Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a
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 ...
.
Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham Forest, with whom he won the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
Grantham Town
Grantham Town Football Club is a football club, based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium.
History
The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.
2010 Football League Cup Final
The 2010 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the 2009–10 Football League Cup, the 50th season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and The Football League. The match, played at W ...
.
He became
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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
manager in 2013 and led them to qualification for the
2016 UEFA European Championship
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...
for the third time in the nation's history, beating the reigning world champions, Germany in the process. He left the role with
assistant
Assistant may refer to:
* Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones
* Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration
* Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google
* ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
Roy Keane by "mutual agreement" in November 2018. He was appointed as Nottingham Forest manager in January 2019 but left six months later.
County Londonderry
County Londonderry (Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulste ...
, Northern Ireland, in 1952. He was the sixth child of nine siblings, and has four brothers and four sisters. O'Neill's father was a founding member of local GAA club Pádraig Pearse's Kilrea. His brothers Gerry and Leo played for the club as well as being on the Derry senior team which won the 1958 Ulster Championship and reached that year's All-Ireland Championship final. He played for both Kilrea and Derry at underage level as well. He also played Gaelic football while boarding at St. Columb's College, Derry, and later at St. Malachy's College,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
.
While at St. Malachy's, he first came to public attention as a football player with local side Rosario and then eventually with Distillery. This breached the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
prohibition on Gaelic footballers playing "foreign sports". When St. Malachy's reached the 1970 MacRory Cup final, the Antrim GAA County Board refused to allow the game to go ahead at Belfast's Casement Park. The colleges involved switched the venue to County Tyrone to enable him to play. St. Malachy's won the game.
Club career
Early career
Before playing for Distillery in the Irish League, O'Neill played for the South Belfast side Rosario. (Now he also has a conference room dedicated to him in Rosario Football Club's local Youth Club.) While at Distillery, he won the Irish Cup in 1971, scoring twice in a 3–0 win over
Derry City
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
in the final. His second goal was particularly impressive, a mazy run in which he dribbled past three opponents before scoring with a powerful shot. As a result of winning the cup, Distillery qualified for Europe the following season. O'Neill scored against
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...
in the European Cup Winners' Cup in a 3–1 home defeat in September 1971. During this period he was spotted by a
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
* Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
for Nottingham Forest. He signed for Nottingham Forest in October 1971, leaving Distillery and quitting his university studies.
Nottingham Forest
O'Neill went on to play an integral role in Forest's golden era. He scored on his league debut for the club, a 4–1 win over West Bromwich Albion on 13 November 1971. He went on to make a total of 17 league appearances that season, scoring twice, but could not prevent his side's relegation from the First Division in 1972. However, the appointment of Brian Clough as manager in January 1975 was the beginning of a revolution for Nottingham Forest. Under Clough's management, O'Neill helped Forest gain promotion to the top flight in 1977, won the league title and League Cup a year later, followed by further League Cup success a year later. He was dropped to the substitutes bench for Forest's first
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
victory over
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...
in 1979 after failing to fully recover from an injury, but he played in their 1980 win over
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
.
Later career
At club level, O'Neill also played for Norwich City, Manchester City and Notts County. O'Neill attempted to make a comeback in 1984 with Chesterfield, but only played part of a reserve game before being forced off with a knee injury after 20 minutes. This was made in an attempt to get fit for Northern Ireland's 1986 World Cup squad. After leaving Chesterfield, then-
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...
manager
Ray Harford
Raymond Thomas Harford (1 June 1945 – 9 August 2003) was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation.
During his playi ...
invited O'Neill to join the club in a bid to regain his fitness. O'Neill only managed to take part in two reserve games for Fulham (neither of which he completed), before retiring as a result of his knee injury in February 1985.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
, captaining the side at the 1982 World Cup in Spain which reached the second group stage and included defeating the host nation in
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
. He played 64 times and scored eight goals for Northern Ireland between 1971 and 1984. He also won the British Home Championship twice as a player, in 1980 and 1984.
Managerial career
After his playing career, O'Neill began a career in football management, initially at
Grantham Town
Grantham Town Football Club is a football club, based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium.
History
The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.
He became manager of Wycombe Wanderers in February 1990. He played in the Martin O'Neill XI side, along with George Best, in the last match to be played at
Loakes Park
Loakes Park was the home of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club from 1895 to 1990. It was located next to Wycombe General Hospital in the centre of High Wycombe, England. The ground was donated to the club by Frank Adams, a former Wanderers play ...
. In the 1990–91 season, he took Wycombe to fifth in the Football Conference. In the 1991–92 season, he led Wycombe to 2nd place in the Conference, losing out to Colchester United only on goal difference. The following season, he took Wycombe into the Football League for the very first time. In the 1993–94 season, he took Wycombe to a second successive promotion via the Division 3 play-offs and a 4–2 win over Preston North End took them up into Division 2. In the 1994–95 season, Wycombe narrowly missed out on the Division 2 play-offs and he left the club on 13 June 1995 to become manager at Norwich City. O'Neill also won the FA Trophy with Wycombe in 1991 and 1993.
Under O'Neill, Wycombe also reached the Conference League Cup final twice (winners in 1991–92). The team also won three Conference Shield titles and the (''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'') London Fives in 1994 and 1995. Wycombe were also beaten finalists in both the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup and Drinkwise Cup.
As of June 2019, he remains as Wycombe's most successful manager in their history.
Norwich City
O'Neill became manager of Norwich City in June 1995, and left the club in December, due to differences with club chairman Robert Chase over the potential signing of striker Dean Windass, during his first stint at Hull City for £750,000.
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
, as well as reaching the
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...
final of the competition. They finished ninth in the Premier League in 1997, tenth in 1998 and
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...
, and eighth in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. The two League Cup triumphs saw them qualify for the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...
in 1997–98 and 2000–01.
In October 1998, he was favourite to take over the manager's job at Leeds United. George Graham, who had just resigned from Leeds, brought his Spurs team to Filbert Street for his first game in charge. '' Leicester Mercury'' organised a protest and printed thousands of "Don't Go Martin" posters, which were held up by fans throughout the game, which Leicester won. Thousands of balloons were also released. O'Neill remained as Leicester manager until his contract expired.
Celtic
O'Neill left Leicester on 1 June 2000, taking over from the team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish to become manager of Celtic, who had finished runners-up to Old Firm rivals
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
in both of their previous seasons; in the season just gone, they had finished 21 points behind the champions.
O'Neill's first Old Firm game, in late August 2000, ended in a 6–2 victory for Celtic over Rangers. It was their biggest victory over Rangers since the 1957 Scottish League Cup Final. His second Old Firm game saw a reversal of fortunes, however, as Celtic suffered a 5–1 defeat. In that first season, O'Neill won a domestic treble with Celtic, the first time this had been achieved since 1968–69. He was then touted as a potential successor to Alex Ferguson, who had announced he was to leave Manchester United in 2002. Celtic then retained the league title in 2001–02, the first time since 1982 that Celtic had managed that feat. Celtic also qualified for the Champions League group stage, winning all of their home games but losing all of their away games.
He then guided Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...
, which Celtic lost 3–2 in extra time to a
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...
side managed by José Mourinho. This was Celtic's first European final since 1970 and they beat Blackburn, Celta Vigo, Stuttgart, Liverpool and Boavista on the way to the final. The following season Celtic regained the league title from rivals Rangers and reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup, including a victory against Barcelona.
On 25 May 2005, Celtic announced that O'Neill would resign as manager to care for his wife Geraldine, who had
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enl ...
. His 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.
Under O'Neill, Celtic won 213, drew 29 and lost 40, of 282 games played, and he was the most successful Celtic manager since Jock Stein. In his five seasons at Celtic Park, O'Neill won three League titles, three Scottish Cups, and a League Cup. The two league titles he lost were by margins of a point and a goal. 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 league victories. His win rate of 75.5% is the highest of any manager in the club's history.
Aston Villa
O'Neill was introduced as the Aston Villa manager at a press conference on 4 August 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
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
but that is the dream."
Villa had the year's longest unbeaten start of any Premier League 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, to end the season how it began with a run of 9 unbeaten fixtures. For this O'Neill was named the Premier League Manager of the Month for April. Villa's final points tally was 50, an improvement of 8 over the previous season and finished 11th, 5 places higher than the previous season. In October 2007, Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner said that he would not stop O'Neill from leaving Villa if he was offered the vacant post of England manager. O'Neill later dismissed the reports, calling them "unfair speculation".
Aston Villa just missed out on a UEFA Cup spot on the final day of the 2007–08 season and qualified for the Intertoto Cup by finishing 6th. They scored 71 goals, (their best ever tally in the Premier League and best tally since winning the title in 1981), gained 60 points which was Villa's highest points tally since 1996–97, and were the third highest goalscorers.
After 25 games of the 2008–09 season, having qualified for the UEFA Cup as joint winners of the Intertoto Cup, the club were third in the table on 51 points, 2 points above Chelsea on level games and 7 points above Arsenal in 5th place and on course for a place in the Champions League for the first time since 1983. O'Neill decided to prioritise Champions League qualification above all else, fielding a virtual reserve side for a UEFA Cup game against CSKA Moscow which was subsequently lost. Following this, Villa failed to win any of the next 8 league games and improving form for Arsenal & Chelsea meant that Villa failed to reach the top 4.
At the start of the 2009–10 season Villa failed to qualify for the group stage of the newly named Europa League, but continued their progress in the league with wins against Manchester United, Chelsea and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
. Arsenal defeated Villa 3–0 at Emirates Stadium, and drew at home.
Once again Villa finished 6th for the 3rd season running, and once again improved their points tally finishing with 64 points; their poor home form (they drew 8 times at home) denied them a chance to qualify for the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
.
Aston Villa reached their first final under Martin O'Neill, and first final in 10 years on 28 February 2010 against Manchester United in the League Cup, but lost 2–1.
On 9 August 2010, O'Neill resigned as manager of Aston Villa with immediate effect.
On his departure O'Neill said "I have enjoyed my time at Aston Villa immensely. It's obviously a wrench to be leaving such a magnificent club." O'Neill was reportedly unhappy about the funds available for transfers, but his departure just five days before the start of the new season still came as a shock to the club and its players. Lerner issued a statement two days later saying he and O'Neill "no longer shared a common view as to how to move forward, but the two remain good friends."
Sunderland
On 3 December 2011, O'Neill signed a three-year contract with the Premier League club Sunderland, the team he had supported as a boy. In O'Neill's first game in charge Sunderland came from 1–0 down to beat Blackburn Rovers 2–1 at the Stadium of Light. Under O'Neill, Sunderland began to improve dramatically with four wins from his first six games, including one over league leaders Manchester City. The Daily Telegraph commented that Sunderland could make a late challenge for a European place if they kept their performances up. Sunderland continued to perform well in the first few months under O'Neill. They rose to ninth in the league and continued their challenge for a Europa League spot. On 18 February, they beat
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
2–0 to knock them out of the FA Cup fifth round. A week after this they lost 4–0 to West Bromwich Albion. The next week was O'Neill's first Tyne–Wear derby. The 'fiercely contested' match finished 1–1 with two red cards for Sunderland. The following week Sunderland defeated Liverpool 1–0 at the Stadium Of Light. Sunderland's form petered out at the end of the season and after no wins in the last 8 games but they finished a respectable 13th place, a position Sunderland fans would've been happy with after the start to the season.
The following season, O'Neill had bought Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson in an attempt to build on his previous 13th place and push on for the top 10. He claimed a solid 0–0 draw at the Emirates against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in the first game of the season. Sunderland went unbeaten for the first five games before a 3–0 defeat at Manchester City. They then claimed a 1–1 draw in O'Neill's first Tyne-Wear derby at the Stadium of Light thanks to a late
Demba Ba
Demba Ba (born 25 May 1985) is a former professional footballer. He serves as the chairman of National Independent Soccer Association side ASC San Diego.
He made his first-team debut with French team Rouen in 2005 before moving to Mouscron a ...
own goal. Sunderland then suffered a surprising 0–1 home defeat to Aston Villa and a 1–0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the League Cup. After a 2–4 home defeat to West Brom, rumours circulated that O'Neill had resigned. These were all quashed quickly and O'Neill continued despite slipping into the relegation zone following a 1–3 home defeat to Chelsea. Sunderland's form started to improve over the winter as they climbed the table following an impressive run of results including another 1–0 success over Manchester City and a 2–3 success over Wigan as they reached a season high of 11th. However, this proved to be O'Neill's last victory as Sunderland endured a run of 8 games without a win.
Martin O'Neill was sacked by Sunderland on 30 March 2013 following a 1–0 defeat by Manchester United which left the team one point above the Premier League relegation zone with seven games left to play in the season. Sunderland had failed to secure victory in the eight matches leading up to O'Neill's departure, winning only three points out of a possible 24 during that spell.
Republic of Ireland
O'Neill was confirmed as the new
Republic of Ireland national football team
, FIFA Trigramme = IRL
, Name = Republic of Ireland
, Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI)
, Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
, website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...
manager on 5 November 2013. He was joined by former team captain Roy Keane as his assistant manager.
His first game in charge on 15 November 2013 against
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
was a 3–0 win at the Aviva Stadium. On 19 November 2013, O'Neill's first away game as manager saw the team draw 0–0 against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
.
His first loss as manager came on 5 March 2014, a 2–1 home friendly defeat to
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
.
On 16 November 2015, the Republic of Ireland qualified for UEFA Euro 2016 after defeating
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
3–1 on aggregate in the play-offs.
O'Neill courted controversy in March 2016 following comments he made about the physical appearance of players' female partners, which were condemned as sexist. According to Orla O'Connor of the National Women's Council of Ireland: "There is no place for sexist comments of this nature in Irish football, particularly at this level"
On 7 June 2016, O'Neill signed a contract extensions until the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On 22 June 2016, Ireland defeated
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
1–0 in their final group game of Euro 2016 to qualify for the knock-out stages and round of 16 match against
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.
In June 2016, O'Neill was criticised for using a derogatory term to describe LGBT people. During a public appearance in Cork that month, O'Neill informed a gathering of Ireland football fans that he had two others accompany assistant Roy Keane and him on a recent visit to San Francisco as he was worried people might think they were "queers". The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) condemned the comments and called on him to apologise to the LGBT community. The National LGBT Federation also called on O'Neill to withdraw the remarks and apologise, noting that O'Neill's behaviour could only have a detrimental effect on attempts to tackle homophobic prejudice in sport. He apologised for the derogatory remark a number of days later.
On 9 October 2017, Ireland defeated
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
1–0 in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
to qualify for the qualification play-offs. In the first leg of the play-offs on 11 November, Ireland drew 0–0 against
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establishe ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. In the second leg on 14 November in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Ireland lost 5–1 to Denmark after taking the lead in the game. In January 2018, O'Neill signed a new two-year contract with the FAI after previously verbally agreeing to the contract in October 2017.
On 6 September 2018, an understrength Ireland lost 4–1 to
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
in their opening game in the UEFA Nations League. Ireland went on to finish bottom of their group, picking up just two points in two 0–0 draws against
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establishe ...
League B
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* '' The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact foo ...
following a format change). On 21 November 2018, O'Neill parted company with the FAI.
Nottingham Forest
It was announced on 15 January 2019 that O'Neill had become the manager of Nottingham Forest. O'Neill guided the club to a ninth-place finish in the Championship. However, he was sacked as manager on 28 June 2019, soon after assistant Roy Keane had departed the club.
Outside football
Despite never completing his degree, O'Neill remains a follower of criminology. His fascination began with the James Hanratty case of 1961.
He has worked in television as an analyst for BBC and ITV at the World Cup, the European Championship and on
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
matches.
O'Neill was awarded an
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
for services to sport in 2004. In 2002, Norwich supporters voted him into the club's Hall of Fame.
He was awarded the Nottingham Lifetime Achievement Award on 3 November 2013 for his services to football and achievements with Nottingham Forest.
Personal life
O'Neill and his wife Geraldine have two daughters.
In his youth, O'Neill supported Sunderland A.F.C. and Celtic F.C.. His favourite player was Sunderland's captain and centre half Charlie Hurley, who eventually won Sunderland's Man of the Century award in 1979.
Career statistics
International goals
''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. ''
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...
* Conference League Cup: 1991–92
*Football Conference Shield: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94
Leicester City
*
Football League First Division play-offs
The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , ...
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...