Former Ireland striker and convicted criminal Stokes signs for Conor McGregor’s pub team

Stokes scored 160 goals in his 418 career club games

Stokes, 37, last played professional football in 2020 with Livingston, following a controversial career that saw him win nine Republic of Ireland caps. 

Confirming the news on Instagram, Stokes said: “Better get the dust knocked off the boots.”

Stokes scored 160 goals in his 418 career club games, enjoying his best spell at Celtic between 2010 and 2015, scoring 76 goals in 191 games.

But his career has been punctuated by run-ins with the law.

In 2013, Stokes was handed a two-year suspended sentence for head butting a man in Dublin, pleading guilty to assault causing harm.

Stokes also admitted to a stalking campaign on former girlfriend Eilidh Scott, and was banned from contacting her and her mother for four years. He was sentenced to five months in prison in 2024 for breaching these court orders.

The former Sunderland striker was also handed a 15-month prison sentence in October 2024 after Gardai sized nearly €4,000 worth of cocaine from him, while he was also involved in a high-speed car chase while over the alcohol limit.

After appeal, he was given a suspended sentence, a community service order and a five-year driving ban.

Black Forge FC is the pub team for McGregor’s Black Forge Inn in Walkinstown, Dublin. McGregor has played numerous times for the side.