Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy[1] | ||
Date of birth | 2 October 1946 | ||
Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Winger, Forward | ||
Youth career | |||
1956–1964 | Home Farm | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1964 | Home Farm | ||
1965–1967 | Glentoran | ||
1967–1979 | Stoke City | 271 | (49) |
1967 | → Cleveland Stokers (loan) | ||
1968 | → Cleveland Stokers (loan) | 0 | (0) |
1979 | Bulova | ||
1980–1981 | Crewe Alexandra | 37 | (5) |
1981–1982 | Waterford | ||
1982–1983 | Limerick United | ||
Total | 308 | (54) | |
International career | |||
1969–1977 | Republic of Ireland | 27 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy (born 2 October 1946) is an Irish former professional footballer. A winger and forward, he scored 74 goals in 372 league and cup appearances in a 14-year career in the English Football League from 1967 to 1981. He also scored two goals and won 27 caps for the Republic of Ireland in a seven-year international career from 1969 to 1977.
Raised in Cabra, Dublin, he began his career at Home Farm before spending two years with Glentoran from 1965 to 1967. With Glentoran, he won the Steel & Sons Cup and Irish Cup in 1966 and helped the club to win the Irish League title in 1966–67. He was sold to English First Division club Stoke City in March 1967 for a fee of £15,000, and went on to help Stoke to win the League Cup in 1972. He spent 12 years with Stoke, scoring 67 goals in 333 league and cup appearances. He was a popular figure with Stoke fans due to his creative flair and dribbling ability, as well as his distinctive pale skin, bright ginger hair and sideburns.
He moved to Hong Kong to play for Bulova in 1979. He returned to England the following year to join Crewe Alexandra in the Fourth Division. He signed with Irish club Waterford in September 1981, moving on to Limerick United in November 1982, where he ended his career. He later ran his own insurance business and worked for Stoke City and the Football Association of Ireland. He is married and has three daughters.