Martin O'Connor (footballer)

Martin John O'Connor (born 10 December 1967) is a football coach and former professional player. Born in England, he represented the Cayman Islands at international level.

Martin O'Connor
Personal information
Full name Martin John O'Connor[1]
Date of birth (1967-12-10) 10 December 1967[1]
Place of birth Walsall,[1] England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1992 Bromsgrove Rovers
1992–1994 Crystal Palace 2 (0)
1993 → Walsall (loan) 10 (1)
1994–1996 Walsall 94 (21)
1996 Peterborough United 18 (3)
1996–2002 Birmingham City[1] 187 (16)
2002–2003 Walsall 48 (2)
2003–2005 Shrewsbury Town 56 (2)
2005–2006 Kidderminster Harriers 12 (0)
Total 427 (45)
International career
2000 Cayman Islands 2 (0)
Managerial career
2006–2007 Halesowen Town
2009–2011 Walsall (assistant manager)
2019 Walsall (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

O'Connor was a late entrant to senior football. He joined Southern League Premier Division club Bromsgrove Rovers in his early 20s, and played his part in their winning the 1991–92 title.[3] He signed for Crystal Palace for a £25,000 fee ahead of the inaugural Premier League season, but never appeared in that league. Instead, he made his Football League debut at the age of 25 during the first of three spells at Walsall, joining on loan in March 1993 before signing permanently the following year.[2] He played a key role in the Saddlers winning promotion to Division Two in 1994–95.[4]

He then joined Peterborough United, followed by Birmingham City,[4] whom O'Connor represented in the 2001 Football League Cup Final against Liverpool, which Birmingham lost in a penalty shootout.[5]

O'Connor re-joined Walsall in 2002, but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2002–03 season.[4][6] He then signed for Shrewsbury Town in July 2003,[7] before ending his playing career with Kidderminster Harriers.[4]

He was player-manager of Halesowen Town from November 2006 until October 2007.[8] On 20 January 2009, he was named assistant manager to Chris Hutchings at Walsall,[9] but the pair were sacked on 3 January 2011 after a series of poor results left Walsall bottom of Football League One.[10]

After Dean Keates was sacked as Walsall manager in April 2019 with the team in the relegation places, O'Connor was appointed for the remaining five matches of the season.[11] Despite overseeing a stunning 3–0 victory against Peterborough United on 27 April 2019[12] taking the fight for survival to the last game of the season, O'Connor ultimately could not stop the Saddlers' relegation to League Two. O'Connor was succeeded as Walsall manager by Darrell Clarke who signed a three-year contract on 10 May 2019.[13]

International career

O'Connor was called up to the Cayman Islands national team in 2000; his father was born in that country.[14] He played twice before FIFA ruled that neither he nor many others who had been invited were eligible.[15] The Cayman Islands had been attempting to exploit their status as a British Overseas Territory by picking British passport holders who would not ordinarily be eligible to play for them.[16]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 4 May 2019
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Halesowen Town 23 November 2006 15 October 2007 42 19 13 10 63 48 +15 045.24 [17]
Walsall (caretaker) 8 April 2019[11] 10 May 2019[18] 5 1 2 2 5 4 +1 020.00 [19]
Career total 47 20 15 12 68 52 +16 042.55 —

Honours

Walsall

Individual

References
  1. "Martin O'Connor". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  2. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-85291-662-6.
  3. Tattum, Colin (24 February 2001). "Captain O'Connor: Rebel with a cause". Birmingham Evening Mail. p. 52. Retrieved 19 April 2018 – via Infotrac Newsstand.
    Gammie, Walter (10 April 1992). "Bromsgrove's late run stirs Hope". The Times. London. p. 36. Retrieved 19 April 2018 – via Academic OneFile.
    "Bromsgrove Rovers". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  4. "Martin O'Connor". Walsall F.C. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  5. "Blues shot down as Liverpool lift cup". BBC Sport. 25 February 2001. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  6. "Walsall let pair leave". BBC Sport. 9 June 2003. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  7. "O'Connor signs for Shrews". BBC Sport. 24 July 2003. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  8. "Halesowen Town profile: Martin O'Connor". Yeltz Archives. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
    "O'Connor sacked as Yeltz lose". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  9. Jones, Mark (21 January 2009). "Blog: Welcome and good luck". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  10. "Walsall sack manager Chris Hutchings and assistant Martin O'Connor". The Guardian. London. Press Association. 4 January 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  11. "Martin O'Connor: Walsall name former captain as manager for rest of season". BBC Sport. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  12. "Walsall 3-0 Peterborough United". BBC Sport.
  13. "Darrell Clarke agrees to become the Saddlers' new First Team Manager".
  14. Milledge, Adrian (7 February 2000). "Cayman call for O'Connor". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 18 April 2018 – via TheFreeLibrary.com.
  15. Hickman, Leon (6 March 2000). "O'Connor booster for Blues; Cayman Islands trip was a waste of time". Birmingham Evening Mail. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2011 – via HighBeam Research.
  16. Ross, Ian (29 February 2000). "Many are called but few are chosen for Cayman's World Cup campaign". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  17. "Halesowen Town FC: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  18. "Managers: Martin O'Connor". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  19. "Walsall: Results/matches: 2018/19". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  20. Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 150.
  21. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1996). The 1996–97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1.
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