Michael Docherty (born 29 October 1950) is an English former footballer and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is the elder son of Tommy Docherty.

Playing career

As a player, Docherty started his career in the youth team of Chelsea, but in 1967 he moved to Burnley. He was a full-back for Burnley,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, before an injury brought an early end to his playing career.

Coaching career

After his retirement from playing, Docherty joined Sunderland's coaching staff. In the 1980–81 season,he took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

with four games of the season to go. He managed to save the club from relegation with a 1–0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on the last day of the season. They finished 17th, two points clear of relegation. Since then he has consistently managed to find work in the game, although rarely as a manager. He was briefly manager of Hartlepool United between June and December 1983, a spell chiefly noted for the signing of the ailing Ray Kennedy from

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. He later assisted Dave Sutton and succeeded him in 1994 as manager at Rochdale, accepting the job after three preferred candidates declined it. In 1994–95, he led Dale to the Northern Final of the Auto Windscreens Trophy. In his only full season in charge, 1995–96, a bright start led to an FA Cup third round match at Liverpool. Thereafter the team went into a steep decline and shortly after the end of the season, Docherty was dismissed, apparently due to alarm at some of his decisions on the retained list, and replaced by Graham Barrow. This season is well documented in the fly on the wall book ''Kicking In The Wind''. Docherty was coach at Burnley where he worked alongside

Ronnie Jepson Ronald Francis Jepson (born 12 May 1963) is an English former football player and manager who is now Neil Warnock's assistant manager at club Huddersfield Town. A striker, he scored 86 goals in 354 league games in an eleven-year profession ...

and

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won thre ...

. He was released alongside them at the end of the 2003–04 season, but rejoined Jepson, now manager of Gillingham, as his assistant in January 2006. When Jepson resigned in September 2007, he was named as joint caretaker manager with

Iffy Onuora Ifem "Iffy" Onuora (born 28 July 1967) is a Scottish former professional footballer, manager, and coach for the England U21 national team. He is also the current equalities coach for the Professional Footballers Association. As a player, he wa ...

, but Docherty left Gillingham on 8 October 2007. On 14 May 2008, he again teamed up with Stan Ternent and Ronnie Jepson in a coaching role at Huddersfield Town. He left the club on 4 November, following Ternent's departure as manager. He now coaches at Burnley College football academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Docherty, Mick 1950 births Living people Footballers from Preston, Lancashire Men's association football fullbacks English Football League players English men's footballers English football managers Burnley F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. managers Hartlepool United F.C. managers Rochdale A.F.C. managers Gillingham F.C. managers Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Burnley F.C. non-playing staff Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff