THE NORTHUMBRIAN COAST ISN'T THE SPOT YOU HOPE TO TRACK DOWN A STATION OF BETICOS, YET ON SUNDAY A BAND OF BLYTH SPARTANS FANS WILL WEAR THE GREEN AND WHITE STRIPES WORE BY BOTH THEIR INCLINED TOWARD CLUBS TO HELP REAL BETIS IN THEIR DERBY AGAINST SEVILLA.
It is a story that has establishes in Dublin, Seville and Blyth, ranges a large portion of a century and bases on an Irishman who captained Manchester United, won Real Betis their main La Liga title and was proclaimed as the friend in need of Barcelona.
An enthusiasm for club tones was the underlying fascination for the individuals who framed the Blyth Betis Pena, however they presently have many devotees and will gather in Newcastle to watch the game as a component of an occasion coordinated by La Liga.
Anyway it is a fan bunch that has accomplished something other than help from a far distance, scratching their own page in Betis history by protecting the tradition of the club's best however frequently neglected mentor.
Whenever the Blyth Betis Pena learned of Patrick O'Connell's story, and that he was covered in a homeless person's grave in London, they set with regards to fund-raising to give an appropriate gravestone and assist with giving a really fitting last resting place.
It was a mission that accumulated help from players like Johan Cruyff, Oliver Kahn, Martin O'Neill, Franz Beckenbauer and Luis Figo, and finished with the gathering introducing a bust of the Irishman to the club before 37,000 fans on the pitch at Real Betis' Benito Villamarin Stadium.
"We could barely handle it, no one knew where he was for a very long time," Simon Needham, secretary of the Blyth Betis Pena, told BBC Sport.
"A refined man who captained Manchester United and Ireland, took Real Betis to the title and oversaw Barcelona during the [Spanish] Civil War, wound up a beggar in London and was covered in a plain grave."
Who was 'Wear Patricio'?
The unbelievable Dublin-conceived O'Connell has a foot in the two camps of 'El Gran Derbi', having overseen Betis and Sevilla, however it was with the previous he is generally profoundly respected.
He likewise flaunts a captivating story, one that was made into a film canceled 'Wear Patricio' the rear of the Blyth Betis Pena's work.
As a player, O'Connell was engaged with Manchester United's disputable 2-0 triumph against Liverpool at Anfield in 1915 that saw them stay away from transfer, however later brought about seven players being given life boycotts for match-fixing by the Football Association.
O'Connell was not among those rebuffed - in spite of the fact that he missed a punishment in the game - yet a playing profession that included spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City, started to subside as war held the world.
That at last finished 100 years prior as player-mentor of Ashington - a short drive north from those Blyth fans who looked to recall him - and where he made his first administrative strides.
O'Connell then, at that point, turned up in Spain sometime thereafter, having abandoned his family in the UK, as chief of Racing Santander.
It was the start of an excursion in Spanish football that would prompt O'Connell directing Real Betis to the club's just La Liga title in 1935.
The Irishman, who played multiple times for his nation, was adulated for the incredible skill, wellness and strategic thoughts he brought to the club, supplemented by his appealling nature. Barcelona before long looked for the administrations of 'Wear Patricio'.
Not long after the Irishman traded Seville for Catalonia the association was suspended in 1936 when common conflict broke out and Barcelona president Josep Sunyol killed by Francoist warriors.
Barcelona kept playing local football and, as the club's financial circumstance deteriorated, O'Connell drove them on a four-month lucrative visit through Mexico and New York on the welcome of a Catalan finance manager who had emigrated to Mexico.
It was a gigantic achievement and the club cleared their obligations, which is the place where the narrative of how he saved Barcelona from liquidation comes from.
He is respected profoundly by the Catalan club for staying with them during the common conflict years, after the fact rejoining Real Betis and furthermore overseeing rivals Sevilla, completing second in La Liga in 1942-43.
O'Connell got back to London, where he passed on from pneumonia in 1959 at 71 years old.
"Patrick O'Connell was a failed to remember individual in world football and we set his name back," said Needham. "We are extremely glad for that, everything began in the clubhouse at Blyth Spartans.
"Genuine Betis have been 100 percent behind it. Patrick is important for their set of experiences and they understand that, he won them their most noteworthy distinction in the game."
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