Paul Connolly

Paul Connolly (born 29 September 1983 in Liverpool) is an England football (soccer). He is a Defender (football) and currently plays for Derby County F.C. where he is currently team captain.

Connolly came through the youth ranks at Plymouth Argyle F.C., and made his league debut in the final game of the 2000-01 in English football season. He helped the team to gain promotion to the Football League Second Division in 2001-02 in English football and to the Football League First Division i 2003-04 in English football.

Connolly's contract ended at the end of the 2007-08 in English football, and on 15 May 2008 he moved to Derby County F.C. on a free transfer. Derby had just been relegated from the Premier League, and will compete in the Football League Championship in the 2008-09 in English football season. Paul Jewell has described him as "6 ft 1in, athletic and hungry". After making a 10-hour round trip from Plymouth to meet the Rams boss, the 24-year-old right-back opted for a move to Derby. The defender told the Derby Evening Telegraph: "I had about four or five other clubs interested in the Championship and I got a phone call from Paul Jewell, who said: "Can you come up and meet me?"'

"I jumped in the car, drove up on my own and met him. He showed me around the whole club. It was late on, it was getting dark and he showed me the training ground, the stadium and we walked around for two hours.

"We talked about football, life in general - we talked about everything. As soon as the meeting finished, I drove back to Plymouth - about five hours in the car again. Then I phoned my agent and said: 'As long as the contract's OK, I want to cancel talks with the other clubs. I want to sign for Derby."'