In signing Connor, we were obtaining a young tall striker, who had scored goals in higher divisions, and was considered to be one of the real prospects in the game. Certainly, Stoke City were in no mood to let him go, and had it was clear that nothing less than a record transfer from ourselves would obtain the services after bid after bid were turned down by the Potteries club.

But when he did eventually come to Spotland, as I said before, he came as the greatest player the world has ever seen. He scored in what seemed like every game, he got our first hat trick in donkey's years, and every effort appeared to be a candidate for goal of the season.

It was a stunning run of form, as Connor grabbed 10 goals in 14 games, with many of those goals coming from nothing at all. He'd formed a great partnership with Clive Platt, and he was simply untouchable. He'd ripped Carlisle United to pieces to the extent that he was brought off with half an hour to go so that he couldn't inflict any more pain on the Cumbrians. The Cheltenham keeper will be forever having nightmares about him, and his goal against Plymouth at Spotland should have ensured promotion all on its own.

Big things were expected for Connor for the 2001-2 season, where we looked to build on the previous campaign, and with a full season of Platt and Connor together, how could it possibly fail? Indeed, pre-season had seen goals scored by the hatful, with Connor alone carrying on from where he left off with seven goals to his name.

But it certainly did fail on a personal note for Connor, where after a slowish start to the season, he picked up a nasty injury which affected his game for much of the season. He ended that year with just one goal to his name from twenty two outings in the first team, though many of them were off the bench.

Things looked better for Connor during the next year, when he managed 15 goals from what was almost a full season at the club. Whilst he wasn't the all singing, all dancing, all scoring player we had seen in that first few games for the club, he had shown an ability to score goals, and his goal against Coventry (pictured below) rightfully earned him his fair share of coverage in the Sunday papers the day after.

His final season had one or two moments to savour but the Paul Connor of that first season became nothing more than a distant memory. He had become a player who was too often looking for help from referees, and lacking that drive that he had shown that he was capable of on numerous occasions in the past.

He was eventually sold to Swansea City for £35,000 just two months before the end of the season when his contract expired. It was probably time for a move for both parties, as he had got a bit stale at Spotland. It was a controversial move as with Dale struggling near the foot of the table, it was felt that players should have been coming into Spotland rather than leaving.

However, the move worked out for both parties. Dale did enough to stay up, and Connor regained his scoring touch, with five goals from twelve appearances for the Jacks.

After he his time with the Jacks, he had further spells with Leyton Orient and Cheltenham Town.

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