Burton O'Brien (born 10 June 1981) is a Scottish 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 lea ...

, who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. After playing for Scotland at under-21 level, O'Brien tried unsuccessfully to switch nationality to represent South Africa, the country where he was born. He began his career with St Mirren before moving to English club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

for a £300,000 fee in 1999. After only making one first team appearance at Blackburn, he joined Livingston in 2002 and won the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

with them in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. he subsequently played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

before rejoining Livingston in 2012. He joined

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

in June 2015 where he spent one season before signing for

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

. O'Brien announced his retirement on social media at the end of the 2016–17 season. O'Brien went on to coach at St Mirren U18s seeing several players move to the first team during his time at the club.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa, O'Brien started his career at Scottish club St Mirren, where he progressed through the youth ranks, before making his debut as a 16-year-old during season 1997–98. After only just reaching double figures in appearances for the first-team, he was sold to

for a fee of around £300,000 in 1999. O'Brien moved back on loan for the rest of the season, and scored his first and only goal for St Mirren with a free-kick against

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

. He made only one first-team appearance for Blackburn Rovers during his time at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

in an

English League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the English Football L ...

match against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

before leaving the club for Livingston in 2002. O'Brien blamed his lack of first-team action on a clause in his contract, saying that a league appearance would mean Blackburn had to pay St Mirren an extra £300,000.

Livingston

In September 2002, O'Brien moved back to Scotland after

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side Livingston agreed a deal to sign him and his teammate David McNamee from Blackburn Rovers. In 2004, he helped Livingston to their first major national honour by becoming an integral part of the

winning side on 14 March 2004. O'Brien's excellent form for Livingston saw him attract interest from other clubs such as

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Hearts and clubs south of the border. In total he made 119 league appearances for Livingston in all competitions and scored 16 goals.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 14 July 2005, O'Brien signed for

English Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divis ...

side

on a three-year contract after the midfielder rejected a new contract offer from Livingston. He scored his first goal for the club on 18 March 2006 in a 2–0 home win against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. He featured strongly in his first season at the club making 47 appearances in all competitions, but played less the following season after manager

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

left, making only 22 appearances. He made 35 appearances in season 2007–08, but he was released at the end of the season after the expiry of his three-year contract.

Falkirk

O'Brien returned to Scotland once more by signing for

. He scored his first and what turned out to be only Falkirk goal in a 4–1 win over

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

on 27 September 2008. He spent three seasons at Falkirk before being released in 2011.

Return to Livingston

After a one-year absence from the game, O'Brien spent a trial period with Airdrie in August 2012. Despite the

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

club keen to secure his services, O'Brien moved on and returned to his former club Livingston. Initially, O'Brien played as a trialist in the club's reserve matches to regain his fitness before signing a short-term contract on 22 November 2012. He made his second debut for Livingston on 17 November 2012 in a 2–1 home win over his former club Falkirk. After the expiry of his contract at the end of December 2012, he signed on again until the end of the season. A stand out performer for the club during his first season back, he was voted Livingston's 2012–13 Player's Player of the year. On 4 June 2013, O'Brien signed a new two-year contract with the club, keeping him at

Almondvale Almondvale Stadium, also known as The Home of the Set Fare Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium, located in the Almondvale area of Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Liv ...

until the summer of 2015.

Alloa & Cowdenbeath

After three seasons with Livingston, O'Brien transferred to

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

rivals

in June 2015 where he spent one season before moving to

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

side

. After a season with Cowdenbeath, O'Brien announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Coaching career

After attaining his

UEFA B Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of managers/ coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for football in Europe mandates several licences, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro ...

, O'Brien took up the role of youth coach with

in February 2017, whilst also continuing in his playing role for the club.

International career

O'Brien was capped at under-21 level for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. His application to switch nationalities in order to represent

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

was rejected by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 2005, as he was too old to apply.

Honours

Livingston *

: 2003–04

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Burton Living people 1981 births Scottish men's footballers St Mirren F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers South African men's soccer players White South African people Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football midfielders English Football League players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen 21st-century South African sportsmen