George John Donnelly (born 28 May 1988) 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 ...

who plays as a striker. He has previously played for

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...

, Plymouth Argyle,

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional 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 were renamed Stockport Co ...

, Fleetwood Town,

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

and

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 ado ...

. Donnelly has played internationally for England at non-league level.

Club career

Early career

As a youth player, Donnelly played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. He started his career with

Runcorn Town Runcorn Town Football Club is an English association football club based in Runcorn, Cheshire, England. After spending most of their years in the West Cheshire League, they were elected to the North West Counties League in 2010 and are currentl ...

and

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

club

, becoming a prolific goalscorer.

Plymouth Argyle

In March 2009 he joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side Plymouth Argyle. Donnelly also had offers from

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

clubs

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

and Fleetwood Town and Football League side Scunthorpe United. Donnelly made his debut for Plymouth on 18 April 2009 as a substitute in a 3–0 defeat at home against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in the

Luton Town loan

On 28 August 2009, Donnelly signed on a one-month loan for

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-professi ...

club

, where he made four substitute appearances.

Stockport County loans

He moved on loan to

on 29 January 2010, signing initially for one month. He made his debut for the club as second-half substitute on 30 January in a match against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. His loan was later extended until the end of the season but he missed the last game of the season as his parent club Plymouth withdrew his loan. He scored 4 goals in the 19 games he played for the club. In July 2010 he rejoined Stockport on loan for a further six months in a spell which saw him score 8 goals in 27 matches.

Fleetwood Town

On 6 January 2011 he moved to Fleetwood Town for a club record fee, believed to be in the region of £50,000. He made his debut for the club on 8 January. In August 2011, George was the subject of speculation of an unusual bid from his former loan club

. Through the social networking site Twitter, County asked their fans who they would like to sign between Donnelly and

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

forward

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy (''né'' Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Leicester City. Regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, Vardy is known for his prolific goalscoring aided ...

. County director Tony Evans entered into negotiations with Fleetwood but valuations between the two clubs were irreparably different.

Macclesfield Town loans

Despite the Twitter interest, George signed for League Two club

on an initial one-month loan on 9 September 2011.

Macclesfield Town

On 1 January 2012 he signed a two and half-year deal with

after his loan period ended for an undisclosed five figure sum.

Rochdale

On 15 May 2012 it was announced that Donnelly had signed for Rochdale for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal. He made his debut on 11 August in a 4–3 defeat against Barnsley 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 ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 October in a 3–2 win against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

. He scored his second goal on 13 October in a 2–1 defeat at home to Morecambe.

Tranmere Rovers

On 1 September 2014, George joined

on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee from

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. Donnelly's contract was cancelled by mutual consent in July 2015.

AFC Liverpool

In August 2016 he joined AFC Liverpool.

Marine

In March 2018 he signed for Marine.

Personal life

Before turning professional as a footballer, Donnelly worked in a

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

. He is also a personal trainer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, George 1988 births Living people People from Kirkby Footballers from Merseyside Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Liverpool F.C. players Skelmersdale United F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Southport F.C. players A.F.C. Liverpool players Runcorn Town F.C. players Marine A.F.C. players North West Counties Football League players