Motherwell captain dies after collapsing on pitch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ll/7164150.stm

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Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell has died after collapsing towards the end of his side's Scottish Premier League game against Dundee United.
The 35-year-old midfielder fell to the ground just as he was about to be replaced with Marc Fitzpatrick near the end of Motherwell's 5-3 victory.

O'Donnell was treated for around five minutes on the field before being taken to a waiting ambulance.

But his death was later confirmed by Well chairman Bill Dickie.

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee had spoken briefly to the press after the game before going to hospital to find out how the skipper was.

"He's had some sort of collapse," he said.

McGhee said O'Donnell's substitution had been "an absolute coincidence" before his sudden collapse.

"We just felt we would save him a bit for Wednesday," said the manager.

O'Donnell's nephew, David Clarkson, was substituted moments later after scoring two goals in the Scottish Premier League match.

McGhee said: "We took Clarkson off because he got a fright from the nature of the collapse.

"A few of the boys got a fright."

A news conference has been called at Wishaw General Hospital, which will be addressed by chief executive Ian Stillie.

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Absolutely terrible to see another incident like this happen, RIP.

A terrible thing to happen. Rest in Peace.

Phil O'Donnell R.I.P.

Absolute tragedy. R.I.P

Shocking stuff alright.
Setanta cancelled their SPL highlights show due to the tragic event. They just came on and announced the death and talked to the Motherwell chief scout about how good a player he was.
According to Motherwells website both Motherwell and Dundee Utd medical teams believe he suffered a seizure.

Tragic. RIP

Terrible to hear this, R.I.P.

Unreal how much this is happening these days.

My heart goes out to his family. Wife and four children. Puts it all in perspective again.

Very popular player with the Celtic supporters while playing in a difficult era.

If the game goes ahead on wednesday there'll scarcely be a dry eye in the house during YNWA.

RIP Phil O' Donnell.

This is happening too much these days. Very sad for football. RIP.

Very moving images of supporters grieving from outside Fir Park.Shocking for all concerned especially wife and young kids.He seemed to be a player who had a special relationship with his club as he started off there.
R.I.P. Phil.

Rip ..

Just saw it on the BBC website. Tragic.

absolutely horrendous news - remember the fella when he played for Celtic and then went south with Simon Donnelly to Wednesday.

Must have been extremely difficult for his nephew to have been there on the pitch when it happened

Phil was a very promising young player who had his career blighted by injuries. Celtic paid £1.75m for him back in the early mid 90's. I'm absolutely stunned by this. It's terrible to think he leaves such a large young family behind. Rest in peace.:(

Another terrible tragedy for a young man ( relatively speaking) fit and seemingly in good condition suddenly dying . RIP
There's something totally off about someone so young dying like that.

http://www.sheffwed.vitalfootball.co...le.asp?a=94524

Only 13 starts in 4 and a half years at Wednesday due to injuries.

Very sad news indeed.

absolutely shocking
So sad

Rest in Peace

Terribly sad news.

But for injuries Phil could have went on to much better things, was an outstanding midfielder in his day. One of the best ive seen at Celtic, was very influential when celtic won title back in 1998. Terrible to see this sort of thing happen again. R.I.P Phil

R.I.P

Remember him from his Celtic playing days, and was genuinely disappointed to see him move to Wesdnesday. Could have gone on to better things, but injuries put paid to that. Seemed to be rebuilding his career at Motherwell, until this tragedy.
Thoughts are with his family, RIP

Rest In Peace

RIP, very sad.

Terrible news.

My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children at this bleak time - awful that they witnessed events unfold at the game on Saturday.

Fitting that Wednesday's Old Firm game has been postposed as a mark of respect.

R.I.P.

Terrible stuff. RIP

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=69523

For those of us with Celtic Sympathies if not actually rabid fans, this is awful. God I will never forget the days when i did actually support them. Jorge Cadete, Big Pierre, Paulo, Rico Annoni Stefane Mahe etc. Phil was a stand out player when fit. The first inter scottish deal over 1million.
Phil you will be missed. Fair well big man. Ar Dheis De go raibh a anam.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Remember him from his Celtic playing days, and was genuinely disappointed to see him move to Wesdnesday.

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Simon Donnelly came at the same time under a Bosman. They were joining a Wednesday team in major decline and neither made an impact, O'Donnell primarily because of injuries. Donnelly I see is still playing (at Partick Thistle).

Very sad indeed.

I think its about time FIFA investigated the causes of such deaths in the last 10 years.

Danish TV made an investigation into very similar deaths in Denmark, Norway, Portugal (Benfica) and a number of other countries. In all cases the players that died had recent injury problems and all were on pain killers. Pain killers should be administrated by doctors but basically they were available like sweets at most clubs. There was one brand in particular that seemed to have been proven to cause heart problems.

Should the Scottish FA investigate this possibility since it happened on their watch and how long before a player in Ireland dies from this fate?

:ball:

Not ashamed to say watching a tribute today on SSN, i cried a tear. Wont pretend i knew him to be a gentleman etc etc but so tragic and a genuinely good bloody footballer
I know i have posted already on this, but so what,
Say hello to Big Jock, Slim Jim, Jinky and many other Phil
May god be with you.:(

absolute shame, knew he was a great player but from all news reports seemed like a geniuine down to earth guy. definitely needs to be looked into as the number of deaths in last few years is crazy, could be painkillers as mentioned could allso be the levels guys are taking their bodies to fitness wise needs tobe looked at asap

RIP Phil and may you slot in nicely in the centre of midfield for heaven celtic

Reports today suggest that it was massive heart failure. Such a terrible shame and seems to have been a genuine guy with no airs or graces who loved his family and made time for anyone.

As mentioned I remember him as a great player for Celtic, I used to love his dynamic box to box runs and but for injuries, he probably would have gone on to be one of the best in Britain IMO.

R.I.P.

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Originally Posted by finnpark

Very sad indeed.

I think its about time FIFA investigated the causes of such deaths in the last 10 years.

Danish TV made an investigation into very similar deaths in Denmark, Norway, Portugal (Benfica) and a number of other countries. In all cases the players that died had recent injury problems and all were on pain killers. Pain killers should be administrated by doctors but basically they were available like sweets at most clubs. There was one brand in particular that seemed to have been proven to cause heart problems.

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I heard this recently too. I believe it was Ibuprofen that was linked to the deaths. I know I'll be more careful about taking pain killers before playing a game anyway.

Found this news story with a quick google search:

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But it also linked ibuprofen — brand names include Advil and Motrin — to a 24 percent higher risk of heart attack compared with people who had not taken any anti-inflammatory in the last three years.

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Full story here.

Terrible tragedy. RIP.