[Albion] Aaron Connolly - joining Hull permanently

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Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
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Oct 8, 2003
56,179
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Something in my eye.
 




DJ NOBO

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2004
6,819
Wiltshire
Fair play to him opening up, not an easy thing to do
Isn’t it ? Videos like this crop up all the time.
These days the harder thing seems to be quietly getting on with addressing the problem and having the fortitude to see it through.
 
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Gabbiano

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2017
1,734
Spank the Manc
Good on Aaron for opening up. I hope now that he's got a fresh start he can keep on the right path and realise what an opportunity he has.

I remember the excitement on here when he broke through. He's got all the talent. Now that he's kicking the alcohol, it's time for the application. I'd love to see him turn it around.

He must see what his U21 strike partner Gyokeres has achieved and be kicking himself. But there's still plenty of time.
 


jcdenton08

Offended Liver Sausage
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Oct 17, 2008
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Just one more point on this, it seems a lot of bad stuff happens when you’re surrounded by hangers on, “mates” and of course gold diggers.

Most of the stories about him in Shooshh and Chalk in one way or another seem to involve his “crew” or arguments/scraps over women.

Getting rid of the “scene” characters will have been a huge game changer too, especially when all the socialising is based around getting drunk/laid/partying and stroking his ego.
 


Commander

Arrogant Prat
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Apr 28, 2004
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No, this cant be right. All the stories about him being out in Brighton getting smashed all the time were completely made up. There is no way any normal citizen would ever come across a Premier League footballer in Sussex. Must be some mistake.
 




Commander

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Apr 28, 2004
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Been talking about his 'problem' brave to speak out and get help.

Fantastic from him. Sounds like he has finally turned a corner in his life. I still think the club hold some of the blame here. I’m sure we’ve learnt from it.

I really, really hope it works out for him.
 


The Wookiee

Back From The Dead
Nov 10, 2003
15,384
Worthing
This is really, really frustrating to watch because EVERYONE called it. It was so obvious, even from the outside. You can't live people's lives for them and he needs to learn this lesson for himself, but obviously the talent is there and there's still time for him to fulfil his potential and be a Premier League and Irish International striker.

Good luck to him, terrible shame how it played out with us.

Of course we all called it but he didn’t realise himself, unfortunately thats addiction. he has now admitted he has a problem and by the sounds of it is in a better place. Good luck to him ❤️
 


Jul 20, 2003
20,693
He needs to kick the booze habit.

If he can, I think he can get back to the Premier League. Must be last chance saloon at the Makems.

Best wishes to him. I thought he came across very well in that interview.


Totally agree (although I might have chosen a different idiom to 'last chance saloon').

Really hope things work out for the best.
 




stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
1,921
I'm hoping getting released by Hull was his wake up call and he can get back on track
 


I met him in The Gin Tub about 2-3 years ago, he was a nice bloke to be fair. Bought us all a drink, (mainly because he fancied my mate, but nice all the same) and at the time, you had a feeling he was pissing it up the wall. I'm not surprised at all he's come out and said this. Fair bloody play. Really hope he smashes it at Sunderland. Good club.
 


Jul 20, 2003
20,693
I'm hoping getting released by Hull was his wake up call and he can get back on track

From the clip it sounds like Rosenior was supportive but after he was (inexplicably) sacked Connolly's chance of a further contract was done. So along with your comment this gave Connolly the impetus to change his life and Liam got to move from Hull to Strasbourg. Sounds like a win win.
 












Commander

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Apr 28, 2004
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I’m sorry, exactly HOW are the club to blame? You can’t just throw statements like that about without backing it up with facts.
It wasn’t a statement, it was an opinion.

I think the club are PARTLY to blame by not managing him very well. Giving him a bumper contract based on 2 goals against Spurs. Keeping him massively in the limelight when it was clear he couldn’t cope with it.

This may well be completely wrong, but I get the feeling that we were so desperate for the new academy to produce someone, and with the long running ‘we need to sign a striker’ debacle that when we thrust Aaron into the limelight and he took Spurs apart, we thought ‘here he is, it’s all come together’. He wasn’t ready for that at all, and needed a first team pathway plan similar to Ben White’s.

I would bet money that in the exact same situation in 2024 Brighton & Hove Albion, we would manage it very differently.

I might be miles wide of the mark, but I’d love to hear Bloom’s take on all this.

But as I said, it’s just an opinion, based largely on speculation. Not a fact.
 


Milano

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2012
3,931
Sussex but not by the sea
It wasn’t a statement, it was an opinion.

I think the club are PARTLY to blame by not managing him very well. Giving him a bumper contract based on 2 goals against Spurs. Keeping him massively in the limelight when it was clear he couldn’t cope with it.

This may well be completely wrong, but I get the feeling that we were so desperate for the new academy to produce someone, and with the long running ‘we need to sign a striker’ debacle that when we thrust Aaron into the limelight and he took Spurs apart, we thought ‘here he is, it’s all come together’. He wasn’t ready for that at all, and needed a first team pathway plan similar to Ben White’s.

I would bet money that in the exact same situation in 2024 Brighton & Hove Albion, we would manage it very differently.

I might be miles wide of the mark, but I’d love to hear Bloom’s take on all this.

But as I said, it’s just an opinion, based largely on speculation. Not a fact.
Well it was a statement but never mind semantics. It’s ‘just an opinion’ but you then build on it with even more wild speculation.

The club can’t live people’s lives for them. Aaron was young but an adult. Where was his agent in all this? Bloom and Barber are both parents themselves.

Crucially at no point in that interview did he lay ANY blame on ANY club or indeed on ANYONE but himself. Fair play to him. Is that not good enough for you?
 
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Commander

Arrogant Prat
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Apr 28, 2004
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Well it was a statement but never mind semantics. It’s ‘just an opinion’ but you then build on it with even more wild speculation.

The club can’t live people’s lives for them. Aaron was young but an adult. Where was his agent in all this? Bloom and Barber are both parents themselves.

Crucially at no point in that interview did he lay ANY blame on ANY club or indeed on ANYONE but himself. Fair play to him. Is that not good enough for you?
The club can’t live anyone’s life for them, but they can do all they can to protect their asset.

Do you disagree that if we had the same situation now, we would manage it differently?
 


ac gull

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
1,989
midlands
It's not exactly an unrelated coincidence that we have in last 5 years moved to long term strategy of having a few older wise heads in the squad re Lallana, Welbeck, Milner etc- we didn't have this 5 years ago when it went wrong for AC

Sometimes in life there is just no substitute to learning the hard way - its what makes his message for others now more powerful
 




Change at Barnham

Well-known member
Aug 6, 2011
5,474
Bognor Regis
Well done Aaron.
Hopefully the PFA can continue to support him and he can learn from people like Paul Merson and Tony Adams.
To be an almost 'star' must be very troubling and difficult to ever get out of your head, creating loads of conflicting emotions.

I'll keep an eye on his progress at Sunderland and wish both Aaron and his new club a bright future.
 




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