An 18ct. gold Longines watch presented to William Garbutt by Genoa Cricket & Football Club in 1914, ...
An 18ct. gold Longines watch presented to William Garbutt by Genoa Cricket & Football Club in 1914, the case inscribed in blue & red enamel GENOA CRICKET AND FOOTBALL CLUB, I SOCI A WILLIAM GARBUTT, 1914, movement running appendix William Garbutt (Reading, Woolwich Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, and manager of Genoa, Roma, AC Milan & Athletico Bilbao) William Thomas Garbutt was born at Stockport 9th January 1883. He played as an outside-right for Reading. Woolwich Arsenal & Blackburn Rovers between seasons 1903-04 and 1911-12. He then became a very influential coach at Italy oldest existing football club, Genoa C.F.C., joining in season 1911-12. Garbutt was the first professional manager in Italian football and was renowned for his great charisma and as a heavy pipe-smoker, Garbutt was called the 'Mister' by the Genoa players, and so began the Italian use of calling coaches/managers by the term Mister. He is still revered as a hero in Genoa to this day. Garbutt was manager of Genoa between 1912 and 1915, and after the First World War between 1919 and 1927. He is remembered for introducing new training regimes placing emphasis on physical fitness. He also orchestrated the first paid transfer fees in Italian football. Garbutt led Genoa to Championship triumphs in 1923 & 1924 and we was appointed by Pozzo to assist in the coaching of the Italian national team for the 1924 Olympics. In 1927 Garbutt joined Roma and later managed Napoli and AC Milan. After a stint with Athletic Bilbao, Garbutt returned to Genoa in 1937 for another 11 seasons in charge before finally returning the England in the late 1940s.