James John O'Brien (born 28 September 1987) is a 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 most recently 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 ...

for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. His previous clubs include

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

and Ross County in Scotland, and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

in England. Born in Scotland, he represented Ireland at youth international level.

Club career

Celtic and loans

Raised in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

, O'Brien began his career in 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 if they show en ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. He was loaned out to

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

during the 2006–07 season. He made his debut in their 3–2

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

on 7 January 2007. He scored his first goal in Dunfermline's 4–1 victory over Motherwell on 7 May 2007. He made his debut Celtic in a 2–1 victory over Gretna on 7 October 2007; he filled in as a right-back due to all of Celtic's recognised players in that position being injured. O'Brien joined Dundee United on loan on 31 January until May 2008.

Motherwell

On 8 August 2008, O'Brien signed for

. He scored four goals in 64 league appearances for Motherwell, earning selection for the

PFA Scotland The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland) is the association for professional footballers in Scotland. It was known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association (SPFA), but that organisation was dissolved and repl ...

team of the year in 2009–10.

Barnsley

On 7 May 2010, O'Brien signed a pre-contract agreement with English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

, then under the stewardship of

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Stoke City. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier League with Manchester United, Norw ...

. He scored his first goal for the club during a 5–2 win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium. While the na ...

in September 2010. As of 5 April 2013, O'Brien had scored five and assisted eight goals for Barnsley. In May 2014, O'Brien rejected a new contract offer from Barnsley.

Coventry City

O'Brien completed a move to Coventry City on a two-year contract on 4 July 2014. He made his league debut on the opening day of the 2014–15 season in a 3–2 defeat to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. He scored a disputed first goal for the club against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Sixfields Sixfields is an area of Northampton, Northamptonshire, England about west of the town centre along the A4500 St James Road and Weedon Road towards M1 junction 16 about further west. It is close to the Duston, Upton and St James areas ...

(later credited as an own goal by ''Blades'' defender Bob Harris). His second goal for the club was less disputable as he scored from close-range to make the score 2–2 against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

at the

Ricoh Arena The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currentl ...

on 25 October 2014; the ''Sky Blues'' went on to win the game 3–2. On 15 February 2016, O'Brien was loaned out to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on an emergency basis.

Shrewsbury Town and Ross County

On 17 June 2016, O'Brien completed a move to League One side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

. He signed a two-year deal arriving as a free agent following his release from Coventry. A first-team regular during the first half of the season, he scored his first goal for the club in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

second-round replay against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

. On 18 January 2017, O'Brien joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

side Ross County on loan from Shrewsbury until the end of the 2016–17 season. He made his debut for the club as a substitute in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

, scoring the final goal in a 6–2 victory. He left Shrewsbury by mutual consent in July 2017, despite having a year left to run on his contract. then signed a two-year contract with Ross County.

Bradford City and Notts County

In September 2018 he signed a short-term contract with

. He left the club in January 2019. On 8 January 2019, O'Brien signed for

the same day he was released by Bradford City. He was released at the end of the 2018–19 season, but rejoined the club on 1 August 2019. On 11 May 2021, O'Brien scored his first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in Notts County's 4–0 win away at

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks FA, they are currently members of the . The club were established in October 1870 and have played at ...

. He scored his second career hat-trick on 22 April 2023 in a 5–2 victory at Maidstone United. Following manager Luke Williams departure to Swansea City, Jim O'Brien was placed in interim charge of Notts County. He oversaw one match in charge, a 5–5 draw with

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, before the appointment of Stuart Maynard saw him return to his previous role. He was released by the club after the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season.

Managerial career

On 9 August 2024 O'Brien was appointed Head Coach of

's under-18 side after Matt Thorpe departed the role.

International career

Although O'Brien represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

at under-19 and under-21 levels, he opted to switch allegiances and represent the nation of his birth, citing a chance to work with

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone. During his playing c ...

, who he also worked with while at Dundee United.

Career statistics

Honours

Notts County *

National League play-offs The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Jim 1987 births Living people Footballers from Dumbarton Barnsley F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Men's association football wingers Motherwell F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish men's footballers Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players People educated at Our Lady & St Patrick's High School Bradford City A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Scotland men's youth international footballers National League (English football) players Men's association football midfielders Notts County F.C. managers English Football League managers 21st-century Scottish sportsmen 21st-century Irish sportsmen