Frank Connor RIP

[Conor]

Sad to hear that Frank Connor has died aged 86.

Those of a certain vintage will recall him as the man in Black keeping goal for Derry, (probably around 1964/5). He was the keeper for Derry when I started going to matches aged about 5 or 6. At that age, I wasn’t exactly a connoisseur of the game, he stood out for me because of his all black kit, (I believe Lev Yasmin, the great Soviet Union keeper modelled his look on Frank).

To me he was The Derry City keeper, But I suspect he was only there a short while. I remember speaking to Eddie Mahon, (the second keeper of my era), he was quick to point out that Connor had only replaced him when he went to university, Eddie was the real number 1.

He started his career at Celtic, and returned there in later years, working behind the scene, even stepping in as interim manager for a brief period between Liam Brady and Lou Macari.

Rest in Peace Frank

[KEVK]

Frank brought the Celtic team over to play against us for Stuart Gauld's testimonial in summer of 1995.

Bit of a story to tell around Frank as that Celtic team then went on to play Drogheda just after they played us. My dad's 1st cousin is Brian McLaughlin who played in that Celtic team that came over - he was a tricky little left winger who played in Celtic's 1st team for a few seasons around that time.

Frank allowed Brian to bring myself, my dad and my brother on the Celtic team bus to travel with them to the Drogheda match. The team was mostly reserve players but had a few players on the fringes of the 1st team such as Brian, Paul Byrne and Malky McKay.

On the way home on the bus, Frank allowed the players to stop at a chip shop on the way home so they all piled into the chip shop. Frank went into the chip shop to round up the last few players to get them back on the bus. Frank then burst onto the bus fuming as the chip shop told him that someone didn't pay for their food and Paul Byrne was getting the blame for it as he seemed to get the blame for everything on the bus and he was a bit on the chunky side

Frank gave the players a roasting and stressed how important it was to represent the club, but he never found out who it was and squared up the chip shop himself. Looking back, I think it was a genuine mistake with 15 or so players mingling in a small chip shop and it was a bit chaotic, but the player who done it was afraid to own up