Martin O'Neill

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For the politician, see Martin O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan.
Martin O'Neill, OBE
Image:O'Neill, Martin.jpg
Personal information
Full name Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill
Date of birth March 1, 1952 (1952-03-01) (age 56)
Place of birth    Kilrea, Northern Ireland
Playing position Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club Aston Villa
Youth clubs
1969–1971 Derry City
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1971
1971–1981
1981
1981–1982
1982–1983
1983–1985		 Distillery F.C.
Nottingham Forest
Norwich City
Manchester City
Norwich City
Notts County
Total		 00? 0(?)
285 (48)
011 0(1)
013 0(0)
055 (11)
064 0(5)
428 (65)   
National team
1971–1984 Northern Ireland 064 0(8)
Teams managed
1987–1989
1989–1990
1990–1995
1995
1995–2000
2000–2005
2006–		 Grantham Town
Shepshed Charterhouse
Wycombe Wanderers
Norwich City
Leicester City
Celtic
Aston Villa

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE, (born March 1, 1952 in Kilrea, Northern Ireland) is a former Northern Ireland national football team captain who has previously managed Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City and Celtic and is currently manager of Aston Villa. O'Neill is perhaps best known for his time as Celtic manager between 2000 and 2005 when he led the club to three Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville.

Contents

[edit] Early life

As well as association football, he played Gaelic football as a youth, winning the MacRory Cup in 1970 at college in Belfast. He attended St. Malachy's College with Irish chef Eamonn Ó Catháin. While at St. Malachy's, he first came to public attention as a soccer player with local side Distillery F.C.. This breached the Gaelic Athletic Association prohibition on gaelic footballers' playing "foreign sports", and the resulting disputes heightened O'Neill's profile. After completing his education at St. Columb's College, Derry, he began a degree in law at the Queen's University of Belfast. While at Distillery F.C., he won the Irish Cup in 1971 scoring twice in the final. He also scored against FC Barcelona in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in a 3-1 home defeat in September 1971. It was during this period he was spotted by a scout for Nottingham Forest F.C., for whom he signed in 1971, quitting his studies.

[edit] Playing career

O'Neill progressed slowly as a player until the legendary Brian Clough arrived at the City Ground as manager in 1975 and made him a key part of his midfield. O'Neill went on to play an integral role in Forest's golden era, in which they gained promotion to the top flight, then won the League and League Cup in 1978, followed by further League Cup success a year later and the first of two European Cup triumphs. O'Neill was a regular for his country, captaining the Northern Ireland side at a memorable 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, which included defeating the host nation in Valencia. He played 62 times and scored 8 goals for Northern Ireland. At club level he also played for Norwich City F.C., Manchester City F.C. and Notts County F.C. before retiring.

[edit] Managerial career

After his playing career, O'Neill began a sensational career in football management, initially at Grantham Town in 1987. After a brief spell at the helm of Shepshed Charterhouse, he managed non-league Wycombe Wanderers, and took them into the Football League as Conference champions in 1993. They had narrowly missed out on promotion the previous year after a two-horse race with Colchester United. [1]. He became manager of Norwich City in the summer of 1995, but left the club in December of that year due to differences with club chairman Robert Chase.

[edit] Leicester City

He joined Leicester City immediately after leaving Norwich. After a difficult start he achieved great success at the club, gaining promotion via the play-offs to the Premiership in the same season as joining the club. Leicester finished in the top half of the Premiership in every season O'Neill was manager. They also won the Football League Cup under O'Neill in 1997 and 2000, as well as reaching the 1999 final of the competition. They finished ninth in 1997, tenth in 1998 and 1999, and eighth in 2000. The two League Cup triumphs saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup each time, though both campaigns were short-lived.

During his time at Leicester, O'Neill held talks to become manager of Leeds United but declined the job after thousands of supporters held up placards saying "Don't go Martin!" in an effort to make him stay.

[edit] Celtic

O'Neill did eventually leave Leicester on 1 June 2000, taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish to become manager of Celtic. It was at Celtic that O'Neill gained his nicknames "Martin the Magnificent" and "the Blessed Martin". O'Neill's first Old Firm game ended in a dramatic 6-2 victory for Celtic over Rangers and did much to overturn the psychological advantage previously held by Rangers. In that first season O'Neill's Celtic won the domestic treble. He was also the first Celtic manager to take the team into the revamped Champions League (a feat he managed three times). In the first season in the CL Celtic were eliminated in spite of having 9 points. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to guide Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup Final held in Seville. Celtic lost 3-2 in extra time, to a Porto side coached by Jose Mourinho. In his five seasons at Celtic Park, O'Neill won three League titles, three Scottish Cups, and a League Cup. He also oversaw a record 7 consecutive victories in Old Firm derbies, and in season 2003-04 Celtic created a British record of 25 consecutive victories. During this time, O'Neill's name was linked with a number of high-profile jobs in England.

On 25 May 2005, Celtic announced that O'Neill was resigning as manager at the end of the 2004/05 season to care for his wife Geraldine, who has lymphoma.

O'Neill's last competitive game in charge of Celtic was the Scottish Cup final 1 – 0 victory over Dundee United on 28 May 2005, decided by an eleventh minute goal by Alan Thompson. Celtic had an impressive record under O'Neill, playing 282 games and winning 213, drawing 29 and losing 40.

[edit] Leeds contract

Revelations in Peter Ridsdale's book 'United We Fall', later confirmed by O'Neill,[2] have shown that he signed a conditional agreement with Ridsdale in January 2003, to leave Celtic and become Leeds United AFC manager. This deal subsequently fell through on the departure of Ridsdale from Leeds, one of the conditions for the deal, and the failure of Ridsdale to remove Terry Venables as manager. O'Neill has since hit out at Ridsdale, describing the agreement as 'full of conditions that hadn't been true' and blaming Celtic's failure to offer a new contact as his reason for the deal.[2]

[edit] Aston Villa

Giving a speech at Columbus Crew, during a Villa tour.
Giving a speech at Columbus Crew, during a Villa tour.

O'Neill was introduced as the Aston Villa manager at a press conference on August 4, 2006. At the press conference he stated "It's absolutely fantastic to be back and with a club such as this. This is a fantastic challenge. I am well aware of the history of this football club. Trying to restore it to its days of former glory seems a long way away - but why not try? It is nearly 25 years since they won the European Cup but that is the dream."

Villa's form improved substantially following O'Neill's appointment. They had the longest unbeaten start of any Premiership side in 2006-07 (9 games), not losing a league game until 28 October.

Villa suffered a mid-season slump but recovered late in the season, winning their three away games in April under O'Neill's guidance, to end the season how it began with a run of 9 unbeaten fixtures. For this O'Neill scooped the Barclays Manager of the Month for April.

In October 2007 O'Neill was linked to the England manager position after England lost in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.[3] Aston Villa's owner Randy Lerner said that he would not stop O'Neill from leaving Villa if offered the job, because he respects that the title of England manager is a very prestigious position.[3] O'Neill later dismissed the reports, calling them "unfair speculation".[4]

The 2007-08 season was a fanastic season for O'Neill and Aston Villa as they just missed out on a UEFA Cup spot on the final day of the season and qualified for the InterToto Cup by finshing 6th. They also scored 71 goals, (Villa's best ever tally in the Premier League and best tally since winning the title in 1981), gained 60 points which was Villa's highest points tally since the 1996-97 season, were the 3rd highest goalscorers and were praised for their postitive attacking football something in which O'Neill got Leicester City & Celtic playing in his previous jobs.

[edit] Outside football

Despite never completing his degree, O'Neill remains an avid follower of criminology and has attended some of Britain's most infamous trials, including those of the Yorkshire Ripper and Rosemary West. His fascination began with the James Hanratty case of 1961.[5]

Martin O'Neill was awarded an OBE for services to sport in 2004.[6] In 2002, Norwich supporters voted him into the club's Hall of Fame.

[edit] Personal Life

Martin O'Neill is married to Geraldine. The couple live in Oxfordshire, and have two daughters Aisling and Alana.

[edit] Playing honours

[edit] Flag of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland national football team

[edit] Flag of Northern Ireland Distillery

[edit] Flag of England Nottingham Forest F.C. 1971–1981
  • Winners
    • European Super Cup – 1980
    • European Cup – 1979, 1980
    • Football League Championship – 1977/78
    • League Cup – 1978, 1979
    • FA Community Shield – 1978
    • Football Leauge Cup – 1978, 1979
    • Anglo-Scottish Cup – 1977
  • Runners-Up
    • European Super Cup – 1981
    • Football League Championship – 1978/79
    • Intercontinental Cup &ndsah; 1980
    • Football Leauge Cup – 1980

[edit] Managerial honours

[edit] Flag of England Wycombe Wanderers F.C. 1990–1995
  • Winners
    • Football Conference – 1993
    • FA Trophy – 1991, 1993
    • Division 3 Play–Off Winners – 1994

[edit] Flag of England Leicester City F.C. 1995–2000
  • Winners
    • Promotion to Premier League – 1995/96
    • League Cup;(2) 1997,2000
  • Runners-up
    • League Cup – 1999

[edit] Flag of Scotland Celtic F.C. 2000–2005

[edit] Manager Awards

[edit] Managerial stats

Team From To Record Notes
G W D L Win %
Flag of EnglandWycombe Wanderers February 7, 1990 June 13, 1995 112 52 32 28 46.42 Conference Title, 2 FA Trophies, (2 Promotions)
Flag of EnglandNorwich City June 13, 1995 November 17, 1995 20 9 7 4 45.00
Flag of EnglandLeicester City December 21, 1995 June 1, 2000 223 85 68 70 38.11 2 League Cups, (Promotion)
Flag of ScotlandCeltic June 1, 2000 May 31, 2005 282 213 29 40 75.53 3 League Titles, 3 Domestic Cups, League Cup
Flag of EnglandAston Villa August 5, 2006 Present 83 30 29 24 36.14
Total February 7, 1990 Present 720 389 165 166 54.02

[7] Last updated May 17, 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Martin", scotsman. 
  2. ^ a b O'Neill admits to Leeds agreement. BBC (2007-11-03). Retrieved on 2007-11-04.
  3. ^ a b "Villa free O'Neill for England", Eurosport. Retrieved on 2007-11-04. 
  4. ^ "O'Neill dismisses "unfair speculation"", Eurosport. Retrieved on 2007-11-04. 
  5. ^ Kehoe, Ian. "Bhoy wonder", The Sunday Business Post, 2004-05-30. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  6. ^ "Martin's OBE", BBC. 
  7. ^ "Martin O'Neils' managerial career", www.soccerbase.com, 2008-02-28. Retrieved on 2008-02-28. 

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Dick Advocaat		 Scottish Football Writers' Association
Manager of The Year
2001, 2002		 Succeeded by
Alex McLeish
Preceded by
Alex McLeish		 Scottish Football Writers' Association
Manager of The Year
2004		 Succeeded by
Tony Mowbray
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Unknown		 Grantham Town manager
1987–1989		 Succeeded by
John Robertson
Preceded by
Unknown		 Shepshed Charterhouse manager
1989–1990		 Succeeded by
Unknown
Preceded by
Jim Kelman		 Wycombe Wanderers manager
1990–1995		 Succeeded by
Alan Smith
Preceded by
John Deehan		 Norwich City manager
1995		 Succeeded by
Gary Megson
Preceded by
Mark McGhee		 Leicester City manager
1995-2000		 Succeeded by
Peter Taylor
Preceded by
Kenny Dalglish		 Celtic manager
2000-2005		 Succeeded by
Gordon Strachan
Preceded by
David O'Leary		 Aston Villa manager
2006-		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
v • d • e
Aston Villa F.C. – current squad

3 Bouma • 5 Laursen • 6 Barry • 7 Young • 9 Harewood • 10 Carew • 11 Agbonlahor • 13 Taylor • 14 Delfouneso • 15 Davies • 16 Knight • 17 Salifou • 18 Routledge • 19 Petrov • 20 Reo-Coker • 26 Gardner • 27 Osbourne • 28 Maloney • 29 O'Halloran • Manager: O'Neill
v • d • e
Wycombe Wanderers F.C. – Managers

McCormick (1951–52) • Cann (1952–61) • McDonald (1961) • G. Adams (1961–62) • Welsh (1962–64) • Darvill (1964–68) • Lee (1968–76) • Powell (1976–77) • Reardon (1977–78) • Williams (1978–80) • Keen (1980–84) • Bence (1984–86) • Gane (1986–87) • Suddaby (1987–88) • Kelman (1988–90) • O'Neill (1990–95) • Smith (1995–96) • Gregory (1996–98) • Smillie (1998–99) • Sanchez (1999–2003) • T. Adams (2003–04) • Gorman (2004–06) • Lambert (2006–08) • Taylor (2008–)
v • d • e
Norwich City F.C. – Managers

Bowman (1905–07) • McEwen (1907–08) • Turner (1909–10) • Stansfield (1910–15) • Buckley (1919–20) • O'Hagan (1920–21) • Gosnell (1921–26) • Stansfield (1926) • Potter (1926–29) • Kerr (1929–33) • Parker (1933–37) • Young (1937–38) • Jewell (1939) • Young (1939–45) • Lochhead (1945–46) • Spiers (1946–47) • Lochhead (1947–50) • Low (1950–55) • Parker (1955–57) • Macaulay (1957–61) • Reid (1961–62) • Swindin (1962) • Ashman (1962–1966) • Morgan (1966–69) • Saunders (1969–73) • Bond (1973–80) • Brown (1980–87) • Stringer (1987–92) • Walker (1992–94) • Deehan (1994–95) • O'Neill (1995) • Megson (1995–96) • Walker (1996–98) • Rioch (1998–2000) • Hamilton (2000) • Worthington (2000–06) • Grant (2006–07) • Duffy (2007) • Roeder (2007–)
v • d • e
Leicester City F.C. – Managers

Clark (1896–97) • Johnson (1898–07) • Blessington (1907–09) • Aitken (1909–11) • Bartlett (1912–14) • Hodge (1919–26) • Orr (1926–32) • Hodge (1932–34) • Lochhead (1934–36) • Womack (1936–39) • Bromilow (1939–45) • Mather (1945–46) • Duncan (1946–49) • Bullock (1949–55) • Halliday (1955–58) • Gillies (1959–68) • O'Farrell (1968–71) • Bloomfield (1971–77) • McLintock (1977–78) • Wallace (1978–82) • Milne (1982–86) • Hamilton (1986–87) • Pleat (1987–91) • Little (1991–94) • McGhee (1994–95) • O'Neill (1995–00) • Taylor (2000–01) • Bassett (2001–02) • Adams (2002–04) • Levein (2004–06) • Kelly (2006–07) • Allen (2007) • Megson (2007) • Holloway (2007–08)
v • d • e
Celtic F.C. – Managers

Maley (1897–1940) • McStay (1940–1945) • McGrory (1945–1965) • Stein (1965–1978) • McNeill (1978–1983) • Hay (1983–1987) • McNeill (1987–1991) • Brady (1991–1993) • Macari (1993–1994) • Burns (1994–1997) • Jansen (1997–1998) • Vengloš (1998–1999) • Barnes (1999–2000) • Dalglish (2000) • O'Neill (2000–2005) • Strachan (2005–)
v • d • e
Aston Villa F.C. – Managers

Ramsay (1884–1926) • Smith (1926–34) • McMullan (1934–35) • Hogan (1936–39) • Massie (1945–50) • Martin (1950–53) • Houghton (1953–58) • Mercer (1958–64) • D. Taylor (1964–67) • Cummings (1967–68) • Docherty (1968–70) • Crowe (1970–74) • Saunders (1974–82) • Barton (1982–84) • Turner (1984–86) • McNeill (1986–87) • G. Taylor (1987–90) • Venglos (1990–91) • Atkinson (1991–94) • Little (1994–98) • Gregory (1998–2002) • G. Taylor (2002–03) • O'Leary (2003–06) • O'Neill (2006–)
v • d • e
Northern Ireland squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Jennings • 2 J. Nicholl • 3 Donaghy • 4 McCreery • 5 C. Nicholl • 6 J. O'Neill • 7 Brotherston • 8 M. O'Neill • 9 Armstrong • 10 McIlroy • 11 Hamilton • 12 McClelland • 13 Nelson • 14 Cassidy • 15 Finney • 16 Whiteside • 17 Platt • 18 Jameson • 19 Healy • 20 Cleary • 21 Campbell • 22 Dunlop • Coach: Bingham
 Flag of Northern Ireland