Paddy Connolly

Patrick Connolly (born 25 June 1970 in Glasgow) 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.

For the Celtic player, see Patrick Connolly (footballer, born 1901).
Paddy Connolly
Personal information
Full name Patrick Connolly
Date of birth (1970-06-25) 25 June 1970
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Hamilton Thistle
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1996 Dundee United 112 (29)
1996–1998 Airdrie 64 (19)
1998–2004 St Johnstone 109 (13)
1999 → Morton (loan) 5 (5)
2000 → Ayr United (loan) 6 (2)
2004–2005 Ayr United 34 (7)
2005–2006 Stirling Albion 36 (12)
2006–2008 Brechin City 30 (5)
2008 Albion Rovers 0 (0)
National team
1990 Scotland U21[1] 3 (1)
Teams managed
2015 Alloa Athletic (caretaker)
2015 Alloa Athletic (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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.

Career

Connolly 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.[2] Connolly missed the final year of his contract due to a cruciate ligament injury,[3] 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.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6] In 2018, at the same end of the stadium, a similar incident occurred, with Partick Thistle this time being denied a legitimate goal.[7]

Coaching career

Connolly became assistant to brother-in-law Paul Martin at Albion Rovers in July 2008.[8] Nine months later, he left the club due to work commitments elsewhere, joining Fulham as a scout around November 2009.[9]

On 18 May 2011, Connolly was appointed assistant manager to Paul Hartley at Alloa Athletic.[10] He continued as assistant manager under Barry Smith and was appointed caretaker manager after Smith left the club in March 2015.[11] Connolly continued to work for Alloa under the management of Danny Lennon and was appointed caretaker when Lennon resigned in December 2015.[12]

Personal life

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

Career statistics
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1988–89Dundee UnitedScottish Premier Division20---20
1989–9015541--196
1990–91102211031164
1991–925010--60
1992–9342162033-4719
1993–94275202120336
1994–9560-20-80
1995–96Scottish First Division51-22-73
Airdrieonians63N/AN/A-63
1996–97358N/A-N/A358
1997–98238N/A-N/A238
St JohnstoneScottish Premier Division40---40
1998–99Scottish Premier League911011-112
1999-00Morton (loan)Scottish First Division55---55
St JohnstoneScottish Premier League111---111
2000–0121410--224
Ayr United (loan)Scottish First Division62---62
2001–02St JohnstoneScottish Premier League2921020-322
2002–03Scottish First Division3553110-396
2003–04----00
2004–05Ayr UnitedScottish Second Division3473020-397
2005–06Stirling Albion36122112-3915
2006–07Brechin City3055120-376
Career total 3969227519951447107

Managerial statistics

As of 7 April 2015

Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Alloa Athletic (caretaker) March 2015 April 2015 4 0 2 2 000.00

References
  1. "Paddy Connolly". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  2. "Connolly boost for Saints". BBC Sport. 25 May 2001. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
  3. "Connolly blow for Saints". BBC Sport. 19 August 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
  4. "Connolly joins O'Neill at Brechin". BBC Sport. 30 May 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
  5. "Dundee United legend looks back on the goal that never was". BBC Sport. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  6. "Football's worst-ever referee blunders". Metro. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  7. "Partick Thistle score ghost goal against Morton in Championship". BBC Sport. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. "Connolly becomes Albion assistant". BBC Sport. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
  9. "Soccer Shorts". American Chronicle. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  10. Alloa Advertiser
  11. "Alloa Athletic chairman says Barry Smith's reign will help them attract top manager". Alloa Advertiser. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  12. Crawford, Kenny (8 December 2015). "Dumbarton 5–0 Alloa". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
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