Patrick O'Connell's life story takes some telling.
A footballer whose talent took him from Ireland to England and the Manchester United captaincy. A man who was embroiled in one of football's biggest betting scandals and who left his wife and children for a second life in Spain. A manager who is regarded as the saviour of Barcelona and who took Real Betis to their sole La Liga title.
With Betis and United meeting for the first time in a competitive fixture this week, O'Connell's tale is a timely one. He's revered in Spain. Indeed travelling United fans heading to the Benito Villamarín Stadium for the second leg of the Europa League tie next week will be able to see a bust honouring the Irishman outside the stadium.
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His Betis side usurped the giants of Real Madrid to claim the 1935 Championship. Eighty eight years on it remains the only time the side from Sevilla have been crowned Champions.
It earned O'Connell a job at Barcelona where, with the Spanish Civil War raging, he was at the helm during a tumultuous period of the club's history. They were saved from bankruptcy only by touring foreign shores for money, Harlem Globetrotters style. The squad sailed to Mexico and then New York for exhibition games and the revenue preserved Barca. His name is etched in Nou Camp history, just as it is in Betis where he was affectionately known as 'Don Patricio.'
"At Betis, what he did was really special," says Sue O'Connell, wife of Patrick's grandson Mike and author of the book The Man Who Saved FC Barcelona, which this year is being translated into Catalan. "They remember him to this day because that is the only time they have ever won La Liga.
"We went to Seville and my husband was in a bar. His Spanish is not particularly good and the bar man was asking if we were tourists. Mike said we were there for a particular reason, beacuse of Patrick.
"The bloke who ran the bar stopped, ran upstairs and came down with a picture of Patrick! Because he won La Liga he was so big there. It was a big thing for them and it was a big thing for us to see that they had a picture of him in the bar.
"We were out there for a big event because they had a presentation of a bust of Patrick which was done by one of Ireland's leading sculptors. That was very special indeed."
Certainly O'Connell was famous in Spain, but there was the infamous side too. While in Seville he re-married despite still being wed to his first wife who he had left in England along with their four children when moving abroad. The bigamy was something of an open secret and was one part of an off-field life that could perhaps be politley described as colourful.
While a player at United, where he had risen to captain, O'Connell became embroiled in a betting scandal that rocked English football. He'd moved to Old Trafford in 1914 for £1,000 - a huge sum at the time - and was named skipper the following January.
By now the First World War had taken hold but the Football League season continued to a conclusion with United at the wrong end of the table and facing the drop. The uncertainty around the prospect of football, and therefore wages, being stopped due to the War provided the backdrop for the scandal during an April game with mid-table Liverpool.
United needed a win and they got it, prevailing 2-0. But that doesn't begin to tell the story of one of the most controversial games in English football history. Spectators were convinced something was afoot and after the game bookies reported large amounts of money waged on a 2-0 United win at odds of 7-1.
The Football Association investigated and ruled that seven players had conspired to fix the result. O'Connell was not among them, but he was called to London as part of the inquiry. He'd blazed a penalty so far wide at 1-0 that he couldn't possibly be exempt from examination. Whether he missed on purpose, knowing what was to come, or if the spot kick failure was just a woeful effort that suggests his innocence, remains unknown. What is certain is that he avoided punishment.
"Who knows what his exact involvement was," continues Sue. "Players were banned for life but Patrick wasn't. There was an inquiry in London and he went down there. He had a touch of the Blarney and made the committee laugh and came up with the right things at the right time and was let off. I think three United players were banned for life and he wasn't. He had a habit of getting involved in things."
That's one way of putting it. O'Connell spent the war working in a munitions factory in London and ended his playing career with Scottish side Dumbarton and Ashington in Northumberland, where he became player manager and laid the foundations for his move to Spain - a country that had largely been introduced to football by the English and continued to look there for talent. It wasn't a path trodden by too many in the 1920s but that seems appropriate for O'Connell, whose life and career was anything but ordinary.
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