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TOMMY DOCHERTY |
| Tommy Docherty is renowned as one of the most colourful characters in football - the man who often claims to have had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus! |
| The fast-talking wise-cracking Glaswegian is a stalwart of the after dinner circuit & is known throughout the country as 'The Doc'. His views on the game are constantly sought after by all of the media with few others having his track record. |
| Tommy Docherty's football career began when he joined non-league Shettleston Juniors but was called up in 1946 for National Service to the Highland Light Infantry. While completing his National Service, Tommy represented the British Army at football & upon demobilisation, Docherty was offered a contract with his beloved Celtic FC in 1947. |
| After spending just over two years with Celtic, he joined Preston North End F.C. It was at Preston where he enjoyed the most successful period of his playing career, making over 300 League appearances & appearing in an FA Cup Final in 1954. At Preston he received the first of his 25 full Scotland International Caps. |
| In 1958, he left Preston to join Arsenal F.C. where Tommy finished his professional playing career after three successful years. |
| Immediately, Tommy was offered the post of player-coach at Chelsea F.C. & less than twelve months later, after Ted Drake's departure, Tommy took over as manager. |
| During his first year in charge he replaced many of the club's older players in favour of emerging youngsters such as Terry Venables, Bobby Tambling, Peter Bonetti & Barry Bridges. The team achieved promotion back to Division One at the first attempt & finished 5th the following year. He led Chelsea to the FA & Fairs Cup semi-finals before reaching the FA Cup Final in 1967. |
| Later in 1967, Tommy resigned & became manager of Rotherham United F.C. but left the club after only a year & was then appointed manager at Queens Park Rangers F.C., a position he held for only 29 days. From QPR, Docherty moved to Aston Villa F.C. in December, a role he had for 13 months. |
| From Aston Villa he went to FC Porto & in 1971 Docherty was appointed by Hull City A.F.C. as assistant manager to Terry Neill. In the same year he was appointed manager of Scotland. |
| In December 1972, Frank O'Farrell was sacked as manager of Manchester United, the temptation of managing one of Europe's biggest clubs was too much to resist - Docherty was poached by United & quit his job with Scotland. Tommy stayed with Manchester United for 5 years. |
| After his time with Manchester United Tommy took the managers job at Derby County in September 1977 where he stayed for two seasons before resigning in April 1979. Queens Park Rangers, once again, became his next port of call where he stayed until October 1980. |
| After a short spell in Australia coaching Sydney Olympic, his career came full circle & he returned to England to manage Preston North End. After a few months, Docherty returned to Australia to manage South Melbourne until the following year. He also managed Sydney Olympic again in 1983, Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. from 1984 to 1985 & Altrincham F.C. from 1987 to 1988 before retiring from football. |
| Tommy is in great demand as a celebrity speaker at many events & is recognised as one of the UK's funniest soccer speakers. |
For more information on Tommy Docherty, Contact Arena. Tel: 0113-239-2222 |