Terry Conroy

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.

[6] Being one of the younger children he was indulged, and took advantage of his lack of household chores to spend the majority of his time playing football in the street.

[8] He later credited his ball control skills to the many years he spent playing football with large numbers of other children in the tight streets of Cabra.

[24] Conroy turned down a printer's apprenticeship after his talk with Waddington and moved across the Irish Sea in March 1967 for a fee of £15,000 (£10,000 plus two conditional bonus payments of £2,500).

[25][26] In the summer, he was registered with the Cleveland Stokers, Stoke City's United Soccer Association franchise team, and in his own words "played a handful of games without making too much impact".

[27] After taking the place of winger Gerry Bridgwood in the first team, he made an instant impact on his debut on 6 September 1967 by scoring the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Leicester City at the Victoria Ground.

[28] Though Conroy only made nine league appearances in the 1967–68 season, he was present on the final day 2–1 win over Liverpool which kept Stoke out of the First Division relegation zone.

[31] Conroy also damaged cartilage in his knee after being challenged heavily by Manchester City's left-half Alan Oakes in a 3–1 defeat at Maine Road on 29 March and was ruled out of action for five months.

[32] After recovering, he went on to make 33 appearances in the 1969–70 campaign and got some measure of revenge over Manchester City at Maine Road on 17 January by scoring the only goal of the game after dribbling past three defenders from the half-way line.

Conroy was a key figure in the semi-final decider at Old Trafford against West Ham, as he won a penalty in the first half and then scored the winning goal on 49 minutes with a 25-yard volley.

[37] He also opened the scoring in the final itself, as he converted a simple header after five minutes and helped Stoke to go on to secure the first trophy in the club's history with a 2–1 victory.

[38] Stoke also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, again losing to Arsenal, though Conroy missed this game as he was sidelined for the rest of the season after he injured his cartilage again in a defeat to Leeds United on 8 April.

[42] He underwent surgery to remove more cartilage from his knees and as a result, lost some of his natural pace and strength, making him a less effective player for the remainder of his career.

[43] Stoke qualified for Europe again in 1974–75 and managed to draw both legs with Dutch side Ajax, only to exit the competition on the away goals rule.

[46] Conroy was again limited to just 16 league appearances as he continued to suffer injury problems in the 1975–76 season and underwent an operation to remove all the remaining cartilage from his knees.

[47] The club also suffered a disaster, as a strong gale blew a section of the roof off the Victoria Ground's Butler Street Stand on 2 January.

As the correct insurance was not in place, the club were forced to sell key players such as Jimmy Greenhoff, Mike Pejic, Alan Hudson, John Mahoney and Geoff Salmons to finance stadium repairs.

[51] Conroy was offered a contract by Worcester City and spoke with Tranmere Rovers manager John King, but instead joined Hong Kong club Bulova on a free transfer in 1979.

However, he failed to find a position at club level to supplement his part-time role coaching the Republic of Ireland national team.

[12] Conroy won his first international cap under manager Mick Meagan on 7 October 1969, playing in a 3–0 World Cup qualification defeat to Czechoslovakia in Prague.

[60] On 3 July 1973, he appeared for a Shamrock Rovers XI in a friendly match against the Brazil national team at Lansdowne Road; he scored a goal in what ended as a 4–3 defeat.

[64] Conroy was a firm fan favourite amongst Stoke City supporters due to his ability to create something out of nothing and his distinctive pale skin, bright ginger hair and sideburns.

[25] He was also appointed welfare officer by the Football Association of Ireland in 2008, giving him the responsibility to look after Irish youngsters who came to the UK to join academy scholarship programmes.