Footballer, coach and manager
Footballer, coach and manager
Born: October 26, 1961; Died: August 17, 2014, aged 52
Samuel "Sammy" Conn, who has died aged 52 after suffering Motor Neurone Disease, was a popular footballer with several lower division senior clubs.
He was never more than a journeyman player, but his all-action style, sheer enthusiasm and never-say-die spirit - not to mention a penchant for spectacular free-kick goals - made him a cult figure with the fans of his clubs. He was also the type of non-stop, box-to-box midfield player whom clubs were willing to bring back for a second spell after he left. He had two spells with Falkirk and Albion Rovers during his 17-year, 500-plus games senior career.
Lanark-born, he arrived at Brockville from junior side Polkemmet. This first spell with the Bairns lasted two years, before he moved on for his first spell with Albion Rovers.
From Cliftonhill he moved to Clydebank, before returning to Falkirk. He then went back to his home county of Lanarkshire, when he joined Airdrie. This was perhaps the most high-profile period of his career as he played some 150 games for the Diamonds in a good team that included such players as Owen Coyle, Jimmy Boyle, Sandy Stewart and Alan Lawrence.
There was still time for a second short spell at nearby Albion Rovers, before he completed his playing career with Cowdenbeath, a club he also managed.
He then joined Ayr United in 1998, acting as youth coach while manager Campbell Money took Ayr down the home-grown players route.
The highlight of his six-year spell at Somerset Park was when he coached the club's youngsters to the Scottish Youth Cup Final, where they went down to a Rangers team that included future Scotland caps Charlie Adam and Chris Burke. Conn's team included a future Scotland cap of their own in Craig Conway.
Conn, whose last day job was driving trucks, spent the last 20 years of his life in Ayrshire, living in Irvine. He submerged himself in the world of Ayrshire junior football, when, after they had tasted success together with an Under-21 team from Kilwinning, he and his friend John Garroch took over at Dalry Thistle.
Here, he linked up with Darren Henderson, going with him to Glenafton Athletic, as a coach, before he was struck down by Motor Neurone Disease. However, although needing a wheelchair, he was at Rugby Park at the end of last season to see Henderson's new club, Hurlford United, beat his old club, Glenafton, in the Scottish Junior Cup final.
Conn lived and breathed football. He was an obsessive and it was not unknown for him to leave the house on a Sunday morning, to collect the Sunday papers, and not re-appear for some two or three hours, as he had been side-tracked by a couple of boys' club games.
His cremation, at Holmford Bridge Crematorium, Dreghorn, was not a sad affair: his widow, Margo and their three children banned black ties and asked the many who turned up to say farewell to wear bright colours, because, in life, as in football, Sammy Conn always looked on the bright side.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article