Big man, big personality
DEREK Dougan was a fine footballer and a great character. He was a restless soul looking to improve the footballer’s lot and played a big part in freeing up players at the end of their contract in 1978 – the forerunner of Bosman.
His 6’3” presence in the Wolves forward line, alongside goalscoring partner John Richards, helped the club gain promotion, win the Texaco Cup in 1970 and the Football League Cup in 1974, while falling just short in the UEFA Cup final in 1972 where the Molineux men lost to Spurs.
He scored 123 goals in 323 Wolves games.
Derek sadly died from a heart attack at home in Wolverhampton on June 24, 2007, aged 69.
He played for a string of clubs, starting out with Distillery in 1953 before playing for Portsmouth, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Peterborough, Leicester City and Wolves.
He finished up as player-manager of Kettering from 1975 to 1977.
Derek played 43 times for Northern Ireland from 1958 to 1973 – including playing in the 1958 World Cup – and was also chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association and started their annual PFA Awards while making progressive improvements.
He became chairman of Wolves from 1982 to 1985 when the club came out of administration.
I will remember ‘The Doog’ for several reasons besides the wonderful sight of him leaping high to head the ball down to Richards.
They became a great partnership and scored lots of goals. Dougan’s left foot and his size made him difficult for opposing defenders.
He played for Blackburn in the 1960 FA Cup final AFTER handing in a transfer request the day before the game. He withdrew it at the start of next season after scoring all three goals in the 3-0 win over Manchester United.
Obviously the timing of the request was huge news, as back then the FA Cup final was the biggest event of the domestic season.
Blackburn lost that game 3-0 to Wolves and Dougan had a quiet game.
I knew him at Wolves and soon picked up the vibes that manager Bill Mcgarry did not like him.
I found myself at times stuck between manager and player. I got on with both of them but my request to interview Dougan live on my ATV Sports section on Friday nights always met refusal from Mcgarry.
He was irritated when we used to get round it by pretending it was a
PFA interview. I would ask him two or three union questions and then turn the interview round to Wolves, etc.
Dougan described his seven years under Mcgarry as the most traumatic of his career. But he remained at Molineux to contribute and enjoy the success the team achieved.
I recall The Doog’s testimonial match on October 20, 1975 when
Wolves drew 0-0 against England manager Don Revie’s XI, which contained players like Peter Shilton, Frank Worthington, Colin Bell, Gerry Francis, Stan Bowles and Alan Hudson. Some 25,658 were in the ground. The warm up game was a great highlight for me because my ATV All-stars played a Showbiz XI. I think it was 20 minutes each way.
I was short of a goalkeeper that day and so played one of the most popular ATV presenters, the very old fishing expert Terry ‘Tight Lines’ Thomas.
He turned out in plus fours and a flat cap and needed one or four pre-match ‘Scotches’ to calm him.
Jim Mccalliog, playing for the opposition, let fly with a cracking shot from the edge of our penalty area.
I was playing centre-half and I know that Terry never saw the shot. It flew over his cap and deflected off the bar. I hooked it away for safety hearing Thomas behind me asking, ‘What happened?’
Ironically the crowd thought Terry had saved it and one of the roars of the night went up!
When ITV had the chance to show regional recorded football in a live studio show on Saturdays nights in 1980, Derek rang me to say he had been offered the Yorkshire Television’s version as presenter and could he buy me lunch at the old Lorenzo’s restaurant for some guidance.
My advice was get yourself a moulded ear piece to hear instructions and keep everything very short until you get the experience.
Derek got the earpiece but his opening link was something like two minutes. It did not work out.
Dougan, however, had been part of the wonderful, entertaining ITV panel in the 1970 World Cup with Brian Moore, Malcolm Allison, Pat Crerand and Bob Mcnab.
It was repeated, again with enormous success, in 1974 with
Brian Clough and Jack Charlton replacing Crerand and Mcnab. It was ground-breaking television.
The last time I saw Dougan was at the old Perry Barr greyhound track with his new partner Merlyn.
We had known his German-born wife Jutta and now Derek had found happiness again.
He greeted me with a big smile, his usual “pleased to see you” manner. I liked The Doog.
Dougan described his seven years under Mcgarry as the most traumatic of his career. But he remained at Molineux to enjoy the success the team achieved.