O’Brien’s journey with Notts County began with the goal of helping the club stay in the league. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, the club was relegated to the National League. However, O’Brien remained with the club and played under several good managers who wanted to keep him on board. This perseverance paid off when Notts County was finally promoted back to the English Football League.
Last season, O’Brien made nearly 30 appearances and scored four goals. When asked to rank his performances last year compared with previous seasons, he said it was “probably up there with some of the best I’ve played in my whole career.” He attributed this success to the manager and staff, as well as the responsibility he was given on and off the pitch.
“It’s a unique position to be in,” O’Brien said. “Obviously when I first came in it was to help us stay in the league and unfortunately we sort of ran out of time in games, and we weren’t able to do it. So to still be here and play under some good managers and have them want to keep me on board, it’s quite a special feeling.”
When asked to rank his performances last year compared with previous seasons, he said it was “probably up there with some of the best I’ve played in my whole career.” He attributed this success to the manager and staff, as well as the responsibility he was given on and off the pitch.
“The responsibility he’s given me on the pitch, off the pitch, which probably wasn’t even spoken about in great detail, it was just that trust and belief that he had the understanding of and knew how he wanted to play quite quickly,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien also spoke highly of manager Luke Williams and his coaching staff. He described Williams as “the best coach I’ve had” and praised the detail that goes into training sessions. O’Brien also mentioned that he has been able to impart his own experiences onto other members of the squad.
“He gave us respect, and he was very open on matters behind the scenes or on the training pitch or just general round about the club,” O’Brien said. “So to have that responsibility and quite quickly and the understanding that he trusts the older lads, then it was a good feeling.”
O’Brien also reflected on his role as an older player on the squad. He mentioned that he has been able to help younger players get up to speed quickly.
“It’s something that comes quite natural,” O’Brien said. “It would have been easy last pre-season for the gaffer to come in and as a young manager and a young coach to just sort of bend off the older lads. I’ve been at clubs where young coaches don’t really like any sort of pushback, or they feel maybe threatened or pushed back from older pros but that certainly wasn’t the case straight away.”
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