Brian O'Neil

Football player infobox
playername = Brian O'Neil
fullname = Brian O'Neil
height = height|m=1.86
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|9|6
cityofbirth = Paisley
countryofbirth = Scotland
position = Midfield
years = 1991-1997
1997
1997-1998
1998-2000
2000-2003
2003-2006
clubs = Celtic
Nottingham Forest (loan)
Aberdeen
VfL Wolfsburg
Derby County
Preston North End
caps(goals) = 118 (8)
005 (0)
029 (1)
050 (3)
017 (0)
112 (5)
nationalyears = 1996-2005
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 007 (0)

Brian O'Neil (born 6 September 1972 in Paisley) is a former Scottish professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. O'Neil was forced to retire from the playing staff of Preston North End in October 2006, due to long standing injury problems.

O'Neil started his career at Celtic, where he played in 115 games and scored 8 times. In 1997, he was loaned out to Nottingham Forest but went back to Celtic after an injury. Later that year, however, he was transferred to Aberdeen for £850,000, scoring twice for them in 29 league games.

He joined German club VfL Wolfsburg for £350,000 and spent two seasons in the Bundesliga. In 2000, he went to England and signed for Derby County but after three easons and only 17 appearances, he was released to Preston North End, where he played 110 games and scored 5 goals. He helped Preston to the Play-Off Final in 2005 only to lose to West Ham United F.C.. His final game for Preston was another Play-Off defeat, this time in the 2006 semi-final to Leeds United at the end of the 2005/2006 season before injury called time on his career. He was well-regarded by many of the fans at Deepdale.

O'Neil played for his country seven times in all. He won a recall to the squad after five years away for Walter Smith's Scotland squads in the early part of 2005. He won his last cap against Austria in a 2-2 draw in August 2005.

External links

*SFA Profile|id=7965|name=Brian O'Neil