Stephen James O'Donnell (born 10 July 1983) is a Scottish

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 plays as a

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 ...

. He began his career with

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 ...

, making his debut in 2002. He spent time on loan with Ross County before leaving Dundee United in 2005 to play briefly in England with

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

. Returning to Scottish football, O'Donnell had spells with Clyde and St Mirren before joining

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

in 2010, where he later became club captain. He rejoined Clyde in 2014 and left the club in 2015. He was a Scotland under-20 international.

Club career

Dundee United

Born in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

, O'Donnell began his career with

, making his first-team début in March 2002 and featuring six times in the final months of 2001–02, signing an extended contract in the process. The following season, O'Donnell featured in fourteen matches, scoring a hat-trick in the League Cup and netting in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hibernian. Before the start of the 2003–04 season, manager Ian McCall allowed O'Donnell to join Ross County on loan, where he was reunited with

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football for the Utah Utes, earning first-team All-American ho ...

, who gave him his senior début at United. Initially signing on loan for six months, the deal was extended for the duration of the season, with O'Donnell playing most matches. Failing to break back into the United first team in 2004–05, O'Donnell went on trial at English side

, joining in February for the rest of the season.

Clyde

After failing to win a long-term contract with Boston United, O'Donnell returned to Scotland to sign for Clyde. O'Donnell scored ten goals for the club during the 2005–06 season and was rewarded partway through with a new 18-month contract. O'Donnell scored a penalty at Ibrox against

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 ...

in 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 ...

, to put Clyde 2–1 up, though they lost 5–2 after extra time. O'Donnell also got the opportunity to score against the other half of the Old Firm,

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 ...

, a few months later in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Artur Boruc Artur Boruc (; born 20 February 1980) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Boruc began his career in the Polish third division with hometown club Pogoń Siedlce. He joined Ekstraklasa team Legia Warsaw in 1999 ...

. He also took the resulting corner kick, which led to the winning Clyde goal as they pulled off a famous cup upset.

St Mirren

O'Donnell signed for St Mirren on 30 January 2007 and scored his first goal within three weeks, netting in the 1–1 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle. In December 2007, O'Donnell suffered a broken

metatarsal The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

in training, ruling him out for three months. He made his return from injury in mid-April by appearing on the bench, unused, and had played a few games towards the end of the season. At the end of the season, O'Donnell signed a one-year contract extension. The following season, O'Donnell had made 8 appearances this 2008–09 season for St Mirren despite injury problems on his knee. By in late November, O'Donnell was soon prepared to return from injury and return to fitness following a course of injections. However, O'Donnell was injured again on the knee and needed a specialist in order to recover from his knee injuries O'Donnell shortly spoke about his injury, saying that it was the worst spell of his career due to back to back injuries. In May, O'Donnell made a recovery, and having not played for almost eight months, played in a reserves match against Aberdeen. On his return, He scored a goal in the 3–1 defeat against

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 ...

on 10 May 2009. The following season, O'Donnell recovered from injury, leading him to his return to the starting eleven. In the first round of

, O'Donnell scored his first goal of the season in a 6–3 win over East Stirlingshire; he then scored his first league goal in a 2–1 loss against

and two weeks later on 5 December 2009, he scored another in a 3–2 loss against

. On 1 May 2010, he scored an 86th-minute header against Falkirk which almost certainly secured SPL survival for the Saints. But on 10 June 2010, St Mirren announced that O'Donnell was to leave the club as he was not part of new manager Danny Lennon's plans.

Dundee

On 16 July 2010, he signed a one-year deal with

after being on trial. On the opening game of the season, he made his debut, coming on for

Leigh Griffiths Leigh Griffiths (born 20 August 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Australian club Mandurah City, as well as being part of the coaching staff. Griffiths started his career at Livingston where he made his d ...

in a 77th minutes, in a 1–0 win over Queen of the South; several weeks later, he scored his first goal in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

. Six month later since joining Dundee, O'Donnell spoke out about the club's recent administration which led to 25 points deducted as punishment and that, he won't forget the time when his teammates face the sack. Later in the season, O'Donnell would score two more goals against

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

and

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

. He since became a regular in the first team at Dundee. The following season, O'Donnell started his season by scoring a winning goal in extra time, and also set up a goal for

Steven Milne Steven Milne (born 5 May 1980) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker for Dundee, Forfar Athletic, Plymouth Argyle, St Johnstone, Ross County and Arbroath. Milne received a runners-up medal in the 2003 Scott ...

in a 2–1 win over

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

in the first round of

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

; three-month later on 17 December 2011, he received a red card after a serious tackle on Iain Vigurs in a 1–1 draw against Ross County. After the match, the club would appeal O'Donnell's sending off The appeal was rejected – making O'Donnell miss three matches as punishment. O'Donnell made his return in a 3–0 win over Livingston on 14 January 2012 and set up the third goal in a match for Nicky Riley. On 7 April 2012, O'Donnell scored his first league goal in a 3–1 win over Falkirk and scored again in a 1–1 draw against Queen of the South the following week At the end of the season, O'Donnell signed a new deal with Dundee. The following season, Dundee were promoted to Scottish Premier League after Rangers were demoted, and O'Donnell was appointed as a new captain at Dundee, describing being a captain as an honour. O'Donnell played against his former club Dundee United on 19 August 2012. However, during the match, O'Donnell received a straight red card, along with Johnny Russell after O'Donnell made a tackle on Russell, which led to brawl. After the match, both clubs appealed for their sending off, and the SFA said both O'Donnell and Russell's sendings off had been reduced to cautions for unsporting behaviour, leading both clubs to win the appeals, leading them to play the next game. Soon after his successful appeal, O'Donnell suffered an injury. In late December 2012, O'Donnell declared himself fit from injury. After three appearances, O'Donnell tore his cruciate ligament during a defeat by St Johnstone, causing him to miss the rest of the season. While being on the sidelines, he revealed he was suffering arthritis from a mild form of the condition in September, when he suffered a first injury of the season. While being on the sidelines, his captaincy was taken over by Gary Irvine While on the sidelines, O'Donnell see his club being relegated back to the Scottish Championship and after a year on the sidelines despite making an appearance against

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. ...

on 29 December 2013, it announced that O'Donnell was released by the club after a four years spell.

Clyde (second spell)

On 29 August 2014, O'Donnell agreed a one-year contract at Clyde, joining the club for a second time. It was announced in May 2015 that he was to be released by the club.

International career

O'Donnell has played for his country at under-16, under-19 and under-20 level. In January 2004, O'Donnell was named in the Scotland under-21 squad to play against Hungary under-21s. but failed to add to his appearances at earlier levels.

Personal life

O'Donnell is the nephew of former

captain Phil O'Donnell, who died on the pitch on 29 December 2007. He is also a cousin of former Motherwell striker David Clarkson.

Career statistics

''After 9 May 2009''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Stephen Living people 1983 births Footballers from Bellshill Scottish men's footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Dundee United F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Clyde F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Scottish sportsmen