David Connolly reveals why he turned down the Pompey manager role.
Veteran striker David Connolly joined Portsmouth in January 2013 when the club was struggling in 21st place in League One under Guy Whittingham. After leaving Southampton in 2012, the former West Ham and Leicester forward arrived at Fratton Park as a free agent.
Connolly spent three seasons with Pompey, scoring 12 goals in 38 appearances across all competitions. Alongside playing, he assisted Whittingham’s coaching staff as he pursued a future in coaching, having already earned his UEFA A Pro License. However, his role changed when Richie Barker was appointed manager in December 2013.
Nearly a decade later, Connolly revealed in an interview with the *Sunderland Echo* that he was once offered the managerial role at Portsmouth. However, he explained why he chose to turn it down.
Connolly on rejecting the Portsmouth job
When asked if he would consider a coaching role again, Connolly responded, *”I don’t think so.”*
He explained, *”At Portsmouth, I was called into the chairman’s office when I was nearly 37 and basically offered the manager’s role. But Alan McLoughlin was the first-team coach at the time. Despite wanting to coach for years, I told them no because Alan was already in that position. It just felt wrong.”*
Connolly opted to remain as a player-coach instead, believing that forcing his way into management at that time wasn’t the right move. While he acknowledges coaching is a challenging profession, he admits it never quite worked out for him in that direction.
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