William Charles Lambe (2 January 1877 – 24 August 1951) was an English footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Before joining

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in early 1912, Lambe had previously played for Swanscome Tigers, Hastings & St Leonards United, Woolwich Arsenal,

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and Tunbridge Wells Rangers. At Barcelona, he became the first foreigner to be paid a wage at the club, due to his role as a player-coach. He made fourteen appearances for the club (with four of them in official matches), and also won the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

and the

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

. However, his time as player-coach was short-lived, as club president

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona and Zürich. ...

preferred to appoint a full-time manager and administrator to run the team's affairs off the pitch, rather than entrusting duties to a player. He was succeeded by

Miles Barron Miles Coverdale Stocks Barron (1871 – 9 September 1924) was an English football administrator and manager. Personal life Miles Barron was born in 1871 in Waterhouses, a borough located to the west of the city of Durham. The exact date of birt ...

, who is considered the club's first official manager. In August 1939, Lambe was appointed as the manager of Hastings & St Leonards, then of the

Southern Amateur League The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league in England affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. A feature of the league ...

, initially on a month's trial. His record with the club is not known due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which led to the league being suspended and allowing the club to rejoin the

Sussex County League The Southern Combination Football League (named Premier Sports Southern Combination Football League) is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of e ...

References

1877 births 1951 deaths Footballers from London FC Barcelona managers Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers Arsenal F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players Hastings & St Leonards United F.C. players English football managers English expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football player-managers {{Spain-footy-midfielder-stub