But the England U19s head coach has revealed his delight at seeing former club AFC Bournemouth’s rise to the Premier League.
He spent 11 years as a player at the Goldsands Stadium, or Dean Court as it was known, and made over 400 League appearances for the Cherries before starting his coaching career with the club's juniors after even having a stint as player-physio at one stage.
AFC Bournemouth's players and boss Eddie Howe celebrate their victory over Bolton Wanderers on Monday
Taking over as first-team boss in 2000, he was in charge for six years and won promotion in 2003 after even managed a young Eddie Howe, the man who has now taken Bournemouth to the verge of the top flight for the first time in their history.
"I’m delighted for them," said O’Driscoll, who still has the record for the second-highest number of appearances for the south coast club
"I spent a long time there and probably did every job going at the football club, right from the youth team where Eddie started his career.
"I’m not usually sentimental about football at all, but the club has been through some real struggles which have been well documented over the years and Ed had been part of that as well.
"Everyone sees it as a fairytale story and it is, but I just love watching them play and the way they’ve done it is fantastic.
"Everybody up and down the country has remarked on that and to see them in the Premier League will be fantastic."
With only one game to go in the Championship, Bournemouth are all but confirmed for automatic promotion with only an unlikely 19-goal swing preventing them from being mathematically secure.
O'Driscoll celebrates winning promotion with Bournemouth in 2003 with former chairman Peter Phillips
That did not stop them celebrating on Monday evening though, when a comprehensive 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers put them pretty much out of reach of third-placed Middlesbrough.
"It probably won’t sink in until when the fixture list comes out and they’ll see AFC Bournemouth against whoever it may be," O’Driscoll told TheFA.com.
"That’ll be when the reality will kick in, but I’ve been in touch with one or two people at the club and they’re all delighted as you can imagine.
"But they’re a sensible bunch and they’ll take it in their stride and weigh up what to do next and what success will look like to them in the higher division.
"What that will be I’m not sure yet, but I am sure they’ll be successful."
Bournemouth’s rise through the leagues – they were in League Two as recently as 2010 – has been masterminded by Howe.
The 37-year-old led the club to promotion from the basement league into the third tier, before an 18-month spell away from the club with Burnley.
But he returned to Bournemouth in late 2012 and picked up where he left off by leading the Cherries into the Championship.
He is now one of the hottest properties in management and after first working with Howe when he was a teenage apprentice at the club, O’Driscoll is not surprised by his latest success.
Eddie Howe celebrates Bournemouth's impending promotion to the top flight
"He was a terrific boy to work with," he explained.
"I don’t really know what character you need to be a manager, you can be anything, but he was very focused as a youngster and a great professional who made the most of the ability that he had.
"When you look around at what makes people successful in all walks of life, that’s the one common thing, making the most of the talent that they’ve got.
"He certainly did that and he continues to do it, he’s very much his own man and as a young player he would listen and was determined to make his own way and make his own mark.
"And that’s been evident in his managerial career and his coaching career."
