Matthew Connolly

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Matthew Connolly
Matthew Connolly 2015.jpg
Connolly playing for Cardiff City in 2015
Personal information
Full name Matthew Thomas Martin Connolly[1]
Date of birth (1987-09-24) 24 September 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Barnet, England
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Cardiff City
Number 16
Youth career
1997–2006 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Arsenal 0 (0)
2006–2007 → Bournemouth (loan) 5 (1)
2007–2008 → Colchester United (loan) 16 (2)
2008–2012 Queens Park Rangers 116 (2)
2012 → Reading (loan) 6 (0)
2012– Cardiff City 78 (6)
2015 → Watford (loan) 6 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:11, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Matthew Thomas Martin Connolly (born 24 September 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays for Cardiff City as a defender. Having started his career at Arsenal he went moved to Queens Park Rangers, going on to win the Football League Championship in 2011. It would be the first of three titles in four years, as he won the same division again on loan at Reading in 2012 and Cardiff in 2013, whom he had joined permanently one year previously.

Career

Born in Barnet, London, Connolly attended Nicholas Breakspear R.C school started his career as a youth at Arsenal, eventually making the reserve side. In September 2006 he was made captain of Arsenal's reserves.[3] He made his first-team debut for Arsenal on 24 October 2006, starting a League Cup third round match against West Bromwich Albion.

On 23 November 2006 Arsenal announced he was going on loan to Bournemouth until 2 January 2007.[4] In total he played seven games for Bournemouth (five in League One and two in the FA Cup), and scored his first goal at senior level in a 2–0 win over Nottingham Forest, on 5 December 2006.[5] He returned to Arsenal as scheduled at the start of January 2007,[6] and came on as substitute for Armand Traoré against Liverpool in the League Cup Quarter-finals on 9 January.

On 9 July 2007 Arsenal announced he would be spending the whole of the 2007–08 season on loan to Colchester United,[7] although he eventually was recalled midway through the loan on 2 January 2008.[8]

Queens Park Rangers

The same day, his transfer to Queens Park Rangers was announced, after a lack of first-team opportunities were offered by Arsenal.[9] His debut came on 5 January, in a 1–0 loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup. He scored his first goal for QPR against Blackpool on 16 January 2010.[10] In the meantime, in November, he received his first call-up to the England U-21 squad, where he joined Arsenal teammate Theo Walcott.[11] His second goal came on 6 March against West Bromwich Albion in a 3–1 win.

During the 2010–11 season, Connolly played a part in QPR's Championship title win playing 36 out of 43 games.

He joined Reading on a loan on 31 January 2012 until the end of the 2011–12 season.[12][13] He made his debut on 11 February 2012 in a 2–0 win against Coventry City. He only played 6 times during Reading's promotion push which resulted in Reading winning the Championship title.

Cardiff City

On 20 August 2012, QPR had accepted an £500,000 bid from Cardiff City for Connolly's services.[14] On 22 August, the deal was completed and Connolly signed a contract that would keep him at the Cardiff City Stadium for 3 years.[15] He made his debut in the Severnside derby against Bristol City on 25 August. He scored his first and second goal for the club in a 3–0 win over Blackpool on 29 September. His third goal came a month later against Burnley, and later scored his fourth against Middlesbrough. Making thirty-six appearances and scoring five goals, Connolly was a key figure as Cardiff won the Championship title, the third time in successive seasons that Connolly has achieved the feat.

On 19 March 2015 Connolly joined another Championship side, Watford, on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season, despite having played 26 times for Cardiff that season. Manager Russell Slade stated the deal was a business rather than a footballing decision, with Connolly expressing his surprise at the move.[16] Whilst at Watford, Connolly achieved the feat of being promoted to the Premier League for the fourth time with four different clubs (QPR, Reading, Cardiff and Watford).

Career Statistics

As of 08 August 2015

Club Season Division League FA Cup League Cup Total Discipline
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals A yellow card A red card
Bournemouth (Loan) 2006–07 League Two 5 1 2 0 2 0 9 1 1 0
Colchester United (Loan) 2007–08 Championship 16 2 0 0 0 0 17 2 1 1
Queens Park Rangers 20 0 1 0 0 0 21 0 4 0
2008–09 35 0 0 0 4 0 39 0 4 1
2009–10 19 2 0 0 2 0 21 2 5 0
2010–11 36 0 0 0 1 0 36 0 2 2
2011–12 Premier League 6 0 0 0 1 0 7 0 0 0
Reading (Loan) Championship 6 0 0 0 - - 6 0 2 0
Queens Park Rangers Total 116 2 1 0 8 0 125 2 17 3
Cardiff City 2012–13 Championship 34 5 0 0 0 0 34 5 5 0
2013–14 Premier League 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 2 0
2014–15 Championship 23 0 2 0 1 0 26 0 7 0
Watford (Loan) 2014–15 Championship 6 1 - - - - 6 1 1 0
Cardiff City 2015–16 Championship 18 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 7 0
Cardiff City Total 78 6 2 0 4 0 84 6 28 4
Career Total 221 12 5 0 14 0 240 12 28 4

Honours

Queens Park Rangers
Reading
Cardiff City
Watford

References

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External links

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  11. ↑ Arsenal.com: Matt Connolly called up for Under-21 action
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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