THE COACHING ROLE DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CLUB

During the early years of the club, as early as 1890, the functions of what we understand today as the figure of the coach would be assumed by the captain of the team, thus continuing the British tradition, embodied in the inheritance received through many of the founders of the club. Thus, the position of captain was reserved only for the chosen ones, as his functions went far beyond wearing an armband or being the first player to take the field.

The captain was the man in charge of selecting the players and establishing their positions on the pitch. Therefore, he had to be a man of strong personality, with a gift for leadership and firm in enforcing his instructions.

He also had to be a good enough player to be in the first team, having a perfect knowledge of the game and its rules, because in case of any conflict, in the absence of a referee, he and the opposing captain were in charge of settling it.

His position was usually in defence, as this was the place from where he could best see and direct the play of his men during the contest. In this way, we could say that Hugo MacColl, Sevilla FC's first captain, was the first person in charge of directing the Sevillista ship on the pitch.

The figure of the coach, as we know it today, was not definitively established in Spanish football until well into the 1920s, with the first signs of professionalism. Until then, different members of the Sevillista club - captains such as Valenzuela, Alba, Tornero and the legendary Kinké, the great architect of the emergence of the Sevillista school - would later take up the baton left by Hugo MacColl to lead his men to victory. At the same time, as the 20th century progressed, other members of the club, club members such as Eugenio Eizaguirre and Arturo Ostos, began to act as first team coaches.

It was not until the arrival of Irishman Charles O'Hagan that there could truly be considered to be a coach in the modern concept of the role of a coach.