Conor Clifford
From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki
| Conor Clifford | |
| |
| Full Name | Conor Paul Clifford |
| Date of Birth | 1 October 1991 |
| Place of Birth | Dublin, Ireland |
| Position | Midfielder |
| Chelsea career | 2007 - 2013 |
| Debut | n/a |
| Games (goals) | 0/0 |
| Other clubs | Crumlin United Plymouth Argyle (loan) Notts County (loan) Yeovil Town (loan) Portsmouth (loan) Crawley Town (loan) |
Conor Clifford (born 1 October 1991) is a midfielder who formerly played for Chelsea.
Contents |
Pre-Chelsea career
Conor played for Crumlin United, a high-profile Dublin-based side who have a track record of producing some of Irish football's best players in recent history, most notably Robbie Keane.
Chelsea career
Initially scheduled to come over to England for the start of his scholarship in 2008-09, he made the trip a year early to play in the Under-16s team, although he did make some Under-18 appearances in pre-season.
Conor quickly grew into a leadership role during his time in the club's academy, captaining the Youth Team during their 2009-10 FA Youth Cup success.
In October 2010, Conor joined Plymouth Argyle on loan for an initial month, which was extended into December. He impressed hugely at Home Park, but was forced to return to Chelsea in December when Argyle's application to extend the loan again was rejected due to financial problems.
Instead, he joined Notts County on an initial month-long loan in mid February 2011 but after being mis-used by Paul Ince, returned to Chelsea in April to play a part in the club's Reserve League title success. In November 2011 he joined Yeovil Town on loan for an initial month, a deal which was then extended until January 2012. He scored his first goal in senior football away to Fleetwood Town in an FA Cup Second Round tie live on ESPN.
However, his stay was to ultimately be brief and he didn't go back out on loan afterwards, instead seeing out the season at Chelsea. He would return to the loan front in August 2012, joining Portsmouth in an initial month-long deal with the intention of staying for the entire campaign.
He scored his first goal for Portsmouth away to Carlisle on August 25th 2012, but was unable to earn a starting berth and with manager Michael Appleton keen to bolster his squad in other areas, Conor returned to Chelsea on September 17th. A further loan spell at Crawley Town failed to result in any notable action and in January 2013 Conor was released five months before the end of his contract to find a new club.
International
Conor has represented the Republic of Ireland extensively from Under-16 to Under-21 level, collecting well over 40 caps combined by the age of 20. A regular in the Under-21 squad now, he has also captained all previous age groups.
He has earned an occasional call into the full senior squad, but remained uncapped as of his Chelsea departure.
Career Statistics
Youth Team Football
| Season | Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | |
| 2008-09 | 26 | 4 |
| 2009-10 | 18 | 3 |
Reserve Team Football
| Season | Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | |
| 2008-09 | 1 | 0 |
| 2009-10 | 10 | 2 |
| 2010-11 | 11 | 1 |
| 2011-12 | 16 | 0 |
| 2012-13 | 5 | 0 |
Senior Club Football
| Season | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2010-11 | Plymouth Argyle (loan) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2010-11 | Notts County (loan) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 2011-12 | Yeovil Town (loan) | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 2012-13 | Portsmouth (loan) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2012-13 | Crawley Town (loan) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
(Statistics accurate as of the end of Conor's Chelsea career)
Career honours
Post Chelsea Career
Conor joined Leicester City on a short-term contract after departing Chelsea before signing for Southend United in July 2013. After helping Barnet to promotion in the 2014-15 season he joined Boreham Wood in August 2015.
