Richard Mark O'Donnell (born 12 September 1988) is an English 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 ...

. He will become a free agent when his contract with

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

expires on 30 June 2025. Having started his career with

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 ...

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 ...

, O'Donnell progressed to the first team, for which he was largely used as an understudy goalkeeper. He played 20 times for Wednesday between 2006 and 2012, earning a significant amount of first-team appearances elsewhere as he spent time on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

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 ...

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

and

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

. He was released in the summer of 2012 and joined Chesterfield. In 2013, following limited first-team appearances, he signed a one-year contract at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Career

Sheffield Wednesday

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, O'Donnell started his career with

. He was called up to first team at the start of the 2006–07 season and was an unused substitute for the League Cup match against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

as back-up for

Chris Adamson Christopher Adamson (born 4 November 1978) is an English former football goalkeeper who played for 13 clubs in a 13-year career. Adamson is currently goalkeeping coach at Mansfield Town, and plays for Midland Football League Division Two side La ...

. O'Donnell joined

Conference National 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 League (English football), National Le ...

club

on 2 March 2007 on a work-experience arrangement. He was recalled by Wednesday later that month, to provide cover for injuries. O'Donnell signed his first professional contract with Wednesday in June 2007. He joined

of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division in December 2007 on a one-month

, where he made two appearances. He joined League Two club

on 8 January 2008 on a three-month loan, as back-up for Andy Warrington, but was recalled before the end of the deal as back-up to Wednesday's two first-choice goalkeepers. O'Donnell was then loaned to League One club

on 14 March 2008 on an emergency seven-day loan. He made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut the following day at the age of 19 in a match against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. He joined

Conference Premier 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 ...

club

on 31 August 2010 on a one-month loan. He made his debut on 4 September 2010 against Luton, Grimsby winning 2–0 at home. On 4 February 2011, he joined

on a one-month loan. He made his debut for Wednesday in a 2–0 defeat away to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on 19 March 2011. On 15 May 2012, O'Donnell was amongst the six first-team players to be released by the club.

Chesterfield

The day following his release, O'Donnell signed for Chesterfield on a one-year contract. After appearing as an unused substitute in the first five matches, he made his debut on 4 September 2012 as an 89th-minute substitute for

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee (born Thomas Lee Bass; October 3, 1962) is an American musician who co-founded and plays drums for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He also founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical projects. Early ...

in a 2–1 home win over Oldham Athletic. O'Donnell made his first start four days later, in a 2–2 away draw against York City on 8 September 2012. He appeared in the following 14 matches, mainly due to the absence of first-choice goalkeeper Tommy Lee, who was out for eight weeks. After Lee recovered and returned to the first team, O'Donnell was once again the club's back-up goalkeeper. On 14 January 2013, O'Donnell joined Conference Premier club

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

on a one-month loan. O'Donnell had his loan spell extended with the club until 16 April 2013. While at Stockport, he made 20 appearances and established himself as first-choice goalkeeper, but the club was relegated to the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

. In the last match of the season, O'Donnell made his first Chesterfield appearance in over six months, a 4–0 home victory over

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. He was released at the end of that one-year contract, in April 2013, following limited first-team opportunities.

Walsall

Following his release from Chesterfield, O'Donnell signed a one-year contract with League One club

on 18 July 2013. He was voted as their Player of the Year in 2014–15.

Wigan Athletic

On 22 May 2015, O'Donnell signed a three-year contract with League One club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Bristol City

After losing his place to

Jussi Jääskeläinen Jussi Albert Jääskeläinen (; born 19 April 1975) is a Finnish professional football coach and a former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is currently working as a goalkeeping c ...

in the Wigan team, he joined

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 ...

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on 12 January 2016 on loan until the end of 2015–16 as cover for the injured

Frank Fielding Francis David Fielding (born 4 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Stoke City. He began his career at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. He spent time on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, Northamp ...

. He went straight into the team 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 ...

on the same day, in a 2–1 home defeat. He signed permanently on 1 February 2016, for an undisclosed fee, on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Rotherham United

He re-signed for Championship club Rotherham United on 19 January 2017, on a two-and-a-half-year contract, for an undisclosed fee.

Northampton Town

O'Donnell signed for League One club

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

on 8 January 2018, on a two-and-a-half-year contract, a for an undisclosed fee.

Bradford City

O'Donnell signed for League One club

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 ...

on 27 June 2018 on a two-year contract, having been able to leave Northampton on a free transfer because of a relegation clause in his contract. He was offered a new contract by Bradford City in July 2020, following the expiry of his existing contract, signing a new two-year contract later that month. He was appointed as Bradford City

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 4 September 2020. O'Donnell was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season, having not featured for the club since 30 November 2021.

Rochdale

On 18 May 2022, O'Donnell signed a two-year contract with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

which came into effect on 1 July after his contract expired at Bradford City. At the end of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, O'Donnell was awarded with the Supporters' Player of the Year trophy.

Blackpool

O'Donnell joined Blackpool on 27 June 2023.

Career statistics

Honours

Walsall *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

runner-up: 2014–15 Individual *

Player of the Year: 2014–15 *

Supporters' Player of the Year:

References

External links

Profile
at the Bradford City A.F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Richard 1988 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players York City F.C. players Buxton F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen