Alan Patrick James O'Hare (born 31 July 1982) is an Irish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. He played for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

Glapwell Glapwell is a village and civil parish on the A617 road in the Bolsover District of north east Derbyshire, between the towns of Chesterfield (7 miles) and Mansfield (5 miles) and Bolsover (3 miles to the north). With 1,467 residents, increasing ...

and Belper Town. Following on from his football career, Alan now has a work wife called Lizzie and is affectionately called “Alan NoHare” by his colleagues.

Career

Born in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, O'Hare progressed through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, being promoted to the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

for the 2001–02 season. He joined

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

on 28 January 2002. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

and in March the loan was extended for a second month. He finished the loan spell with 19 appearances. He rejoined Chesterfield on a month's loan on 26 September and he signed for the club permanently on a free transfer on 22 November. O'Hare was a regular for the Bolton

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

but opted to the move to Chesterfield in search of regular first team football, on his last game in the reserves at Bolton before his initial loan spell with the Spireites, he was made captain versus Aston Villa Reserves. During his time at Bolton Wanderers FC O'Hare regularly enjoyed a Zinger Tower burger from the KFC close to the Reebok (Macron) Stadium. Naturally left footed, O'Hare began his Chesterfield career at left back, where he played all his games whilst on loan. Since joining Chesterfield permanently he played centre back on occasion, with some success. O'Hare's career was derailed by ankle injury in the 2006–07 season, and since by a possible conflict of personality with new Chesterfield manager Lee Richardson. Following a team re-shuffle in early 2008 it seemed unlikely that he would be staying with the club. O'Hare was amongst several players released at the end of the 2007–08 campaign. O'Hare joined newly relegated

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

team

on trial in July 2008 and signed for club on 1 August 2008. He scored his first goal for Mansfield against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

on 19 September. He joined

on 30 June 2009. He signed for

on a month's loan on 1 October, after being unable to play any games for York up to that point during the 2009–10 season. He made his debut in a 2–2 draw with

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

and had the loan extended for a second month in November. The loan was extended for a third month in December and he returned to York after making eight appearances. Gainsborough manager

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

said he was interested in bringing O'Hare back to the club on loan until the end of the season. He signed on loan until the end of the season on 28 January 2010. He made his first appearance since his return in a 0–0 draw with Ilkeston Town and subsequently scored in a 2–2 draw against

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...

. He returned to York at the end of the season, having made three appearances during the second loan at Gainsborough. On his return to York, the club announced that he would be released when his contract expired on 30 June. O'Hare moved down to the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One South after signing for

during the summer of 2010, making his debut in a 3–1 victory over Market Drayton Town on 21 August. He moved to Belper Town in summer 2011 where he remained until 2013 before retiring.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohare, Alan 1982 births Living people People from Drogheda Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Men's association football defenders Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Glapwell F.C. players Belper Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Expatriate footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England