He made 337 league and cup appearances, and helped the club to win the Third Division North title in 1929–30.

Connelly started his career with Townhead Hibernians and later Shettleston Juniors, before joining Port Vale in August 1921.

[2] He scored his first senior goal in a 5–2 defeat by Bury at Gigg Lane on 8 October, before bagging a brace in a 5–2 win in the reverse fixture at The Old Recreation Ground seven days later.

[2] He briefly coached with FC Drumcondra in Ireland and in Amsterdam in the Netherlands before returning to Scotland, where he and his wife ran a tobacconist shop on Sword Street in Dennistoun in Glasgow for a short time before working as a Locomotive Works Labourer at Cowlairs in Springburn, Glasgow.

In his Autobiography Feet First, Stanley Matthews recounts how he followed Port Vale as a boy and hero-worshipped Bob Connelly.