'Garry Lawrence O'Connor' (born
May 7,
1983 in
Edinburgh) is a
Scottish professional
footballer who currently plays for
Birmingham City. He is also a regular member of the
Scotland national team squad.
Early career in Scotland
O'Connor made his debut under manager
Alex McLeish in April 2001 as a substitute against
Dundee
[1], his only appearance
that season. The
following season it looked as though O'Connor would need to wait longer for a regular place in the side, making just four appearances by
Christmas. However the departure of Alex McLeish to
Rangers and the arrival of new manager
Franck Sauzée saw O'Connor feature more regularly in the first team. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw with
Celtic in
February 2002[2], and although Sauzee was sacked later that month, O'Connor continued to feature in the first team under Sauzee's successor
Bobby Williamson. O'Connor went on to score a further 7 goals that season, including goals in 5 consecutive games between March and April.
His impressive form towards the end of the season was noticed by Scotland national team manager
Berti Vogts, who gave O'Connor his debut against against
South Korea in
May 2002[3].
Following a period in which he struggled to fulfill his early promise, the arrival of manager
Tony Mowbray at Hibs in May 2004 led to improved form for both O'Connor and the team as a whole. Hibs' impressive
2004-05 campaign (in which they finished third in the Premier League) led to speculation that many of their talented young players would move abroad, or to the
Old Firm. With O'Connor firmly establishing himself in the Hibs team, he won a recall to the Scotland squad and once again began to be linked with a move away from the club. O'Connor had formed a formidable partnership with
Derek Riordan at Hibs and between them they scored 42 goals that season as Hibs qualified for the
UEFA Cup.
O'Connor's form continued in
2005-06 and he scored his first Scotland goal in a 2-2 draw with
Austria in
August 2005[4].
Move to Moscow
On
26 February 2006, it was reported that O'Connor was set to join
Lokomotiv Moscow for approximately £1.6 million. This offer was subsequently accepted by Hibernian, with
Tony Mowbray conceding that the personal terms on offer (including a reputed weekly wage of £16,000) were "life-changing for Garry and his family". On
6 March it was announced that the transfer had been agreed
[5]. O'Connor scored a total of 58 goals for Hibs in all competitions and scored in his final Hibs appearance against
Falkirk in the
Scottish Cup
[6].
On
22 March,
2006, O'Connor scored for the first time for his new club, the opening goal in a 2-2 draw with
Spartak Moscow in a
Russian Cup tie. He opened the scoring for his side against
Torpedo Moscow in a 4-1 win on
14 May. In the 2006 season he scored 7 league goals and 1 cup goal in the 29 matches he played in (although only on the field for the full 90 minutes in 5 matches - he averaged 58 minutes of playing time per match), and was yellow-carded once. In Moscow he has formed a partnership with Russian international
Dmitry Sychev, although
Dramane Traoré, the
Mali international, has threatened his position.
On
27 May 2007, O'Connor came off the bench to score the winning goal for Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Cup final against city rivals
FK Moscow. The extra-time goal, coming in the 109th minute, was enough to seal a 1-0 victory for the railway team, and provided a measure of redemption for O'Connor, who struggled to settle into life in
Russia, and was repeatedly linked with a return to British football. On June 27, he completed a £2.65m move to Birmingham.
[7] He scored his first goal against
Sunderland who, coincidentally, had
Craig Gordon in goals who O'Connor had previously scored against in the
Edinburgh Derby.
Controversy
After featuring in Scotland's 1-0 victory over
France at
Hampden Park on
7 October 2006[8], O'Connor and the rest of the team were given an evening off before reconvening ahead of the trip to
Ukraine for another qualifying match. O'Connor failed to rejoin the squad and was axed from the travelling party by manager
Walter Smith.
[9] O'Connor subsequently issued an apology through his agent without revealing the exact cause of his failure to appear, while Smith's assistant
Tommy Burns announced that O'Connor was unlikely to be frozen out of the squad permanently. O'Connor said that his wife was unhappy with life in Moscow and he had decided to stay with her rather than return to training.
[10] It was later revealed that O'Connor left the squad as his sister Kerry, a recovering drug addict, had attempted to commit suicide.
[11]
He was recalled to the Scotland squad in
May 2007 under new manager, and his former boss at Hibs, Alex McLeish. O'Connor was initially drafted in due to squad call-offs but was given a place in the starting line-up for the friendly match with Austria. O'Connor scored the only goal of the game as Scotland won 1-0.
[12].
This was followed up seven days later with a goal in the 2-0
Euro 2008 qualifier victory over the
Faroe Islands.
[13]
Career stats
| 'Season' | 'Club' | 'Games' | 'Goals' |
|---|
| 2000/01 | Hibernian | 1 | 0 |
| 2000/01 | Peterhead (loan) | 5 | 1 |
| 2001/02 | Hibernian | 19 | 9 |
| 2002/03 | Hibernian | 24 | 9 |
| 2003/04 | Hibernian | 33 | 7 |
| 2004/05 | Hibernian | 43 | 19 ALL COMPETITIONS |
| 2005/06 | Hibernian | 32 | 14 ALL COMPETITIONS |
| 2006 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 29 | 8 |
| 2007 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 14 | 3 |
| 2007/08 | Birmingham City | | |
International goals
:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''
References
1. French connection wins it for Hibs
2. Battling Hibs hold Celtic
3. South Korea humble Scotland
4. Austria 2-2 Scotland
5. Lokomotiv complete O'Connor deal
6. Falkirk 1-5 Hibernian
7. Blues wrap up striker deal
8. Scotland 1-0 France
9. Smith dismayed at absent O'Connor
10. O'Connor 'put family first'
11. Sister's suicide bid
12. Austria 0-1 Scotland
13. Faroe Islands 0-2 Scotland
External links
★
★ '(ru)'
Russian Premier League player statistics for 2006 season
★ '(ru)'
Russian Premier League player statistics for 2007 season
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
