[5] Most notable of these European trips was with West Auckland Football Club, an amateur team made up of coalminers from County Durham, who defeated Swiss opposition FC Winterthur in 1909 to claim the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy.

[3] After having coached the team in local matches for several months,[2] he was tasked with assembling a squad of British players for Barcelona to test its strength[6] in their Christmas friendlies.

[5][6] The second game resulted in a 4–0 loss for Barcelona, but in the final fixture, played on 29 December, Steel scored two goals in a 2–0 victory for the Catalan club.

[4][5][6] Despite leaving Barcelona, his impact was longer-lasting: the visiting West Auckland squad included goalkeeper Jack Alderson, who replaced Barron as coach.

[5][7] Barron would not remain in football, and with the onset of the First World War in 1914, he and his son Percy were commissioned into the Royal Engineers,[3] serving in the Salonika campaign, where he contracted malaria.