Matthew Thomas Martin Connolly (born 24 September 1987) 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 last played as a defender for club Cardiff City. Having started his career at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

he went moved to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, going on to win the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

in 2011. It would be the first of three titles in four years, as he won the same division again on loan at

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 ...

in 2012 and Cardiff in 2013, whom he had joined permanently one year previously.

Career

Arsenal

Born in

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, London, Connolly started his career as a youth at Arsenal, eventually making the reserve side. In September 2006 he was made captain of Arsenal's reserves. He made his first-team debut for Arsenal on 24 October 2006, starting a

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 ...

third round match against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. On 23 November 2006 Arsenal announced he was going on loan to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

until 2 January 2007. In total he played seven games for Bournemouth (five in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and two in the

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 ...

), and scored his first goal at senior level in a 2–0 win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, on 5 December 2006. He returned to Arsenal as scheduled at the start of January 2007, and came on as a substitute for

Armand Traoré Armand Mouhamed Traoré (born 8 October 1989) is a former professional footballer who played as a left back. Traoré is a product of the Arsenal Academy. Born in France, he represented France at under-19 and under-21 levels, but since opted ...

against

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 popul ...

in the League Cup Quarter-finals on 9 January. On 9 July 2007 Arsenal announced he would be spending the whole of the 2007–08 season on loan to

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, although he eventually was recalled midway through the loan on 2 January 2008.

Queens Park Rangers

The same day, his transfer to

was announced, after a lack of first-team opportunities were offered by Arsenal. His debut came on 5 January, in a 1–0 loss to

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 ...

in the

. He scored his first goal for QPR against Blackpool on 16 January 2010. In the meantime, in November, he received his first call-up to the England U-21 squad, where he joined Arsenal teammate

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with ...

. His second goal came on 6 March against

in a 3–1 win. During the 2010–11 season, Connolly played a part in QPR's Championship title win playing 36 out of 43 games. He joined Reading on a loan on 31 January 2012 until the end of the 2011–12 season. He made his debut on 11 February 2012 in a 2–0 win against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. He only played 6 times during Reading's promotion push which resulted in Reading winning the Championship title.

Cardiff City

On 20 August 2012, QPR had accepted a £500,000 bid from Cardiff City for Connolly's services. On 22 August, the deal was completed and Connolly signed a contract that would keep him at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2014 ...

for 3 years. He made his debut in the

Severnside derby The Severnside derby is a local derby in Association football, football in the United Kingdom between Wales, Welsh club Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City and either of the England, English clubs, Bristol City F.C., Bristol City or Bristol Rovers F ...

against

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 25 August. He scored his first and second goal for the club in a 3–0 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on 29 September. His third goal came a month later against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, and later scored his fourth against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Making thirty-six appearances and scoring five goals, Connolly was a key figure as Cardiff won the

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 ...

title, the third time in successive seasons that Connolly has achieved the feat. Matthew Connolly 2015

He started the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

season playing at right back until new signing Kevin Theophile-Catherine became a permanent fixture in the side. Cardiff were relegated after just one season in the top flight. Connolly had then returned to the starting eleven partnering Mark Hudson in a 1–1 draw at

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 ...

. On 19 March 2015 Connolly joined another Championship side,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season, despite having played 26 times for Cardiff that season. Manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional ...

stated the deal was a business rather than a footballing decision, with Connolly expressing his surprise at the move. Whilst at Watford, Connolly achieved the feat of being promoted to the

for the fourth time with four clubs (QPR, Reading, Cardiff and Watford). At Watford Connolly scored once; in a 3–1 win at Nottingham Forest. Connolly rejoined the Cardiff squad for the 2015–16 season, earning himself a permanent place in the side alongside Sean Morrison. He had become of interest to other clubs during the January transfer window, due to his impressive performances that season. These feats thus earned him a contract extension till 2019 and also the club's Player of the Year award. He was released by Cardiff at the end of the 2019–20 season.Connolly released by Cardiff
/ref>

Personal life

Connolly attended

Nicholas Breakspear School Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School (NBS) is a secondary school with academy status situated on the rural fringe of St Albans, an old Roman city in Hertfordshire, England. The school takes its name from the 12th-century priest St Albans-bor ...

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Career statistics

''As of 28 August 2018''

Honours

Queens Park Rangers *

: 2010–11 Reading *Football League Championship: 2011–12 Cardiff City *Football League Championship: 2012–13 Watford *Football League Championship runner-up: 2014–15 Individual * Cardiff City Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

Matthew Connolly profile
at

Queens Park Rangers F.C. Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

*
Matthew Connolly on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Matthew 1987 births Living people Footballers from Chipping Barnet English footballers Association football defenders Arsenal F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Colchester United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Reading F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Watford F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English people of Irish descent