Gary Paul O'Neil (born 18 May 1983) is an English football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A midfielder, O'Neil made 214 Premier League appearances and scored 16 goals between 2003 and 2016, representing Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, West Ham United and Norwich City. He also played in the Football League First Division or EFL Championship for all four of those clubs plus Walsall, Cardiff City, Queens Park Rangers, Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers.
In his first job as a manager, O'Neil saved AFC Bournemouth from relegation in the 2022–23 Premier League, but was then dismissed ahead of the following season. He was hired by Wolverhampton Wanderers as head coach in August 2023.
Club career
Portsmouth
O'Neil was born in Beckenham, London and grew up in Downham. Tony Pulis gave O'Neil his Portsmouth debut as a 16-year-old on 29 January 2000 at home to Barnsley in the First Division, but kept him out of the spotlight for the rest of the season. The following year both Pulis and his successor Steve Claridge used O'Neil sparingly but Portsmouth's third manager of a disastrous season, Graham Rix, made O'Neil a starter for the final five matches of the season. Portsmouth went into the final game against Barnsley needing to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation to what was then the Second Division. They won the match 3–0 and survived, with O'Neil scoring the second goal, his first in professional football.
In the 2001–02 season, O'Neil scored a volley against his boyhood club Millwall. When Harry Redknapp took over as manager at the end of the season, O'Neil was one of the few players not to be moved on in the rebuilding of the squad. In Redknapp's first full season O'Neil only started 11 league matches, scoring three goals, as Portsmouth won the First Division title and promotion to the Premier League.
O'Neil was loaned to Walsall at the beginning of the 2003–04 season in order to gain first team experience. His performances for the Midlands side and Portsmouth's increasing injury problems led to a recall in November 2003. He went straight into the starting eleven for his Premier League debut against bottom of the table Leeds United at Fratton Park and scored two goals in a 6–1 win. This performance meant that he maintained his place for the next match, away at Fulham but then had to travel to Dubai to captain England Under 20s in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. Upon his return, O'Neil found that Portsmouth's injury problems had cleared up and he could not break back into the team for the remainder of the season.
At the beginning of the 2004–05 season he was loaned to Cardiff City to gain further first team experience, scoring once in the league against Millwall. He was recalled to Portsmouth in November who yet again were experiencing an injury crisis. He made his return to the side in one of the biggest matches of the season, a 2–1 defeat at Southampton. He was picked again for the next match, at home to Manchester City, and scored in a 3–1 loss. This was the last match of Redknapp's reign, and technical director Velimir Zajec took over a temporary manager and made O'Neil a regular in the Pompey midfield. During Zajec's five-month reign Portsmouth fell from midtable to relegation candidates and Alain Perrin was appointed to keep the club in the Premier League. O'Neil scored away at Manchester United and European champions Liverpool bid £5 million for him, which was rejected by Portsmouth.