Connor Joseph Jennings (born 29 October 1991) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

. Jennings started his career with

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

in the 2008–09 season, staying with them until halfway through 2011–12, where he scored over 50 goals in over 100 games, before moving on to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. He has since played for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

and

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. He played once for the England national C team, scoring one goal.

Club career

Stalybridge Celtic

Jennings was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Greater Manchester. He rose through the youth team at

and made his debut for the club, on 3 March 2009, coming on as a substitute and scoring in a 7–1 victory over Hinckley United. He scored his second and third goals for the club as part of a 4–0 win over

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin M ...

in April 2009. He started off the 2009–10 season well scoring once in August, as Celtic won 3–1 at home to

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

. He finished that season with 11 goals in all competitions. He got his 2010–11 season of to a good start by scoring in a 2–1 defeat to

Nuneaton Town Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

. This turned out to be his most prolific season yet, scoring 18 goals, including two brace's towards the end of the season, against Gloucester City and Vauxhall Motors. After a prolific season in 2010–11, he got his 2011–12 season of to a great start, scoring five goals in August. He went on to score ten goals in the next three months, including brace's against

and

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

. In December 2011, he scored another brace, hitting both of Celtic's goals in a 2–2 draw with

in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

. He followed that up by scoring a stoppage time winner in the replay at

Bower Fold Bower Fold in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England, is the home ground of Stalybridge Celtic football club and, intermittently, Oldham rugby league club. History There has been a ground at Bower Fold since 1906. The current main stand was ...

as his team won 2–1. On 1 January 2012, he scored his last goal on his last appearance for Stalybridge in stoppage time, scoring a penalty, which he won himself, his team lost the mach 3–1 to rivals Hyde. He scored 51 goals in 123 matches in all competitions, in his time at Stalybridge.

Scunthorpe United

Jennings signed for

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

team

on 5 January 2012 on a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 14 January, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute in a 1–1 draw at

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 5–5 draw with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

on 14 August 2012. After 14 appearances for Scunthorpe in 2012–13, scoring one goal, he was loaned out to

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

team Stockport County on 16 November 2012. He made his debut the day after, as his team lost 2–0 away to Nuneaton Town. Jennings joined

on loan at the start of 2013–14, initially until January. He returned to Scunthorpe on 15 December 2013 because of a calf injury. On 28 February 2014, Jennings joined Conference Premier club

on an initial one-month loan. On 25 March 2014, Jennings extended his loan with Grimsby until the end of 2013–14.

Wrexham

On 11 July 2014, Jennings signed for

. He started in the 2015 FA Trophy final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, however, Wrexham would miss out on penalties to

North Ferriby North Ferriby is a village and civil parish in the Haltemprice area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. History Humber Estuary "The archaeology of the intertidal wetlands of the Humber Estuary is of international importance, and include ...

. Jennings was named as the Wrexham Player of the Year for the 2015–16 season after making 48 appearances and scoring 14 goals.

Tranmere Rovers

On 2 June 2016, Jennings joined Wrexham's

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

rivals

on a two-year contract. Jennings' Tranmere career got off to a slow start, making just 11 appearances by January. Jennings was then loaned out to fellow National League club Macclesfield Town for whom he played 5 games, scoring 1 goal. Jennings returned to Tranmere in March and went on to establish himself as a first team regular until the end of the season, Jennings' stint in the side coincided with an excellent run of form for Tranmere which saw them narrowly miss out on the National League title. Jennings managed 6 goals in April 2017, 3 of which came in a 9–0 victory over

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

. Jennings scored against

Forest Green At right is displayed the color forest green. ''Forest green'' refers to a green color said to resemble the color of the trees and other plants in a forest. This web color, when written as computer code in HTML for website color display, is w ...

in the 2017 National League play-off final. His rising finish from distance was not enough to stop Tranmere's first Wembley appearance in 17 years ending in a 3–1 defeat. In the 2018 National League play-off final, Jennings crossed for

James Norwood James Norwood (born 5 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Oldham Athletic. He started his career with Eastbourne Town, making eighteen senior appearances before signing for Exeter City in July 2 ...

to score the winning goal in Tranmere's 2–1 win over Boreham Wood. He signed a new two-year contract with the club in May 2018. In the 2019 League Two play-off final, Jennings scored the only goal of the game as Tranmere beat Newport County 1–0.

Stockport County

After leaving Tranmere, Jennings signed for

on 16 July 2020. In March 2021, it was announced that Jennings had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, chondrosarcoma. Eight months after his diagnosis, Jennings came on a substitute in a 5–0 win against King's Lynn Town, scoring the final goal in the 91st minute. On 7 November 2022, Jennings joined

on a one-month loan deal. This deal was then extended by a further month.

Hartlepool United

On 31 January 2023, Jennings signed for

side

on a permanent deal.

Return to Tranmere Rovers

On 19 June 2023, Jennings signed a 1 year contract at

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

making it a second spell at the club.

International career

He was selected to play for the England national C team against Gibraltar in November 2011, and he scored his first and England's only goal in that game, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Barrow's

Adam Boyes Adam Boyes may refer to: * Adam Boyes (footballer) * Adam Boyes (entrepreneur) {{hndis, Boyes, Adam ...

Style of play

Jennings who plays as a striker, has been described as 'pacey'. He was also described as a 'stylish' player with an 'eye for goal'. On his arrival at Scunthorpe United, manager

Alan Knill Alan Richard Knill (born 8 October 1964) is a professional football manager and former player, who is a coach for the Wales national team. He played as a centre-back for several clubs, spending the most time at Halifax Town, Bury and Scuntho ...

said about Jennings, "Technically, he is very good and very quick" he also added "Jennings can play in a number of positions and not just at Centre Forward".

Personal life

Connor's older brother,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, was also a footballer who played as a defender.

Career statistics

Honours

Wrexham *

runner-up: 2014–15 Tranmere Rovers *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

play-offs:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Stockport County *

: 2021–22
Individual * Wrexham Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

Profile
at the Tranmere Rovers F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Connor 1991 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players