Alan Connell

Born in Enfield,[1] Connell was a trainee at Tottenham Hotspur as a youngster but soon transferred to George Burley's Ipswich Town in 2001. Connell failed to win a call into a first team squad and was released in the summer of 2002.

Connell then transferred to Bournemouth after a successful trial period at the end of the 2001–02 season. Alan was handed his professional debut by Sean O'Driscoll on 13 August 2002 in the club's 0–0 home draw with Kidderminster Harriers.[2] He would go on to score 7 goals in 14 games before he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in October 2002 in a match against Leyton Orient which ruled him out for the remainder of his first season. By the end of the season Bournemouth had earned promotion from Division Three via a play-off final victory over Lincoln City at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.[3] During the 2003–04 season, Connell would only feature 7 times for The Cherries.[4] His final season at Bournemouth was also thwarted by a foot injury. In all, 42 of his 61 appearances for the Cherries were from the substitutes' bench and he scored 11 goals.

He moved to Torquay United in the summer of 2005 for a fee of £5,000, making his debut in the 0–0 draw against Notts County on the opening day of the 2005–06 season.[5] However, he failed to secure a regular first-team place and Bournemouth even tried to sign him back on loan in March 2006. By the end of the season Torquay had narrowly avoided relegation from the Football League and Connell would eventually leave the club after making 26 appearances in all competitions, scoring 7 goals.[6]

In the summer of 2006 he signed for newly promoted Conference National play-off champions Hereford United in July 2006. After initially being restricted to substitute appearances, Connell broke into the starting eleven and went on to become the top goalscorer at the club, despite not always playing in his favoured role as a striker. In the second half of the season, he was usually named in the starting XI as other strikers at the club were rotated. He was named Player of the Month for October. He finished the season on 51 appearances in all competitions scoring 10 goals.[7]

Connell turned down Hereford's offer of a new contract and instead signed for Brentford on 2 July 2007.[8] He remained at Griffin Park for only one season and departed a year later.[6] However, in this season he was hugely influential and made regular starting appearances. He started well again the next season but was moved down the pecking order by new signing Charlie Macdonald. Playing most of his 44 games in one season he was a huge hit with the fans and helped keep Brentford aloft in a tricky first season down from League 1.

On 29 August 2008 Bournemouth re-signed Connell for an undisclosed fee. The club who had recently been relegated back into Football League Two were also handed a point deduction for financial irregularities. Connell and Bournemouth secured their Football League status and prevented a second successive relegation when they beat relegation rivals Grimsby Town 2–1 at home on the penultimate day of the 2008–09 season. Other results had meant Grimsby also avoided the drop. During the 2009–10 season despite a transfer embargo being placed on the club, Bournemouth surged home to finish 2nd in the League and earn promotion back to Football League One with Connell scoring the goal that secured promotion, away to Burton in the last away game of the season. Connell made 60 appearances, scoring 8 goals during his second spell with the club.[6]

Connell playing for Grimsby Town in 2010

In July 2010, he moved to Conference National side Grimsby Town.[9] The club had suffered relegation in the previous season from League Two, whilst Connell and former club Bournemouth had earnt promotion. On 17 July 2010 Alan scored on his home debut for Town in a 2–1 friendly win over Sheffield Wednesday.[10] He then made his league debut on 14 August 2010 in a 1–0 win against Crawley Town and scored his first league goal in the 2–1 home defeat against Hayes & Yeading.[10] Connell went on to score 14 goals in his opening 19 appearances for The Mariners doubling the total of the previous season's top goalscorer Peter Sweeney and doing so in little over two months into the season, prompting club chairman John Fenty to state in a fans forum that the club would be aiming to keep Connell and not cash in on the forward in the January transfer window.[11] On 1 January 2011 Connell scored two free kicks which were his 18th and 19th goals of the season during Grimsby's 7–2 victory over Mansfield Town.[12]

On Saturday 30 April 2011, Connell scored his 29th goal of the season in all competitions against AFC Wimbledon – Grimsby's final game of the 2010–11 season. He received several player of the year trophies at the club's annual awards night.[13] On 24 June 2011 Grimsby joint-manager Paul Hurst revealed the club had received a number of offers for the player, one from a Football League One club, another from a Football League Two side and a third bid from a fellow Conference National side, all of which were dismissed haven been described as "derisory".[14]

On 7 July 2011 amongst speculation of Connell's future at Grimsby, chairman John Fenty stated that the player was not for sale and also mentioned he had received an official bid from fellow Conference National side Luton Town that he described also as "derisory",[15] and on 13 July 2011 Fenty commented that Connell would definitely not be sold to another club in Grimsby's division, mentioning that the player is happy at Grimsby.[16]

Connell signed for Swindon Town on 15 July 2011, for an undisclosed six-figure sum, thought to be in the region of £115,000.[17] He scored his first and second goals for the club on 3 September 2011, helping his team to a 3–2 win over Rotherham United.[18]

On 20 July 2012, Connell joined Bradford City on a two-year contract. He made his debut on 11 August in the League Cup during a 1–0 win against Notts County.[19] He made his league debut a week later against Gillingham.[19] He made his home debut on 25 August, coming on as a substitute for Nahki Wells during a 5–1 win against AFC Wimbledon.[19] He scored his first goal for the club on 8 September, coming off the bench to score in a 1–1 draw against Accrington Stanley.[19] He scored again in the following game, a 3–0 win against Barnet at Valley Parade.[19]

On 30 January 2014, Connell joined Northampton Town on contract until the end of the 2013–14 season,[20] turning down former club Grimsby Town after being in advanced talks to re-sign for The Mariners.[21]

Connell was released at the end of the season and joined Dagenham & Redbridge on trial, scoring on his debut in a friendly against Bromley.[22] One day before the start of the 2014–15 season, Connell signed a short-term deal with former club Grimsby Town and played in the club's opening day 0–0 draw away at Bristol Rovers. Having failed to make an impact in the opening three fixtures of the season, Connell lost his place in the team to Jon-Paul Pittman and on 28 August 2014 he was released by the club on mutual consent only three weeks after re-joining the club.[23]

On 6 September 2014, Connell joined Conference South side Havant & Waterlooville.[24]