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Paddy Connolly

{{Short description|Scottish footballer (born 1970)}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{for|the Celtic player|Patrick Connolly (footballer, born 1901)}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Paddy Connolly

| image =

| full_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|6|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland

| height =

| position = Striker

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 = Hamilton Thistle

| years1 = 1986–1996

| clubs1 = Dundee United

| caps1 = 112

| goals1 = 29

| years2 = 1996–1998

| clubs2 = Airdrie

| caps2 = 64

| goals2 = 19

| years3 = 1998–2004

| clubs3 = St Johnstone

| caps3 = 109

| goals3 = 13

| years4 = 1999

| clubs4 = → Morton (loan)

| caps4 = 5

| goals4 = 5

| years5 = 2000

| clubs5 = → Ayr United (loan)

| caps5 = 6

| goals5 = 2

| years6 = 2004–2005

| clubs6 = Ayr United

| caps6 = 34

| goals6 = 7

| years7 = 2005–2006

| clubs7 = Stirling Albion

| caps7 = 36

| goals7 = 12

| years8 = 2006–2008

| clubs8 = Brechin City

| caps8 = 30

| goals8 = 5

| years9 = 2008

| clubs9 = Albion Rovers

| caps9 = 0

| goals9 = 0

| totalcaps = 396

| totalgoals = 92

| nationalyears1 = 1990

| nationalteam1 = Scotland U21{{cite web |url=http://www.fitbastats.com/scotlandu21/player.php?playerid=178 |title=Paddy Connolly |work=www.fitbastats.com |accessdate=11 October 2012}}

| nationalcaps1 = 3

| nationalgoals1 = 1

| manageryears1 = 2015

| managerclubs1 = Alloa Athletic (caretaker)

| manageryears2 = 2015

| managerclubs2 = Alloa Athletic (caretaker)

}}

Patrick Connolly (born 25 June 1970) is a Scottish football player and coach. In a twenty-year playing career, he made over 100 appearances for both Dundee United and St Johnstone; he also played for Airdrieonians, Greenock Morton, Ayr United, Stirling Albion and Brechin City. He made three appearances for the Scotland under-21 team in 1990.

After retiring from playing, Connolly was assistant manager of Albion Rovers and Alloa Athletic, and was caretaker manager of Alloa on two occasions in 2015.

Playing career

Connolly was born in Glasgow. He started his career with Dundee United. He spent ten years at Tannadice, after which he joined Airdrie for a short time, before moving to St Johnstone in 1998. Connolly spent six years with the Saints, including short loan spells at Morton and Ayr United. Despite being sent out on loan, Connolly agreed a new three-year contract in May 2001, amidst interest from former manager and Plymouth Argyle manager Paul Sturrock.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/st_johnstone/1351512.stm|title=Connolly boost for Saints|date=25 May 2001|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=21 October 2008}} Connolly missed the final year of his contract due to a cruciate ligament injury,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/st_johnstone/3163333.stm|title=Connolly blow for Saints|date=19 August 2003|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=21 October 2008}} and upon leaving McDiarmid Park in 2004, returned to Ayr, where he spent a season before playing the following season with Stirling Albion. Connolly joined former Dundee United colleague Michael O'Neill at Brechin City in May 2006.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/brechin_city/5031978.stm|title=Connolly joins O'Neill at Brechin|date=30 May 2006|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=21 October 2008}}

=Disallowed goal=

During his time at Dundee United, Connolly was involved in one of Scottish football's more bizarre moments when he was denied a hat-trick in a February 1993 match against Partick Thistle at Firhill after referee Les Mottram failed to notice his shot had entered the goal and come back from the supporting stanchion. Despite Partick defender Martin Clark catching the ball and handing it to goalkeeper Andy Murdoch to restart, Mottram missed both the goal and handball to wave play on.{{cite web|url=https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2014/01/30/dundee-united-legend-looks-back-on-the-goal-that-never-was/#r3z-addoor |title=Dundee United legend looks back on the goal that never was|work=BBC Sport|date=30 January 2014 |accessdate=3 September 2018}} Connolly scored twice in the match in a 4–0 win. Mottram went on to officiate in the 1994 World Cup the following year. The incident resulted in the stanchions from which the ball had rebounded, previously widely used, being removed in a re-design of football goalposts.{{cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2009/08/17/referee-rob-shoebridge-had-a-shocker-when-he-disallowed-a-perfectly-good-palace-goal-on-saturday-but-he-is-not-the-first-to-blunder-349704/ |title=Football's worst-ever referee blunders|work=Metro|date=17 August 2009|accessdate=19 October 2017}} In 2018, at the same end of the stadium, a similar incident occurred, with Partick Thistle this time being denied a legitimate goal.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45305474 |title=Partick Thistle score ghost goal against Morton in Championship|work=BBC Sport|date=2 September 2018|accessdate=3 September 2018}}

Coaching career

Connolly became assistant to brother-in-law Paul Martin at Albion Rovers in July 2008.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/7512123.stm|title=Connolly becomes Albion assistant|date=17 July 2008|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=17 July 2008}} Nine months later, he left the club due to work commitments elsewhere, joining Fulham as a scout around November 2009.{{cite news|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/137247734|title=Soccer Shorts|publisher=American Chronicle|date=3 November 2009|accessdate=3 November 2009}}

On 18 May 2011, Connolly was appointed assistant manager to Paul Hartley at Alloa Athletic.[http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/sport/alloaathletic/articles/2014/01/29/486545-alloa-athletic-caretaker-boss-paddy-connolly-insists-club-can-still-be-successful-this-season/ Alloa Advertiser] He continued as assistant manager under Barry Smith and was appointed caretaker manager after Smith left the club in March 2015.{{cite news |url=http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/sport/alloaathletic/articles/2015/03/11/527060-alloa-athletic-chairman-says-barry-smiths-reign-will-help-them-attract-top-manager-/ |title=Alloa Athletic chairman says Barry Smith's reign will help them attract top manager |work=Alloa Advertiser |date=11 March 2015 |accessdate=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112303/http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/sport/alloaathletic/articles/2015/03/11/527060-alloa-athletic-chairman-says-barry-smiths-reign-will-help-them-attract-top-manager-/ |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead }} Connolly continued to work for Alloa under the management of Danny Lennon and was appointed caretaker when Lennon resigned in December 2015.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34887563 |title=Dumbarton 5–0 Alloa |work=BBC Sport |publisher=BBC |date=8 December 2015 |accessdate=9 December 2015 |first=Kenny |last=Crawford}}

Personal life

Connolly's son Aidan Connolly is a footballer who also played for Dundee United, before joining Raith Rovers in 2016.

Career statistics

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

rowspan="2"|Club

!rowspan="2"|Season

!colspan="3"|League

!colspan="2"|Scottish Cup

!colspan="2"|League Cup

!colspan="2"|Europe

!colspan="2"|Total

DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
rowspan="8"|Dundee United

|1988–89

|rowspan="7"|Scottish Premier Division

|2

0colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–20
1989–90

|15

541colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–196
1990–91

|10

2211031164
1991–92

|5

010colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–60
1992–93

|42

162033colspan="2"|–4719
1993–94

|27

5202120336
1994–95

|6

0colspan="2"|–20colspan="2"|–80
1995–96

|Scottish First Division

|5

1colspan="2"|–22colspan="2"|–73
rowspan="3"|Airdrieonians

|1995–96

|rowspan="3"|Scottish First Division

|6

3colspan="2"|–63
1996–97

|35

8colspan="2"|–358
1997–98

|23

8colspan="2"|–238
rowspan="7"|St Johnstone

|1997–98

|Scottish Premier Division

|4

0colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–40
1998–99

|Scottish Premier League

|9

11011colspan="2"|–112
1999–2000

|rowspan="2"|Scottish Premier League

|11

1colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–111
2000–01

|21

410colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–224
2001–02

|Scottish Premier League

|29

21020colspan="2"|–322
2002–03

|rowspan="2"|Scottish First Division

|35

53110colspan="2"|–396
2003–04

|colspan="2"|–

colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–00
Morton (loan)

|1999–2000

|Scottish First Division

|5

5colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–55
Ayr United (loan)

|2001–02

|Scottish First Division

|6

2colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–colspan="2"|–62
Ayr United

|2004–05

|Scottish Second Division

|34

73020colspan="2"|–397
Stirling Albion

|2005–06

|Scottish Second Division

|36

122112colspan="2"|–3915
Brechin City

|2006–07

|Scottish Second Division

|30

55120colspan="2"|–376
colspan="3"|Career total

!396

9227519951447107

Managerial statistics

{{As of|2015|4|7}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
rowspan="2"|Team

!rowspan="2"|Nat

!rowspan="2"|From

!rowspan="2"|To

!colspan="5"|Record

GWDLWin %
align=left|Alloa Athletic (caretaker)

|{{flagicon|Scotland}}

|align=left|March 2015

|align=left|April 2015

{{WDL|4|0|2|2}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{Soccerbase}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Paddy}}

Category:1970 births

Category:Living people

Category:Footballers from Glasgow

Category:Scottish men's footballers

Category:Dundee United F.C. players

Category:Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players

Category:St Johnstone F.C. players

Category:Greenock Morton F.C. players

Category:Ayr United F.C. players

Category:Stirling Albion F.C. players

Category:Brechin City F.C. players

Category:Albion Rovers F.C. players

Category:Scottish Premier League players

Category:Scottish Football League players

Category:Men's association football forwards

Category:Scotland men's under-21 international footballers

Category:Scottish football coaches

Category:Scottish football scouts

Category:Fulham F.C. non-playing staff