Tommy Docherty

Born in Shettleston Road in Glasgow's east end, Docherty began his playing career when he joined junior football club Shettleston. The turning point in his playing career came in 1946 when he was called up for national service in the Highland Light Infantry.[4] While completing his national service, Docherty represented the British Army at football. On demobilisation, he was offered a contract with Celtic in 1947. Docherty would later say that Jimmy Hogan, the club's coach, was his greatest influence.[5]

In November 1949, after spending over two years with Celtic, he moved to England and joined Preston North End. With them he won the 1951 Second Division title and got to the 1954 FA Cup Final. Altogether Docherty made close to 300 appearances for the club.[6] He left Deepdale in August of that year to join Arsenal for £28,000. With them he made 83 appearances, scoring once. He then went to play for Chelsea where he brought an end to his playing career in 1962.[7]

At Preston, Docherty received the first of his 25 full Scotland international caps. His solitary goal came in a 7–2 defeat by England in 1955.[8] He was part of the Scotland squads that played at the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cup finals which were held in Switzerland and Sweden, respectively.[8]

In February 1961, Docherty was offered the post of player-coach of Chelsea. Less than twelve months later, upon Ted Drake's departure and with the club facing relegation from the top flight, Docherty took over as manager. He was unable to keep the club in the First Division, however, and the team was relegated at the end of the 1961–62 season.[9]

During his first year in charge he sold many of the club's older players and brought in new ones such as Terry Venables, Bobby Tambling, Peter Bonetti and Barry Bridges.[10] He also changed the club's home colours, switching from white shorts to blue shorts, the combination that remains as of 2022. The team, nicknamed "Docherty's Diamonds", achieved promotion back to Division One in their first attempt and finished fifth the following year. In 1964–65, Chelsea won the League Cup in April with an aggregate win over Leicester City, but in the FA Cup were beaten 2–0 in the semi-final by eventual winners Liverpool.[9]

Docherty led Chelsea to the FA and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals a year later, before reaching the FA Cup Final in 1967, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur. He resigned in October 1967. The core of the team Docherty had put together, including Peter Osgood, Charlie Cooke, Ron Harris, Bonetti and John Hollins, went on to win the FA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup under Docherty's successor, Dave Sexton. A decade later Sexton succeeded Docherty as manager of Manchester United.[9]

The month following his departure from Chelsea, Docherty became manager of Rotherham United. He said of his year there: "I promised I would take Rotherham out of the Second Division – and I took them into the Third. The old chairman said 'Doc, you’re a man of your word!'"[11] He was then appointed manager at Queens Park Rangers, only to leave 29 days later after arguing with the club chairman over transfer policy.[12] He then became Doug Ellis' first manager at Aston Villa in December 1968, for 13 months. On 19 January 1970, with Aston Villa bottom of the Second Division, Docherty was sacked.[13]

From there he went to FC Porto, where he stayed for 16 months before resigning in May 1971, having failed to usurp Benfica and Sporting.[14] On 2 July 1971, he was appointed by Hull City as assistant manager to Terry Neill, but on 12 September he left to become the caretaker manager of Scotland, with that position becoming permanent in November 1971.[15] Scotland were on course to qualify for the 1974 World Cup under Docherty,[15] having won both of their matches against Denmark in qualification Group 8. Docherty managed 12 Scotland games, the last of which was a 2–0 home win against the Danes in November 1972.[16] He left the job a month later and was succeeded by Willie Ormond, who secured qualification for the World Cup by winning a home match against Czechoslovakia in September 1973.[16]

In December 1972, Docherty attended a match that Manchester United lost 5-0 to Crystal Palace; in the Selhurst Park boardroom afterwards he was offered the Manchester United job by Matt Busby. [15] His first game in charge of United was against Leeds United at Old Trafford. The game finished 1–1, with Ted MacDougall scoring one of his few goals for United. Although United were in serious trouble when he took them over, because of an ageing squad, he managed to keep them in the First Division in 1972–73. The 1973–74 season saw United continue to struggle and they were eventually relegated to the Second Division.[6][15][17]

In the following season, United returned to the top flight as Second Division champions. In 1975–76 they finished in third place in the First Division and also reached the 1976 FA Cup Final, but lost 1–0 to Southampton who were then in the Second Division. Docherty led United to the FA Cup final again in 1977, this time as underdogs, and beat league champions Liverpool 2–1.[6][15][17]

Shortly afterwards, news that Docherty was having an extramarital affair with the wife of a United physiotherapist, Laurie Brown, became public. He was sacked in a blaze of publicity in July 1977, and was replaced at Old Trafford by Dave Sexton, the same man who had replaced him at Chelsea. The affair also resulted in the end of his marriage to Agnes, who had been his wife since December 1949. In 1988 Docherty married Mary,[18] and the couple remained together until his death in 2020. After his sacking, Docherty had a frosty relationship with the club.[6][17][15]

Docherty became manager at Derby County in September 1977, where he stayed for two seasons before resigning in May 1979.[19] His next appointment was at Queens Park Rangers in May 1979.[13] When he took over at Loftus Road, Rangers had been relegated to the Second Division (three years after almost winning the league title) and he had to lift the team's spirits to start the new season.[20] QPR finished the season four points short of promotion to the First Division. In May 1980, Docherty was sacked by chairman Jim Gregory, then reinstated after just nine days away. In October 1980, he was sacked for the second time in five months.[21]

This was followed by a short spell in Australia coaching Sydney Olympic in 1981.[22] He returned to England in July that year to manage Preston North End,[13] where he had spent nine years as a player. He left after a few months, returning to Australia to manage South Melbourne until the following year. He also managed Sydney Olympic again in 1983.[22]

Docherty returned to England once more with Wolverhampton Wanderers just after their relegation from the First Division in 1984. He was sacked just over a year later, however, after Wolves had suffered a second successive relegation, eventually going on to suffer three relegations in a row the season after Docherty's departure. Under Docherty's management, Wolves' 1984–85 season in the Second Division, after a good start, later disintegrated and included a 21-match winless run in all competitions (19 of those in the Second Division) as Wolves finished the season bottom of the table.[4] Docherty took up his final managerial position at Altrincham. He retired from management at the end of the 1987–88 season.[23]

Preston North End[7]

• Second Division: 1950–51

Chelsea[27]

• Football League Cup: 1964–65
• FA Cup runner up: 1966-1967

Manchester United[27]

• Second Division: 1974–75
• FA Cup: 1976–77 runner up: 1975-1976

Scotland[28]

• British Home Championship: 1971–72 (shared)

• Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2013[29]