Miles Barron
![]() Barron with the West Auckland team in Barcelona in 1912 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 1871 | ||
Place of birth | Waterhouses,County Durham,England[1] | ||
Date of death | 9 September 1924 | (aged 52–53)||
Managerial career | |||
Years | Team | ||
West Auckland | |||
1912 | Barcelona |
Miles Coverdale Stocks[a]Barron(1871 – 9 September 1924) was an Englishfootballadministrator and manager.
Personal life
[edit]Miles Barron was born in 1871 inWaterhouses,aboroughlocated to the west of the city ofDurham.[3]The exact date of birth is not known, but he was registered in the civil registry of Durham between July and September of that year.[3]Barron, the eldest of four children, was born to John Barron (1840–1915), acolliery managerfrom Durham, and Grace Stocks (1841–1913).[3][4]
As a young man, Barron was an employee of Pease and Partners Ltd, the same company for which his father worked.[3]Barron married Mary Ann Bird in 1893, and they initially settled in the town of Lynesack and later inSt Helen Auckland,both near West Auckland.[1][3]They had five children.[3]Barron was afreemasonmember of theUnited Grand Lodge of Englandfrom 1905.[3]
Career
[edit]Asurveyorby trade, Barron, who never played senior football, served as club secretary for several football clubs in the North East of his native England, notably organizing trips to face European opposition.[5]Most notable of these European trips was withWest Auckland Football Club,an amateur team made up of coalminers fromCounty Durham,who defeated Swiss oppositionFC Winterthurin 1909 to claim the inauguralSir Thomas Lipton Trophy.[6]These events were later dramatized in the 1982 television movie,The World Cup: A Captain's Tale,with Barron being portrayed byRichard Griffiths.[3][5]However, despite beating Italian sideJuventustwo years later to win the competition again, the club met with financial hardship and were forced to disband.[5][6]
These exploits in Europe caught the eye ofBarcelonapresidentJoan Gamper,who invited Barron to become head coach of Barcelona in 1912.[5]Barron accepted and was therefore appointed as manager upon his arrival.[6]Between September and December 1912, Barron managed Barcelona in twelvefriendly matches,and alsorefereedtwo of them.[3]After having coached the team in local matches for several months,[2]he was tasked with assembling a squad of British players for Barcelona to test its strength[6]in their Christmas friendlies.[2]The British team he brought over, known as the West Auckland Wanderers, was composed of numerous members of the West Auckland side that had won two Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy titles under Barron.[4][5]
The sides faced off three times at theCamp de la Indústria,with the results being one win for each and one draw.[3]They played their first game onChristmas Dayof 1912: a 3–3 draw, in which Barcelona's goals were scored by two British players,Alex SteelandFrank Allack.[5][6]The second game resulted in a 4–0 loss for Barcelona, but in the final fixture, played on 29 December, Steel scored two goals in a 2–0 victory for the Catalan club.[5][6]Following this, Gamper attempted to persuade Barron to continue as head coach, an offer which Barron declined in order to return to his family; he resumed his previous career as a surveyor.[4][5][6]
Despite leaving Barcelona, his impact was longer-lasting: the visiting West Auckland squad includedgoalkeeperJack Alderson,who replaced Barron as coach.[7][2]Former West Auckland player, and friend of Barron,Jack Greenwell,who had joined Barcelona as a player at the same time as Barron's arrival, also decided to stay in Barcelona after those friendlies and went on to replace Alderson and manage the side for two separate spells.[3][5]
In Spanish newspapers, Barron's name was rendered incorrectly more often than not, with various different spellings, though football historians have identified them as him.[2]Incorrectly named "B. Barren" on Barcelona's official website[4][6](and earlier as "John Barrow" ),[8]he is listed as the club's second official coach, afterBilly Lambe,who had served as player-manager earlier in 1912, although Barren was the first one to be specifically contracted by Barça as a full-time manager.[5][7]
Later life and death
[edit]Barron would not remain in football, and with the onset of theFirst World Warin 1914, he and his son Percy were commissioned into theRoyal Engineers,[3]serving in theSalonika campaign,where he contractedmalaria.[5][6]The disease affected most of his later life, and he eventually succumbed to it, dying on 9 September 1924, at the age of 52.[5][6]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcLloyd, Chris (22 April 2009)."A weekend in Italy would have been an enormous adventure".thenorthernecho.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 2 February 2023.Retrieved3 February2023.
- ^abcde"Descubriendo a Mr. Barron"[Discovering Mr. Barron].www.sport.es(in Spanish). 22 January 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 17 January 2024.Retrieved17 January2024.
- ^abcdefghijkl"L'entrenador desconegut del Barça: Mr. Barron"[The unknown coach of Barça: Mr. Baron].memoriesfutbolcatala.com(in Catalan). 6 January 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 17 January 2024.Retrieved17 January2024.
- ^abcd"The mystery Englishman who became Barca's first boss".soccersport.club.2 February 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 15 January 2024.Retrieved10 January2024.
- ^abcdefghijklWest, Andy (2 February 2023)."Barcelona: Englishman Miles Barron revealed as club's first manager".bbc.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 2 February 2023.Retrieved2 February2023.
- ^abcdefghij"Miles Barron: The story behind Barcelona's mysterious first full-time manager".www.90min.com.5 February 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 10 January 2024.Retrieved10 January2024.
- ^ab"Miles Barron (1912)".www.fcbarcelona.com.Archivedfrom the original on 2 February 2023.Retrieved2 February2023.
- ^"John Barrow".archive.today.Archived fromthe originalon 30 July 2012.Retrieved2 February2023.
- 1871 births
- 1924 deaths
- People from County Durham
- English football managers
- FC Barcelona managers
- English expatriate football managers
- English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
- Expatriate football managers in Spain
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Royal Engineers officers
- Military personnel from County Durham