Michael O'Neill (soccer player)

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Michael O'Neill
Michael O'Neill, CZE-NIR 2019-10-14.jpg
Michael O'Neill (2019)
Personnel
Surname Michael Andrew Martin O'Neill
birthday 5th July 1969
place of birth Portadown ,  Northern Ireland
size 180 cm
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
Star United
Chimney Corner
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1984-1987 Coleraine FC 18 0(4)
1987-1989 Newcastle United 48 (15)
1989-1993 Dundee United 64 (11)
1993-1996 Hibernian Edinburgh 97 (19)
1996-1998 Coventry City 5 0(0)
1998 →  Aberdeen FC  (loan) 6 0(0)
1998 →  Reading FC  (loan) 9 0(1)
1998-2000 Wigan Athletic 66 0(2)
2000-2001 St. Johnstone FC 9 0(0)
2001 Portland Timbers 22 0(5)
2001-2002 Clydebank FC 19 0(4)
2002-2004 Glentoran FC 44 0(4)
2004 Ayr United 2 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1994 Northern Ireland U-21 1 0(0)
1989 Northern Ireland U-23 1 0(0)
1994 + 1999 Northern Ireland B 2 0(0)
1988-1996 Northern Ireland 31 0(4)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
2005 Cowdenbeath FC ( assistant coach )
2006-2008 Brechin City
2009-2011 Shamrock Rovers
2011-2020 Northern Ireland
2019– Stoke City
1 Only league games are given.

Michael Andrew Martin O'Neill , MBE (born July 5, 1969 in Portadown ) is a Northern Irish football coach and former national player. He is currently coaching the English second division side Stoke City .

Career

As a player

societies

O'Neill started at Coleraine FC in the Northern Irish Irish Premier League when he was 15 . In 1987, at the age of 18, he moved to English first division club Newcastle United for £ 100,000  , where he played with Paul Gascoigne . In two seasons he scored 15 goals in 48 games, but was relegated to the second division in 1989 and came only to a few missions due to an injury.

He then moved to the Scottish first division club Dundee United for the club record of £ 350,000 . With Dundee he reached the UEFA Cup 1990/91 in fourth place in the first season , but in the Scottish FA Cup Dundee failed in the semi-finals at one of his later clubs, FC Aberdeen . In the UEFA Cup, Dundee beat Icelandic runners-up FH Hafnarfjörður in the first round , but failed in the second round against the fourth of the Dutch Eredivisie Vitesse Arnheim . In the 1990/91 season he missed the UEFA Cup with Dundee in fourth. Due to the 3: 4 defeat after extra time against FC Motherwell in the cup final , in which he was not used, they then also missed the European Cup Winners' Cup . In 1992 they also missed the UEFA Cup in fourth place and were eliminated in the round of 16 against Celtic Glasgow . The 1992/93 season ended Dundee again in fourth place, but was qualified for the 1993/94 UEFA Cup , as the second-placed FC Aberdeen, which Dundee was knocked out in the round of 16, took part in the 1993/94 European Cup as a cup winners .

O'Neill moved after the season due to problems with team manager Jim McLean to Hibernian Edinburgh , who was sixth for no European competition. With the capital city he was never able to qualify for a European competition in 1994 as fifth, 1995 as third and in 1996 again as fifth. And while his old club won the cup in 1994 , he failed with the Hibernians in the round of 16. A year later, the semifinals could be reached, where the Hibs failed only in the replay against the eventual winner Celtic. In 1996, however, FC Kilmarnock was better in the third round .

In 1996 he then moved to the English first division club Coventry City , although he had already given the Austrian club SK Sturm Graz a commitment. With Coventry, however, he only escaped relegation by one point as fourth from last. However, he came in two seasons only to five missions and was awarded in 1998 to the Scottish first division FC Aberdeen and the English second division FC Reading , but relegated at the end of the season as bottom of the table. But with both he only came to a few missions. He then moved to the English third division club Wigan Athletic . With Wigan, he missed direct promotion to the second division in sixth place and then failed in the play-off semi-finals at third Manchester City , which had been relegated from the second division a year earlier and has now returned. In the following season Wigan missed direct promotion again in fourth place and then failed in the play-off final at third FC Gillingham in extra time, in which he was not used.

Then he moved back to the north where he successfully fought relegation with FC St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League 2000/01 . Then he dared the leap across the Atlantic to the newly founded Portland Timbers in the USL A-League and then returned to Scotland to play for FC Clydebank in the third highest division . After the club was excluded from the league at the end of the season, returned to his Northern Irish homeland and played for Glentoran FC , with whom he became Northern Irish Champion in 2003 and won the Irish Cup . He then ended his career in 2004 in Scotland at Ayr United .

National team

On February 17, 1988 O'Neill played under Billy Bingham in the 2: 3 against Greece for the Northern Irish national team his first international match, where he was substituted at 1-0 in the second half. He was also used in the next eleven games, but only played over 90 minutes four times. He scored his first international goal on April 26, 1989, three minutes after being substituted on in the 70th minute to make it 2-0 against Malta in qualifying for the 1990 World Cup . The Northern Irish, who had taken part in the World Cup finals four years earlier , this time failed to qualify as fourth in the group against Spain and their southern neighbor . After his twelfth game on October 11, 1989, the last game in World Cup qualification, he had to wait 16 months for his next appearance. Although he played in the friendly against Poland on February 5, 1991 for over 90 minutes, he was not used in the following two games in qualifying for the 1992 European Championship . It was not until September 11, 1991 that he was brought on again in a 5-0 win against the Faroe Islands in the European Championship qualification, but only when it was already 5-0. The Northern Irish had no chance to qualify for the European Championship finals even after this victory and he was not used again in the last two qualifying games. After only three short appearances in the following games, he made five successive appearances in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup , but only twice over the full 90 minutes. The Northern Irish were only fourth in the qualification and, like four years earlier, had to give way to Spain and Ireland, which ended Bingham's tenure.

After a ten-month break in which he was not used four times, he came back to a nine-minute short assignment under the new team manager Bryan Hamilton in the first game of the qualification for the European Championship 1996 against Liechtenstein . He was only used four times in the remaining European Championship qualifiers. In the last game against Austria he scored the goals for 1: 0 and 5: 2 in a 5: 3 win. With the last goal conceded, they missed the relegation games of the two worst runners-up in the group due to the goal difference that was one goal worse than their southern neighbor. However, the Irish could not prevail against the Dutch there either . After two appearances in friendly games and the first two games in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup , his international career ended on October 5, 1996 with the 31st game at the age of 27, although he continued to play at club level for eight years.

As a trainer

societies

Almost ten years after the end of his national team career, he took over the relegation-threatened Scottish second division club Brechin City in April 2006 , after having worked in finance and as a kotrainer at FC Cowdenbeath for two years . But he did not manage to avert the descent. In the third division season 2006/07 and third division season 2007/08 his team missed the promotion in fourth and sixth. In December 2008 he had already left the club to take over the Irish record champions and record cup winner Shamrock Rovers .

In 2009 , the Rovers were runner-up under his leadership and qualified for the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League . In the cup, however, his new team failed in the quarter-finals replay on their own place after extra time at Sporting Fingal . In the Europa League they eliminated Bne Jehuda Tel Aviv , fourth in the Israeli league, in the second round . In the third round, the Italian record champions Juventus Turin were better. In 2010 , the Rovers became Irish champions for the first time since 1994 thanks to the two goals better goal difference, qualifying for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League . In the cup they lost the final against Sligo Rovers 2-0 on penalties after both teams failed to score in 120 minutes.

In the Champions League, the Rovers prevailed in the second qualifying round with a single goal in two games against the Estonian champions FC Flora Tallinn . In the third round, the Danish champions FC Copenhagen were better. As a losing team they were able to continue playing in the playoffs of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League and were able to defeat the Serbian champions FK Partizan Belgrade with a win in extra time in Belgrade . This made them the first Irish club to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League. In this they lost all games against PAOK Thessaloniki , Rubin Kazan and Tottenham Hotspur .

After defending the championship title in 2011 , this time by four points, they were also qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League . In the cup, on the other hand, came out of the quarter-finals against the Sligo Rovers . In December 2011, the club announced that O'Neill would leave the club after his contract expired.

National team

In December 2011, the Northern Irish Association announced that he would coach its national football team from February 1st . The Northern Irish had previously failed as the group penultimate in the qualification for the Euro 2012 and had only won their first game in Slovenia and the home game against the Faroe Islands. In the first game under his direction on February 29, 2012, the Northern Irish lost 3-0 against Norway in Belfast . The Northern Irish were unable to win any of the next eight games either, but at least they scored 1-1 in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup against Portugal . On August 14, 2013, a 1-0 win against Russia was the first victory under his leadership. In the next eight games they remained without a win. This means that qualification for the 2014 World Cup failed . Nevertheless, in 2013 he extended his contract for another two years.

It went better in qualifying for the European Championship 2016 , which the Northern Irish started with wins against Hungary (2: 1), the Faroe Islands (2: 0) and Greece (2: 0). After that, a qualifier against Romania and a friendly against Scotland were lost, but they remained the only defeats until the European Championship. As group winners , the Northern Irish qualified for a European Championship finals for the first time and 30 years after their last World Cup participation for the first time for a major football tournament. With twelve games without defeat in a row (previously nine), they set a new association record. In the first European Championship game against Poland , this record series ended with a 0-1 defeat. In their second game, the Northern Irish beat Ukraine 2-0, their first win in a European Championship game and their first win in a major tournament since they beat hosts Spain 1-0 at the 1982 World Cup . Despite a subsequent 1-0 defeat against world champions Germany , the Northern Irish reached the last sixteen thanks to their even goal difference as one of the four best group thirds, where they met Wales , who won their groups. The game was lost 0-1.

In December 2015, O'Neill was named UK Coach of the Year . In July 2017, O'Neill was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster for his services to the Northern Irish national team .

In qualifying for the 2018 World Cup , Germany was again the opponent. Both teams had at least second place after eight out of ten games and thus a playoff game against another group runner-up. To be first in the group, the Northern Irish should have won their last two games at home against Germany and in Norway and hoped for a home defeat for the Germans against Azerbaijan . They could have made history with a home win against Germany, as no team has yet succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup and now Northern Ireland has also not. Instead, the 3-1 defeat against the world champions ended a four-year series of home games without defeat.

In November 2019, O'Neill took over the post of head coach at the English second division club Stoke City . He will look after the Northern Irish national team for the remainder of the European Championship qualification 2020, including possible play-off games.

On April 22, 2020, O'Neill resigned from the coaching office of the Northern Irish national football team. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shifts in the European game plan, which would lead to a double burden for him with Stoke City and the national team.

Family and background

Michael O'Neill is Catholic and comes from the Northern Irish town of Portadown , which was characterized by violent clashes between Protestants and Catholics and bomb attacks with numerous deaths in the course of the Northern Ireland conflict until the 1990s . The events in O'Neill's birthplace went down in recent history as The Troubles in Portadown . There he met his also Catholic wife Bronagh Magee, who is now a primary school teacher, who was a master of Irish dance as a teenager. The couple have two daughters.

After his appointment as Northern Ireland national coach, it was said that O'Neill was the first Catholic in this office in 50 years: “Being the first Catholic to manage Northern Ireland in 50 years, O'Neill has galvanized communities all over Northern Ireland, breaking down long -standing barriers between Catholic's and Protestants. ”However, this assertion is probably incorrect, since his predecessors Lawrie McMenemy (1998–1999) and Lawrie Sanchez (2004–2007) also had a Catholic background. The New York Times wrote that the once torn country was united behind the team.

The Australian online soccer magazine Outside90 writes about O'Neill that a 20-year career as a soccer player with 13 different clubs without any notable success hurts him deeply. O'Neill himself admitted that this disappointment was an important motivation for him as a coach.

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ belfasttelegraph.co: "Game changer: We profile Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill"
  2. ^ Chroniclelive.co: "1980s Newcastle United youngster Michael O'Neill - now an international manager"
  3. ↑ a b bbc.com: "Michael O'Neill: Managing success from Brechin to Euro 2016"
  4. ↑ Dundee United 3-4 Motherwell ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dufcarchive.co.uk
  5. ↑ scotsman.com: "Michael O'Neill flourishing with Northern Ireland"
  6. ↑ Match report: Greece - North. Ireland 3: 2 in the EU-Football.info database. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  7. ↑ Match report: Malta - North. Ireland 0: 2 in the EU-Football.info database. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  8. ↑ Match report: North. Ireland - Austria 5: 3 in the EU-Football.info database. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  9. ↑ brechincity.com: "Managerial Statement - By Ken Ferguson"
  10. ↑ rte.ie: "Sligo Rvrs 0-0 Shamrock Rvrs AET (2-0 penalties)"
  11. ↑ shamrockrovers.ie: Club statement ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.shamrockrovers.ie
  12. ↑ bbc.com: "Michael O'Neill confirmed as new N Ireland manager"
  13. ↑ bbc.com: "Michael O'Neill agrees new two-year deal with N Ireland"
  14. ↑ fifa.com: World champions end black series - Portugal and Netherlands with prestige victories
  15. ↑ Sports Personality: Michael O'Neill wins Coach of the Year award. BBC, December 20, 2015, accessed December 17, 2018.
  16. ↑ Michael and Martin O'Neill receive honorary degrees at Ulster University graduations. Belfast Telegraph, July 4th 2017, retrieved the same day. (English)
  17. ↑ fifa.com: "Northern Ireland must make history - DFB team 83 years unbeaten"
  18. ↑ bbc.com: Michael O'Neill: Stoke City appoint Northern Ireland boss as new manager (November 8, 2019) , accessed November 8, 2019
  19. ↑ O'Neill resigns as Northern Ireland coach. In: kicker.de . April 22, 2020, accessed April 22, 2020 .
  20. ^ The four-pound bomb blast that marked the start of the Troubles - Portadown Times. In: portadowntimes.co.uk. May 2, 2012, accessed June 18, 2016 .
  21. ^ Manager O'Neill met future wife at school - Portadown Times. In: portadowntimes.co.uk. October 19, 2015, accessed June 18, 2016 .
  22. ↑ a b Alex Zaia: Euro 2016 - Northern Ireland coach spotlight - Michael O'Neill. (No longer available online.) In: outside90.com. May 27, 2016, archived from the original on June 18, 2016 ; accessed on June 18, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / outside90.com
  23. ↑ Michael O'Neill confirmed as new N Ireland manager. BBC Sport, December 28, 2011, accessed June 18, 2016 .
  24. ↑ James Montague: Leaving Past Behind, Northern Ireland Unified Behind Its Team. In: New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME O'Neill, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Neill, Michael Andrew Martin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH 5th July 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Portadown , Northern Ireland