Background
Conroy was born in Dublin and began his career with Home Farm, where he won four Irish youth caps.
Conroy was born in Dublin and began his career with Home Farm, where he won four Irish youth caps.
Stoke City
He moved to Northern Irish club Glentoran where he believed that he would have a better chance of being spotted by an English club Sure enough, in a friendly match against Stoke City, he impressed manager Tony Waddington. Conroy initially turned down Stoke"s offer as he wanted to finish his printer"s apprenticeship but after completing it he moved across the Irish Sea in March 1967 for a fee of £10,000.
He made an instant impact at the Victoria Ground by scoring the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Leicester City on his debut in 1967-1968.
His performances for Stoke soon attracted the attentions of some heavy tackles from opposing defenders, which injured him for long spells of his Stoke career. As a result, he played 30 or more games in only three of his twelve seasons at Stoke.
He was second top-scorer again in 1970-1971 with 14 and in 1971-1972 he scored the winning goal against West Ham United in the semi-final of the League Cup. Conroy then scored the first of Stoke"s two goals which defeated Chelsea 2–1 in the final.
He remained with Stoke until he was released by Alan Durban after making 333 appearances for the "Potters" scoring 67 goals in 12 years at the Victoria Ground.
After Stoke
Capped by the Republic of Ireland 26 times, he left the Victoria Ground for the Hong Kong club Bulova on a free transfer in 1979. He returned to England in 1980 to play for Crewe Alexandra, scoring five goals in 37 League appearances. He signed for Waterford United in September 1981.
After a spell out of the game he signed for Limerick in November 1982.
Post retirement
After doing Pennsylvania work at the Britannia Stadium, he made his exit from Stoke during the half time of the West Bromwich Albion match on 22 November 2008 to loud applause. He was appointed welfare officer for the Football Association of Ireland on 28 November.
January 2009, he pledged continuing support as patron of charity funds at Staffordshire based Castle Comfort Stairlifts as well as being on the voting panel of the group"s Carer of the Year award. He returned to Stoke as a matchday host in 2010.
In March 2011 Conroy fell seriously ill with a suspected vascular aneurism.
He has successfully recovered from the illness, and continues to volunteer working with Stoke City to highlight the condition. Conroy was a firm fan favourite at Victoria Ground with his ability create something out of nothing as well as his distinctive appearance of pale skin and bright ginger hair and sideburns. "This red-haired ghost impressed me at Anfield where he was bundled over the touchline by a massive Liverpool defender.
Terry got up took the return pass and after battling down the wing he flicked the ball past Tommy Lawrence with the outside of his boot.
That is flair".