Don O'Riordan

Donald Joseph O'Riordan (born 14 May 1957) is an Irish football coach and former professional player, who is the manager of Women's National League club Treaty United.

O'Riordan notably played for Middlesbrough, Grimsby Town and Notts County amongst others and has previously been on the coaching staff at Sheffield United, in the role of technical director/coach of their feeder club Chengdu Blades F.C. in China.

O'Riordan was born in Dublin.

He captained the Republic of Ireland at under 15 and youth levels and played for three consecutive years for Ireland at youth level playing in the 1973 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship and 1975 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship.

He was in the Republics senior squad four times but never managed to get onto the pitch and so failed to win a cap at senior level.

He was reported later in his playing days that this was the biggest disappointment of his long career but when he was appointed Manager of the Republic of Ireland semi professional National Team while managing in Ireland he admitted that the appointment had made up for his disappointment as a player of never having played at senior level for his country.

He took charge of his country for a four-team tournament involving England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic that took place in the UK.

Having beaten Scotland in their first game and England in their 2nd game Ireland lost to Wales in the final game and so lost the chance to be champions.

The Irish were disappointed but they had performed very well when they ended England's long unbeaten run at this level during the tournament.

O'Riordan's skills as a manager were recognised again later when he was working in Ireland when he was appointed Manager of the League of Ireland's under 21 Team.

A central defender or midfielder, he began his career as an apprentice with Derby County, turning professional in May 1975.

His league debut came on 23 March 1977, as a 24th-minute substitute for Charlie George in a 0–0 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur.

He played twice on loan to Doncaster Rovers in January 1978 and struggling to make an impact at Derby, moved to NASL side Tulsa Roughnecks where he played in every game in his first NASL season.

He returned to England in October 1978, joining Preston North End managed by Nobby Styles for a fee of £40,000 with a clause that meant he returned to Tulsa for the following US season on loan and at the end of that season he was voted Player of the Year by the Roughneck fans.

He made 158 league appearances for Preston – being their fans voted him Player of the Year in 1981–82.

He was on the move again, joining Carlisle United managed by Bob Stokoe in August 1983 on a free transfer.

He had two seasons as a regular at Carlisle again being voted Player of the Year by the fans and in his second season finished joint top scorer with Malcolm Poskett eventually scoring 18 goals from 84 league appearances.

His performances earned himself a £55,000 move to Middlesbrough in August 1985.

Despite missing only one game the following season, O'Riordan walked out on the club with Peter Beagrie amidst Middlesbrough's financial crisis.

He joined Grimsby Town in August 1986.

As well as playing 86 league games, scoring 14 goals, for Grimsby, he also acted as assistant manager to Grimsby manager Mike Lyons and later Bobby Roberts.

While at Grimsby he started the Grimsby Town School of Excellence.

Despite relegation in his 2nd season he won the fans Player of the Year award and the Sunday People Player of the Year for that Division.

In July 1988, O'Riordan was transferred to Notts County for a fee of £16,000.

He had a spell on loan to Mansfield Town in September 1989, but went on to make over 100 appearances for County.

His role as a front sweeper (in front of the defence) was particularly pivotal in Notts County's rise to the top flight in the 1990–91 season.

He gave Notts County the lead against Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup Quarter-final at White Hart Lane in 1991, a match Notts County went on to lose 2–1 live on the BBC.

Unfortunately O'Riordan's career was shortened at County by an injury on the opening day of the 1991–92 season against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

He would play no further effective part in the season which Neil Warnock cited as being a big factor in Notts getting relegated that season.

In February 1993 O'Riordan joined Torquay United as Player Coach at a time when Torquay looked favourites to get relegated out of the Football League but he played a big role in their survival and that summer took over as manager.

In his first season as manager, a young Torquay side made the Division Three play-offs and lost the semi-final against his old club Preston North End.

The game will be remembered for a wrong decision by the referee to send off the Torquay defender Darren Moore which gave Preston an advantage and they went on to score four times to win 4–1 and 4–3 over the two legs.

After selling some of his key players from the play-off season the following season was to produce a mid-table position of safety.

The 1995–96 season started badly for Torquay, and O'Riordan was sacked after a heavy defeat at home to Scunthorpe United in October, with future Torquay forward Andy McFarlane scoring four goals.

During his time in charge he brought through players into the 1st team such as Darren Moore Paul Trollope and Paul Buckle who later went on to manage Torquay.

Torquay accepted offers for many of the young players developed by O'Riordan during his time in charge but his two Caribbean signings Bajan international Gregory Goodridge and Rodney Jack the Saint Vincent National Team player brought in a reported one million pounds in transfer fees between them selling Goodridge to QPR before and Jack to Crewe after his departure.

He joined Scarborough as a player coach in December 1995, but played just once to bring down the curtain on his Football League playing career.

He had a season at Gloucester City as a player and also as assistant to manager Leroy Rosenior which saw Gloucester just miss out on promotion and saw them lose the FA Trophy semi final also.

O'Riordan guided Gloucester's very young Reserve team to a Cup Final victory when he played in the win against local rivals Cheltenham Town.

After a loan spell at Dorchester Town he left Gloucester, having been appointed as manager of Irish side Galway United in the summer of 1997.