Former Bristol City and Bristol Rovers coach Terry Connor has been named the new head coach of Caribbean minnows Grenada.
Mick McCarthy’s long-standing assistant has been confirmed in the post of the team ranked 175 in the world, ahead of preliminary qualifying for this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup in Canada and the United States.
Connor first arrived in the West Country as a striker for Bristol City, signed under Jimmy Lumsden from Swansea City in 1991 but he only found the target once in 16 league appearances during an injury-plagued spell and finished his career at Yeovil Town.
After retiring he moved into community coaching at Swindon Town before John Ward took him to Rovers in a similar role and then promoted him to first-team coach until his departure in 1996.
Ward took charge of City the following year, bringing Connor to Ashton Gate where they earned promotion into the First Division (now Championship) in 1997/98, before the manager walked out a few months into the following season due to a disagreement over the hiring of Benny Lennartsson as director of coaching.
City also tried to re-hire Connor in 2005 to work alongside Brian Tinnion, with Steve Lansdown admitting at the time that, "Terry Connor is someone we rate highly. At the moment nothing has come of our talks with him, but we haven't given up hope that there could be a positive outcome."
Connor had followed Ward to Wolves where he served for nearly a decade as youth, reserve and first-team coach before being made assistant by McCarthy. He also took charge of the club in February 2012 following McCarthy’s sacking but couldn't save them from Premier League relegation. The duo then worked together at Ipswich Town, the Republic of Ireland, APOEL, Cardiff City and, most recently, Blackpool.
Rovers hero Jason Roberts, who also enjoyed a brief loan spell at City, scored 13 goals in 15 caps for Grenada between 1998 and 2000, making his international debut for the country when he was a Gas player.
Grenada, known as the Spice Boys, are winless in 12 matches with their last victory being a 1-0 triumph over US Virgin Islands on March 31, 2021. They lost 7-1 to the United States in their most recent fixture under interim head coach Anthony Modeste.
The current squad boasts five English-based players, including AFC Wimbledon defender Aaron Pierre and Gloucester City midfielder Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong.
