‘Phil just seemed like the happiest man in the world when he had his family around him’
TEN years on this week from his tragic death during a match at Fir Park, fans of Motherwell and Hamilton will hold a minute’s applause for Phil O’Donnell before today’s Lanarkshire derby. Here, Sportsmail’s chief football writer STEPHEN McGOWAN listens to heartfelt memories of a man whose untimely loss shook Scottish football to its core.
THERE were only four years between them. Yet when Stephen Craigan thinks of Phil O’Donnell, he remembers an elder statesman who lived for three things. Family, football and the festive season.
‘Phil wasn’t loud, he wasn’t shouting and screaming,’ recalls Motherwell’s Under-20s coach. ‘He was like a father figure.
‘But he wasn’t at Christmas time, though. At that time of year, he became a big kid, probably because he had a young family, of course, but also because of just how excited he’d get. He’d talk about going to Lapland, all the presents he would be getting for his family, just so many joyful things about him.
‘It didn’t seem like he had a care in the world and, to me, he just seemed like the happiest man in the world with his family, his kids and his wife.
‘That came across in his personality, too. Sometimes, you can tell when people are happy, when they don’t have any underlying problems, or when they do. But he just seemed so free and easy, and he enjoyed his life.’
Everyone who met Phil O’Donnell recognises the description. A carefree, laid-back man with an engine Mo Farah might envy, his untimely end was brutal, unexpected and profoundly shocking.
People remember where they were when news seeped out of his death while playing for Motherwell against Dundee United on December 29, 2007.
FOR Craigan, a team-mate standing just yards away when O’Donnell collapsed, the trauma feels more recent than a decade ago.
‘I still vividly remember the game in general,’ the BT Sport analyst told Motherwell’s official club website.
‘And the reason I’m mentioning the game is because, during that match, Phil looked so happy.
‘We had been at Ibrox a few days before and he was happy and content ahead of the game against Dundee United. His energy levels were good.
‘The way the team played that day was terrific. He was box-to-box and it was almost as though he was rolling back the years to his younger days at Motherwell.
‘Mark McGhee was making a substitution and I remember he looked round and I said to him: “Phil, it’s your number. Time to go off”.
‘Then I just remember his last words: “I don’t feel very well”.’
From that point, events escalated at an alarming, uncontrollable rate.
After O’Donnell collapsed to the Fir Park turf, Craigan suspected he had swallowed his tongue and placed his fingers in his team-mate’s mouth to interject. He jumped when O’Donnell bit back, just as the Motherwell doctor arrived on the scene. A bleak December night in Lanarkshire was about to become a whole lot darker.
‘The game was going so well. We were 5-1 up, I think, and everyone was feeling good.
‘It was a festive time of year and then, all of a sudden, that one incident, quite rightly, overtakes everything.
‘The whole darkness of coming off the pitch, going into the dressing room and not knowing what had happened, really took over.
‘It was horrific, it really was. Towards the end of the game it was just silence.’
Adding to the shock and anguish of the situation was the presence of David Clarkson. A Motherwell striker, he was also O’Donnell’s nephew.
For the immediate family, it was an unspeakable business, one most of us can never truly imagine. Ten years on, however, the cruel manner of Phil O’Donnell’s death left its mark on everyone who knew him.
‘As a family we’re lucky in the sense that we have good people around us and we look after each other, so that helps you through a lot of it,’ Clarkson told the Motherwell website.
‘It’s the same with friends, too, speaking to people and having the support there from everybody makes a difference. That side of things was helpful at the time as well as being helpful over the years.
‘You just have to see the messages of support from people at the club and all across football. That goes a long way for myself and the family.
‘Anyone who knew Phil, even if they had just met him once or twice, has nothing but good things to say about him. When he is spoken about, it’s the good times people mention — the happy memories.
‘I look back on the memories I have of my uncle, from being alongside him on the pitch or off it. There are so many things that bring a smile to my face.
‘For me and for the entire family it is also really nice and rather moving when you hear all of the incredibly nice things people say or talk about.’
The spitting image of his father, Luc O’Donnell helped to carry the trophy on to the pitch before the recent Betfred Cup final between Motherwell and Celtic and spoke at a recent Sportsman’s Dinner arranged by his father’s close friend and former team-mate Simon Donnelly.
‘I can’t imagine what his family has been through,’ says Motherwell defender Steven Hammell. ‘But they’ve certainly come through it magnificently.
‘I’ve met his son Luc and I’ve been lucky enough to see him grow up.
‘A few weeks ago, we did a charity dinner and the wee man stood up, spoke well and it was so nice to see how Phil’s family have grown up and his son looks so like him as well. It’s uncanny.’
Fans at today’s Lanarkshire derby between Motherwell and Hamilton will hold a minute’s applause for the late midfielder.
Football rivalries may be tough as teak, but through it all a common humanity shines.
Phil O’Donnell’s death touched Scottish football because he was one of its own.
‘Having that figure so close to you goes a long way,’ admits Clarkson. ‘When you add to that just how highly everyone thought of him, and still think of him, you have a true role model. One I feel so lucky to have had in my life.’