[Player Pics]

Striker John O'Neill signed for the Bhoys from amateurs Queen's Park in May 1993. He made 91 appearances for them scoring 30 goals. He was signed to Celtic by Lou Macari at the very end of the 1993-94 season in desperation to find a striker with no money in the pot.
After playing a couple of trials with the Reserves, notably against Stirling Albion he was given a 1 year contract. He played in Mark Hughes Testimonial at the end of the season where he was on the end of a Steve Bruce tackle which saw him withdrawn with a hamstring injury and meant he missed the end-of-season tournament in Canada.

John had worked in the same bank as Malky MacKay whilst playing part-time with Queens Park. He started 1994-95 with the first team squad playing in two pre-season Friendlies and after a spell with the Reserves where he did well he was given a debut against Partick Thistle in November before returning to spend the rest of the season with the Resrves.

After spending the following season with the Reserves he was transferred to Bournemouth on a free.

He made his only first team appearance for the Hoops as a substitute on November 9th 1994 in a dire 0-0 home league draw with Partick Thistle. He left to join Bournemouth in 1995.



Post Celtic Career:

He had a productive period with Bournemouth becoming an attacking midfielder and after 4 seasons with the side he returned to Scotland to join Ross County in November 2000 making only 2 appearances before joining Queen of the South.
It was with the Dumfries club that John really made his mark. He had two spells at Palmerston Park, from 2001 to 2003 and then 2005 until the end of the 07/08 season. He was known as “the penalty king” because he scored in 27 out of 29 attempts for Queen of the South assembling 70 goals in his 189 appearances in a blue shirt and was been top scorer for the last two seasons.

In between his time at QotS he had a two season spell with St Mirren and left when his contract expired.

The highlight of his career must be the Scottish Cup Final in 2008 against Rangers which the Doonhammers narrowly lost and which John did not play though he was an inspiration to the team and drove them on through their season.

At then end of the season he left to take up the Assistant Manager’s position from another ex-Celt, Mark McNally, at Stirling Albion.
John is a much respected figure in the game and hopes to move into management.