El Gran Derbi, 'Don Patricio' and why Blyth Spartans fans remembered a Real Betis great

The Northumbrian coast is not the place you expect to find an outpost of Beticos, but on Sunday a band of Blyth Spartans fans will don the green and white stripes sported by both their favoured clubs to support Real Betis in their derby against Sevilla.

It is a tale that has roots in Dublin, Seville and Blyth, spans most of a century and centres around an Irishman who captained Manchester United, won Real Betis their only La Liga title and was heralded as the saviour of Barcelona.

An appreciation of club colours was the initial attraction for those who formed the Blyth Betis Pena, but they now have hundreds of followers and will congregate in Newcastle to watch the game as part of an event organised by La Liga.

However it is a fan group that has done more than just support from afar, etching their own page in Betis history by preserving the legacy of the club's most successful but oft-forgotten coach.

When the Blyth Betis Pena learned of Patrick O'Connell's story, and that he was buried in a pauper's grave in London, they set about raising money to provide a proper headstone and help provide a more fitting final resting place.

It was a campaign that garnered support from players such as Johan Cruyff, Oliver Kahn, Martin O'Neill, Franz Beckenbauer and Luis Figo, and ended with the group presenting a bust of the Irishman to the club in front of 37,000 fans on the pitch at Real Betis' Benito Villamarin Stadium.

«We couldn't believe it, nobody knew where he was for 30 years,» Simon Needham, secretary of the Blyth Betis Pena, told BBC Sport.

«A gentleman who captained Manchester United and Ireland, took Real Betis to the championship and managed Barcelona during the [Spanish] Civil War, ended up a pauper in London and was buried