Gary O'Neil

Gary Paul O'Neil (born 18 May 1983) is an English football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Tony Pulis gave O'Neil his Portsmouth debut as a 16-year-old on 29 January 2000 at home to Barnsley in the First Division, but kept him out of the spotlight for the rest of the season.

The following year both Pulis and his successor Steve Claridge used O'Neil sparingly but Portsmouth's third manager of a disastrous season, Graham Rix, made O'Neil a starter for the final five matches of the season.

Portsmouth went into the final game against Barnsley needing to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation to what was then the Second Division.

They won the match 3–0 and survived, with O'Neil scoring the second goal, his first in professional football.

In the 2001–02 season, O'Neil scored a volley against his boyhood club Millwall.

When Harry Redknapp took over as manager at the end of the season, O'Neil was one of the few players not to be moved on in the rebuilding of the squad.

In Redknapp's first full season O'Neil only started 11 league matches, scoring three goals, as Portsmouth won the First Division title and promotion to the Premier League.

A midfielder, O'Neil made 214 Premier League appearances and scored 16 goals between 2003 and 2016, representing Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, West Ham United and Norwich City.

He also played in the Football League First Division or EFL Championship for all four of those clubs plus Walsall, Cardiff City, Queens Park Rangers, Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers.

In his first job as a manager, O'Neil led AFC Bournemouth to a 15th place finish in the 2022–23 Premier League, but was then dismissed ahead of the following season.

He was appointed head coach by Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2023.

O'Neil was born in Beckenham, London and grew up in Downham.

O'Neil was loaned to Walsall at the beginning of the 2003–04 season in order to gain first team experience.

His performances for the Midlands side and Portsmouth's increasing injury problems led to a recall in November 2003.

He went straight into the starting eleven for his Premier League debut against bottom of the table Leeds United at Fratton Park and scored two goals in a 6–1 win.

This performance meant that he maintained his place for the next match, away at Fulham but then had to travel to Dubai to captain England Under 20s in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Upon his return, O'Neil found that Portsmouth's injury problems had cleared up and he could not break back into the team for the remainder of the season.

At the beginning of the 2004–05 season he was loaned to Cardiff City to gain further first team experience, scoring once in the league against Millwall.

He was recalled to Portsmouth in November who yet again were experiencing an injury crisis.

He made his return to the side in one of the biggest matches of the season, a 2–1 defeat at Southampton.

He was picked again for the next match, at home to Manchester City, and scored in a 3–1 loss.

This was the last match of Redknapp's reign, and technical director Velimir Zajec took over a temporary manager and made O'Neil a regular in the Pompey midfield.

During Zajec's five-month reign Portsmouth fell from midtable to relegation candidates and Alain Perrin was appointed to keep the club in the Premier League.

O'Neil scored away at Manchester United and European champions Liverpool bid £5 million for him, which was rejected by Portsmouth.

O'Neil went into the 2005–06 season as a regular for Perrin's new-look team and, like in the 2002–03 campaign, he was one of the few players to survive from the previous year.

By November Portsmouth were at the bottom of the Premier League and Perrin was sacked only seven months after being appointed.

In Redknapp's first match back in charge at Tottenham Hotspur, O'Neil retained his place in the team and was picked on the right of midfield.

O'Neil's late handball conceded the penalty for Spurs' winner.

O'Neil was moved into his preferred position of central midfield a few games later and Pompey went on their best run of the season with O'Neil scoring in successive home games.

For the home game with Everton in January 2006 O'Neil captained Pompey for the first time but disappointingly for him this was also the game where he was moved back to the right to allow new signings Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis to form a partnership in the middle.

Pompey lost the game 1–0 and went on a run of form that left them near certainties for relegation in mid-March but O'Neil's performance in a crucial 1–1 draw against Bolton Wanderers saw him keep his place in the starting XI.

Two weeks after this draw, Pedro Mendes' last minute winner against Manchester City sparked a comeback.

Pompey gained 14 points out of the next seven games and secured survival at Wigan Athletic's JJB Stadium on 29 April with a 2–1 victory.

O'Neil was a regular at the right of midfield for Portsmouth in the 2006–07 and despite only contributing one goal Portsmouth finished 9th, their best in the Premier League at that time.

O'Neil signed for Middlesbrough on 31 August 2007 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £5 million.

Reports surfacing in May 2008 suggested that O'Neil might look to move on from Middlesbrough after he and his family had failed to settle on Teesside.

O'Neil scored his first Middlesbrough goal in the 2008–09 season on 29 October in Middlesbrough's 2–0 win over Manchester City.

O'Neil started the 2009–10 season as manager Gareth Southgate's first choice central midfielder, with Julio Arca being dropped to the bench for the first matches of the season.

It was soon revealed that O'Neil would require a hernia operation, yet he spoke out and said he would, "Delay the operation so as to ease Boro's midfield crisis."