English McConnell (14 May 1883 – 13 June 1928) was an Irish

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 played for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as a

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

McConnell started his footballing career with Irish side,

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

in 1902 before signing for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

, where he won the Irish League Championship in the 1904–05 season; he made 26 appearances while with Glentoran, scoring a single goal. McConnell then signed for English team, Sunderland, in 1905, and made his debut on 28 October, 1905, against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in a 3–0 win at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

. He played for Sunderland from 1905 to 1908 and made 39 league appearances, scoring no goals. He then signed for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

in 1908, making his debut against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on 1 September, 1908, and went on to make 44 league appearances. McConnell scored no goals until being signed by

in 1910. He signed for Chelsea for £1,000, but only stayed at the club for two seasons before moving to

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

after making just 21 appearances, with no goals for Chelsea. McConnell stayed at South Shields from 1911 to 1912 before moving back to Ireland, with Linfield and won the Irish League Championship in the 1913–14 season, he played out the rest of his career with Linfield until it was halted by the First World War. He died in 1928.

International career

McConnell gained his first international cap for

on 21 March 1904 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, with Ireland winning the match 1–0. He made 11 further appearances.

References

External links

English McConnell's careers stats
at The Stat Cat

at Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats {{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, English 1883 births 1928 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Cliftonville F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players South Shields F.C. (1889) players Linfield F.C. players Pre-1950 IFA international footballers NIFL Premiership players Association football wing halves