Tribute to Phil O'Donnell (1972-2007)
Following the Tragic and totally unexpected death of Phil O'Donnell, I thought it would be fitting to pay tribute to our legendary Captain.
My earliest memories of watching Phil playing are from the Scottish Cup run during 1991 when he was still in his teens and featured in most of the games in that run. More famously he scored our third goal in the final that year with a brave diving header through a number of players feet.
Phil went on to become a regular in the Motherwell team in 1991-92 right through to 1993-94 when he had one of his best seasons with us finishing third, he really cemented his place in the midfield alongside Paul Lambert, Jamie Dolan and Steve Kirk, making the number 10 jersey his own.
During the early part of 1994-95 Phil became a transfer target for Celtic who would fork out a transfer fee of �1.75 million, a fee which has never been topped for a Motherwell Player.
Phil scored a double on his Celtic debut and also featured in the team which won the 1995 Scottish Cup. Over the next few seasons, Phil's number of apparances for Celtic were limited due to injury and in 1999 he moved to Sheffield Wednesday. Again injury limited his appearances for the team and he was released in 2004. Phil returned to Scotland and asked then Motherwell boss Terry Butcher if he could use the training facilities to try and regain his match fitness. Butcher was so impressed by Phil's attitude and determination to return to match fitness that he signed Phil up on a contract and gave him the number 10 jersey. In season 2004-05 Phil was part of the team that reached the final of the CIS cup and I for one will never forget his battling midfield performance against Hearts in the Semi Final. Following the retiral of Scott Leitch in 2005 Phil was named as the Club Captain.
During 2006-07 Phil only featured in the first 4 games missing out on the rest of the season through injury. However he returned in 2007-08 under Mark McGhee and was performing well, dominating midfield and even chipping in with vital goals, in fact he appeared to be having one of his best ever seasons and was a regular starter for the team and even played 90 minutes in most of the games.
His untimely death will leave a void that can never be replaced.
Farewell Phil, you are and always will be a legend and speaking for Well fans every where, we will never forget you and everything you have done for our club.