A collection of memorabilia relating to the career of Bela Guttmann, comprising a large collection o...
A collection of memorabilia relating to the career of Bela Guttmann, comprising a large collection of photographs, correspondence, press cuttings and ephemera including a typescript for his life story, all contained in Guttmann's travelling suitcase Bela Guttman was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 13th March 1900. He was a high class half back/centre-half who played for the Budapest based teams of Torekves and MTK, and at the latter won back-to-back championship medals in 1920-21 and 1921-22. He then crossed the border to play for the all-Jewish Hakoah-Vienna club where he won an Austrian Championship title in 1924-25. Guttmann also played for the Hungarian international team and was a member of the 1924 Olympic side in Paris. In the autumn of 1926 Hakoah-Vienna enjoyed a highly successful tour of the United States, attracting a crowd of 46,000 for a match in New York. Following the tour Guttmann and a number of his team-mates decided to remain in the USA and he signed for the New York Giants of the American Soccer League. He then joined New York Hakoah, a team made up of several of his old Vienna players. They were later known as the Hakoah All Stars. Guttmann retired at the age of 32 and took on full-time coaching duties in 1933 back at Hakoah-Vienna. It is here that the Guttmann story really begins. Having served his coaching apprenticeship at Hakoah-Vienna, then Enschede in The Netherlands, he led Ujpest Dozsa-Budapest to the Austrian Championship in season 1938-39. Guttmann fled to Brazil to escape Nazism during the War before returning to Budapest in 1947 and to begin coaching Honved into one of the most famous teams of all time. His achievements here caught the attention of the Italians, where he had spells with Padova, Triestina, AC Milan and Lanerossi Vicenza. In 1957-58 Guttmann returned to Brazil to assist in the coaching of the national team for the 1958 World Cup. Guttmann helped the Brazilian team become proponents of the revolutionary 4-2-4 'attack' tactics, pioneered by fellow Hungarians Marton Bukovi and Gusztav Sebes. Guttmann's help laid the foundation for Brazil's international football dominance for decades to come. A year after the World Cup Guttmann moved to Portugal joining Benfica (via Porto) and developed the talents of Eusebio and others into one of the most formidable teams in Europe winning back-to-back European Cups in 1961 & 1962. He was widely expected to come to Britain after the 1962 European Cup final and once said of Dave Mackay 'He doesn't need to be so aggressive, with his attributes and my methods he could be the greatest player in the world.' Sadly Britain did not see Guttmann's talents and he went to Uruguay to coach Penerol, and thereafter ended his career with spells in Austria, back at Benfica, Servette, Panathinaikos and a final encore with Porto in Portugal, retiring in 1974. Bela Guttmann died 28th August 1981.