Pentland, Frederick

Before joining Blackpool in 1903, Pentland worked as an assistant gunsmith and played for various youth teams around Birmingham . At Blackpool, he stayed for a short time and soon moved to Blackburn Rovers , where he played until 1906. After one season later held at Brentford , the player joined the Queens Park Rangers and helped her win the Southern League Championship in 1908. Pentland subsequently participated in the first ever Super Bowl match in England , in which the Queens Park Rangers lost to the winner of the First Division of the Football League - Manchester United . In 1908, Pentland moved to Middlesbrough , where he performed with Alf Common and Steve Bloomer . In the same period, the footballer was involved in the games of the England national football team , for which he spent 5 games, including in 1909 he participated in the draw of the UK Home Championship , where England won. In 1912, Pentland moved to Halifax Town as a playing coach, and then completed his playing career at Stoke City .

After completing his football career, Pentland traveled to Berlin in 1914 to head the German national soccer Olympic team . However, a few months later the First World War broke out , and the Englishman Pentland was placed in Ruleben , a civilian prisoner of war camp located in the Spandau district of Berlin. The camp contained from 4 to 5 thousand people. Gradually, a small society developed in the camp, among which sport, and in particular, football, became one of the most popular entertainments. A cup and a soccer championship were organized, in the games of which at least 1000 prisoners of the camp participated. Pentland became one of the organizers, and he also played football. He became chairman of the Rulebane Football Association and wrote notes about football in a magazine published in the camp.

In addition to Pentland, Rulebane also included other players: former England partners Samuel Wollstenholm and Steve Bloomer , veteran of the English national team Fred Spiksley , Scottish national team player John Cameron , as well as the pre-war German national team player Edwin Dutton and famous for playing for Everton and Tottenham Hotspur John Brirlie . May 2, 1915 England XI team with Pentland, Wolstenholm, Brirli and Bloomer held a match with the rest of the world XI , the captain of which was Cameron. Towards the end of the war, the Coupe de Allies Cup tournament was held, to participate in which teams were formed representing Britain, France and Belgium. Fred Pentland remained in the camp until the very end of the war, after which he returned to England. After recovering from a camp in a hospital in the west of England, Pentland married a military widow who worked there as a nurse.

In 1920, Pentland led the French Olympic football team , which participated in the Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp. The team played in the tournament immediately from the quarter finals, where it successfully outplayed the Italian team with a score of 3: 1. In the semifinals, the French lost to the Czechoslovak team 1: 4. Further events at the Olympic football tournament unfolded as follows - the Czechoslovak national team that reached the final during the final match left the field in protest against the refereeing and was disqualified. A consolation tournament was organized for silver and bronze medals, in which the French refused to take part and left the game in full force.

In 1920, Pentland led the Spanish club Racing from Santander , but a year later was invited to Athletic Bilbao . He completely rebuilt the team’s game, focusing on the game in a short pass. In 1923, he led Athletic Bilbao to victory in the Spanish Cup . In 1925, Pentland left Bilbao and became the head coach of Madrid Athletics and in 1926 brought the capital's club to the cup final. He then left Madrid and headed the Oviedo Club for one season. In 1927, he returned to Athletic from Madrid and won with him in the Central Championship ( Campeonato del Centro ). In the year the Spanish League was created, Pentland also held the position of head coach of the Madrid team. In 1929, an English specialist was an assistant coach of the Spanish national team, Jose Maria Mateosa, in a match against England, held in Madrid at the Athletics stadium - Metropolitano , and ended with the Spanish victory with a score of 4: 3 ^[1] . The Spanish team was the first non-British team to defeat England.

In 1929, Pentland again stood at the helm of Athletics from Bilbao. In subsequent years, he led the club to a double in the national championship and cup in 1930 and 1931. Under his leadership, a club from the Basque country for four consecutive years (1930-1933) became the owner of the Spanish Cup, and also ranked second in the Spanish Championship in 1932 and 1933. The Athletic Bilbao of Pentland was famous for its strong line of attack, including driven forward, such as Bata and Guillermo Gorostis , who won the Pichichi Trophy . In 1931, Athletic Bilbao also won a record victory at Barcelona with a score of 12: 1, this result has not been surpassed so far. In 1933, Pentland became the mentor of Athletics Madrid for the third time, but was soon forced to return to England due to the outbreak of civil war in Spain.

Returning to England, Pentland briefly worked as an assistant coach at Brentford, after which in January 1938 he became the head of the Barrow club of the third division of England. In the 1939/40 season, football league competitions were interrupted due to the outbreak of World War II . In June 1940, his work at the club was completed.

In 1959, Athletic invited Pentland to Spain for a match with Chelsea specially organized in honor of him and awarded the coach with a commemorative medal. After the death of Pentland in 1962, Athletic held a memorial service in his honor at San Mamez Stadium. Fred Pentland is buried in the village of Litchett-Matravers in Dorset .

As a player

• Southern Football League Champion (1): 1907/08 (Queens Park Rangers)
• UK Home Championship (1): 1909 (England)

Coaching Achievements

• Central Championship Winner (Spain) (1): 1927/28 (Athletic Madrid)
• Winner of the Bizkaia Championship (Spain) (5): 1923/24, 1924/25, 1930/31, 1931/32, 1932/33 (Athletic Bilbao)
• Champion of Spain (2): 1929/30, 1930/31 (Athletic Bilbao)
• Spanish Cup Winner (5): 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 (Athletic Bilbao)

• Statistics at www.englandfootballonline.com
• Fred Pentland at Rulebane