During his long and somewhat nomadic footballing career, John O’Mara gave sterling service to Gillingham, Dover, Margate, Wimbledon, Brentford, Blackburn Rovers, Chelmsford City, Bradford City, Germiston Callies, Maidstone United, and finally Ramsgate.
PART ONE
Born in Farnworth on 19 March 1947, John O’Mara found himself drawn towards the joy of scoring goals long before he discovered the geography textbooks that hinted at the many towns he’d one day represent. Yet before the long list of clubs came calling, he was simply one more determined youngster trying to catch an eye, which explains how he ended up joining Gillingham as a youth player in October 1965.
If football careers were judged solely on patience, O’Mara would have been considered a prodigy, because although he spent nearly two years on Gillingham’s books, the club never once handed him a Football League appearance.
However, rather than allowing him to gather dust in the reserves, Gillingham decided to nudge the burly forward towards proper senior football, and as a result he was loaned out in February 1967 to Dover, a Southern League First Division side that offered opportunity, game time, and the sort of physical battles that youth football never quite delivers.
What’s more, Dover allowed him to taste responsibility—the responsibility of leading a line, of being battered by centre-halves twice his age, and of discovering that he rather enjoyed the scrap. Yet O’Mara remained ambitious enough to know that his long-term future lay beyond a single loan spell, and therefore when Margate came calling later that year, he didn’t hesitate.
O’Mara joined Margate in the summer of 1967, a move that made sense for both parties. The club needed energy and presence upfront, and O’Mara needed somewhere to prove he wasn’t simply another young professional drifting along without a proper break. Consequently, he threw himself into life at Hartsdown Park with enthusiasm, playing 16 first-team matches and offering a blend of graft, muscle and aerial threat that suggested he was beginning to find his place in senior football.
Nevertheless, Margate weren’t the club that would define his early reputation. That honour belonged to a team further up the Southern League ladder.
When O’Mara moved to Wimbledon ahead of the 1968–69 season, he discovered a club brimming with energy, ambition and that unmistakable South London grit. Here, in the Southern League Premier Division, he found both a platform and an audience, and he rewarded both by scoring 50 goals in 121 matches for the Dons.
Furthermore, Wimbledon honed his identity: the bull-strong centre-forward who chased every loose ball, who used his shoulders like a nightclub bouncer policing the penalty area, and who possessed a knack for scoring goals that looked simple only after he’d bulldozed the nearest centre-back into reluctant submission. Equally, he learned the rhythm of senior football—the weekly grind, the long coach journeys, the shifting moods of the crowd—and he embraced the whole experience.
Yet O’Mara was never destined to remain solely a non-league cult hero, for his rise attracted interest from league clubs, and therefore when Brentford came calling at the back end of the 1970-71 campaign with an offer of £1,500, Wimbledon reluctantly accepted.
Brentford, then a Fourth Division club under manager Frank Blunstone, wanted power, presence and goals, and O’Mara delivered all three in quantities that made supporters instantly warm to him. Moreover, he arrived at exactly the right moment, for the club was quietly assembling a squad capable of dragging itself out of the basement division, and thus O’Mara slotted perfectly into a system that needed a wrecking ball at the front.
He scored goals—28 in 53 league games, to be exact—and he became a talisman, an emblem of Brentford’s no-nonsense revival. But if his signing was timely, the 1971–72 promotion season was miraculous, chaotic, exhilarating and utterly unforgettable, and accordingly it deserves to be told in full, match by match, in all its gritty, exhausting, occasionally bonkers detail.
PART TWO
The season began on 4 August 1971 at Bury, where Brentford marched into Gigg Lane and produced a calm, organised 2–0 victory that surprised even their own fans. As a result, optimism lifted immediately, but football seasons love nothing more than kicking optimism in the shins, and Brentford were eliminated from the League Cup on 18 August, beaten 3–1 by Colchester United, forcing supporters to rediscover their talent for sighing deeply in late August.
Nonetheless, the league form remained steady. A 1–1 draw with Aldershot on 21 August, followed by a 0–0 against Darlington, wasn’t glamorous, but it added points. And what’s more, on 30 August, Brentford thrashed Barrow 4–0 thanks to goals from John O´Mara, Roger Cross, Brian Turner, and Bobby Ross.
The victory over the Bluebirds cracked open a dam of confidence that burst spectacularly on 4 September, when Hartlepool United were shredded 6–0 at Griffin Park where O´Mara hit a hat-trick.
Consequently, belief spread. Brentford were fizzing with goals, power and swagger—until 11 September, when Grimsby Town reminded them that football offers humility lessons free of charge by beating them 3–1.
Yet the setback didn’t linger. One week later, on 18 September, Peterborough United were destroyed 5–1 at Griffin Park, showcasing a forward line that didn’t merely score but attacked in avalanches. Correspondingly, defenders across the division began glancing nervously at fixture lists.
Still, the season was never smooth. A 0–0 draw with Chester City on 25 September stalled the engine briefly, but a 2–0 win over Stockport County two days later restarted things nicely. Then came a a rampant 6–1 victory against Northampton Town on 2 October, with O´Mara bagging a treble and Peter Gelson, John Docherty, and Gordon Neilson scoring a goal each.
Nevertheless, football momentum swings like a pub door on a windy day. A 0–0 draw to Southport on 8 October wasn’t fatal, and neither was the 2–0 win over Bury on 16 October particularly glamorous, although it restored some rhythm. Yet a wobble followed: a 2–1 loss against Reading on 20 October and another 2–1 defeat to Southend three days later created tension, and suddenly supporters were shifting uncomfortably in their scarves.
Consequently, the 0–0 draw to Scunthorpe United at the Old Show Ground on 30 October felt more soothing than dull, and the team stabilised itself. November followed a similar pattern: strong again at home, beating Newport County 3–1 at Griffin Park, but patchy away, as shown by a 1–1 draw with Colchester United at Layer Road.
Then came the FA Cup. A 1–1 draw to Swansea City at Vetch Field on 20 November set up a promising replay at Griffin Park—but the Welshmen ripped up the script and won 3–2, knocking Brentford out and dampening the mood. And still the darkness deepened: Gillingham came to West London on 27 November and left with a 3–1 victory, prompting some fans to mutter about the season beginning to unravel.
Yet December steadied everything. A 1–0 success against Exeter City away, another 1–0 triumph over Southport at home, and then a 2–1 away win over Hartlepool United restored confidence, and the Christmas week finished with a 1–0 home victory over Crewe Alexandra on 27 December. Therefore, entering January, Brentford were tougher, wiser and positioned for a genuine push.
The new year began with a lively 2–2 against Peterborough United at London Road, where O´Mara grabbed himself a brace, before the team exploded again on 8 January, crushing Darlington 6–2 at Griffin Park courtesy of a hat-trick from Docherty and a double by O´Mara, plus a penalty goal from Ross.
However, predictability remained absent. Lincoln City battered Brentford 4–1 on 15 January, but the Bees bounced back with a tight 1–0 win over Stockport County a week later, only to stumble again on 29 January, losing 2–1 to Reading for the second time in the season.
February provided little comfort. A 1–1 draw with Cambridge United, followed by a 3–1 loss to Southend United and a 3–0 defeat against Scunthorpe United, produced the season’s roughest patch. Consequently, supporters began nervously calculating the distance between Brentford and fourth place. A 0–0 draw to Newport County paused the slide but didn’t solve the issue.
March threatened more misery when Colchester United overcame Blunstone´s men 2–0 on 4 March, but football seasons sometimes pivot on quiet afternoons, and Brentford´s 2–0 victory over Lincoln City on 13 March became a turning point.
Thereafter came a surge. Brentford defeated Aldershot 2–1, Doncaster Rovers 3–0, Grimsby Town 2–0, and Workington 2–0, before ending the month with a 1–1 draw against Chester City. As a result, they entered April with rhythm, momentum and renewed belief.
April started shakily with a 2–1 loss to Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road, but a 0–0 draw with Northampton Town at the County Ground repaired some damage. And then Brentford defeated Cambridge United 2-1 at Griffin Park and Gillingham 1-0 at Priestfield Stadium.
On 17 April, Brentford edged out Doncaster Rovers 2-1 through a brace by O´Mara in front of a crowd of almost 14,000 spectators at Griffin Park. This was followed by a close 1–0 win over Exeter City at Griffin Park on 22 April and a commanding 3–0 victory over Barrow at Holker Street two days later.
Even though the Bees suffered a heavy 3–0 defeat at the hands of Workington at Borough Park on the final day, the damage was only cosmetic—they finished third, winning promotion and placing themselves among the best stories the Fourth Division had to offer that season.
O’Mara had not simply taken part—he had been a force, a presence, a battering ram wearing boots. Moreover, he had established himself as one of the Football League’s most distinctive centre-forwards, and therefore Brentford could not realistically keep him forever.
PART THREE
In September 1972, Ken Furphy, manager of Blackburn Rovers, decided that his side needed John O’Mara’s muscle and menace, and he put down a club-record £50,000 to bring him north. Correspondingly, expectations were heavy, but O’Mara handled them well, scoring 10 goals in 35 league appearances and helping Rovers stabilise in Division Three. However, careers—especially nomadic ones—rarely stay still for long, and at the end of the 1973–74 season, he left Blackburn for Chelmsford City, re-entering the Southern League.
Chelmsford offered him regular football and the familiar grit of non-league life, and afterwards came Bradford City, where he briefly rejoined the Football League ranks in the Fourth Division. Nevertheless, the lure of adventure tugged again, and he moved to South Africa, joining Germiston Callies, a club based in Johannesburg’s East Rand.
Furthermore, playing abroad sharpened his appreciation for home, and thus when he returned to England he headed straight back to Margate—his second spell—for part of the 1976–77 season, linking once more with familiar dressing rooms, familiar faces and familiar touchlines.
O’Mara’s career became a carousel of Kentish clubs: Maidstone United first, then a third spell at Margate in September 1977, followed by a second return to Dover in 1978–79, and finally the last stop, Ramsgate, in the Kent League First Division, where he played until 1980, finally allowing his boots to cool after a journey that felt as though it might never end.
Some footballers leave behind silverware. Others leave behind legends. John O’Mara left behind memories, bruised centre-halves, countless train tickets, and a reputation for giving absolutely everything at whichever club happened to be lucky enough to have him at the time.
Therefore, his legacy isn’t measured by a single season or a single club—although Brentford fans may argue otherwise—but by the spirited, relentless manner in which he played the game.