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Jim O'Brien spent two seasons with the Steelmen between 2008 and 2010, impressing enough to earn a move to the English Championship with Barnsley.
O'Brien's capture seemed to take eternity to be confirmed during the summer of 2008 as Celtic and Motherwell negotiated over an extended period to work out a deal suitable to all concerned. T's crossed and I's dotted and at last Jim O'Brien was unveiled as a Motherwell player
Over the piece Jim proved to be worth the wait.
Though he had progressed through the ranks at Celtic Park it was actually elsewhere where Jim O'Brien had brought himself to the attention of the Scottish football public.
Allowed to join Dunfermline on loan in the 2006'07 season he made his senior debut in the Pars memorable 3-2 win over Rangers at East End Park in the Scottish Cup 3rd round.
He impressed throughout his loan spell as Dunfermline made a valiant attempt at avoiding relegation having seemingly been dead and buried.
Indeed Jim's first senior goal game against none other than Motherwell in a 4-1 romp for the Pars that gave the Pars real hope they could survive and thrust Motherwell right into trouble.
Ultimately Dunfermline's efforts were in vain as they went down but they did have the Scottish Cup Final that season as consolation. Unfortunately being a Celtic player, Jim was denied the opportunity of playing at Hampden despite pleas from the East End top brass.
On his return to Celtic Park, having shown fair promise at SPL level O'Brien was hopeful of making the breakthrough with Celtic and made his debut for the Hoops in a 2-1 win over Gretna at Fir Park in October 2007.
Sadly for Jim it proved to be a fleeting appearance in the top team and by January 2008 he had been allowed to go out on loan once again.
This time he moved to Dundee Utd, one of several contenders for a UEFA Cup spot. Before the close of the season, which saw United ultimately fall short - to Motherwell as it happens - O'Brien made 10 appearances for the Terrors.
Come pre-season 2008'09, Motherwell returned to the Austrian training camp which had set them up so well for the previous campaign and among several trialists, Jim O'Brien travelled with the squad.
The winger remained with Motherwell after the intensive training camp and played in all 'Well's pre-season games with Mark McGhee attempting to secure his release from Parkhead.
At last on the eve of the new campaign, the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee and Jim joined the Steelmen on a two year deal.
Going straight into the squad O'Brien came off the bench as 'Well chased the game at Tynecastle but was unable to start his career on the winning side as the Dossers slipped to a narrow 3-2 opening day defeat.
The pattern was often repeated throughout the first half of the season with Christmas having come and gone before Jim was given his first start for the Steelmen. His most notable contribution in the claret and amber had been to help turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory away to Inverness where his wing play and promptings did much to help swing the game in Motherwell's favour.
During O'Brien's stint on the sidelines Manager Mark McGhee had appeared to question O'Brien's worth to the team but a noticeable change of style, work ethic and a new found determination saw Jim become an integral part of the side that rose from the foot of the table to come within a whisker of a top half place.
Jim would miss out on only one match before the close of the season, and started in every game following that first start against Inverness.
O'Brien managed to find the net once during his first season at Fir Park, scoring the opener in a 1-1 against Aberdeen in early April.
Mark McGhee left to take over at Aberdeen in summer 2009 and was replaced by former Stockport manager Jim Gannon and O'Brien suddenly found himself something of a guinea pig as the new manager tinkered with his players, formations and tactics.
Jim found himself tried out at right wing-back and played centrally behind the strikers in addition to his more accustomed role on the wing, but proved to be a threat in each role Gannon gave him.
His early season form earned 'Well several penalties and free-kicks around the opposition box, enabling the Steelmen to profit from the resultant set-pieces on several occasions.
Suddenly O'Brien's stated notion of earning a place in the Republic of Ireland side which once seemed fanciful didn't seem so daft after all.
Mid-season speculation that linked O'Brien with moves to Aberdeen and Hearts didn't appear to go down well with the management and Jim seemed to be out of favour for a spell.
The arrival of Craig Brown however coincided with a return to form and he netted twice in the 3-0 win over Kilmarnock in Brown's first official match in charge.
Towards the end of the campaign O'Brien nabbed another goal, this time in a 3-1 win over Hearts and announced that he would now consider playing for the country of his birth, if new Scotland manager Craig Levein thought him worthy of a call up.
Jim played in his part in helping Motherwell make Europe for the third successive season but despite overtures from Craig Brown elected to bring his time at Fir Park to a close and join Barnsley.
In his two years at the club O'Brien made 76 league and cup appearances, scoring 4 goals in the process.
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D.O.B:
28/09/1987
Born:
Vale of Leven
Height:
5' 8'
Weight:
10st 7Ibs
Signed From:
Celtic
Sold To: Barnsley
Position:
Midfielder
International Caps:
 0
International Goals:
0
2009/10 Squad No:
17
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