Martin John O'Connor (born 10 December 1967) is a

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 and former professional player. Born in England, he represented the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

at international level.

Club career

O'Connor was a late entrant to senior football. He joined

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

club Bromsgrove Rovers in his early 20s, and played his part in their winning the 1991–92 title. He signed for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

for a £25,000 fee ahead of the inaugural Premier League season, but never appeared in that league. Instead, he made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut at the age of 25 during the first of three spells at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

, joining on loan in March 1993 before signing permanently the following year. He played a key role in the Saddlers winning promotion to Division Two in 1994–95. He then joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, followed by

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, whom O'Connor represented in the 2001 Football League Cup Final against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, which Birmingham lost in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. O'Connor re-joined Walsall in 2002, but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2002–03 season. He then signed for

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in July 2003, before ending his playing career with

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

. He was

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Halesowen Town Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rec ...

from November 2006 until October 2007. On 20 January 2009, he was named assistant manager to

Chris Hutchings Christopher Hutchings (born 5 July 1957) is an English former footballer and manager. He played for a number of clubs including Chelsea and played more than 100 games for Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town. He has managed in the Premie ...

, but the pair were sacked on 3 January 2011 after a series of poor results left Walsall bottom of

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. After Dean Keates was sacked as Walsall manager in April 2019 with the team in the relegation places, O'Connor was appointed for the remaining five matches of the season. Despite overseeing a stunning 3–0 victory against

on 27 April 2019 taking the fight for survival to the last game of the season, O'Connor ultimately could not stop the Saddlers' relegation to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. O'Connor was succeeded as Walsall manager by

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League. He is the manager of club Port Vale. A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career with ...

who signed a three-year contract on 10 May 2019.

International career

O'Connor was called up to the Cayman Islands national team in 2000; his father was born in that country. He played twice before

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ruled that neither he nor many others who had been invited were eligible. The Cayman Islands had been attempting to exploit their status as a

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

by picking British passport holders who would not ordinarily be eligible to play for them.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Walsall *

Football League Third Division 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 f ...

runner-up: 1994–95 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1994–95 Third Division, 1995–96 Second Division

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Martin 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Walsall English footballers Caymanian footballers Cayman Islands international footballers Association football midfielders Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Halesowen Town F.C. managers Walsall F.C. managers