John Connelly is a former English footballer, born on 18th July 1938 in Lancashire. Connelly played as an outside forward, a position that can most closely be described as an attacking right winger in modern terminology. Connelly played 20 times for the England International team, and was a member of the 22-man England 1966 World Cup Squad.

Connelly began his career playing for amatuer side St Helens in the Lancashire combination before being noticed by Burnley scouts in November 1956 who had actually attended a game to watch another player. Connelly was offered a trial by Burnley and was subsequently offered a professional contract with the club in 1956; a dream come true for Connelly as Burnley were playing in the top tier of English football. He made his debut away to Leeds on 11th March 1957. It took him almost two years to establish himself in the Burnley first team, before he finally broke into the first eleven in the 1958/59 season. Connelly took the opportunity with both hands, scoring 12 goals in 37 games for The Clarets and finishing the season as the clubs second top scorer.

This form for Burnley was to continue, with a further 20 goals in just 34 league appearances for in the 1959/60 season playing a key part in winning the League Championship for Burnley for just the second time in their history. In this same season he was also given his England debut on 17th October 1959 against Wales, an incredible accolade for a man who was playing non-league football just 3 years prior. Connelly continued to create and score plenty goals for Burnley over the next three seasons, helping the club to credible 4th, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes as well as a run to the FA Cup final in 1962 where they were beaten 3-1 by Tottenham Hotspur,

In the 1963/64 season a talented young right winger by the name of Willie Morgan emerged onto the scene and forced Connelly onto the left side of the pitch. Connelly, unhappy at being asked to play outside of his comfort zone, left the club to join Sir Matt Busby'sManchester United in April;1964 for a fee of £56,000 after scoring a prolific 105 goals in 265 appearances for The Clarets in 8 years at the club, Connelly remained at United until the beginning of the 1966/67 season, making 113 appearances and scoring 35 goals for the club; helping the team to a League Championship in his second season - the second that Connelly had won in his career after his first success with Burnley. Connelly was sold to Blackburn for £40,000, meaning that he missed out on a third League Championship medal as Busby's team went on to win the league once more.

Connelly played a total of 20 games for England over a seven year period, scoring 7 goals in the process. He was called up to the squad for the Chile 1962 World Cup finals but did not feature in a team that reached the quarter finals. He was however called up by Sir Alf Ramseyin 1966 as part of the 22-man World Cup Winning Squad, he played in the opening game against Uruguay in the group stages but was sacrificed as Ramsey rotated wingers for the next two games before playing with no wingers at all in the remainder of the tournament; a famously innovative system known as 'The Wingless Wonders'. This world cup appearance was to be the 20th and last of Connelly's England caps, and Connelly was not a recipient of a winners medal due to a FIFA rule awarding medals only to those players on the pitch in the tournament final. Connelly did finally receive a medal on 10th June 2009 following a long campaign led by the FA, all 11 players who were not originally given a medal were presented with one by Gordon Brown after FIFA decided to award medals to the entire winning squads of every World Cup from 1934 to 1972.

Connelly played for Blackburn for four years between 1966 and 1970, but was unable to help them to achieve promotion from the second tier. He was released by Blackburn at the end of the 1969/70 season aged 32 after scoring 36 goals in 149 games for Rovers, and subsequently signed for Bury F.C. for whom he scored 37 goals in 128 league appearances before retiring in May 1973 approaching his 37th birthday. Connelly owned a fish and chip shop called 'Connelly's Plaice' in Lancashire until recently. Connelly was given the honour of being chosen as one of 25 former Burnley players on a 'Wall of Legends' at the Turf Moor ground.