Motherwell - The Kings of Spain?

Scottish Premiership side Motherwell do not have a trophy-laden history but they do have the distinction of being one of the few non-old firm clubs to have completed the grand slam of Scottish honours with 2 Scottish Cup wins, most recently in the famous 1991 final, as well as a League Cup triumph in 1951 and a solitary League Championship victory in the 1931/32 campaign, but the one trophy many do not know the 'Steelmen have been victorious in is the most surprising, in the May of 1927, Lanarkshire based Motherwell travelled to the then home of Spanish giants Real Madrid, the Estadio Chamartín to face the home side in the (unofficial) Copa Del Rey final.

With Real Unión surprisingly defeating Madrid in the semi-finals of the official tournament of the 1927 campaign, Madrid decided to take matters into their own hands and decided to create their personalized version of the cup in the hopes of guaranteeing some silverware for themselves and their eager support. Invited to compete in this tournament which could be seen as an early version of a European Cup were not just Motherwell but also Welsh side Swansea City, along with Madrid and their opponents from the official tournament, Real Union- with Madrid seemingly wanting to exact some revenge on their fellow Spaniards.

So after completing their then Scottish Division One campaign with a defeat by two goals to nil away to Aberdeen at Pittodrie in a season where the 'Well finished a very respectable 2nd place behind champions Rangers- at the time managed by legendary manager Bill Struth, the side featuring the likes of the high scoring English outside-left Bob Ferrier, who eventually scored over 250 goals for the club, Centre forward Willie MacFadyen, who once scored an astonishing 52 goals in a single league campaign for the Fir Park side and George Stevenson, who earned 12 Scotland caps while at Motherwell, which is still a record for a player at the club to this day, adventured off to sunny Spain in a rare opportunity to test themselves against foreign opponents, with the only exhibition matches played previously in the campaign being against English sides Manchester United at Old Trafford in a defeat by 5 goals to 1 in mid-April and an incredible victory over Carlisle United by 9 goals to 4 at the northerners Brunton park in the March.

Real Madrid at this point were still in an era before becoming the personal favourites of General Francisco Franco, as the future Caudillo was yet to engage in his rise to power, and had a relatively successful campaign of their own, winning the Campeonato Regional Centro, the regional league style tournament for clubs in the Castille region of Spain at the time with the modern day La Liga still a couple of years from formation, defeating local rivals Atlético Madrid, Racing Madrid, RS Gimnástica and Unión SC over the 16 game season to claim the trophy and qualify for the Copa Del Rey as were the regulations at the time, however, the club had fallen to defeat in 11 of the 18 exhibition fixtures they had played that season, winning only 5, conceding 5 or more goals on 6 occasions. The Los Blancos also as previously mentioned went crashing out of the Copa Del Rey at the semi-finals stage to Real Unión in Zaragoza on the 8th of May ending their hopes of being considered the Kings of Spanish Football for that year as Union would go on to defeat Arenas Club de Getxo by a goal to nil after extra time, in the final held at the Estadio Torrero. Swansea- then known as Swansea Town were already in the English Football League system by 1927 and had finished mid-table in the second tier of the football league and had an excellent FA Cup run making it to the quarter-final stage where they lost by 3 goals to 1 to a Reading sound who would coincidentally lose to Swansea's Welsh rivals and eventual cup winners that year Cardiff City, however, at this time manager Joe Bradshaw had just left the club for personal reasons and the club would head out in a state of relative turmoil with new boss James H. Thompson having only just been appointed in his role.

Upon arrival, the teams would get a look at the trophy which would be a special version of the official Copa Del Rey trophy which was donated by the then monarch of pre-revolution Spain, King Alfonso XIII specifically for the competition. Motherwell and Swansea would face each other first for the right to be the foreign guests in the final, with the Spaniards engaging in a rematch of their semi-final match from the month prior, with Real Madrid regaining their honour with revenge and a victory over their Basque Country opponents. 

The opportunity to face Madrid was decided on the 15th of May 1927 with Swansea and Motherwell facing off in Madrid's home of Estadio Chamartín, in what would turn out to be a thrilling encounter with Motherwell winning by 4 goals to the Welsh sides 3, which would mark the first time two British sides would meet on Spanish soil, the King himself stated in publications at the time the match was a "brilliant display of scientific football."

The stage was set then, the 17th of May 1927 saw the Steelmen face Los Merengues- then managed by the legendary Santiago Bernabéu, on their own turf, with the local Spanish support having a unique chance to see the steely, robust Scottish style of football up against their version of the sport incorporated with a bit of Spanish flair. The game kicked off in front of ten thousand spectators, with their home heroes racing into the lead they must surely have believed they would be keeping the King’s own cup in Madrid and in the Kingdom of España, but the men from Lanarkshire showed steel and grit and fought back to win 3 goals to 1 with the goals coming from inside forward David Hutchison- who a year previously had been turning out at Cliftonhill for lowly Albion Rovers, Hamilton-born left half Dave Thackery and the previously mentioned goalscoring machine that was Bobby Ferrier. The game would end with no scenes of jubilation and joy that you would expect from the modern game but with calmful, respectfulness, and good firm handshakes between the sides, but we can be sure once back into the dressing room there would have been sheer jubilation from the working class side representing the steel-making town of Motherwell.

Motherwell would not head home after this victory as they made the decision to stay in the sunny Spanish climate, heading to Catalonia to compete in the Barcelona Cup, where they once again faced Swansea Town, this time the game was the complete opposite to the previous goal fest with Motherwell once again being victorious but this time by only the single goal to nil against the Welsh side. The other match would be against the hosts, Barcelona themselves where Motherwell would hold the famous blue and garnet stripped side to a 2 apiece draw in the Camp de Les Corts- which was Barca’s home ground until the late fifties. The draw and victory would be enough to see the Scottish side crowned winners of the tournament and they headed home to Scotland with a twin set of trophies from both of Spain’s traditional ‘big two’ giving the club confidence for the new season ahead and having pocketed a reported £1700 for the club’s coffers due to their success during the trip abroad. 

This would be followed up the next year by a trip across the Atlantic to South America where Motherwell would thrash an Argentine national team by 3 goals to nil, enhancing their reputation as foreign specialists, however, Motherwell would finish the following season in third place behind the old firm duo of Rangers and Celtic, but there would be no further silverware as the Parkhead side would dispatch Motherwell out of the Scottish cup in early March, and in truth, the Steelmen would have to wait until 1932 before picking up some major silverware when they would finally capture what is to this date their only top division league championship when they romped to the title with 30  wins from their 38 matches and scored an incredible 119 goals. 

Despite the lack of silverware in the decades since the memories of those pioneers who went across the channel and down to Spain will forever live on in the history of Motherwell Football Club and will always lay claim to being the only foreign side to go to Spain and leave the sunny shores as ‘Copa Del Rey’ champions.