John Connolly (born 13 June 1950) is a Scottish former 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 ...

who played as an

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Connolly played for St Johnstone, Everton,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, Newcastle United, Hibernian, Gateshead and

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

during an 18-year playing career. Connolly earned one full international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Connolly became a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

with Blyth Spartans and then managed

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

, Queen of the South and St Johnstone.

Playing career

St Johnstone

Connolly was born in

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...

, Scotland and began his football career as a junior with Glasgow United before turning professional with St Johnstone in January 1968. Connolly played in the 1969

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

Final at Hampden Park versus Celtic, who were on their way to their second European Cup Final in four seasons. The

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

club lost narrowly 1–0 with Connolly later commenting, "We gave them the fright of their lives". The Perth Saints plundered league wins at

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

and

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

with Connolly in their ranks."The Queens" by Iain McCartney on Creedon Publications, 2004 John Connolly's only experience of playing European football was when he was at the

Muirton Park Muirton Park (1924–1989) was the second of three football grounds the football club St Johnstone from Perth, Scotland, have occupied in their history. It was preceded by the Recreation Grounds (1885–1924) and succeeded by McDiarmi ...

club, after they finished third in Scotland's highest division and they had managed to knock out

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Former ''Queens'' player Nobby Clark stated in an interview that Connolly was the best player he had ever played against directly.

Everton

Everton manager

Harry Catterick Harry Catterick (26 November 1919 – 9 March 1985) was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. ...

paid £75,000 to sign Connolly for the

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

club in March 1972 and such was Catterick's determination to conclude the signing that he forced himself from his sick bed. Whilst at the ''Toffees'', Connolly earned a full international cap playing for Scotland versus Switzerland in Bern and he had already earned four Under-23 caps. Connolly had to recover from leg breaks on two occasions with Everton and when their manager, Catterick was replaced by

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move ...

, the two didn't really get on, so eventually Connolly asked for a transfer and signed for

in September 1976 for a fee of £90,000.

Later career

Connolly spent two seasons with the ''Blues'' and his second one was disrupted by injury. Connolly then signed for Newcastle United and later played at Hibernian beside

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...

, before playing for Gateshead and

, where he acted as

Managerial career

Queen of the South

Connolly was appointed manager of Dumfries club Queen of the South in July 2000 and he appointed Iain Scott as his assistant. With the club's captain Jim Thomson and his fellow centre-back Andy Aitken, Connolly led the club to the Scottish Second Division Championship in the 2001–02 season, as they clinched the title at Station Park, Forfar with a 3–0 win versus the ''Loons''. Connolly was the first ''Doonhamers'' manager to win a title since Jimmy McKinnell, Jr. won the Second Division in the 1950–51 season."Club History" on the official Queen of the South website
In the following season, the ''Doonhamers'' won the Scottish Challenge Cup after defeating

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

2–0 in the Final at

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Cumbernauld Colts and Open Goal Broomhill of the Scottish Lowland Football Lea ...

, with

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Ra ...

and

Robbie Neilson Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...

in the starting eleven."UP FOR THE CUP" www.qosfc.com 7 November 2010
/ref> Connolly departed

Palmerston Park Palmerston Park is a football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Queen of the South, who have played there since 1919. South of Scotland League club He ...

at the end of the 2003–04 season and the club replaced him with his assistant, Iain Scott.

St Johnstone

Connolly replaced Billy Stark as the manager of his former club St Johnstone in the 2004 close season. After a disappointing first season in-charge at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St J ...

, Connolly was relieved of his contract on 4 April 2005, as the club finished in eighth position in the

2004–05 Scottish First Division The 2004–05 Scottish First Division was won by Falkirk. As league champions, Falkirk were promoted to the Scottish Premier League. Partick Thistle and Raith Rovers were relegated to the Second Division, and Second Division winners Brechin City ...

. Connolly was then replaced by

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

References

External links

*
Profile at Sporting Heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, John 1950 births Birmingham City F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Everton F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Living people Newcastle United F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. managers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish footballers St Johnstone F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. players English Football League players People from Barrhead Scottish Football League managers Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football wingers Sportspeople from East Renfrewshire