The story of Liam O’Neil: How Cambridge’s unappreciated local lad fired the U’s to League One

Despite his unwavering loyalty to the club, Liam O’Neil has never been a household name for Cambridge United supporters.

The 27-year-old has slowly become a first team regular for the U’s, playing 21 games in their incredible promotion-winning campaign. But it’s not been an easy ride for the midfielder, who was brought up around 11 miles outside of central Cambridge in the village of Swavesey.

Of course, he was a Cambridge United fan.

“I was [a Cambridge fan as a kid]. I used to come here and see Trevor Benjamin, Martin Butler, all of those players. I came with my dad and my brother at the start, and then with my mates as I grew up a little bit.

“I was here [Cambridge’s academy] as a kid, and then unfortunately it shut down when Cambridge were relegated to the Conference. So I went elsewhere. I would’ve been 11 or 12 years old.

In fact, this was just a side effect of the near capitulation of Cambridge United. The club entered administration in April 2005, resulting in a 10 point deduction which saw them rooted to the bottom of the League Two table. The U’s dropped out of the Football League for the first time in 35 years, and The Abbey Stadium was sold for £1.9 million to keep the club afloat, taking them out of administration three months later.

O’Neil, keen to continue his football at a youth level, moved to neighbouring club Histon, staying with the Stutes for seven years before a huge opportunity came calling that he couldn’t turn down.

In 2012, the midfielder was offered the chance to join West Brom’s academy at age 17, penning his first professional contract later that year. However, he wasn’t presented with an opportunity to jump straight into the Baggies’ senior squad and headed out in search of professional football experience that summer.

Rather than a traditional loan to a lower league club, O’Neil moved to Finnish side Vaasan Palloseura (VPS). He claims that this likely came about due to Roy Hodgson (who was Albion’s manager at the time) having managed Finland’s national team five years earlier, and his goalkeeping coach at the time (Olli Huttunen) was in charge of VPS.

While other youngsters were hesitant to move abroad, O’Neil jumped at the chance and quickly settled into the first team. He made 18 appearances for the club, scoring once and featuring in the Veikkausliiga’s Team of the Month for May – a remarkable feat for a young English footballer who was yet to reach full adulthood.

O’Neil had to adapt to suit a completely different style of play in a country where he didn’t know the language or fully understand the culture. It gave him the platform to gain professional experience and springboard his career in English football. He returned to his parent club in early August.

Eventually, that experience came in handy, and he was drafted into West Brom’s senior squad in the latter stages of the 2013/14 season. He made his Premier League debut in March 2014, coming off the bench in a win against Swansea, albeit for a solitary minute.

He did the same three matches later against Norwich, this time for seven minutes, while also getting the same amount of time off the bench in the Baggies final game of the season against Stoke.

It quickly became clear that first team opportunities would be few and far between. O’Neil was benched for the opening Premier League game against Sunderland, but started for the Baggies in their League Cup ties against Hull City (for which his performance was dubbed as “outstanding” by manager Alan Irvine) and Bournemouth (where he was subbed off just after the hour mark).

Their elimination at the hands of the Cherries resulted in even fewer opportunities with the senior squad, and the club decided that another loan spell would be the best way forward. This time, he got a proper Football League experience.

League One side Scunthorpe United brought O’Neil in on a one month deal, which was quickly extended until January 2015. He scored his first goal for the Iron in a Boxing Day win over Rochdale, earning him a further extension with the Lincolnshire club until an ankle injury curtailed his loan spell and sent him back to the West Midlands in April that year. He scored twice in 21 appearances at Glanford Park.

Despite West Brom extending his contract for another season, O’Neil returned to the third tier on a permanent basis in August 2015, joining Chesterfield on an undisclosed fee. Their manager at the time, Dean Saunders, had originally intended to bring the 22-year-old in on loan, but was able to secure a transfer instead.

Saunders was sacked midway through the season, with the Spireites sitting in the relegation zone. The January transfer window saw O’Neil’s boyhood club come calling on transfer deadline day. He dropped down a division to return to The Abbey and play for Shaun Derry’s Cambridge United.

It’s fair to say that, for the most part, his performances haven’t always been spectacular. O’Neil has been a consistent name on Cambridge’s team sheet, but injuries have perhaps left him unable to have the desired impact on the team. This was even the case in the most recent campaign, where an injury just 30 minutes into the opening game of the season against Carlisle saw him ruled out until early 2021.

Under Derry, Joe Dunne and Colin Calderwood, he was never given the opportunity to thrive going forward. He always claimed that he wanted to improve his attacking output, but was clearly limited by being deployed as an anchor style midfielder-cum-defender in recent years, albeit that he played as a centre-back at youth level.

That’s all changed since Mark Bonner was appointed Cambridge manager.

The 35-year-old favours playing a 4-4-2 formation, either as a flat lineup or as a diamond. In either system, O’Neil plays much further forward than he has done under previous management. The arrival of Paul Digby, an incredibly defensive-minded midfielder, has allowed him to have more freedom to advance up the pitch when the U’s are in possession. This seems to be the perfect role for him.

Granted, nailing down a starting spot hasn’t been easy, especially due to the increased competition with the likes of Hiram Boateng, Adam May and Wes Hoolahan all vying for a place in the lineup. But O’Neil has shown that he can compete with even the most established names in the squad.

Of course, there was his 30-yard screamer in the dying embers away at Port Vale to secure a 1-0 win, but the final three games of the season highlighted just how valuable he is to this Cambridge side.

The midfielder only got seven minutes off the bench in the U’s 1-0 home defeat against Stevenage, a game in which they were completely overrun in midfield and defence. In truth, the Boro could’ve scored four or five goals that afternoon, and that’s exactly what Harrogate managed to do the following week.

Simon Weaver’s rotated lineup absolutely annihilated a nervous (and unchanged) Cambridge side, ending up as 5-4 winners. O’Neil didn’t feature at all.

The following week presented a ‘do-or-die’ situation where the U’s would have to avoid defeat to secure promotion. This time, O’Neil was given the nod to start over Boateng, a decision that infuriated a fair number of the club’s fanbase. But he proved all the doubters wrong just 25 minutes into the game, where he latched onto Joe Ironside’s back-post header to volley a powerful shot home from 12 yards.

The crowd congregated outside The Abbey erupted. 16 years after being forced to leave the club’s youth academy, O’Neil scored the first goal to send Cambridge United on the way to League One for the first time since 2002.

“I couldn’t describe it [the feeling of scoring]. Especially with the game being how it was, we needed to win it to make sure that we were over the line. It’s definitely one that will live with me forever. I would get a bit upset, but that’s for later!”

Not only that, but the 27-year-old was a calm and confident presence in a side that was so fraught with nerves in their previous two games. His composure added a new dimension to Cambridge’s performance and gave his teammates a huge boost in arguably the club’s biggest game of the 21st century.

O’Neil doesn’t get praise for doing this sort of role, and often receives unfair criticism from supporters for his lack of attacking contributions. But he’s the epitome of a team player. Someone who truly understands the ideology of the club and what it means to be in a higher division after the heartache they went through in 2005.

“It’s a great opportunity for all of us. We look forward to it because it’s a league higher, and we’ve had some tough seasons in the last few years. Not just for the players and the staff, but for the fans as well.”

Bonner is the first manager to really get the best out of O’Neil. Cambridge benefit from his experience in Finland and in the Premier League, as well as his undying loyalty to his boyhood club. Now he’s under the right coaching, he can play a crucial part in the U’s return to League One next season.

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