Patrick 'Paddy' Connolly (born 25 June 1970 in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

) is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 former footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, who spent over twenty years with a number of Scottish clubs. Now a scout for Fulham

Fulham F.C.

Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...

, Connolly also recently worked in an assistant manager role for Albion Rovers. On 18 May 2011 it was announced that he had been appointed Assistant Manager to new Manager Paul Hartley

Paul Hartley

Paul James Hartley is a Scottish professional footballer. He is currently player and manager at Alloa Athletic. Hartley began his career as a right winger, but was moved into a central midfield position in 2002...

 at Alloa Athletic

Alloa Athletic F.C.

Alloa Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They are members of the Scottish Football League and currently play in the Third Division....

.

Career

Connolly started his career with Dundee United

Dundee United F.C.

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

. He spent ten years at Tannadice

Tannadice Park

Tannadice Park, usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium located on Tannadice Street in the Scottish city of Dundee. The stadium is home of Dundee United F.C. and has a capacity of 14,209.-Early days :...

, after which he joined Airdrie

Airdrieonians F.C.

Airdrieonians Football Club, more commonly known as Airdrie, were a Scottish professional football team from the town of Airdrie, in the Monklands area of Lanarkshire....

 for a short time, before moving to St. Johnstone in 1998. Connolly spent six years with the Saints, including short loan spells at Morton

Greenock Morton F.C.

Greenock Morton Football Club are a Scottish professional football club, who currently play in the Scottish Football League First Division. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs....

 and Ayr United

Ayr United F.C.

Ayr United Football Club are a Scottish association football team based in Ayr, South Ayrshire, that plays in the First Division of the Scottish Football League. Formed in 1910 after the merger of former clubs Ayr Parkhouse F.C. and Ayr F.C...

. Despite being sent out on loan, Connolly agreed a new three-year contract in May 2001, amidst interest from former manager and Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

 manager Paul Sturrock

Paul Sturrock

Paul Whitehead Sturrock is a Scottish football manager who, since July 2010, is the manager of Southend United. Until this appointment, Sturrock had most recently been at English League 1 club Plymouth Argyle in a business support role, having been relieved of his managerial duties, until he quit...

. Connolly missed the final year of his contract due to a cruciate ligament injury

Anterior cruciate ligament injury

An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament can be a debilitating musculoskeletal injury to the knee, seen most often in athletes. Non-contact tears and ruptures are the most common causes of ACL injury....

, and upon leaving McDiarmid Park

McDiarmid Park

McDiarmid Park is a football stadium in Perth, Scotland, the home ground of St. Johnstone FC. It has an all-seated capacity of 10,673.-History:...

 in 2004, returned to Ayr, where he spent a season before playing the following season with Stirling Albion

Stirling Albion F.C.

Stirling Albion F.C. are a Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Second Division. The club are nicknamed The Binos . They play at Doubletree Dunblane Stadium in Stirling, on the outskirts of the city near the River Forth...

. Connolly joined former Dundee United colleague Michael O'Neill

Michael O'Neill (footballer)

Michael Andrew Martin O'Neill is a former Northern Irish international association football player, who is now the manager of Shamrock Rovers.-Playing career:...

 at Brechin City

Brechin City F.C.

Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football team based in Brechin, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Football League and play in the Second Division in the 2010–11 season...

 in May 2006 before becoming assistant to brother-in-law Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

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

Fulham F.C.

Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...

 as a scout around November 2009.

Disallowed goal

Connolly was involved in one of Scottish football's more bizarre moments when he was denied a hat-trick during his time at Dundee United, when referee Les Mottram failed to notice his shot had come back from the inside stanchion in a February 1993 match against Partick Thistle

Partick Thistle F.C.

Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football club from Glasgow. Despite their name, the club are based in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908...

. Despite Partick defender Martin Clark

Martin Clark (footballer)

Martin Clark , is a former Scottish football player who last worked as assistant manager at Scottish Football League Third Division side East Stirlingshire, working under his long term boss Jim McInally, with whom he also worked at Greenock Morton and for the youth teams at Celtic.Clark began his...

 handing the ball back to goalkeeper Andy Murdoch

Andy Murdoch

Andrew Murdoch is a Scottish former footballer who spent most of his career as a goalkeeper for Partick Thistle. Murdoch Began his career with Celtic and had two separate loan spells with Partick before becoming their record signing in February 1991 for a fee of £85,000...

 to restart, Mottram missed the goal and handball to wave play on, with Connolly scoring twice in the match in a 4-0 win. Mottram went on to referee in the 1994 World Cup

1994 FIFA World Cup

The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

 the following year.

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