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Martin O'Neill, OBE
Personal information
Full name	Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill
Date of birth	March 1, 1952 (1952-03-01) (age 55)
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 3 Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 3 Managerial career 3.1 Leicester City 3.2 Celtic 3.3 Leeds contract 3.4 Aston Villa 4 Outside football 5 Playing honours 5.1 Distillery 5.2 Nottingham Forest F.C. 1971–1981 6 Managerial honours 6.1 Wycombe Wanderers F.C. 1990–1995 6.2 Leicester City F.C. 1995–2000 6.3 Celtic F.C. 2000–2005 6.4 Manager Awards 7 Managerial stats 8 References 9 External links

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 and local Belfast legend Aidan Barnes. 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.

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.

After his playing career, O'Neill began a relatively successful 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.

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.

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.

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 subsequenly 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]

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 English manager is a very prestigious position.^[3] O'Neill later dismissed the reports, calling them "unfair speculation".^[4]

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.

• Winners
  • Irish FA Cup– 1971

• 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

• Winners
  • Football Conference – 1993
  • FA Trophy – 1991, 1993
  • Division 3 Play–Off Winners – 1994

• Winners
  • League Cup – 1997, 2000
  • Promotion to Premier League – 1995/96

• Runners-up
  • League Cup – 1999

• Winners
  • SPL Championship (3) – 2000/01, 2001/02, 2003/04
  • Scottish Cup (3) – 2001, 2004, 2005
  • Scottish League Cup (1) – 2000/01

• Runners-up
  • UEFA Cup Runner-Up – 2002/03
  • Scottish Cup – 2001/02
  • Scottish League Cup – 2002/03
  • SPL Championship – 2002/03 , 2004/05

• O'Neill has won the FA Premier League Manager of the Month award 4 times.
• O'Neill has won the SPL Manager of the Month award 9 times.
• O'Neill has won the Scottish Football Writers' Association Manager Of The Year award 3 times.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Wycombe Wanderers		February 7, 1990	June 13, 1995	112	52	28	32	46.42
Norwich City		June 13, 1995	November 17, 1995	20	9	4	7	45.00
Leicester City		December 21, 1995	June 1, 2000	223	85	70	68	38.11
Celtic		June 1, 2000	May 31, 2005	282	213	40	29	75.53
Aston Villa		August 5, 2006	Present	59	22	17	20	37.28
Total		February 7, 1990	Present	696	381	159	156	54.74

• Martin O'Neill management career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC biography
• Grantham Town profile
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk

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
1 Sørensen • 3 Bouma • 4 Mellberg • 5 Laursen • 6 Barry • 7 Young • 8 Moore • 9 Harewood • 10 Carew • 11 Agbonlahor • 13 Taylor • 15 Davies • 16 Knight • 19 Petrov • 20 Reo-Coker • 22 Carson • 23 Berger • 26 Gardner • 27 Osbourne • 28 Maloney • 29 O'Halloran • –– Salifou • Manager: O'Neill

v • d • e Wycombe Wanderers F.C. – Managers

McCormack (1951–52) • Cann (1952–61) • G. Adams (1961–62) • Welsh (1962–64) • Darvill (1964–68) • Lee (1969–76) • 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) • Evans (1999) • Sanchez (1999–2003) • Gorman (2003) • T. Adams (2003–04) • Ryan (2004) • Gorman (2004–06) • Lambert (2006–)

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 (1963–69) • 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–)

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