Brian O'Donnell

Brian Francis O'Donnell (born 8 August 1957 in Port Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional footballer and football manager.

For the Gaelic footballer, see Brian O'Donnell (Gaelic footballer).

Brian O'Donnell
Personal information
Full name Brian Francis O'Donnell[1]
Date of birth (1957-08-08) 8 August 1957
Place of birth Port Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position(s) Defender / Midfielder
Youth career
Bournemouth
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1977 Bristol Rovers 0 (0)
Blacktown City Demons
1982 Bournemouth 14 (0)
1982–1983 Torquay United 19 (0)
198?–1986 Blacktown City Demons
1986–1987 Bath City
Basingstoke Town
Bashley
Poole Town
Salisbury City
Teams managed
1993–199? Bournemouth Sports
2000–2001 Bournemouth Poppies
2002 Poole Town
– Dorchester Town
– Frome Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

O'Donnell began his career as an apprentice with Bournemouth, but was released. He turned professional with Bristol Rovers in May 1976, but was released without playing for them. He moved to Australia and played for Blacktown City Demons before rejoining Bournemouth in January 1982.

He moved to Torquay United in October 1982, making his debut at left-back in place of Mark Smith in the 3–1 win at home to Northampton Town on 16 October.[2] He played 19 league games before he returned to Australia and rejoined Blacktown City, regularly nominated for the Australian Player of the Season, winning twice.

In February 1986, O'Donnell returned to the UK and joined Bath City.[3] He played regularly for Bath until leaving in May 1987 when he joined Basingstoke Town later playing for Bashley, Poole Town and Salisbury City. He was appointed as manager of Bournemouth Sports CMFC in the 1993 close season winning the Dorset Combination League title and Dorset Combination Cup along with notable success in the FA Cup.[4] and took over as manager of Bournemouth Poppies in February 2000.

He left Poppies in June 2001 amid a mass resignation of the Poppies executive committee.[5] and in January the following year took over as manager of Poole Town.[6] However, he left Poole in August 2002.

He later returned to Bournemouth as their youth coach.

In February 2009 he joined the coaching staff at Dorchester Town as caretaker manager.[7]

Despite an impressive start that drew four points from four games, including a 0–0 draw away to league-topping Basingstoke and with only having nine players signed, O'Donnell was not offered the job full-time and instead the position was given to Roy O'Brien by chairman Eddie Mitchell. O'Brien had been due to walk away from the club prior to being convinced to stay on when O'Donnell took over. O'Brien was subsequently sacked later that year due to a string of poor performances[8]

O'Donnell has since been caretaker for Frome Town and is a national scout for Middlesbrough following similar spells with West Bromwich and Hibernian.

References
  1. Barry J. Hugman. The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946 – 1998. Queen Anne Press. p. 410. ISBN 1-85291-585-4.
  2. Leigh Edwards. The definitive Torquay United F.C. ISBN 1-899468-09-9.
  3. "Past Players – O". Bath City F.C. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  4. "Bournemouth Sports AFC – A brief history". Bournemouth Sports CMFC. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  5. "O'Donnell fears end of Poppies". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 1 June 2001. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  6. "'Unfit' Dolphins take the points". Dorset Echo. 14 January 2002. Archived from the original on 25 June 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  7. "O'Donnell joins caretaking team". Dorset Echo. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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