Jack Greenwell was born in Crook, County Durham, on 2 January 1884. The son of a miner, he became a miner himself after leaving school and played as a wing half for Crook Town of the English Northern League from the age of 17. He also played with West Auckland as a guest player in their Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy success in 1909. He made his debut as player for Barcelona on 29 September 1912 in a 4–2 win over FC Espanya de Barcelona. In 1913, Greenwell arranged for his former team Crook Town to play a series of games against Barcelona. The visiting English team beat them 4–2 and then held them to 1–1 and 2–2 draws. Together with a very young Paulino Alcántara, Francisco Bru and Romà Forns, Greenwell subsequently helped Barcelona win the Catalan championship in 1912–13 and 1915–16.
Management career
In Spain
After retiring as a player, he was appointed manager of Barcelona by the club president, Joan Gamper, and made his managerial debut on 7 July 1917 in a 3–1 win over CE Europa. He would eventually take charge of the club for 492 games and coached the club during their first "golden age". He survived early calls for his resignation after experimenting with Alcántara as a defender and went on to lead the club to four Campionats de Catalunya and two Copas del Rey. As well as Alcántara, the Barça team under Greenwell also included Sagibarba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko. At Barcelona, Greenwell was noted for his innovative approach to tactics, focussing on developing a passing game and building attacks from the back rather than concentrating on dribbling past opponents. After leaving Barcelona in 1923 Greenwell went on to manage their local rivals RCD Español. In 1928 he led them into the inaugural La Liga, but the club only managed to finish seventh. However, Español made up for their disappointing league form by winning both the Campionat de Catalunya and their first ever Copa del Rey in 1929. With a team that included Ricardo Zamora and Ricardo Saprissa, Greenwell guided Español through the early rounds, beating Sporting de Gijón and Arenas Club de Getxo. In the quarter finals they beat Athletic Madrid 9–3 on aggregate before beating eventual La Liga champions Barcelona 3–1 in the semi-finals and Real Madrid 2–1 in the final. Greenwell remained in charge of Español for one more season but failed to win another trophy. Greenwell returned to Barcelona for two further seasons in 1931, and guided the club to a fifth Campionat de Catalunya in 1931–32. After leaving Barcelona for a second time, Greenwell joined Valencia for the 1933–34 season. The club only finished seventh in La Liga but won the Campeonato de Valencia and reached the Copa de España final. The game saw Greenwell face old acquaintances Samitier and Zamora, now playing for Real Madrid. The Madrid club, at the time known as Madrid CF, beat Valencia 2–1 in the final.
In South America
Greenwell, along with his English wife Doris, fled the Spanish Civil War. After briefly coaching in Turkey, he went to in Peru in 1939, as manager of both Universitario de Deportes and the Peruvian national team. He coached Universitario as they won the national championship. The same year saw Peru host the South American Championship. Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil all withdrew before the competition started, so the remaining five countries, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru formed a single mini-league with each team playing all the others once. Uruguay and Peru both won their first three games so when they met in the final round, the game was effectively a final. Peru won 2-1 and became South American champions. In 1940, Greenwell moved to the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, and worked with the Colombian national team in their buildup to the 1942 Central American and Caribbean Games. However, the city's games were postponed due to the worsening political situation during World War II, eventually being held in 1946. In 1942 he joined Independiente Santa Fe, with whom he reached the finals of the Torneo de Cundinamarca, which the team lost against América de Cali. Later that year he died there of a heart attack whilst driving home from a training session. He was survived by his wife and their daughter, Carmen.
