Martin O'Neill
- For information about the politician, see Martin O'Neill (politician)
Martin H.M. O'Neill is a football manager. He was born on March 1 1952 near Coleraine in Northern Ireland. He played gaelic football as a youth, winning the McCorry Cup in 1970 with St. Malachy's College, Belfast, before changing to association football.
He began a degree in law at Queen's University, Belfast while playing for local side Distillery. It was during this period he was spotted by a scout for Nottingham Forest, for whom he signed in 1971, quitting his studies.
O'Neill progressed slowly as a player until the legendary Brian Clough arrived at the City Ground as manager in 1975 and made the Ulsterman a key part of his midfield. O'Neill went on to play an integral role in Forest's golden era, in which they gained promotion to the top flight, then won the League and League Cup in 1978, followed by further League Cup success a year later and the first of two fantastic European Cup triumphs.
O'Neill was a regular for his country, captaining the Northern Ireland side at a memorable 1982 World Cup in Spain, which included defeating the host nation in Valencia. His international career attained him 62 caps. At club level he also played for Norwich City and Manchester City before retiring.
After his playing career O'Neill began a career in football management, initially with non-league Wycombe Wanderers, whom he took into the League in 1993. He later managed Norwich City but resigned on a matter of principle before he'd had chance to make an impact.
He joined Leicester City in the second half of the 1995/1996 season. He achieved great success at the club, gaining promotion via the play-offs to the Premiership in the same season as joining the club. Leicester finished in the top half of the Premiership in every season O'Neill was manager. They also won the League Cup under O'Neill in 1997 and 2000.
During his time at Leicester, O'Neill famously held talks to become manager of Leeds United but declined the job after thousands of supporters held up placards saying DON'T GO MARTIN! in an effort to make him stay.
O'Neill did eventually leave Leicester in 2000 to become manager of Celtic, taking the team to the final of the 2003 UEFA Cup. In his four seasons there so far, he has won three League titles. Leicester have twice been relegated from the Premier League since his departure.
Martin O'Neill was awarded an OBE for services to sport in 2004.
Despite Celtic's individual status as one of Britain's biggest and best supported clubs, the low regard in which Scottish club football is held among English media pundits means that O'Neill is nearly always linked with the vacancy whenever a manager's position becomes available in the English Premiership.
Despite never completing his degree, O'Neill remains an avid follower of criminology and has attended some of Britain's most infamous trials, including those of the Yorkshire Ripper and the Black Panther. His fascination began with the James Hanratty case in 1961.