Not just any O'Brien | OneFootball

"That was typical of John. He's a great lad. He was busy, flying around everywhere, wanting to take every throw in, every free kick."

But this was O'Brien's free kick, a moment that would etch into folklore. As he stood over the ball, his canary yellow and green outfit, the one United had borrowed from Brazil temporarily, glistening, hordes of Geordies behind the Roker End goal collectively breathed in. The anticipation was electric.

It was October 1992 and the Tyne-Wear derby was locked at 1-1. Gary Owers' early own goal had given United a lead, before substitute Gordon Armstrong had levelled for Sunderland with 69 minutes gone. Newcastle's hopes of an 11th straight league victory to begin the season were dampened.

"John said, 'where are you going to put it?'," O'Brien continues. "'Exactly where the goalkeeper is standing,' I replied. I was hoping he'd move a little."

As the whistle blew, O'Brien released his hands from his hips. One step. Two steps. Bang. "I couldn't have hit the ball any sweeter. I just hit it lovely over the wall, and it flew into the top corner to the goalkeeper's right. He never moved. He just watched it go in."

As O'Brien wheeled off in celebration and away supporters danced deliriously, the Fullwell End fell into a booming silence, stomachs smashing onto concrete steps. Sickening.

"When I got the free kick, I knew exactly what I was going to do," O'Brien says. "I practiced them. When I became a coach later, I'd tell players on free kicks that if they're not playing well and they don't fancy it, don't take it - give it to someone else.

"But if you're playing and you're confident enough, just take it. I was doing okay in the game and had played well in a few matches before that, scoring a few goals. Confidence was very high and I just stepped up."

Defeat in their next game at Grimsby meant United missed the chance to equal the English Football League record for most consecutive victories to start a season, but it mattered little. Come May 1993, they were Division One champions and Premier League bound.

Dubliner O'Brien, like so many youths, was raised on a diet of kickabouts with his pals, whether at local playing fields or simply on the tarmac separating houses. He loved his football and spent every spare minute playing. A talented Gaelic footballer, but he was never going to prioritise any other sport.

He played first for Cambridge Boys, and, when they folded, joined Stella Maris, a schoolboy club famed locally. Maris' alumni include more than 20 full internationals, amongst them recent United Hall of Fame inductee John Anderson and another former Magpie, Stephen Carr. Others include David O'Leary, Keith Andrews, Liverpool's Ronnie Whelan and 1968 European Cup winner Tony Dunne.

At 16, Maris, like his previous youth club, disbanded, but scout Kevin Healy took O'Brien to Bohemians, a leading League of Ireland club. For a few years he juggled football with a welding and fitting apprenticeship, during which time he broke into the Republic of Ireland's youth set up.

In the summer of 1983, O'Brien was visiting Toronto on holiday and a teammate at Bohemians, Pierce Walsh, was also travelling there for a football tournament. Walsh asked O'Brien to play, and he adjusted his travel plans accordingly.

"I did really well as a striker," he recalls. "It was easy for me to do quite well over there. I scored a lot of goals in the tournament, but we got beaten on penalties in the final."

However, O'Brien had impressed a scout from Cleveland Force Football Club, and he was offered an opportunity that was too good to pass: the chance to be a professional footballer. "Back in the 80s the country was on its knees," he says of Ireland. "There was no work for anyone. Everybody was emigrating. Financially, the whole country was gone. I was just thinking of my future."

Returning to Dublin, O'Brien was offered a semi-professional deal by Bohemians manager, Billy Young. Much to Young's disbelief, O'Brien declined the offer and, as a result, was told to leave the club immediately rather than being allowed to train for a few months before his American move. "He left me in limbo," O'Brien admits.

Shamrock Rovers player-coach Noel King got wind of O'Brien’s situation and soon the newly-appointed manager Jim McLaughlin invited him to train with the club. When O'Brien departed for Cleveland, it was made clear that Rovers would welcome him back with outstretched limbs at any point.

"I just couldn't take to it (over there)," O’Brien explains of the first few weeks post move. The sun shone bright, but he yearned for the damp and cold of home. Within a month, with McLaughlin's words screaming like a Vuvuzela in his ear, he returned home.

Three seasons later, O'Brien was a triple title winner with Rovers, having also collected a pair of FAI Cup medals and made his international debut under Jack Charlton. As the 1986/87 season began, O'Brien had turned 22 and remained a semi-professional. His dream of a move to England or Scotland was, despite the hype and headlines, despite the rumours of interest from various clubs, rapidly horizon bound. Maybe he would have to settle for being a League of Ireland legend.

"Nothing was happening and I started to think, 'I've missed the boat here.' I was just concentrating on playing in the league but then we played Manchester United in a friendly and against Celtic in the European Cup. Next thing I know, Manchester United called Rovers saying they wanted me. Arsenal came in as well, but I was very pleased I ended up going to Manchester United, because I thought it was a better opportunity."

It was an opportunity O'Brien thought might go begging at one point, though. He travelled to Manchester with his father - also Liam but known as Billo - and Rovers' chair Louis Kilcoyne. Agents were not a thing back then, but the pair essentially acted on his behalf.

In Ron Atkinson's office at The Cliff in October 1986, O'Brien was offered £175 a week and jumped at it. Subject to a medical, the deal was done, but while that took place, Billo ambled around the facilities and bumped into Joe Hanrahan, an Irishman already with Manchester United. Billo, a trade unionist, asked Hanrahan what he was earning, and when the answer was £250, O'Brien senior was determined to achieve parity for his boy.

Having passed his health checks, O'Brien was re-united with his father outside Atkinson's office, with just a signature required. The media waited next door. "He told me, 'we're not signing for £175 a week' and I replied, 'I'm getting a chance to be a full-time professional. I'll sign for nothing.'

"But he told Ron that we weren't signing, and Ron was stunned. Ron asked what we wanted and he agreed. Dad and I used to joke later that we should have asked for £300!"

A month later Atkinson was sacked and so began the Sir Alex Ferguson-era. "Gordon Strachan had played under Ferguson previously and said he was very driven, could be intimidating at times, but he would give everybody a chance. He did that.

"For his first team meeting, he brought everyone into the gym and told them he would give us all a chance. He gave me my debut in the December. I'd only been there six weeks so I couldn't believe it."

Over the next few years, O'Brien found himself in and around the first team, making 31 appearances in total. But when the initial two-season deal expired in the 1988 summer, O'Brien was not happy with the £400 per week basic pay that Ferguson offered for renewal.

"I was doing okay, and I'd played a lot. I didn't want the money that Bryan Robson, or Strachan, or any of these top players was getting. I only wanted what I thought I deserved. I wanted £500 a week basic, but he offered me £400 plus £400 in appearance money and a car. Even if he'd said £500 basic plus £300 appearance money, I'd have taken it."

O'Brien and his partner were expecting their first born, and he wanted the security. However, the impasse led to quite the opposite: from 1st July 1988 he shifted to a week-to-week contract on his original terms. The lack of movement on the deal became a running joke between O'Brien and Ferguson, one that continued as the 1988/89 season began.

"Managers try and mess you around, but I just got my head down, worked hard, and played well in the reserves. He eventually put me back in the first team."

Following a man-of-the-match display during a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford in early November 1988, just weeks after his daughter was born, he received a call from United expressing interest. They asked for a meeting and O'Brien swiftly agreed.

"I drove to Leeds and I met them at Hartshead Service Station," he says. "I'll never forget the name of that place. They offered me a three-year contract and upped my wages. They gave me six months accommodation free, a signing-on fee and a car. I thought I'd won the jackpot."

He signed instantly, stopping at the next service station en-route home to tell his partner to put their house up for sale. She was delighted, Ferguson less so. O'Brien got an earful and only a few years later did Ferguson mellow.

O'Brien already knew something of United via Republic of Ireland teammate Anderson. "I'd asked him what it was like before and he said it was massive, and that if you got things right there, the fan base was unbelievable."

He had also played at St. James' Park with Manchester United and "just couldn't get over the atmosphere. The noise was electric."

United were not in a great place when O'Brien arrived. Willie McFaul had just been sacked following a poor start to the season, and Colin Suggett was in temporary charge. Jim Smith arrived in the December but to no avail. United were relegated from the old First Division, finishing rock bottom, nine points adrift of safety.

From a personal perspective, O'Brien started slowly but got going in early 1989. He then broke his leg playing as an overage player for the Republic of Ireland's under-21s. Some questioned the merit of his participation, but O'Brien never balked at a chance to represent his country, whatever the level.

"It was a freak accident," he says of the offending tackle. "I was sent to hospital in Dublin in agony, but the X-ray showed it was only badly bruised." O'Brien was given a single crutch and sent on his way, hopeful, based on medical advice, that he would be fit for United's game with Arsenal that weekend.

But the pain was off the charts. He tried and failed to cry himself to sleep that night, and on landing back in Newcastle the following day had to get a taxi home rather than drive. Ghostly white, O'Brien was picked up for training the next morning but was swiftly re-directed to hospital. This time the scans revealed a huge crack in his leg.

"I was so lucky," O'Brien says, referencing the week-by-week deal he had started the season on in Manchester. "At least I had security for three years and the club were with me until I got myself fit."

Newcastle were relegated but started the following season well. O'Brien's leg healed but, soon after, he damaged his knee ligaments. He was restricted to just 14 league starts in 1989/90, with United finishing third in Division Two, largely thanks to a prolific partnership between Micky Quinn (32 goals in 45 league games) and Mark McGhee (19 goals in 46 league games). Toon hearts were broken, though, with a play-off semi-final defeat to Sunderland, with a 0-2 loss at St. James' Park following a 0-0 draw on Wearside. Swindon Town were to win the final, only for Sunderland to be promoted after the former were charged with 36 breaches of Football League regulations.

The following season brought mid-table mediocrity, with Smith leaving in March 1991. Argentinian Osvaldo Ardiles arrived as his replacement, but he lasted just under a year. "Ossie was brilliant and I loved playing under him," O'Brien explains. "I felt a bit sorry for him when he came in. He was told to cut the wage bill, so we lost people like Mark (McGhee). He couldn't bring in the players he wanted, so had to rely on youth: Lee Clark, Steve Howey, Steve Watson, Robbie Elliott. Those players would go on to have great careers but were a bit inexperienced at the time and a bit too young to get the club out of the situation we were in."

Ardiles was forward thinking, playing "a Christmas tree formation. A back four, one midfielder in front of them - usually me - two ahead of me and then a man behind the front two. He wanted the full-backs to be pushing on. It was very entertaining, but we conceded too many goals. Both full-backs pushed on at the same time and we were too open."

In November 1991, O'Brien scored the first of his two goals at Roker Park, a chipped 59th-minute equaliser. "People always ask me which goal was better," he says. "Probably the chip was better because I didn't have time to think about it. I saw the keeper off his line and just hit it. It worked perfectly."

But that would be a rare moment of warmth in a winter of much discontent. In February, United experienced a sliding doors moment. Former player Kevin Keegan, last seen departing in a helicopter after his final game as player in 1984, a man with 63 England caps, three First Division titles, a Bundesliga, a European Cup and two Ballon d'Or awards, came in as manager. He had spent the last few years sunning himself on a Marbella beach so there was, initially at least, if not scepticism, then some uncertainty amongst the playing staff.

"He was an absolute icon as a player," O’Brien says. "It was a big gamble for the club bringing him in, I thought. It was a gamble for him too - his reputation was on the line. If it didn't work out, that would be the end of him as a manager.

"He hadn't come from a club, who, for example, he'd got promoted. He'd just come off a beach, had no experience as a manager, and came into a struggling team. But it worked out brilliantly. He just changed the place. He was so charismatic. He had personality. He was full of enthusiasm, and he made players feel ten feet tall. All credit to him."

United's last home game under Ardiles had been a 3-4 defeat to Charlton, with 15,663 clicking through the turnstiles. Keegan's impact was instant, both on and off the pitch, with a 3-0 victory over Bristol City - O'Brien grabbed one of the goals - witnessed by 29,263 souls. "We just kicked on from there. You could see the club was going to change eventually."

Come the final day, United were not safe, though. A 2-1 win at Leicester City sparked a pitch invasion, albeit results elsewhere meant they would have stayed up regardless, not that the players knew that at the time. "And Kevin just said, 'this is a massive club. It will never go through that situation again.' Luckily enough it didn't. The players loved coming into training."

The 1992 summer saw Keegan bring in Paul Bracewell, John Beresford, Barry Venison and, come September, Rob Lee. It started with 11 consecutive victories, the last being at Sunderland courtesy of O'Brien’s free kick. Despite selling Micky Quinn in December, United won the division at a canter. O'Brien more than played his part, with six goals and four assists in 33 appearances, albeit frustratingly injury ruled him out of the end of the season.

As a reward, Keegan took the squad to Marbella, where they were joined one evening by James Bond. "Kevin said he had a special guest coming, and in walked Sean Connery. We couldn't believe it. He sat down and had a chat with the lads. Kevin knew all the top celebrities!"

Premier League football had arrived on Tyneside for the first time, and O'Brien, having not played in the top tier since leaving Manchester, was buzzing. But Keegan, as brilliant and affable a chap as he was, also had a ruthless streak. David Kelly was sold to Wolves, Gavin Peacock to Chelsea and Alan Thompson to Bolton. Peter Beardsley returned to the club, while Nikki Papavasiliou was also signed in the summer.

O'Brien had piqued Tranmere Rovers manager John King's interest and Keegan suggested he entertain the idea. "I hadn't been in the team at the end of the promotion season as I had shin splints," O’Brien says. "He explained that John King had been on the phone and wanted to sign me. I went down to chat to him and he was really pleasant. But this was in July or August and my wife and I were expecting in September. I didn't want her up in Newcastle on her own while I was down in Tranmere.

"Plus, there was the fact we'd just got into the Premier League, and I wanted to have a go at that. I told Kevin I didn't want to go and I'm sure if he’d put himself in my shoes he'd have done the same thing. John told me to call him if I ever changed my mind."

O'Brien remained in the first team picture, coming off the bench on the opening day against Tottenham Hotspur, after which he was a whisker away from becoming United's first ever Premier League goalscorer. But appearances were sporadic and when Southampton enquired about O'Brien's availability in January 1994, Keegan again nudged him gently toward the exit door.

Instead, of moving to the south coast, O'Brien called King and would spend five happy years at Tranmere before finishing his playing career with first Cork City and, finally, Bohemians once more.

Post retirement, O'Brien enjoyed success coaching, working at Bohemians and Rovers, with a spell at Hibernian under Pat Fenlon. The pair reached two cup finals in Scotland, losing to Edinburgh rivals Hearts and Celtic respectively. At Bohemians, O'Brien won countless trophies. He now runs his own chauffeur service, but his legacy lives on in Newcastle, his name immortalised not in statute but in song. His derby goals, along with that of namesake Andy O'Brien (no relation), still form the basis of a popular terrace ditty.

"The free-kick game was on a Sunday and me and a few pals where I used to live went out for a few beverages that evening to celebrate. One friend said to me, 'you don’t realise what you've done today, do you?' I said, 'yeah, I've scored the winner against Sunderland. It's brilliant. I'm on top form.'

"But he told me I'd never be forgotten. I didn't believe him, but they still sing the song about it 33 years later. He's a season ticket holder and sometimes sends me a video of it being sung. It's lovely."