Martin O'Neill (footballer)
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- For information about the politician, see Martin O'Neill (politician)
Martin H.M. O'Neill is a football manager. He was born on March 1 1952 in Kilrea, near Coleraine in Northern Ireland. He played gaelic football as a youth, winning the McCorry Cup in 1970 with St. Malachy's College, Belfast, before changing to association football.
He began a degree in law at Queen's University, Belfast while playing for local side Distillery. It was during this period he was spotted by a scout for Nottingham Forest, for whom he signed in 1971, quitting his studies.
O'Neill progressed slowly as a player until the legendary Brian Clough arrived at the City Ground as manager in 1975 and made the Ulsterman 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 fantastic European Cup triumphs.
O'Neill was a regular for his country, captaining the Northern Ireland side at a memorable Template:Wc in Spain, which included defeating the host nation in Valencia. His international career attained him 62 caps. At club level he also played for Norwich City and Manchester City before retiring.
After his playing career O'Neill began a career in football management, initially with non-league Wycombe Wanderers, whom he took into the League in 1993. He later managed Norwich City but resigned on a matter of principle before he'd had chance to make an impact.
He joined Leicester City in the second half of the 1995/1996 season. 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 League Cup under O'Neill in 1997 and 2000.
During his time at Leicester, O'Neill famously 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.
O'Neill did eventually leave Leicester in 2000, taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish to become manager of Celtic. In his first season they won the treble and more recently he guided them to the final of the 2003 UEFA Cup. In his five seasons there, he won three League titles. Leicester have twice been relegated from the Premier League since his departure.
Over his time as Celtic manager, O'Neill was nearly always linked with the vacancy whenever a manager's position became available in the English Premiership. However, on 25 May 2005, it was announced that he was resigning as manager of Celtic at the end of season 2004/05, following Celtic's Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United on 28 May, to take time out of football in order to care for his wife Geraldine, who is battling lymphoma. O'Neill's last competitive game in charge of Celtic was the Scottish Cup final 1-0 victory over Dundee United. The game was decided by an 11th minute goal by Alan Thompson and brought O'Neills tally of trophies with the club to 7.
Martin O'Neill was awarded an OBE for services to sport in 2004.
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 the Black Panther. His fascination began with the James Hanratty case in 1961.
External link
- BBC biography (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/tv_radio_coverage/newsid_1987000/1987736.stm)