Tommy Docherty

Playing career

Docherty was born in Shettleston Road in Glasgow's east end and began playing with junior club Shettleston. Called up for national service in the Highland Light Infantry in 1946, he represented the British Army at football. After demobilisation, Celtic offered him a contract in 1947; he later cited coach Jimmy Hogan as his greatest influence. In November 1949 he moved to Preston North End, winning the 1951 Second Division title and reaching the 1954 FA Cup final, making nearly 300 appearances. He joined Arsenal for £28,000 in August 1958, making 83 appearances and scoring once, then ended his playing career at Chelsea in 1962. Docherty earned his first Scotland cap at Preston and scored his only international goal in a 7–2 defeat by England in 1955. He was part of Scotland's squads at the 1954 and 1958 World Cup finals.

Managerial career

Docherty became player-coach of Chelsea in February 1961 and took over as manager less than twelve months later after Ted Drake's departure, with the club facing relegation. He could not prevent relegation at the end of the 1961–62 season. In his first year he sold older players and brought in Terry Venables, Bobby Tambling, Peter Bonetti and Barry Bridges, and changed the home colours to blue shorts. The team, nicknamed "Docherty's Diamonds", won promotion back to Division One at the first attempt and finished fifth the following year.

In 1964–65 Chelsea won the League Cup with an aggregate win over Leicester City, reached the FA Cup semi-final, and finished third in the league, their best since 1954–55. The next season Docherty led Chelsea to the FA Cup and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals, then to the 1967 FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur. He resigned in October 1967; the core team he built later won the FA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup under successor Dave Sexton.

The month after leaving Chelsea, Docherty became manager of Rotherham United, where he said he promised to take them out of the Second Division but took them into the Third. He was then appointed at Queens Park Rangers but left after 29 days following an argument over transfer policy. In December 1968 he became Doug Ellis's first manager at Aston Villa, but was sacked on 19 January 1970 with the club bottom of the Second Division.

Personal life

Docherty wed Agnes in December 1949 after moving from Scotland to play for Preston North End. The couple had four children: Mick, Thomas Jr., Catherine, and Peter. Their marriage ended after 27 years when Docherty revealed his relationship with Mary Brown in 1977. He later married Brown, and they had two daughters, Grace and Lucy, born in the 1980s. Agnes passed away in September 2002 at 73. In 2008, Tommy Docherty Jr. published a book based on memoirs and clippings he found while clearing his mother’s home after her death. Docherty died on 31 December 2020 at 92 following a long illness.