Frank Connor (13 February 1936 – 3 March 2022) was a Scottish football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Career

As a player, he played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

, St Mirren, Derry City,

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

and

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

. After coaching at Celtic and Albion Rovers, Connor moved to Cowdenbeath in 1974 as player-manager, before a spell as assistant manager at

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

. He managed

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

between 1980 and 1982 and then had a spell working under

Jock Wallace John Martin Bokas Wallace (6 September 1935 – 24 July 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Wallace played as a goalkeeper, and has the unique distinction of being the only player ever to play in the English, Welsh and Sco ...

at Motherwell as assistant manager."Celtic Sack Connor"
''The Glasgow Herald'', 3 February 1986, p. 9 In the summer of 1983, Connor moved back to Celtic as new manager

David Hay David Hay (born 29 January 1948) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He broke into the Celtic team in the late 1960s, as one of a generation of players who continued a highly successful era for the club. A contract dispute betwe ...

's assistant. He spent years in that role at Parkhead until he was sacked by Hay in February 1986. He then went to manage

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

from 1986 to 1990. Connor led Raith Rovers to promotion to the Scottish First Division in his first season in charge there, and succeeded in keeping them in that division for the remainder of his tenure as manager. After leaving Raith Rovers in 1990, Connor had a spell at Hearts as assistant to manager

Joe Jordan Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He is currently a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth. A former striker, he played for Leeds United, Manchester United, and Milan, among others at club ...

. In June 1993, Connor returned once again to Celtic, this time as part of

Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for the Ireland ...

's new backroom team. He was joined at Celtic by his former boss at Hearts, Joe Jordan. In October 1993 following the departures of Brady and Jordan, Connor took over as caretaker manager of Celtic for four games. He was in charge for two Scottish Premier Division matches (one win, one draw) a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

tie first leg (won 1–0 against Sporting CP), and he picked the team to face Rangers (a 2–1 Premier Division Celtic win) three days after

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Ken ...

's arrival. Connor had an unbeaten record in charge of Celtic.

Personal life

Connor died on 3 March 2022, at the age of 86.

References

External links

*
The CelticWiki Caretaker and Temporary Managers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Frank 1936 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Association football goalkeepers Blantyre Celtic F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Portadown F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Scottish football managers Scottish Football League managers Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Cowdenbeath F.C. managers Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Berwick Rangers F.C. managers Raith Rovers F.C. managers