Conor McGregor signs ex-Celtic star with criminal record to his pub team

Now a free man after successfully appealing his recent prison term for drug dealing and drunk and dangerous driving, Stokes appears ready to join forces with Conor McGregor

A former Celtic and Ireland striker is poised to make his comeback to football, penning a deal with Conor McGregor’s pub side, Black Forge FC. Anthony Stokes last featured professionally in 2020 with Livingston.

However, the 37 year old Dubliner has grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years, with multiple brushes with the law. Now a free man after successfully appealing his recent prison term for drug dealing and drunk and dangerous driving, Stokes appears ready to join forces with Conor McGregor and his football outfit.

McGregor recently featured for his pub team, Black Forge FC, for the 2025 season, where he appeared in the AUL Challenge Cup final, reports the Irish Mirror.

He has now brought in Stokes to provide some attacking threat up front. Stokes announced the news of the move on Instagram, posting, “Better get the dust knocked off the boots.”

Stokes, who played nine times for Ireland during his career, has had a dramatic downfall in recent years. Back in 2013, he was handed a two-year suspended sentence for headbutting another man in a Dublin Nightclub. He subsequently pleaded guilty to assault causing harm. Stokes was then ordered to pay victim Anthony Bradley €230,000 in damages after a High Court hearing.

The ex-Sunderland star admitted to carrying out a stalking campaign on ex-partner Eilidh Scott. The former striker bombarded Scott with a string of abusive messages that saw him send 100 texts a day on WhatsApp and email. He labelled her a ‘s**t’, a ‘s**g’ and a ‘w***e’ and turned up at her home in Shotts, Lanarkshire, late at night. Jealous Stokes also demanded to know her whereabouts and pestered her mother, May Scott.

Stokes was banned from contacting his ex-girlfriend for four years, as well as her mother. Stokes was sentenced to five months behind bars last year after he breached court orders. Stokes continued to repeatedly message Ms. Scott and her parents despite a strict court ban.

Stokes was accused of assault causing harm to Fraser Spratt in Dublin back in 2019, but the case was struck out due to the absence of a key witness.

Most recently, Stokes was handed a 15-month sentence behind bars in October of last year after Gardai seized €3,700 worth of cocaine and was involved in a high-speed car chase while also over the legal alcohol limit. On appeal, he was handed a suspended sentence and a community service order, but is serving a five-year driving ban.