Jon O'Connor

Jonathan O'Connor (born 29 October 1976) is an English former footballer who played as a defender in the Premier League for Everton and in the Football League for Sheffield United and Blackpool. Internationally, he represented England at levels up under-21.

Jon O'Connor
Personal information
Full name Jonathan O'Connor[1]
Date of birth (1976-10-29) 29 October 1976[1]
Place of birth Darlington, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Centre-back, Right-back
Youth career
1993–1995 Everton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1998 Everton 5 (0)
1998 → Sheffield United (loan) 0 (0)
1998–2000 Sheffield United 4 (0)
2000–2002 Blackpool 11 (0)
Total 20 (0)
National team
1992–1993 England U16 11 (0)
1993–1995 England U18 11 (0)
1996 England U21 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

O'Connor was born in 1976 in Darlington, County Durham.[1] At 14, he was accepted into the Football Association's National School of Excellence at Lilleshall, and went on to join Everton (in preference to Leeds United and Barnsley) as a trainee.[3] Manager Joe Royle had been impressed by his temperament.[4] He signed his first professional contract in October 1993,[1] and made his first-team debut in February 1996 against Manchester United at Old Trafford playing out of position at right back. Although Everton lost 2–0, O'Connor made a good impression. In his column in the Liverpool Echo, Everton's goalkeeper, Neville Southall, wrote that "facing Ryan Giggs on your debut is about as tough as it can get", but that O'Connor was not daunted and played very positively.[5] He kept his place for the next two matches – two wins, no goals conceded[6] – and was then replaced by the newly arrived Swiss international right back Marc Hottiger. O'Connor's 89th-minute appearance as a substitute in that match was his last of the season.[7][8]

A groin problem worsened after he played at the Toulon Tournament, and he had a hernia operation in pre-season, followed by a thigh injury which meant he played no first-team football in 1996–97.[9][10] He signed a three-year contract in February 1997,[11] but by the end of the season, Royle had been replaced by Howard Kendall.[12] Now fit but not in the team, O'Connor attracted offers from teams wanting to take him on loan, but Kendall felt unable to let him leave.[13] In November, he came off the bench for 15 minutes against Aston Villa, but when another vacancy arose, against Chelsea in January 1998, Graham Allen was preferred.[14][15]

In early February, he joined First Division club Sheffield United on loan, but before he could take the field, the move was made permanent.[16] O'Connor was valued at an estimated £250,000 in a part-exchange deal that reunited Kendall with Don Hutchison.[12] He made his debut the next day, as an 89th-minute substitute against Bradford City, and appeared just once more for the first team that season, again from the bench.[16] He was part of the reserve team that won the 1998 Central League Cup, but his time at the club was disrupted by injury.[17] He played twice in the league in December 1998, and his sole appearance in that season's FA Cup was his last for Sheffield United's first team.[18]

After a string of trials with clubs including Chester City,[19] Scunthorpe United, Cambridge United, Darlington,[20] Hartlepool United,[21] and Lincoln City,[22] O'Connor signed for Third Division club Blackpool in October 2000. He played regularly for a couple of months, and made 14 first-team appearances in the 2000–01 season, but eventually retired due to "persistent glandular fever problems."[6]

International career

O'Connor made eleven appearances for England at under-16 level in 1992 and 1993, and captained the side.[3][23] He moved up to the under-18s, and played in qualifiers for three consecutive editions of the European Championships.[22] England reached the finals in the first of the three, in 1993, but O'Connor was not selected in the squad for the tournament.[24] He received his first call-up for the under-21 team in April 1996 for a warm-up match against Croatia at Roker Park, Sunderland, ahead of the 1996 Toulon Tournament. He started against Croatia, and was named in the squad for Toulon, where he played in two of the four group matches.[25]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Everton 1995–96[8] Premier League4000000040
1996–97[26] Premier League000000—00
1997–98[16] Premier League100000—10
Total 5000000050
Sheffield United 1997–98[16] First Division2000—0020
1998–99[18] First Division201000—30
1999–2000[27] First Division000000—00
Total 4010000050
Blackpool 2000–01[28] Third Division 11020—1[lower-alpha 1]0140
Career total 200300010240
  1. Appearance in Football League Trophy

References
  1. "Jon O'Connor". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  2. "Jon O'Connor: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. "Kick start to the big time". Liverpool Echo. 11 January 1993. p. 7.
  4. Fox, Norman (20 October 1996). "Branch profits from his roots". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  5. Southall, Neville (24 February 1996). "United 'curse' a lesson for Jon!". Liverpool Echo. p. 47.
  6. Prentice, David (3 July 2015). "Will Tyias Browning & Brendan Galloway become a Michael Ball or a Jon O'Connor?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  7. Culley, Jon (11 March 1996). "Atkinson sticks to the same old tricks". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  8. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 1995/1996". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  9. Joyce, Paul (10 March 1997). "Overplaying the medical jokes". Liverpool Echo. Evertonian supplement page 7.
  10. Joyce, Paul (14 February 1997). "Young Blue O'Connor ruled out for season". Liverpool Echo. p. 94.
  11. Joyce, Paul (25 February 1997). "Ebbrell's on the brink". Liverpool Echo. p. 47.
  12. Moore, Glenn (1 December 1998). "The spent force of Goodison". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  13. Prentice, David (24 October 1997). "Same again says delighted Kendall". Liverpool Echo. p. 94.
  14. "English Premiership Previews". Irish Times. 17 January 1998. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  15. Hodgson, Guy (19 January 1998). "Ferguson's power punishes careless Chelsea". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  16. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  17. Hall, Danny (27 April 2020). "Million-pound players and European champions – What happened to Sheffield United's reserve cup-winning team of 1998?". The Star. Sheffield. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  18. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  19. "This week's transfers". The Independent. London. 4 March 2000. p. 26. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Gale General OneFile.
  20. "Everton Season Diary 1999–2000". Toffeeweb. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  21. "Pool keen to sign up Sharp". The Northern Echo. Darlington. 30 August 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  22. "Jon O'Connor". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  23. "Jon O'Connor". The Football Association. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  24. Smyth, Rob (29 June 2009). "The forgotten story of... England's class of '93". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  25. "England's Matches: the under 21s: 1990–2000". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin and Glen Isherwood. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  26. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  27. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  28. "Games played by Jon O'Connor in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
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