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Fullname: Brian O’Neil
Born: 6 September 1972
Birthplace: Paisley, Scotland
Signed: 10 July 1991
Left: 1 July 1997
Position: Midfield (& defence)
Debut: Celtic 4-1 Falkirk, League, 17 Aug 1991
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 7
International Goals: 0
Biog
Paisley-born Brian O’Neil was a product of Celtic Boys Club who sadly was never able to live up to the promise of his early career.
A member of the Scotland team that reached the final of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 1989, playing reputedly a Saudi Arabia ‘U-17 side, Brian O’Neil was initially a cultured midfielder who possessed good vision and an excellent range of passes. He was even praised by Pele during that 1989 World Youth Cup tournament.
His performances at youth and reserve level singled him out as a future great Celt. But a series of factors combined which ultimately stifled the development of Brian O’Neil’s undoubted talent, not least was that Celtic were going through one of it’s lowest periods, with the “Sack The Board” ruckus in full flow and then the anxiousness over stopping Rangers achieving ten-in-a-row.
After impressing in pre-season friendlies Brian O’Neil was given his first team debut in a 4-1 league victory over Falkirk on August 17th 1991. The youngster impressed in an otherwise poor Celtic side and he soon became an established member of manager Liam Brady’s team.
However, Brian O’Neil’s development undoubtedly suffered from playing in a struggling Celtic team and as one poor result followed another the player’s confidence undoubtedly took a turn for the worse. He did score a last minute winner against Rangers at Ibrox on 30th October 1993 in a 2-1 win which was a well-deserved honour. It ended up being a high point in what was otherwise a disastrous season. It was an important victory as Celtic had just lost their manager (Liam Brady not long before) and this was really caretaker manager Frank Connor’s last game in charge (although officially Lou Macari’s first as manager). It gave Frank Connor an unbeaten run as the interim manager in his short stint and gave him a final victory that he so deserved. Brian O’Neil capped it off wonderfully for him. Celtic had also now pushed well in the table and Rangers were actually languishing early on but it all was to turn badly later into January 1994.
However, on the whole these were not happy days for the Bhoys or Brian O’Neil. Certainly he found it difficult to live up to the high expectations his early performances had instilled among a demanding and frustrated support. Possibly the hopes were unrealistic. Nevertheless, he managed to etch out a place in the first team and was a regular starter.
Following the disappointing reigns of Liam Brady and Lou Macari, Brian O’Neil finally began to regain his form under new boss Tommy Burns. Now used as a ball playing centre-half, Brian O’Neil impressed once more as Celtic began to re-establish themselves as a competitive force in the league, and one which played exciting attacking football. The change of game gave Brian O’Neil a new start at Celtic and helped his performances.
Disaster struck though when Brian O’Neil suffered a serious knee injury. He missed the 1995 Scottish Cup final triumph and in truth he would never be the same player again. Gordon Marshall handed his Scottish Cup winners medal to fellow Celt Brian O’Neil during the post match celebrations as he felt that Brian O’Neil deserved it more which was a humbling act. This could be seen in the background scenes of the TV coverage and Brian O’Neil teared up due to the incredible gesture.
Despite the player’s hard work, his once promising Celtic career petered out, and after an unsuccessful loan spell due to injury at Notts Forest, O’Neil joined Aberdeen in 1997.
He went on to enjoy spells at Wolfsburg in Germany (where his side just missed out on a Champions League spot), Derby and Preston. He also collected seven Scotland caps during his career. Interestingly, at Wolfsburg his manager was the aptly named Wolfgang Wolf.
Brian O’Neil had a fair career as a footballer but through no fault of his own he never reached the dizzy heights or won the amount of silverware he could have done (or deserved to) due to circumstances.
A fair player and we wished him all the best.
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/ FA Cup |
League cup | Other | ||||
| Preston | 04/01/2003 | 01/01/2007 | Free | 101 (11) | 5 | 6 (0) | 2 | 3 (1) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 |
| Derby | 13/11/2000 | 04/01/2003 | Swap | 14 (3) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Wolfsburg | 01/07/1998 | 13/11/2000 | £350,000 | No appearance data available | |||||||
| Aberdeen | 01/07/1997 | 01/07/1998 | Signed | 24 (5) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Nottm Forest | 21/03/1997 | Loan | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Celtic | 10/07/1991 | 01/07/1997 | Signed | 115 (3) | 8 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Porirua Viard Utd | 01/08/1990 | 10/07/1991 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Totals | £350,000 | 258 (23) | 14 | 11 (1) | 2 | 10 (2) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 | ||
| goals / game | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup