Tony Docherty (born 24 January 1971) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player, who was most recently the manager of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. Docherty played as a midfielder for

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

, East Stirlingshire and

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...

. He was then a long-time assistant manager to

Derek McInnes Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich A ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. Docherty then became a manager in his own right at

Career

Docherty's short playing career began in 1987 with

before moving to English side

. In the early 1990s he returned to Scotland, having spells with

, East Stirlingshire and

. During his time with the

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

club, Docherty became SFA development officer for the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

area, spending three years there before a move to

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

as the community coach. Upon Ian McCall's appointment as manager at

Brockville Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It is included with Leeds and ...

, Docherty became assistant manager, and when McCall moved to take charge of

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

in early 2003, Docherty came as part of the management team. Following McCall's dismissal and

Gordon Chisholm Gordon William Chisholm (born 8 April 1960 in Glasgow) is a Scottish professional football former player and manager. Chisholm played as a central defender for Sunderland, Hibernian, Dundee and Partick Thistle. After retiring as a player, Chis ...

's subsequent appointment, Docherty was promoted to first team coach, a position he held under the successive management spells of

Craig Brewster Craig James Brown Brewster (born 13 December 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer, turned coach. He made his name in a long playing career as a striker for numerous clubs in Scotland, particularly Forfar Athletic, Raith Rovers, D ...

and

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone. During his playing c ...

. In November 2007, Docherty left

Tannadice Tannadice Park, officially known as The CalForth Construction Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Du ...

and moved to

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

side

as assistant manager, working under former United player

. achieving promotion back to the SPL eighteen months later. When McInnes became manager of

in October 2011, Docherty followed him to Ashton Gate as assistant manager. On 25 March 2013 he once again teamed up with McInnes, this time at SPL side

. In July 2019 they signed new contracts with Aberdeen that were due to run until 2022, but they left Aberdeen in March 2021. A month later Docherty joined Forfar Athletic to assist caretaker manager Gary Irvine. Docherty teamed up again with McInnes at

in January 2022. Docherty became a manager in his own right in May 2023, when he was appointed by

. Docherty would have a successful first season as head coach, and was named as the

SPFL The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

's Premiership Manager of the Month for March 2024. On 13 April 2024, Docherty would lead Dundee to top six football with a goalless draw away to former club Aberdeen. Later that month, Docherty would be nominated by

PFA Scotland The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland) is the association for professional footballers in Scotland. It was known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association (SPFA), but that organisation was dissolved and repl ...

for

Manager of the Year Manager of the Year may refer to: * Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award * League Managers Association Awards#LMA Manager of the Year, League Managers Association Manager of the Year * Premier League Manager of the Season {{disambiguati ...

alongside long time partner Derek McInnes and

John McGlynn John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

. Docherty was also nominated in May for the Scottish Football Writers' Association's

award. On 25 June 2024, Docherty committed to Dundee by signing a new contract with the club. After Dundee finished 10th in the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership, avoiding a relegation play-off by winning on the final day, Docherty was sacked by Dundee.

Managerial record

Honours

Manager

Individual * Scottish Premiership Manager of the Month: March 2024 *

nominee: 2023–24 * SFWA

nominee: 2023–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Docherty, Tony 1971 births Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Bristol City F.C. non-playing staff Cambridge United F.C. players Dundee United F.C. non-playing staff Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Falkirk F.C. non-playing staff Living people Footballers from East Kilbride Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers St Johnstone F.C. non-playing staff Stirling Albion F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. non-playing staff Dundee F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers