Brian O'Neil (born 6 September 1972) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder for Celtic, Nottingham Forest, Aberdeen, Wolfsburg, Derby County, Preston North End and the Scotland national team. O'Neil was forced to retire from playing in October 2006 due to long standing injury problems.
O'Neil played for the Scotland U16 team in the 1989 FIFA Under 16 World Cup which was hosted by Scotland. In front of a crowd of 28,555 at Tynecastle, in the semi-final against a Portugal team comprising future stars such as Luís Figo and Abel Xavier, O'Neil scored the only goal to take Scotland into the final. Scotland drew 2–2 with Saudi Arabia after extra time in the final, and lost 5–4 on penalties. O'Neil missed a penalty late on in the second half and then a penalty in the shoot-out.
O'Neil played for his country seven times at senior level, making his debut in March 1996 in a 1–0 win over Australia at Hampden. 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 what proved to be his last cap in August 2005, in a 2–2 draw against Austria.
In 2010, it was announced that O'Neil had signed up for Preston North End's team in the Masters Football Tournament in Liverpool. He played along with Sean Gregan, Lee Cartwright and Andy Fensome.
1991-1997 |
1996-2005 |
1997-1998 |
1998-2000 |
2000-2003 |
2003-2006 |