crisis. O'Connell took the team
on a tour of Mexico, Cuba and New York and the money they raised
ensured the club's survival. After the Civil War, he returned to
work in Spain before heading to London where, unable to find work,
he died destitute in 1959. This biography was written over many
years by Sue O'Connell, wife of Patrick's grandson, Mike. The
author's access to authentic documents, letters and family
memories, along with her extensive research in England, Ireland,
Spain and Mexico, has allowed her to reconstruct the life of this
remarkable man.
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