John Joseph Conley (27 September 1920 – January 1991) was 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 played as a centre-forward. Conley was born in

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 32 ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

as a junior, but on failing to make the grade joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in May 1939. The onset of war resulted in Conley's debut being delayed, it finally coming on 31 August 1946 in a 1–1 draw away to local rivals

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. He was dropped after his debut, replaced by Dudley Kernick, but scored twice on his return to the side, after missing just one game, in a 2–2 draw at home to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. He soon became a regular in the Torquay side and scored his first hat-trick in a 3–0 win at home to

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 18 January 1947. He finished the season as Torquay's leading goalscoring, scoring 23 times in just 34 league games. The following season was a struggle for Torquay, the side finishing in 18th place (out of 22) in

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

, but Conley continued to flourish, scoring 11 times in 31 league games and one goal in five

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

games as Torquay reached the Third Round before losing to

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 ...

. He also scored the second hat-trick of his career, scoring three times as Torquay won 4–1 at home to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 18 October 1947. That season, all but eleven of Torquay's 73 league goals were scored by just four players, Ron Shaw (17),

Charlie Hill Charles Allan Hill (July 6, 1951 – December 30, 2013) was one of the first Native Americans in the United States, Native American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedians, to appear on major television shows such as the Richard Pryor Show, The Ton ...

(12) and

Dennis Lewis Dennis Lewis (born 1940) is a non-fiction writer and teacher in the areas of breathing, qigong, meditation, and self-enquiry. In the book ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism'' Lewis is recommended as a source of instruction in Taoism for peop ...

(10) the others. The 1948–49 season was a much better one for Torquay. They finished 9th in the league and Conley top-scored with 19 goals in 39 games. His haul included three hat-tricks, all at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

, against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and Newport County. Conley was Torquay's leading goalscorer for a third time in the 1949–50 season, hitting 14 goals in 37 league games as Torquay finished in 5th place. The following season saw Conley begin the season with a new strike partner,

Sammy Collins Ronald Dudley "Sammy" Collins (13 January 1923 – 31 May 1998) was an English professional association football, footballer. He holds the record for most league goals scored by a Torquay United F.C., Torquay United player. Collins began his ca ...

, who would go to be Torquay's highest goalscorer of all time. Conley played just 15 times, scoring five goals, scoring in his final game, a 4–1 win at home to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on 18 November 1950, before a serious leg injury led to his retirement from the professional game. He later played for his hometown side Whistable. He joined

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

as Chief Scout and was assistant manager of the Swindon side, working under Danny Williams, when they reached the 1969

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 ...

final. In 1984, he and Williams were awarded a testimonial by Swindon, a Swindon guest team including

John Hollins John William Hollins (born 16 July 1946) is an English retired footballer and manager. He was initially a midfielder who, later in his career, became an effective full-back. Hollins, throughout his footballing career, featured for clubs such a ...

Alan Hudson Alan Anthony Hudson (born 21 June 1951) is an English former footballer who played for Arsenal, Chelsea, Stoke City and the Seattle Sounders as well as the England national football team. Club career Chelsea Born and brought up near the King's ...

, future Swindon manager

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 Kenny ...

and

Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022. As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...

facing

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 ...

on 11 September 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conley, Jack 1920 births 1991 deaths People from Whitstable English footballers Torquay United F.C. players Association football forwards Swindon Town F.C. non-playing staff Charlton Athletic F.C. players