Player #480 for Aston Villa, Alan O’Neill, played as a forward for the club. Alan played for Villa between 1960-61 and 1962-63 making 34 appearances and scoring 11 goals.

Alan was born in Leadgate, County Durham on 13 November 1937 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 22 October 1960 aged 22.

Alan had been christened Alan Hope, but changed his surname to O’Neill in 1956.

Villa had signed Alan from Sunderland for a fee of £9,000 on 1 August 1960 and he made 15 appearances, scoring 5 goals, in his debut season as Villa finished 9th on their return to Division One.

Perhaps Alan’s most notable contribution however was in derby clashes with Birmingham City. Alan had made his debut in the second city derby hitting a brace as Birmingham were thrashed 6-2 with his first coming just 20 seconds into his playing career with Villa.

Alan who had experience of north east derbies recalled:

“When I played in derbies for Sunderland against Newcastle I knew it was a big thing. But I didn’t realise how big the derby in Birmingham was until I made my debut against the Blues.

“It couldn’t have gone any better for me and when I was up at Villa Park for the Sunderland game the other week this bloke came up and reminded me. He said: ‘I was only a little boy when you scored that first goal against Blues on your debut and I could have picked you up and carried you around the ground, I was so happy’.

“I remember we kicked off, Gerry Hitchens passed to me and I gave it to Peter McParland who ran down the wing and crossed it. I was just outside the box I think so I closed my eyes and swung my left foot at it and it went in. Scoring after 20 seconds against the Blues in my first game was a pretty good way of making myself popular with the Villa fans and I scored in a 2-0 win at the Albion the next week, which also helped.”

During Villa’s victorious League Cup campaign in 1960-61 Alan made 6 appearances, scoring 3, as Villa went on to lift the trophy after vanquishing Rotherham United in the two legged final which was delayed until the 1961-62 season due to fixture congestion.

Thereafter however Alan’s appearances were to be less regular and he made his final appearance in the 1962-63 season Saturday, 24 November 1962 aged 25 after 3 seasons with Villa.

Alan moved on to Plymouth Argyle later in November 1962

Alan had played under manager Joe Mercer.