DATE OF BIRTH: March 1, 1952
NATIONALITY: Northern Irish
MANAGERIAL CAREER:
Aug 2006-present Aston Villa
2000-2005 Celtic
1995-2000 Leicester City
1995 Norwich
1990-95 Wycombe Wanderers
HONOURS:
With Celtic
Scottish Premier League title 2001, 2002, 2004
Scottish Cup 2001, 2004, 2005
Scottish League Cup 2001
With Leicester
League Cup 1997, 2000
Football League Division One Playoff Winners 1996
With Wycombe Wanderers
Division 3 Playoff Winners 1994
Football Conference Champions 1993
FA Trophy 1991, 1993
PLAYING CAREER:
1985 Fulham
1984-1985 Chesterfield
1983-1984 Notts County
Jun 1981-Feb1982 Manchester City
Feb 1981-June 1981, Feb 1982-Aug 1983 Norwich
1971-1981 Nottingham Forest
HONOURS:
Nottingham Forest
European Supercup 1980
European Cup 1979, 1980
League Cup 1978, 1979
English First Division 1978
Capped 64 times by Northern Ireland (8 goals).
After a highly successful playing career as a midfielder with Nottingham Forest in the 1970s, Martin O’Neill has gone on to become one of the most respected managers in British football. Born and raised in Kilrea, Co Derry in Northern Ireland, O’Neill grew up playing Gaelic football during his teens. He was spotted as a potential footballer by scouts from Nottingham Forest, and moved to the City Ground as a 19-year-old in 1971, quitting his studies for a degree in law at the Queen’s University of Belfast.
O’Neill progressed little at Forest, who were in the second tier of English football, until Brian Clough took over at the club in 1975. Clough worked miracles at Forest, and after taking them into the top flight in 1977, the club achieved the rare feat of winning the English First Division in their first season after gaining promotion. The following year, in 1979, O’Neill was part of the Forest midfield as the club won the European Cup, beating Malmo 1-0 in Munich. Forest retained the trophy the following year, beating Hamburg, of Germany. A European Supercup and two League Cups followed before O’Neill left Forest in 1981. Captaining his country, O’Neill was part of the Northern Ireland side which advanced to the knockout phase of the World Cup in 1982. He then played briefly at a number of clubs including Norwich City and Notts County, before retiring in 1985.
O’Neill ventured into management, and took over at non-league Wycombe Wanderers in 1990. O’Neill raised the profile of the club to heights never seen before, and Wycombe were promoted to the football league in 1993, and went up again in 1994, before he left in 1995 after feeling that the board were unwilling to match his ambitions for the club. His reputation for a being a master of player discipline, motivation and match preparation had spread and, after a very brief spell in charge of Norwich City, Leicester City hired O’Neill in 1995. O’Neill went on to achieve great success with the club. After promotion to the Premiership in his first season in charge, O’Neill took Leicester into Europe after winning the League Cup in 1997. Leicester never finished outside the top ten during O’Neill’s four years in charge in the Premiership. Another League Cup followed in 2000, before O’Neill moved on to Celtic.
During his five years at Parkhead, O’Neill won three Scottish Championships, three Scottish Cups and one League Cup. He also came close to delivering European success as Celtic were beaten 3-2 by Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto in the Uefa Cup final in 2003. O’Neill resigned in 2005 in order to care for his sick wife. From the moment he left Celtic, his name was regularly mentioned when big jobs became available in English football. After a year out of the game, the popular O’Neill returned to football to take charge at Aston Villa, vowing to do his best to take the club back to the upper reaches of English football.