Patrick John Connaughton was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
13 Facts About John Connaughton
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John Connaughton played 387 league and cup games in a 16-year career.
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John Connaughton joined the Manchester United groundstaff in January 1965, signing as an apprentice in May He turned professional in October 1966, but would have to wait almost six years for his United debut, despite playing three games for England youth in 1967 and 1968.
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John Connaughton played two further games that month, in defeats to Leicester City and Manchester City; the defeat in the Manchester derby came at Old Trafford.
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However, United had a wide variety of goalkeeping talent in Alex Stepney, Jimmy Rimmer, Harry Gregg, David Gaskell and Pat Dunne; this meant John Connaughton played only three first-team matches for the club.
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John Connaughton worked well with goalkeeping coach Alan Hodgkinson, but was given a free transfer after Ken Furphy replaced John Harris as manager.
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John Connaughton moved on to Third Division side Port Vale in May 1974, where he replaced Alan Boswell.
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John Connaughton had turned down a lucrative offer from Gillingham as his fiance was unwilling to move to Kent; he later said that Vale manager Roy Sproson fell off his chair after hearing the terms Gillingham offered, but agreed to match them.
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John Connaughton then faced stiff competition from a young Trevor Dance.
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John Connaughton played in the Conference League Cup final defeat to Northwich Victoria.
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John Connaughton helped the club to another FA Cup run, in which they beat former club Sheffield United and then York City, before being knocked out by Burnley.
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John Connaughton retired at the end of the season at the age of 32, due to business commitments; he played a total of 127 games for Altrincham, winning 47 clean sheets.
13.
John Connaughton started up in the wastepaper business while playing for Altrincham.