Alfred James Conn (born 5 April 1952) is a Scottish former 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 was the first post-World War II player to play for both

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...

rivals

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and

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 Foo ...

Background

Conn is the son of the footballer

Alfie Conn Sr. Alfred "Alfie" Conn (2 October 1926 – 7 January 2009) was a Scottish professional footballer, most commonly remembered as part of the ''Terrible Trio'' of the Heart of Midlothian side of the 1950s, along with Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaug ...

, who was one of the 'Terrible Trio' of Heart of Midlothian in the 1950s.

Career

Rangers

Conn made his senior debut for Rangers against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

in the

Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (n ...

tournament in November 1968. He was part of the Rangers team which lifted the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

in 1972 and also helped the Ibrox team win the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

Tottenham Hotspur

He played for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

football club from 1974 to 1977. He was the last player to be signed by their manager Bill Nicholson. Despite playing only 35 games and scoring six goals, he was a huge fan favourite, dubbed the "King of White Hart Lane" after scoring a hat-trick on his debut in a 5–2 win at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. In the final game of the 1974–75 season at White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur had to beat

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

to prevent relegation from the First Division. Conn scored a goal, set up two others and even sat on the ball in a 4–2 victory. When at Spurs he made two appearances for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...

at the end of the season in 1975.

Celtic

He later, in 1977, won another Scottish Cup medal with Celtic when they defeated Rangers 1–0 in the final.

Heart of Midlothian

Conn Jr. followed in his father's footsteps by signing for the Tynecastle club in 1980, following a short spell playing indoor football in the United States with

Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh Spirit were an indoor soccer team based in Pittsburgh and were one of the original six teams that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The Spirit were founded in 1978, suspended operation for the 1980–81 season, then ret ...

Blackpool and Motherwell

Conn wound down his career with short spells at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

before retiring in 1983.

Legacy

On 5 February 2007 Conn was included in the

Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame This is a list of notable footballers who have played for Rangers. The list includes all players that have appeared in one hundred or more first-team (league, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, Scottish Challenge Cup or European competition) ...

References

External links

*
What's it all about now Alfie?
Retrieved 9 March 2009
Daily Record profile, Jan 30 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conn, Alfie Jr. 1952 births Living people Footballers from Kirkcaldy Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Rangers F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Hércules CF players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scotland under-23 international footballers Pittsburgh Spirit players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Association football midfielders Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States