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Donald Joseph O'Riordan (born 14 May 1957) is an Irish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...
and former professional player, who is the manager of Women's National League club
Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland in 2021. They play their home matches at Market ...
. O'Riordan notably played for
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
,
Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
and
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
amongst others and has previously been on the coaching staff at
Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
, in the role of technical director/coach of their feeder club
Chengdu Blades F.C. Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Center in the China League One division. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly ...
in China.


Club career


Derby County

O'Riordan was born in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. A
central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
or
midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
, he began his career as an apprentice with
Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...
, turning professional in May 1975. His league debut came on 23 March 1977, as a 24th-minute substitute for
Charlie George Frederick Charles George (born 10 October 1950) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. George began his career as a youngster with Arsenal and was part of their 1970–71 League and FA Cup Double-winning team ...
in a 0–0 draw away to
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
.


Tulsa Roughnecks

He played twice on loan to
Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
in January 1978 and struggling to make an impact at Derby, moved to NASL side
Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...
where he played in every game in his first NASL season.


Preston North End

He returned to England in October 1978, joining
Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
managed by Nobby Styles for a fee of £40,000 with a clause that meant he returned to Tulsa for the following US season on loan and at the end of that season he was voted Player of the Year by the Roughneck fans. He made 158 league appearances for Preston – being their fans voted him
Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...
in 1981–82.


Carlisle United

He was on the move again, joining
Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...
managed by Bob Stokoe in August 1983 on a free transfer. He had two seasons as a regular at Carlisle again being voted Player of the Year by the fans and in his second season finished joint top scorer with Malcolm Poskett eventually scoring 18 goals from 84 league appearances.


Middlesbrough

His performances earned himself a £55,000 move to
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
in August 1985. Despite missing only one game the following season, O'Riordan walked out on the club with Peter Beagrie amidst Middlesbrough's financial crisis.


Grimsby Town

He joined
Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
in August 1986. As well as playing 86 league games, scoring 14 goals, for Grimsby, he also acted as assistant manager to Grimsby manager Mike Lyons and later Bobby Roberts. While at Grimsby he started the Grimsby Town School of Excellence. Despite relegation in his 2nd season he won the fans Player of the Year award and the Sunday People Player of the Year for that Division.


Notts County

In July 1988, O'Riordan was transferred to
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
for a fee of £16,000. He had a spell on loan to
Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional 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 play in a blue and ...
in September 1989, but went on to make over 100 appearances for County. He gave Notts County the lead against
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
in an FA Cup Quarter-final at White Hart Lane in 1991, a match
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
went on to lose 2–1 live on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. His role as a front sweeper (in front of the defence) was particularly pivotal in Notts County's rise to the top flight in the 1990–91 season. Unfortunately O'Riordan's career was shortened at County by an injury on the opening day of the 1991–92 season against
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
. He would play no further effective part in the season which Neil Warnock cited as being a big factor in Notts getting relegated that season.


Torquay United

In February 1993 O'Riordan joined
Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
as Player Coach at a time when Torquay looked favourites to get relegated out of the Football League but he played a big role in their survival and that summer took over as manager. In his first season as manager, a young Torquay side made the
Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...
play-offs and lost the semi-final against his old club Preston North End. The game will be remembered for a wrong decision by the referee to send off the Torquay defender Darren Moore which gave Preston an advantage and they went on to score four times to win 4–1 and 4–3 over the two legs. After selling some of his key players from the play-off season the following season was to produce a mid-table position of safety. The 1995–96 season started badly for Torquay, and O'Riordan was sacked after a heavy defeat at home to Scunthorpe United in October, with future Torquay forward
Andy McFarlane Andrew Antonie McFarlane (born 30 November 1966) is an English retired footballer who played as a striker. Whilst at Swansea he was a part of the team that won after a penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner ...
scoring four goals. During his time in charge he brought through players into the 1st team such as Darren Moore Paul Trollope and
Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager. He is currently a technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL and technical advisor to Landon Donovan at San Diego Loyal. Prior to this, he coached the U23s for South ...
who later went on to manage Torquay. Torquay accepted offers for many of the young players developed by O'Riordan during his time in charge but his two Caribbean signings Bajan international Gregory Goodridge and Rodney Jack the Saint Vincent National Team player brought in a reported one million pounds in transfer fees between them selling Goodridge to QPR before and Jack to Crewe after his departure.


Scarborough

He joined
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
as a player coach in December 1995, but played just once to bring down the curtain on his Football League playing career.


Gloucester City

He had a season at Gloucester City as a player and also as assistant to manager Leroy Rosenior which saw Gloucester just miss out on promotion and saw them lose the FA Trophy semi final also. O'Riordan guided Gloucester's very young Reserve team to a Cup Final victory when he played in the win against local rivals Cheltenham Town. After a loan spell at
Dorchester Town Dorchester Town Football Club are a semi-professional football club, based in Dorchester, Dorset, England. They currently play in the . The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA chartered Standard club. They ...
he left Gloucester, having been appointed as manager of Irish side
Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...
in the summer of 1997.


International career


Republic of Ireland

He captained the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
at under 15 and youth levels and played for three consecutive years for Ireland at youth level playing in the 1973 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship and 1975 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship. He was in the Republics senior squad four times but never managed to get onto the pitch and so failed to win a cap at senior level. He was reported later in his playing days that this was the biggest disappointment of his long career but when he was appointed Manager of the Republic of Ireland semi professional National Team while managing in Ireland he admitted that the appointment had made up for his disappointment as a player of never having played at senior level for his country. He took charge of his country for a four-team tournament involving England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic that took place in the UK. Having beaten Scotland in their first game and England in their 2nd game Ireland lost to Wales in the final game and so lost the chance to be champions. The Irish were disappointed but they had performed very well when they ended England's long unbeaten run at this level during the tournament. O'Riordan's skills as a manager were recognised again later when he was working in Ireland when he was appointed Manager of the
League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...
's under 21 Team.


Managerial and coaching career


Galway United

In his first season in charge and despite his age (40) he did turn out on a few occasions for the Tribesmen. In his second season, he took Galway from the First Division into the Premier League. He had what was seen by the Galway fans as a very successful four years in charge of the club and as well as achieving promotion by reaching the semi-final of the FAI Cup twice and he sustained Galway's Premier League status for two seasons after their promotion before mutually agreeing to leave at the end of the 2000–01 season because of the financial difficulties encountered by the club. During his time in charge he was responsible for implementing a youth policy at United, which had no existed before his arrival. It reaped immediate rewards, as they were the first team from the West of Ireland to win a national cup at any juvenile level, in what was their first year of existence, when they defeated St Josephs of Dublin in the historic under 17 final, in
Terryland Park Eamonn Deacy Park, formerly known as Terryland Park, is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in the Terryland district of Galway. It is owned by the Galway Football Association and is the home ground of both Galway ...
.


Sligo Rovers

In July 2001, he was appointed as manager of
Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...
, but never really managed to bring any real success to the club on the playing field despite a lot of hard work both on and off the pitch that also saw him work on the commercial side of the club looking to bring much needed funds into the club. As he had done in Galway O'Riordan set up the Sligo Rovers Youth Policy which has since produced many players that have gone on to play for the Rovers at 1st Team level. After three years in the north-west O'Riordan mutually agreed to leave Sligo and returned to England after spending seven years as manager of 2 League of Ireland clubs. Besides his commitment to his League of Ireland employers both in Galway and Sligo he was well known in the West of Ireland for helping the local Technical Colleges both in Galway and in Sligo and enhanced his reputation in both cities when he guided the Galway IT Men's Team to the Ireland National Senior League title and later the Senior Women's Team from Sligo IT to the National League title of Ireland.


Sheffield United

He left Ireland and in 2004 and subsequently joined the
Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
coaching staff under then manager
Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...
, whom O'Riordan played for when Warnock was in charge of Notts County.


Chengdu Blades

On 27 April 2009, after the departure of Head Coach Li Bing he was appointed as the
caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
of Chengdu Blades F.C.

before the Blades Super League game v Henan. His interim role with the team next to bottom of the table lasted only about a week but he managed to end the team's four-game losing streak when they drew 1–1 away to the then Super League leaders. The club appointed Wang Baoshan as the new Head Coach on 4 May and O'Riordan returned to his usual role of Technical Director/ Coach


China women's national team

O'Riordan found himself involved in the Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, 2008 Beijing Olympics when he was asked to help with the preparation of the China women's national team. After spending a week working with the team in a coaching role and also as an analyst the Women's team Head Coach Shang Ruihua asked the Chengdu Blades club for O'Riordan to be allowed to work with him for the duration of the team's involvement in the Olympic football tournament. His influence was seen during the buildup games just prior to the start of the tournament when China crushed
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
5–0 and drew 0–0 with the eventual Olympic Champions the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. China won their group by beating a very good
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
team followed by a tough game versus a robust
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
team before beating
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
in their final game. Having done so well in the group stage the Chinese lost to
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in the
quarter final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
and so ended their dream of gold on home soil. O'Riordan's input was publicly appreciated by the Women's Head Coach Shang when he spoke to the press after the tournament had finished.


South Africa women's national team

As a result of his involvement with the China women's team O'Riordan was invited in January 2010 to work with the South Africa women's under-20 team in the buildup to their World Cup Qualifier v
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
. He spent the week working with the team helping the Head Coach August Makalakalane and South Africa won the first leg 6–0 in Johannesburg.


FC New York

In March 2010 he was appointed as Head Coach/Technical Director of
FC New York F.C. New York was an American professional soccer team based first in Queens, New York City, and then Long Island, New York. The team played two seasons, starting in 2011 in the National Division of the USL Professional Division, the third t ...
a new professional club that entered the USL Division 1 in 2011. O'Riordan oversaw the club's under 15s, under 16s and under 20s who competed in the Super Y and Super 20 Leagues in the 2010 season. He resigned from FCNY in July 2010


China


Beijing Baxi FC Women's Team

In January 2011 O'Riordan was appointed as Advisor to the Beijing Baxi FC professional women's team and helped them to finish 5th and reached the FA Cup Final losing to League Champions Shanghai. In January 2012 he was appointed Head Coach and became the first foreigner to be offered such a role.


Galway WFC

On 16 June 2014, it was announced that O'Riordan would take up the position of manager of Women's National League (WNL) club Galway WFC. He left in December 2016, to be replaced by Billy Clery his former charge at Galway United.


Treaty United

O'Riordan made a return to the WNL when he was announced as
Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland in 2021. They play their home matches at Market ...
manager in December 2021.


Personal life

His younger brother Brendan O'Riordan played for
Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
and
Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...
and his older brother Dermot is the Chairman of Cherry Orchard.


References


External links


Newcastle Fans profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:ORiordan, Don 1957 births Living people Carlisle United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Mansfield Town F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Notts County F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Scarborough F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. managers Galway United F.C. managers Torquay United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Expatriate men's footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate association football managers Republic of Ireland association football managers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Irish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Women's National League (Ireland) managers Men's association football midfielders Irish expatriate sportspeople in China Association footballers from County Dublin