James living the dream in the States
O’Connor leads Louisville to USL Cup win
JAMES O’Connor began planting the seeds for a career in coaching long before he had even hit his peak as a player.
The Bray-born midfielder would go on to make over 500 professional appearances in a distinguished career before jumping straight into management where he thrived in 2017.
O’Connor was only a teenager when he made the breakthrough at Stoke City.
He would amass 176 appearances at the Britannia Stadium and earn their Player of the Year award on one of his five seasons there.
Next for O’Connor was two seasons at West Brom, followed by four terms at Burnley and his last stop in England was Hillsborough, where he had three and a half seasons before taking the mammoth decision to emigrate to America with his wife and two young children.
His playing career in England saw him earn two promotions and suffer one relegation but it was the latter that holds more weight for the 38-year old.
“I think the goal when I was younger was to go and play in England so to be able to go and to and play as many games as I did was obviously very satisfying. It was something I worked very hard and it’s something that I’m very proud of.
“It was incredible (promotion), especially with Stoke. We’d worked so hard to try and get promoted with West Brom equally and there’s not too many teams that can bounce straight back after getting relegated out of the Premier League.
“It (relegation) was a very good learning experience for me as a coach.
“Throughout my career, I was always looking to learn from my experiences and that particular year there was quite a few things that I felt I was able to take on board and utilise. I think in every experience - positive or negative - we should try to learn from it. I’d be taking notes and trying to learn from every experience.”
Despite almost 300 apperances in England’s second tier, O’Connor’s international exploits were limited to U-21 appearances. O’Connor bears no grudges.
“I remember Gary Megson (manager at West Brom) telling me that he had reached out to Brian Kerr and that he’d been encouraging him to give me a chance. But it wasn’t to be.
“Throughout my career, I can look back and honestly say that I couldn’t have worked any harder as an individual.
“That’s something that I’ve always tried to do - controlled the controllables. I couldn’t have done any more to achieve anything. Technically could I have changed anything? Who knows. Coaches have different viewpoints and football is about opinion.”
O’Connor is now the man in the dugout with the power. Louisville City, a team in the United Soccer League (the second tier of American soccer), is his current home. His path to Kentucky began almost 15 years ago and since then, he has clocked up an extremely impressive list of qualifications on his budding CV.
“I actually started my very first coaching license with Graham Kavanagh. I would’ve been about 24. That would’ve been for the ‘B’ license. It takes so long to get your licenses but I did start early. At 29 or 30 I was trying to get my pro license. It was in and around when I moved to Wednesday that I got my pro license. I have the UEFA Pro license, the UEFA ‘A’, UEFA ‘B’, UEFA ‘C’, I’ve a certificate in applied management from Warwick University which is done by the League Managers Association (LMA) and I’m starting the US Pro license in January. Even though I already have the Pro license, I’m always trying to learn and trying to get better. It’s important that you educate yourself.”
There was a stop-off between Sheffield Wednesday and Louisville. O’Connor signed a one-year extension to his Owls contract in the summer of 2011 but he packed his bags for Florida at the beginning of 2018 as he decided a chance to join Orlando City as a player/coach was too good to turn down.
It was a decision not made in haste. O’Connor had his wife Amy and two infants still in nappies to consider - but over half a decade later it appears that his bravery is reaping its rewards.
“We sat down, we looked at it and we weighed things up...at that point I was 32 so the decision for us was do we stay and I keep doing what I do or do I look to finish my career and have a new challenge.
“The opportunity to go to Orlando was an exciting project to go and finish my playing career where I could play a role in helping them become an MLS team. I was keen to go into coaching and I felt that America was a place where the game was going to be growing so I thought there’d be good opportunities in coaching and management for me.
“At that point I think Ollie was just over two and Maisey was just over one. It was huge. For my wife Amy as well, she’d never really lived more than a couple of hours from her parents so it was a massive decision to move with two young kids. I’m very lucky that I have support from Amy to be able to do that.”
The time in America, O’Connor says, “is flying”. Americans were denied the opportunity to see him flying around the MLS though as he opted to hang up the boots and focus on his post-playing career just as Orlando looked set for the big-time.
“I made a conscience decision. At that point in Orlando, we were going to go to the MLS. Here, the franchise that was a USL was going to move across to Louisville. It was said to me that they (the franchise) would be looking for a coach and he suggested that I should have a conversation with them.
“I had the conversation with them and then I went for an interview and I was able to get the job so once I was offered the job as the head coach, I made the decision then to stop playing as I didn’t feel I had the temperament to be a player/manager. I think it was important for me just to focus on coaching and managing.
“The timing was very good. With Orlando going to go to the MLS, I certainly wasn’t going to go and play in the MLS so the decision then would’ve been to continue coaching there or to go on and be a head coach somewhere so I decided to bite the bullet and cut my teeth.”
Not many people will get an opportunity to walk straight to the dugout from the pitch so seamlessly but it was hard-earned for the elder brother of former Bray Wanderers aces Danny and Kevin. Not only did O’Connor have seemingly every qualification under the sun but he was a devoted student of the game.
“I think I’m very intense. I want the best for the players but I’m pretty demanding. I’m not going to ask someone to do something that I haven’t done myself. We’ll work hard but I want the ball to be knocked around - I don’t like long-ball. I want us to play with a bit of quality.
“I’m an avid learner. I’ve read a lot of books on coaching and management. All the coaches that I would’ve played under, I took notes on all of them and I’ve made notes throughout and learned as much as I could.
“I think it’s very important that you try to be yourself and utilise your experiences and create the best version of yourself.”
In America, the league is not the be-all and end-all. That is called the regular season and winning that merely guarantees you as the top seed for the play-offs. O’Connor guided Louisville to first spot in the Eastern Conference at a canter having come runners-up in 2015 and 2016 under O’Connor as well.
“Glory awaited the Kentucky men in the final though in front of 14,000 of their own fans.
“I think the players worked extremely hard throughout the course of the year so it’s fantastic for it to cumulate with that and we’re delighted to win. I’m really pleased for all the players and the supporters.
“The system here is different to Europe. There is no promotion or relegation yet but I think at some point, I would love for that to happen. I think it’s still a few years away because you’ve got the MLS which is its own entity.
“The culture in American sport isn’t about promotion or relegation - it’s all about the play-offs. Even the regular season, we won it by eight points which was massive to me but culturally here that’s nice but the play-offs are about to start and that’s the real deal. We’ve tasted success now and it spurs us on to try and get even more next year.”
O’Connor’s side also claimed the Kings Cup this season due to victory over rivals Saint Louis FC and the Rivers Cities Cup thanks to victory over nemesis FC Cincinnati meaning that they conquered all before them in 2017.
A crack at the MLS is the long-