Terry Conroy

Terry Conroy

Personal information
Full name	Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy
Date of birth	October 2, 1946 (1946-10-02)
Place of birth	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Playing position	Midfielder, Forward
Youth career
	Home Farm
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1965–1967	Glentoran	24	(17)
1967–1979	Stoke City	271	(49)
1967	→ Cleveland Stokers (guest)	?	(0)
1979	Bulova SA
1980–1981	Crewe Alexandra	37	(5)
1981–1982	Waterford	?	(0)
1982–1983	Limerick United	?	(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).

Terry Conroy (born 2 October 1946 in Dublin) is a former professional footballer, who spent most of his career with Stoke City.

Career

Stoke City

He joined the Potters from the Irish club, Glentoran for £10,000 in March 1967. He went on to make 333 Cup and League appearances for Stoke, scoring 66 goals. He won a League Cup winners medal in 1972 when he starred and scored in Stoke's 2–1 victory over Chelsea. Conroy was a firm fans 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.

"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 out side of his boot.That is flair"

—Daily Express journalist Derek Potter.

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 having spent 12 years with the Potters. 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.

Post retirement

After doing PA work at the Britannia Stadium, he made his exit to 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 the 28th of November. 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.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	1967–68	9	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	11	1
	1968–69	31	7	4	2	1	0	0	0	36	9
	1969–70	31	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	33	2
	1970–71	34	11	9	2	2	1	0	0	45	14
	1971–72	27	4	6	4	11	3	0	0	44	11
	1972–73	33	4	1	0	3	0	2	1	39	5
	1973–74	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
	1974–75	16	10	2	3	1	0	2	0	21	13
	1975–76	17	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	19	5
	1976–77	36	5	0	0	2	1	0	0	38	6
	1977–78	22	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	23	1
	1978–79	7	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	9	0
Career Total		271	49	26	12	25	5	4	1	326	67

Honours

• Irish League/Irish Premier League:
  • Glentoran F.C. 1966–67

• Irish Cup:
  • Glentoran F.C. 1965–66

• Gold Cup:
  • Glentoran F.C. 1965–66

• League Cup:
  • Stoke City F.C. 1971–72

External links

• Profile on Stoke City's Hall of fame at stokecityfc.com
• Interview with Conroy following Stoke's FA Cup quarter final win in March 2011 at bbc.co.uk
• Interview with Conroy on his footballing career at www.bbc.co.uk/stoke