John Doherty (soccer player)

John Doherty
Personnel
Surname	John Herbert Doherty
birthday	March 12, 1935
place of birth	Manchester ,  England
date of death	November 13, 2007
Place of death	Heald Green ,  England
position	Half-striker
Juniors
Years	station
1950-1952	Manchester United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1952-1957	Manchester United	25 (7)
1957-1958	Leicester City	12 (5)
	Rugby town
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
	Rugby town
	Altrincham FC
	Bangor City
	Hyde United
1 Only league games are given.

John Herbert Doherty (born March 12, 1935 in Manchester , † November 13, 2007 in Heald Green ) was an English football player . As part of the "Busby Babes" from Manchester United , the half- forward won the English championship in the 1955/56 season. However, due to persistent knee problems, he had to end his professional career at the age of 23.

Athletic career

When Manchester United coach Matt Busby rebuilt his team with numerous youth players (known as "Busby Babes") in the 1950s , John Doherty, born in Manchester in 1935, was one of them in addition to Duncan Edwards , Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet . As a talented half-striker who was strong at play with both feet, he was predicted to develop similarly to the aforementioned, with above-average game intelligence being attributed to him.

Doherty began his career with Manchester United in 1950 - although Manchester City had been his favorite club as a child - after he had previously played in student teams in Manchester and Lancashire. His sporting advancement developed quickly and after his 17th birthday he signed his first professional contract in March 1952. Nine months later he made his debut on December 6, 1952 against Middlesbrough FC in the first team. Although coach Busby had a strong squad, the young Doherty, who impressed with a neat passing game and a hard shot, came from then on regularly. He was also one of the club's youth selection, which was preparing to win the FA Youth Cup , which was held for the first time . Here he made a significant contribution to the semi-finals and when he played the second leg against Brentford FC , he suffered his first serious injury. The day after he was supposed to start his compulsory service with the National Service , which then had to be postponed. After that, his rehabilitation program was slowly developing and he was late starting his service with the Royal Air Force . In parallel, United had signed Irish Billy Whelan , who ultimately successfully represented Doherty in the victorious Youth Cup final against Wolverhampton Wanderers .

Doherty's professional career seemed to have come to an early end before he initially reported back to the first team on a provisional basis in the fall of 1955. Manchester United had meanwhile become the most exciting team in English professional football and in the 1955/56 season the Busby Babes won the national championship by superiority . Doherty played more than a third of the league games on the right half position, which meant he could be awarded an official championship medal. His sporting ambitions seemed to have been revived, but renewed complications in his knee ensured that he suffered another setback - especially since his competitor Billy Whelan was consistently performing well. Doherty worked hard on his recovery and after various disagreements with coach Busby, a club change to first division promoted Leicester City was carried out in October 1957 for a transfer fee of £ 6,500. Initially, Doherty knew how to please the "Foxes", especially in interaction with Johnny Morris , who was also from Manchester . Two months later, however, the next forced break followed and he had to go to the hospital for another of his countless knee operations - it was there that he learned about the tragic plane crash of his ex-colleagues from Manchester. That tragedy was followed shortly afterwards by his personal disappointment when it was revealed that he would never be able to play professional football again.

From then on he worked as a player-coach in the Southern League at Rugby Town . When United's co- trainer Jimmy Murphy held talks to be the new head coach at Arsenal in the fall of 1958 , he planned to make Doherty his assistant. Ultimately, however, Murphy's loyalty to his boss Busby prevailed and so Doherty remained active as an amateur coach and looked after clubs such as Altrincham FC , Bangor City and Hyde United . In addition to the football business, he performed various activities in the financial sector in the 1960s and 1970s. He then worked at Burnley FC as chief scout and later in the insurance and sports advertising industries. He was a founding member, long chairman of the association of ex-Manchester United players and the driving force behind the benefit game in 1998, which raised funds for the victims and their survivors 40 years after the Munich disaster. Cope died on November 13, 2007 at the age of 72 as a result of lung cancer.

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1956

Web links

• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Profile on barryhugmansfootballers.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ponting, Ivan: Manchester United Player by Player . Hamlyn, London 1998, ISBN 0-600-59496-3 , pp. 23 .
2. ^ "John Doherty: Busby Babe invalided out of football" (independent.co.uk)