Patrick Connolly (born 25 June 1970) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. In a twenty-year playing career, he made over 100 appearances for both

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

and St Johnstone; he also played for Airdrieonians, Greenock Morton, Ayr United, Stirling Albion and Brechin City. He made three appearances for the Scotland under-21 team in 1990. After retiring from playing, Connolly was assistant manager of Albion Rovers and Alloa Athletic, and was

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of Alloa on two occasions in 2015.

Playing career

Connolly was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He started his career with

. He spent ten years at Tannadice, after which he joined Airdrie for a short time, before moving to St Johnstone in 1998. Connolly spent six years with the Saints, including short loan spells at Morton and Ayr United. Despite being sent out on loan, Connolly agreed a new three-year contract in May 2001, amidst interest from former manager and Plymouth Argyle manager

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

. Connolly missed the final year of his contract due to a cruciate ligament injury, and upon leaving

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an All-seat ...

in 2004, returned to Ayr, where he spent a season before playing the following season with Stirling Albion. Connolly joined former Dundee United colleague Michael O'Neill at Brechin City in May 2006.

Disallowed goal

During his time at Dundee United, Connolly was involved in one of Scottish football's more bizarre moments when he was denied a hat-trick in a February 1993 match against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

at Firhill after referee Les Mottram failed to notice his shot had entered the goal and come back from the supporting stanchion. Despite Partick defender Martin Clark catching the ball and handing it to goalkeeper Andy Murdoch to restart, Mottram missed both the goal and handball to wave play on. Connolly scored twice in the match in a 4–0 win. Mottram went on to officiate in the 1994 World Cup the following year. The incident resulted in the stanchions from which the ball had rebounded, previously widely used, being removed in a re-design of football goalposts. In 2018, at the same end of the stadium, a similar incident occurred, with Partick Thistle this time being denied a legitimate goal.

Coaching career

Connolly became assistant to brother-in-law

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

at Albion Rovers in July 2008. Nine months later, he left the club due to work commitments elsewhere, joining

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

as a scout around November 2009. On 18 May 2011, Connolly was appointed assistant manager to Paul Hartley at Alloa Athletic. He continued as assistant manager under Barry Smith and was appointed caretaker manager after Smith left the club in March 2015. Connolly continued to work for Alloa under the management of Danny Lennon and was appointed caretaker when Lennon resigned in December 2015.

Personal life

Connolly's son Aidan Connolly is a footballer who also played for

, before joining Raith Rovers in 2016.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Paddy 1970 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Dundee United F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players St Johnstone F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Men's association football forwards Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scottish football coaches Scottish football scouts Fulham F.C. non-playing staff