A Family Man..
Phil O’Donnell played with distinction for many years, but his greatest source of pride was his wife and children.
His sudden and tragic death at the age of just 35 stunned everyone connected with football. It robbed the game of a superb professional who had been showing some of the best form of his career this season as he helped Motherwell climb to third in the Scottish Premier League.
More important than any of that, however, his death robbed a wife of her husband and left four young children without their loving and devoted father.
His wife, Eileen, in a moving statement said: “Although Phil achieved so much in football, the most important thing for him was his family. He would like to be remembered as a family man.”
It is the people who were closest to him who can best speak of his character and they will have their own memories to cherish of Phil, memories they will continue to draw on for strength.
Football fans, meanwhile, will remember seeing him play, with those who supported the clubs he was at, in particular Motherwell and Celtic, being able to recall with fondness the successes he was part of throughout his career.
Phil O’Donnell, who was born on March 25, 1972, in Bellshill, joined Motherwell as a 17-year-old and, just two years later, scored in a Scottish Cup final as he helped the Fir Park side win their first major trophy in 39 years with a 4-3 victory over Dundee United at Hampden.
Alongside him that day were Tom Boyd, who captained the side, and Davie Cooper, the former Rangers whose own life was to end just as tragically and suddenly.
That Motherwell team became, for a support starved of trophy success before or since, revered figures and O’Donnell who left the club in 1994 for Celtic, was assured of the warmest and most affectionate of welcomes when he returned to Fir Park in 2004.
Prior to joining the team he supported, O’Donnell was twice named SPFA Young Player of the Year – in 1992 and 1994 – while in 1994 he earned what would prove to be his only Scotland cap when he played against Switzerland.
His growing reputation, however, had provoked the interest of a number of clubs, and in signing for Celtic, he fulfilled a cherished ambition to pull on the green and white hoops.
Tommy Burns had identified the player as one who would be of great benefit to Celtic, and the club paid £1.75million for his services, which remains the biggest transfer fee Motherwell have ever received for a player.
Again, the Scottish Cup proved to be a good tournament for O’Donnell as he helped Celtic end a six-year barren spell with a 1-0 victory over Airdrie at Hampden.
However, injuries were to prove a regular blight on his time at Celtic, curtailing what could and should have been a more illustrious period in his club career but also ensuring he never gained any further international honours.
In total, he played 114 times for Celtic, scoring 20 goals, which included a double against Partick Thistle on his Hoops debut on September 10, 1994.
His finest achievement for his beloved Celtic undoubtedly came in season 1997/98 when he was part of the squad that stopped the 10 and, as much as a supporter as a player, O’Donnell celebrated the title triumph after the 2-0 victory over St Johnstone on the final day of the season at Celtic Park.
While Celtic did not enjoy the same success the following season, the midfielder was in the side which beat Rangers 5-1 in November 1998, a game remembered for Lubo Moravcik’s two stunning derby debut strikes.
In 1999 O’Donnell left Celtic, along with team-mate and close friend Simon Donnelly for Sheffield Wednesday, though injuries were once again to prove a difficult opponent for him and he made just 25 appearances for the club over the next five years.
That was when then Motherwell manager Terry Butcher brought him back to the club where it had all began. Initially, it had just been an invitation to train but very quickly Butcher realised that O’Donnell still had much to offer football and Motherwell.
Last season he suffered another serious injury yet, as ever, his spirits remained high and he got himself fit for the new campaign after a summer of intensive training.
Now under the management of former Celt, Mark McGhee, Motherwell started the season in impressive style, blending youth and experience, most notably in the shape of their captain, Phil O’Donnell, and their current third place spot in the SPL is totally merited.
Sadly, what should have been a game to remember for all the right reasons on Saturday, December 29, 2007, when Motherwell produced a superb display of football orchestrated by O’Donnell to defeat Dundee United 5-3 at Fir Park, will instead be remembered as the day the world lost a good footballer and a true gentleman.
But the loss that football feels is only a fraction of that which is felt by those who knew Phil O’Donnell best.
The day of the Gretna game I arrived back home just before 7pm, blissfully ignorant to most things in the world, save for the fact I’d witnessed an impressive, yet rare December victory.
And when Paul Cuddihy called to ask if I’d heard about Phil O’Donnell, a lot of strange thoughts immediately entered my mind.
I’m sure it’s happened to you in the past. In a split second you can play out an entire conversation in your head and be a million miles from what you’re about to learn.
Before I could say ‘no, heard what?’ and before I could hear the worst possible news, I seriously expected him to say that we’d re-signed the former Celt, with Gordon Strachan seeing the 35-year-old as some sort of Gary McAllister, or even Gordon Strachan.
But I joined the rest of the footballing world and was shocked to hear that one of the quietest and most self-effacing players of this, or any other footballing generation had died, leaving behind a young wife, four young children and a thoroughly enviable reputation as one of life’s good guys.
The midfielder joined Celtic at a time when money was particularly tight for this football club.
We had just come through an acrimonious takeover and were trying to build a stadium as well as a team to compete in it.
For Tommy Burns to convince Fergus McCann to spend £1.75million on O’Donnell, the former must have seen at an early stage what it took the rest of us until September 10, 1994 to see, when he made a brace-scoring winning debut against Partick Thistle.
His finest moment for me, however, isn’t his impressive start in the Hoops or even the Scottish Cup medals he won either with us or the Lanarkshire club – it’s his contribution to a famous Celtic side that won one-in-a-row under Wim Jansen and made life as Celtic supporters bearable again for the masses.
And it’s funny what you remember – in all of the time I interviewed him in those early years here at Celtic Park, there’s nothing that sticks out for me in terms of deep football insight.
Sure, there were the usual platitudes about hard games, no easy games and important games but how many footballers tell you they’ll be spending their day off barbecuing crocodile steaks, acquired from Sainsbury’s in East Kilbride…?
We all know of his injuries and we know how things never went particularly well either for him or his mate Simon Donnelly when they opted to leave Celtic in Glasgow for Sheffield Wednesday under freedom of contract after five years.
But for O’Donnell to reinvent himself, to return to the club where it all started and for him to take the captain’s armband and hold down a regular spot in what should have been the twilight of his career speaks volumes to his character.
My hope is that the esteem the people of Motherwell and the Celtic support held Phil O’Donnell in and the love they have for him will go some way to comfort his wife and family at an unimaginable time.
That Saturday in December was one more haunting chapter in the history of this and Motherwell Football Club (another team who are no stranger to inexplicable and premature death – Davie Cooper being a poignant case in point) and a day that will be remembered for everything but football.
Later that fateful Saturday night I got a text from a pal of mine, Bernie the Plumber.
It said quite simply that Phil O’Donnell was one of us. And he was right. Phil O’Donnell was a football man, a family man and a gentleman.
Tony Hamilton - Celtic FC