Jon O'Connor

Jonathan O'Connor (born 29 October 1976) is an English former footballer who played as a defender in the Premier League for Everton and in the Football League for Sheffield United and Blackpool. Internationally, he represented England at levels up under-21.

Club career O'Connor was born in 1976 in Darlington, County Durham. At 14, he was accepted into the Football Association's National School of Excellence at Lilleshall, and went on to join Everton (in preference to Leeds United and Barnsley) as a trainee. Manager Joe Royle had been impressed by his temperament. He signed his first professional contract in October 1993, He kept his place for the next two matchestwo wins, no goals conceded and was then replaced by the newly arrived Swiss international right back Marc Hottiger. O'Connor's 89th-minute appearance as a substitute in that match was his last of the season. He signed a three-year contract in February 1997, but by the end of the season, Royle had been replaced by Howard Kendall. In November, he came off the bench for 15 minutes against Aston Villa, but when another vacancy arose, against Chelsea in January 1998, Graham Allen was preferred.

In early February, he joined First Division club Sheffield United on loan, but before he could take the field, the move was made permanent. He made his debut the next day, as an 89th-minute substitute against Bradford City, and appeared just once more for the first team that season, again from the bench. He played twice in the league in December 1998, and his sole appearance in that season's FA Cup was his last for Sheffield United's first team. Scunthorpe United, Cambridge United, Darlington, Hartlepool United, and Lincoln City, O'Connor signed for Third Division club Blackpool in October 2000. He played regularly for a couple of months, and made 14 first-team appearances in the 2000–01 season, but eventually retired due to "persistent glandular fever problems." He moved up to the under-18s, and played in qualifiers for three consecutive editions of the European Championships. He received his first call-up for the under-21 team in April 1996 for a warm-up match against Croatia at Roker Park, Sunderland, ahead of the 1996 Toulon Tournament. He started against Croatia, and was named in the squad for Toulon, where he played in two of the four group matches.

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