Martin O'Neill: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Line 40: Line 40:


===Celtic===
===Celtic===
He just dossed about and sold heroin to kids.
He just dossed about and sold heroin to kids. Oh yeah and Stan Varga should have had a penalty.

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 F.C.|Celtic]] was the Scottish Cup final 1 – 0 victory over [[Dundee United F.C.|Dundee United]] on [[28 May]] [[2005]], decided by an eleventh minute goal by [[Alan Thompson (footballer)|Alan Thompson]]. Celtic had an impressive record under O'Neill, playing 282 games and winning 213, drawing 29 and losing 40.


===Leeds contract===
===Leeds contract===

Revision as of 15:12, 19 March 2008

For the politician, see Martin O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan.
Martin O'Neill
Personal information
Full name Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill
Position(s) Midfielder (retired)
Team information
Current team
 Aston Villa

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 3 Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Celtic

He just dossed about and sold heroin to kids. Oh yeah and Stan Varga should have had a penalty.

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]

Aston Villa

File:MON.jpg
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]

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.

Playing honours

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland national football team
Northern Ireland Distillery
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
  • Runners-Up
    • European Super Cup – 1981
    • Football League Championship – 1978/79

Managerial honours

England Wycombe Wanderers F.C. 1990–1995
  • Winners
    • Football Conference – 1993
    • FA Trophy – 1991, 1993
    • Division 3 Play–Off Winners – 1994
England Leicester City F.C. 1995–2000
  • Winners
    • Promotion to Premier League – 1995/96
    • League Cup;(2) 1997,2000
  • Runners-up
    • League Cup – 1999
Scotland Celtic F.C. 2000–2005

Manager Awards

Managerial stats

Team From To Record Notes
G W D L Win %
EnglandWycombe Wanderers February 7 1990 June 13 1995 112 52 32 28 46.42 Conference Title, 2 FA Trophies, (2 Promotions)
EnglandNorwich City June 13 1995 November 17 1995 20 9 7 4 45.00
EnglandLeicester City December 21 1995 June 1 2000 223 85 68 70 38.11 2 League Cups, (Promotion)
ScotlandCeltic June 1 2000 May 31 2005 282 213 29 40 75.53 3 League Titles, 3 Domestic Cups, League Cup
EnglandAston Villa August 5 2006 Present 73 27 26 20 36.98
Total February 7 1990 Present 701 385 158 160 54.92

[7] Last updated March 1 2008.

References

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

External links

Preceded by Scottish Football Writers' Association
Manager of The Year
2001, 2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Scottish Football Writers' Association
Manager of The Year
2004 		Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Unknown
 Grantham Town manager
1987–1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Unknown
 Shepshed Charterhouse manager
1989–1990 		Succeeded by
Unknown
Preceded by Wycombe Wanderers manager
1990–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Norwich City manager
1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leicester City manager
1995-2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Celtic manager
2000-2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Aston Villa manager
2006- 		Succeeded by
Incumbent

Template:S-awards

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_O%27Neill&oldid=199354435"