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Phil O'donnell


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  • 2 months later...
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Will always remember his first last game for Motherwell down at the still oval Rugby Park. Crowd sang "(I Want You To Know) Please Don't Go" for most of the match. Tommy Coyne scored early and somehow we survived about 83 minutes of constant battering to come away with a 1-0 win.

 

Remember it like yesterday and it was, gulp, over 20 years ago.

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  • 5 months later...

Must have something in my eye this morning...

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/15359840.Megan_O_Donnell__I_was_12_when_I_watched_my_dad__Phil__die_on_the_football_pitch__The_thing_I_ve_missed_most_is_not_getting_to_know_him_/?ref=fbshr?c=j2wvne

 

 

Megan O'Donnell: I was 12 when I watched my dad, Phil, die on the Motherwell pitch. The thing I've missed most is not gett

Megan O'Donnell
IT'S been 10 years. If someone were to ask you to recall a memory you have from 2007, you'd probably struggle.
That year, the world was thrown into financial turmoil – a crisis that we are still recovering from. The final Harry Potter book took its place on our bookshelves, and Apple launched its first iPhone.
It was a year of change, a year which shaped the world we live in today. It was also the year I witnessed the death of my father, football legend Phil O'Donnell, four days after Christmas.
He died on the pitch in front of a crowded Fir Park stadium on December 29 as Motherwell took on Dundee United. It's a day I'll remember for the rest of my life. I was 12-years-old.
The age of 12 marks the beginning of a turbulent transition period. For most young girls, it brings the start of high school and kick-starts a few long years of following the crowd before discovering your own likes and interests. It marks the point when you start making friends, a period when your appearance is changing and you're trying to be “grown-up”. Little did I know that at 12-years-old, my family life would be completely turned upside down.
The first few months after my dad’s death are a blur, all I remember is the house being full of people and flowers – with all the visitors stopping by to pay their respects, I learned how to make a perfect cup of tea. I also learned the importance of family, and in tragic times how everyone rallies round to help one another.
In my eyes, my mum is the actual Superwoman. She survived becoming a widow at the age of 35 and she survived having to bring up four children all by herself. I know my dad will be beaming with pride at the amazing job she has done.
To say that I miss him is fairly obvious. I miss the car journeys to school every morning, belting out Queen’s greatest hits and singing songs from the Forrest Gump soundtrack. I miss playing football in the hallway, with him as the goalie in the door frame whilst my brother and I chased the ball in our pyjamas and I miss his shockingly bad karaoke renditions of Neil Diamond’s Forever In Blue Jeans. But I don’t think that missing him has been the saddest part of the past 10 years. I often think about the fact that I will never truly know him. At 12-years-old, your parents are your parents and that is that – they know best, they make the rules and you do as you are told. However, as the years go by the line between parent and friend starts to blur. I am now at an age where I class my mum as one of my best friends and it hurts my heart to think of what could have been with my dad. I can only rely on fading childhood memories, and stories being passed down from relatives and friends to grasp an idea of what he was like outside of his role as father.
Aside from the fact that this year marks a decade since his death, 2017 marks poignant year in my own life as I prepare to graduate from university and flee the nest – two of the most important moments of my life that my dad won't be here to see. Unlike my siblings, I was lucky to have my dad present for my first day of high school – my youngest brother, Luc, didn’t even have a father to see him on his first day of primary school.
But I wasn’t able to share my excitement of getting into university with my dad, and I know that when I graduate I will miss him more than ever. The saying goes “it’s who you look for in a crowded room”, and I know that when I collect my degree next week, I’ll not only be looking for my mum and my grandma in the crowd, I’ll also be looking for a sign that he is with me.
To mark my dad’s 10th anniversary this year, I mentioned to my mum that I wanted to organise a big fundraiser for him. We got together with my dad’s close friend and old team-mate, Simon Donnelly, to brainstorm ideas and agreed on joining forces with Jordan Moore in completing the West Highland Way and Ben Nevis. The former Dundee United player, Jordan, was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2014 at just 19. He has now made a full recovery and will be taking part in the challenge alongside his old Dundee United coaches – Jackie McNamara, Simon Donnelly and Darren Jackson. In teaming up with Jordan, two football communities have come together to create Football Unites.
The challenge begins today in Milngavie and will finish at the top of Ben Nevis. The money raised will be split between Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and the Teenage Cancer Trust – two charities close to the hearts of both my family and Jordan’s.
In the decade that we have been without my dad, I’ve learned that death is a funny thing. When it happens unexpectedly, it’s so difficult to imagine everything being normal again. People tell you that “time is the best healer”, and it is true. Although the grief doesn’t ever go away – time allows you to adjust and helps turn the shock into your new normality. It is 10 years since my dad's death and it is hoped that Football Unites will keep his memory alive. Though time may pass and the pain of losing someone becomes easier to deal with, we should never forget. Football Unites hopes to keep my dad’s memory alive as well as raising money to make a difference over the next 10 years.
Donate to the cause at www.virginmoneygiving.com/footballunites
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Tough reading. Heartbreaking.

 

As someone who has not long lost their father at the age of 33, this makes me feel really lucky I did get the chance to know him.

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