Blues and Whites

Last updated : 21 January 2010 By @pnemad

Footballers who have played league football for both PNE and Chelsea

 

A-Z

 

898) Craig Burley

PNE 4 apps; 0 goals

Blues 113 apps; 7 goals

PNE debut 07/02/2004 v West Brom (H) – Won 3-0

 

860) Neil Clement

PNE 4 apps; 0 goals

Blues 1 app; 0 goals

PNE debut 02/04/1999 v Colchester (A) – Lost 0-1

 

489) Tommy Docherty

PNE 323 apps; 5 goals

Blues 4 apps; 0 goals

PNE debut 11/01/1950 v Watford (H) – Lost 0-1

 

293) James Ferris

PNE 53 apps; 11 goals

Blues 33 apps; 8 goals

PNE debut 29/03/1922 v West Brom (A) – Lost 0-2

 

914) Flipe Oliveria

PNE 5 apps; 0 goals

Blues 5 apps; 0 goals

PNE debut 18/12/2004 v West Ham (H) – Won 2-1

 

133) Frank Pearson

PNE 32 apps 17 goals

Blues 29 apps; 18 goals

PNE debut 05/04/1902 v Stockport (A) – Won 2-0

 

153) James Turnbell

PNE 13 apps; 0 goals

Blues 20 apps; 8 goals

PNE debut 18/03/1905 v Wolves (A) – Drawn 0-0

 

Player Profile – Tommy Docherty

Thomas Henderson "Tommy" Docherty was born on 24 April 1928 in Gorbals. His career began when he joined non-League Shettleston Juniors, but in 1946 he was called up for National Service in the Highland Light Infantry.

While completing his National Service, Docherty represented the British Army at football and on demobilisation he was offered a contract with Celtic.

He found first team places hard to come by, scoring 3 goals from 9 matches at Celtic and, in November 1949, he joined Preston as a replacement for Bill Shankly who had retired the previous season.

He made his debut on Christmas Eve 1949 in a 3-1 defeat at Leeds. But it was on 4 March 1950 in a 4-2 home victory over Hull when he took over the number 4 right half position from Horton. For the next eight seasons he just missed 28 matches (21 due to injuries and 7 International Call ups), the majority of these, 16 were in the1953/54 season. He was an ever present in 1950/51 and 1951/52.

He scored 5 league in total, his first one on 5 March 1954 in a 4-0 win at Huddersfield, Two further goals quickly followed  in a 1-0 win at home to Spurs on 12 March and in a 4-2 defeat against Leicester 8 April.

He appeared in the FA Cup Final defeat against West Brom in 1954 and won his first of 25 Scotland International Caps against Wales in 1952. 

His last of his 323 league appearances came on the final day of the 1957/58 season in a 3-0 win at home to Arsenal on 26 April 1958.

It was the Gunners who he joined in August 1958 after Preston’s 2-1 opening day victory over the same club for £28,000 and scored his only league goal for Arsenal in 1958/59 when he made 38 appearances. He made only a further 45 appearances for Arsenal for the next two seasons as unfortunately he broke his leg ironically against Preston

In September 1961 Docherty joined Chelsea and made 4 appearances in 1961/62

In February 1961 his dream was offered the post of player-coach of Chelsea. Less than twelve months later, upon Ted Drake's departure and with the club facing relegation from Division One, Docherty took over as manager. However, he was unable to keep the club in the First Division and the team was relegated at the end of the 1961/62 season.

During his first year in charge he replaced many of the club's older players and put together an exciting team of youngsters such as Terry Venables, Bobby Bridges, Bobby Tambling and Peter Bonnetti and was nicknamed "Docherty's Diamonds". They achieved promotion back to Division One at the first attempt and finished 5th the following year.

Under Docherty Chelsea won the League Cup in 1964/65 and reached the FA Cup semi-final. In the following season he led Chelsea to the FA and Fairs Cup semi-finals. Chelsea reached the FA Cup Final in 1967 but was on the losing side for the second time in his career.

In October 1967 after 247 matches and a win ratio of 49% he resigned. The core of the team Docherty had put together would go on to win the FA Cup and Cup Winners Cup under his successor, Dave Sexton. Ironically, Sexton would succeed Docherty as manager of Manchester United a decade later.

The month following his departure from Chelsea, Docherty became manager of Rotherham. He left the club the following year and was appointed manager at QPR, only to leave 29 days later. He then had the dubious distinction of becoming Doug Ellis' first manager at Aston Villa in December 1968.

On 19 January 1970, with Aston Villa bottom of the Second Division, Docherty was sacked. From there he went to FC Porto but lasted just 4 months. On 2 July 1971, Docherty was appointed by Hull as assistant manager to Terry Neill, but on 12 September he was appointed as caretaker manager of Scotland, with the position becoming permanent in November.

In December 1972, when ex PNE Player Frank O’Farrell was sacked as manager of Manchester United: Docherty was poached by United and quit his job with Scotland, to take up the role of manager. Although United were in serious trouble when he took them over because of an ageing squad, he managed to keep them in the First Division in 1972/73. However, the 1973/74 season saw United continue to struggle, and their relegation was confirmed in the penultimate game of the season when they lost 1-0 at home to Manchester City with the United when given a free transfer by Docherty a year earlier.

In the following season United bounced back up as champions, and in 1975/76 they finished in third place in the First Division, also reaching the FA Cup Final but lost to Southampton. United reached the FA Cup again in 1976/77 and beat Liverpool 2-1, denying Liverpool of the treble.

Shortly afterwards news that Docherty was having an extramarital affair with the wife of United’s physiotherapist Laurie Brown had become public. He was sacked in a blaze of publicity in July 1977.

In September 1977 Docherty became manager of Derby, where he stayed for two seasons before resigning in April 1979.

His next appointment was at Queens Park Rangers in May 1979. He was sacked almost immediately, and then bizarrely reinstated after just nine days later. In October 1980, he was sacked again.

After a short spell in Australia coaching Sydney Olympic in 1981, his career came full circle and he returned to England in June that year to manage Preston but with just 3 wins in 17 matches he was sacked in December 1981.

Docherty returned to Australia to manage South Melbourne Hellas until the following year. He also managed Sydney Olympic again in 1983, but returned to England once more with Wolves just after their relegation from the First Division in 1984. However, he was sacked within a year as Wolves headed for a second successive relegation.

Docherty took up his final managerial position at Altrincham on 28 September 1987, declaring that the GM Vauxhall Conference side was the "Manchester United of non-league football". However this appointment lasted less than one year and he finally retired from management at the end of the1987/88 season.

Possessing a dry sense of humour and a good storyteller he has earned a living since as a media pundit and after-dinner speaker. He returns to Deepdale regularly as an active member of the ex PNE Players Association.