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Date and Place of Birth 4th January 1944 - BEDLINGTON
Transfers to and from Burnley junior then pro - January 1961 to SOUTHAMPTON - May 1970 (£75,000)
First and Last Burnley Games WEST BROMWICH ALBION (h) - 30th April 1963
LEEDS UNITED (a) - 4th April 1970 sub: replaced Arthur Bellamy
Other Clubs ---------------------------------------- SOUTHAMPTON, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1962/63 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - |
| 1963/64 | 30 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | 35 | 2 |
| 1964/65 | 35 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | 40 | 3 |
| 1965/66 | 39 | 4 | 2 | - | 5 | - | - | - | 46 | 4 |
| 1966/67 | 39(1) | 4 | 2 | - | 3 | - | 7 | 1 | 51(1) | 5 |
| 1967/68 | 35 | 5 | 1 | - | 5 | 1 | - | - | 41 | 6 |
| 1968/69 | 16(1) | 1 | - | - | 4(1) | - | - | - | 20(2) | 1 |
| 1969/70 | 35(2) | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | 42(2) | 4 |
| Total | 231(4) | 22 | 18 | 1 | 21(1) | 1 | 7 | 1 | 277(5) | 25 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
We all have our favourite players and Brian O'Neil was one of mine during the 1960s. Not as though I was alone in my choice, I think Brian was a favourite of most Burnley fans of that era.
Not just a favourite, but he was loved by the Burnley crowd, and that's shown even today when he makes all too rare returns as a guest and is always assured the best of receptions from the home fans.
Brian was a star, it remains a mystery to me and many others as to why he never played for England, and incredibly he won only one Under-23 cap for his country, that against Turkey at Ewood Park in 1966.
He arrived at Turf Moor in 1959 as a 15-year-old, recommended by scout Jack Hixon, and such was his progress that there was never any doubt that he would win himself a professional deal which he did on his 17th birthday.
Breaking into the first team in those days wasn't easy such was the quality at Turf Moor, and as a right half the player in his way was captain Jimmy Adamson. O'Neil was a reserve team regular and won two Central League winners medals in seasons 1961/62 and 1962/63. By the time that second title was won he'd made his first team debut in a 2-1 home win against West Brom and he retained his place for the next game against Manchester United.
O'Neil had arrived and for much of the next seven years he was a first team regular. With Adamson's career coming to an end he stepped in ahead of Colne born David Walker who, suffering from a lack of first team action, signed for Southampton at the end of the 1964/65 season.
His style of play and his place of birth brought about his nickname. From Bedlington in Northumberland he earned himself the name of 'The Bedlington Terrier' and that just about summed up how this wonderful little player went about his football.
He wasn't the biggest, but he was a tenacious wing half who always seemed to be involved in everything. He was a great tackler, a superb runner with the ball, had pace, and he could certainly pass it. Maybe he wasn't the greatest header of a ball, but he did score goals with his head and he also scored a few screamers from outside the box. I think today they would call him an all round midfield player.
Brian's third season in the first team, and he was still only 22 at the time, saw Burnley finish the season in third place in the league. It was a great side, it won as many points as the Championship side, and he had such an influence on that side.
Such was his form that there were calls for him to be included in the England World Cup squad, but Alf Ramsey virtually ignored him, as he did the entire Burnley side that year, when naming his squad.
There looked to be a chance when he was called up for that Under-23 game at Ewood in April 1966 but it was to signal both the start and end of his international career. Some fine judges of football remain astounded at the sight of Nobby Stiles parading around Wembley with the World Cup whilst O'Neil was nowhere to be seen.
One game that will always stand out for me was one against Southampton on a Turf Moor pitch that had lost just about every blade of grass. In truth it was a mud heap, conditions that today would guarantee no one would consider playing the game.
As the game went on conditions got worse and worse, and getting up and down the pitch proved impossible for most players. Not Brian O'Neil, he was marauding through the mud as if the conditions were perfect.
He always played in a long sleeved shirt with his hands inside the sleeves and that day he was almost unrecognisable, covered from head to toe in mud, the star of the show.
If that was the game I remember then there's also one Brian O'Neil goal I'll always remember above all others. It came in September 1968 and a home game against Manchester United that looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw.
O'Neil picked up the ball with two minutes to go and went on a barnstorming run before unleashing a shot from about 30-yards that flew into the net. Was the United keeper Stepney? It hardly mattered; no goalkeeper would have saved it. And it was the last time we beat Manchester United.
That 1968/69 season was the only season when he was in and out of the side, but he was back in regularly in 1969/70 as the Clarets finished in mid-table for the fourth season in succession.
In April 1970 we lost 2-1 at Leeds with Eddie Gray scoring both their goals, goals that are still today repeatedly shown on television. A defeat at Elland Road was always a sad day but that game I'll also remember as Brian O'Neil's last for Burnley.
He hadn't only impressed the fans with that performance against Southampton in the mud, but he'd also impressed their manager Ted Bates, so much so that in the summer of 1970 he smashed their transfer record to take him to the Dell.
A year later Burnley were relegated after a 24 year stay in the First Division. I remain convinced that had we not sold O'Neil we would not have been facing Second Division football in 1971/72. But that's what we did, we sold players, and we did get £75,000 for him which was a big fee then. Unfortunately it was one transfer too many, we couldn't replace him.
He spent four years with the south coast club, ending with their relegation from the First Division and then had two years with Huddersfield before retiring from league football.
After Huddersfield he returned to the south coast and for a while was player/manager of Bideford Town before leaving the game.
Burnley fans who remember him will tell you we've never replaced him. I'm one of those fans, but how do you replace an O'Neil, there just aren't many players around that could do it.
Players come, players go, that's part of the game. I've always accepted that, particularly when some of our best players of the 1960s were sold. Not Brian O'Neil though, that one upset me.
He was without doubt one of the best players I've ever seen in a claret and blue shirt, Brian O'Neil was simply a wonderful player for Burnley Football Club.