Garry O'Connor Bio Send To Friend  

Birmingham City completed the signing of Scotland international striker Garry O'Connor from Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow in June 2007 for £2.7m. The Scotland international agreed a three-year contract at St Andrews with the option of another two years.

The combative striker began his career at Hibs and made his debut in 2001 and bagged nine goals in just 14 starts in his first SPL season.

He made his international debut against South Korea in May 2002 and there was no shortage of interest in him, as Fulham, Everton and Portsmouth had been linked with a move for the player who scored 58 goals in 166 appearances for Hibs before moving to Moscow in March 2006.

O'Connor struggled to settle in Moscow for family reasons and lost his place in the Scotland squad after he failed to rejoin the side following a trip to Ukraine. He made the decision to leave Russia and signed off with the winning goal in the Russian Cup final in May and left with seven goals in 33 games.

Birmingham were twice rebuffed as they sought to land O'Connor having a £1m offer rejected in January 2007 and a further bid of £2m was also turned down; but he eventually arrived in June 2007, after getting another international chance under Alex McLeish.

He lost his place in the Birmingham side for 2007-08 though, with new Blues boss McLeish telling him he needed to get fitter to return to the starting eleven. Which he did.

But he then picked up a groin injury and made only a small impression as Birmingham reached the top flight again for the 2009-10 season.

He was left out of the Scotland squad for almost two years, but was recalled for the matches in September 2009 against Macedonia and the Netherlands.