Sweeney was born in Renfrew, but spent the majority of his time in football with Bristol City.
Sweeney was a regular in Alan Dicks's City side that won promotion to the First Division during the 1975–76 season.
[5] Sweeney finally left City in 1982 when he was one of the infamous "Ashton Gate Eight", a group of top-earning players who tore up their contracts in order to save the free-falling club from bankruptcy.
He served as a coach at Walsall under Tommy Coakley, a former teammate at Morton, and was instrumental in the Saddlers strong showing during the 1986–87 season.
[7] Sweeney would later return to Ashton Gate and following the departure of Joe Jordan in 1997 he served a spell as caretaker manager.