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Fullname: James John O’Brien
aka: Jim O’Brien, James O’Brien
Born: 28 September 1987
Birthplace: Alexandria, Vale of Leven
Signed: 1 July 2007 (full)
Left: 9 August 2008 (for Motherwell)
Position: Winger/Forward
Debut: Celtic 2-1 Gretna, League, 7 Oct 2007
Internationals: Ireland (U19, U21), Scotland (U17, no senior caps)
Biog
Jim O’Brien joined the Celtic Pro Youth Academy as a 12 year old in season 1999/00. He gradually worked his way up through the squads and was awarded a full time professional contract in August 2003.
A stand out right sided midfielder for the U19’s he soon won promotion to the Reserves and received his unofficial first team debut in a Friendly against Partick Thistle in August 2006 (Kenny Arthur’s Testimonial). That season he won several bench spots with the senior team without managing to play and in late January he went on loan to Dunfermline to the end of the season.
With Dunfermline he made his senior footballing debut in their 3-2 Scottish Cup victory over Rangers on 7 January 2007. He had previously only played for Celtic’s youth squad. He scored his debut senior goal in Dunfermline’s 4-1 victory over Motherwell on May 7, 2007.
He made his senior Celtic debut in their 2-1 victory over Gretna on October 7, 2007. Jim O’Brien joined Dundee United on loan on 31 January until May 2008 as part of the deal which brought Barry Robson to Celtic Park.
On 14 July 2008 Jim O’Brien continued his loan spells by going to Motherwell till January 2009. On the 8 Aug 2008 the Club confirmed that Jim O’Brien had left the club and joined Motherwell permanently. As well as revealing himself as a keen guitarist and singer/songwriter, Jim O’Brien became a key player for Motherwell under Mark McGhee.
Jim O’Brien enjoyed an even more productive 2009/10 with Motherwell and was linked to Aberdeen and even Rangers before joining Barnsley on the expiry of his contract in June 2010.
He went on to have a good long career with Barnsley & Coventry City, and then moved to Shrewsbury, Ross County, Bradford and Notts County as his career ran down into 2024.
In what is possibly a record in the UK, he scored his maiden hat-trick v Maidenhead in a 4-0 away victory, at the grand old age of 33 which possibly makes him the oldest debutant scorer of a hat-trick in the senior game.
After Celtic lost to PSG 5-0 at home in the Champions League, a rather bitter sounding Jim O’Brien caustically commented:
“I am in a group chat with my friends at home and they were saying (during the game): ‘It’s not good enough, we are not getting near them.’
“And I just said: ‘Well, this is how everyone else feels when they play against Celtic.’
“It’s nice to see Celtic maybe getting a little taste of that and realising how everyone else feels.”
Jim O’Brien had also switched his footballing allegiance back to Scotland, ostensibly because his ex-Dundee United boss Craig Levein got the national team job. In 2005 Jim O’Brien availed himself of the ‘Granny rule’ to play for Ireland – he was fed up at only getting one U17 cap with Scotland – and won a handful of U19 and U21 caps in the green, but sadly none for the senior side.
Post-Football
After he hung up his playing boots, he was appointed as Head Coach of Sheffield United’s under-18 side.
[…]
Playing Career
| CLUB | FROM | TO | FEE | LEAGUE | Scottish/ FA CUP |
LGE CUP | OTHER | ||||
| APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | ||||
| Barnsley | 01-Jul-10 | Signed | 20 (13) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Motherwell | 09-Aug-08 | 01-Jul-10 | Signed | 48 (16) | 4 | 4 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 01-Jul-07 | 09-Aug-08 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
Honours with Celtic
none
Intl Caps
| 2005 2006– |
Republic of Ireland under-19 Republic of Ireland under-21 |
01 (0) 06 (0) |
Pictures
Articles
Celtic youngster Jim O’Brien ready to quit club after too many loan deals 25 Jul 2008 Updated 09:39, 1 Jul 2012 By Craig Swan
JIM O’BRIEN last night admitted he’s sick of being tagged a loan Celt – and insists the time has come for him to make a permanent break from Parkhead.
The attacking midfielder is currently on trial at Motherwell as he bids to land a deal at Fir Park. O’Brien also has interest from Dundee United after spending the second half of last termon loan at Tannadice and, with Craig Levein having just raked in £600,000 from the sale of Noel Hunt to Reading, the 20-year-old could be back on their radar.
The player insists the opportunity to break out of the Parkhead shadows is now on him, having also spent time on loan at Dunfermline two seasons ago.
O’Brien said: “I have grown up a lot and there comes a stage where you have to go and play football or you will be forgotten. “I read somewhere that I was becoming the loan Celt. It would be good to get rid of that tag. When I went to Dunfermline I was young and I grew up a bit there. I went back to Celtic thinking I might get a chance.
“You work all week with people telling you that you are getting closer but come a Saturday, you are not involved.
“It wrecks your head a wee bit, but I learned a lot at United and I realised that, even coming from Celtic, you are not an automatic choice. You still need to work as hard, which I did.
“I just want to get settled. It’s been a bit on-off and I have been pestering my agent every single day. It is a waiting game.”