Terry Conroy

Terry Conroy
Personal information
Full name Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy
Date of birth (1946-10-02) 2 October 1946
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Playing position Winger, Forward
Youth career
Home Farm
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1965–1967 Glentoran 24 (17)
1967–1979 Stoke City 271 (49)
1979 Bulova SA
1980–1981 Crewe Alexandra 37 (5)
1981–1982 Waterford 14 (0)
1982–1983 Limerick United 1 (0)
Total 332 (61)
National team
1969–1976 Republic of Ireland 26 (2)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Gerard Anthony Francis "Terry" Conroy (born 2 October 1946) is an Irish former professional footballer, who spent most of his career with Stoke City.[1][2][3]

Career

Stoke City

Conroy was born in Dublin and began his career with Home Farm, where he won four Irish youth caps.[1] He moved to Northern Irish club Glentoran where he believed that he would have a better chance of being spotted by an English club.[1] Sure enough, in a friendly match against Stoke City, he impressed manager Tony Waddington.[1] Conroy initially turned down Stoke's offer as he wanted to finish his printer's apprenticeship but after completing it he moved across the Irish Sea in March 1967 for a fee of £10,000. He made an instant impact at the Victoria Ground by scoring the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Leicester City on his debut in 1967–68.[1] In 1968–69 he won a regular place in the side and finished as second top-scorer with nine.[1] His performances for Stoke soon attracted the attentions of some heavy tackles from opposing defenders, which injured him for long spells of his Stoke career. As a result, he played 30 or more games in only three of his twelve seasons at Stoke. He was second top-scorer again in 1970–71 with 14 and in 1971–72 he scored the winning goal against West Ham United in the semi-final of the League Cup.[1]

Conroy then scored the first of Stoke's two goals which defeated Chelsea 2–1 in the final. He suffered an injury in 1973–74 and made return in 1974–75 as he scored ten goals in 16 First Division matches as Stoke missed out on the chance to win their first title.[1] He remained with Stoke until he was released by Alan Durban after making 333 appearances for the "Potters" scoring 67 goals in 12 years at the Victoria Ground.[1]

After Stoke

Capped by the Republic of Ireland 26 times, he left the Victoria Ground for the Hong Kong club Bulova on a free transfer in 1979.[1] He returned to England in 1980 to play for Crewe Alexandra, scoring five goals in 37 League appearances. He signed for Waterford United in September 1981. After a spell out of the game he signed for Limerick in November 1982.[1]

Post retirement

After doing PA work at the Britannia Stadium, he made his exit from Stoke during the half time of the West Bromwich Albion match on 22 November 2008 to loud applause. He was appointed welfare officer for the Football Association of Ireland on 28 November.[4] January 2009, he pledged continuing support as patron of charity funds at Staffordshire based Castle Comfort Stairlifts as well as being on the voting panel of the group's Carer of the Year award. He returned to Stoke as a matchday host in 2010. In March 2011 Conroy fell seriously ill with a suspected vascular aneurism.[5][6] He has successfully recovered from the illness,[7] and continues to volunteer working with Stoke City to highlight the condition.

Style of play

Conroy was a firm fan favourite at Victoria Ground with his ability create something out of nothing as well as his distinctive appearance of pale skin and bright ginger hair and sideburns.[1]

"This red-haired ghost impressed me at Anfield where he was bundled over the touchline by a massive Liverpool defender. Terry got up took the return pass and after battling down the wing he flicked the ball past Tommy Lawrence with the outside of his boot. That is flair"

— Daily Express journalist Derek Potter.[1]

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stoke City[3] 1967–68 First Division 91002000111
1968–69 First Division 317421000369
1969–70 First Division 312200000332
1970–71 First Division 34119221204714
1971–72 First Division 27464113204611
1972–73 First Division 334103021395
1973–74 First Division 90000031111
1974–75 First Division 16101023202113
1975–76 First Division 164101000194
1976–77 First Division 365002100386
1977–78 Second Division 221100000231
1978–79 Second Division 7000200090
Total 2714925826811233367
Crewe Alexandra 1979–80 Fourth Division 7100000071
1980–81 Fourth Division 304101200326
Total 375101200397
Career Total 30854268271011237274
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the UEFA Cup, Texaco Cup, Watney Cup, Anglo-Italian Cup and Anglo-Scottish Cup.

Honours

Glentoran
Stoke City

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287554.
  2. ↑ Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  3. 1 2 "Terry Conroy". Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  4. ↑ "New welfare officer appointed". FAI.ie. 21 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Conroy 'Critical But Stable'". stokecityfc.com. 21 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "Stoke City legend Terry Conroy in hospital". BBC Sport. 21 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "Terry recovers from illness". http://www.castlecomfortcentre.com/Good_Deeds/Terry_Conroy_Scores_Again. Retrieved 14 November 2015. External link in |website= (help)

External links

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