STARS PAY TRIBUTE
McCalliog’s tribute to legendary boss
SCOTLAND legend Jim McCalliog was handed the perfect 18th birthday present by Tommy Docherty – a topteam debut for Chelsea.
It was to be the unwrapping of an incredible career for club and country for the young midfielder.
McCalliog will be forever grateful for the crucial part the man he got to know as a manager, mentor and friend played in his journey. And not just at the outset either. They were cut from the same cloth. Two men from the Gorbals area of Glasgow who would go on to achieve greatness in the star-studded football world south of the border.
Few knew the legendary manager better than McCalliog, who was first signed by Docherty as a teenager for Chelsea before having his childhood dream to play for
Manchester United come true thanks to the same boss.
Last night, as he came to terms with the news Docherty had passed away at the age of 92, McCalliog paid tribute to the man he reckons was one of, if not the greatest influence on his career.
McCalliog said: “Tommy Docherty was one of the most positive people I ever met.
“There are a lot of people in football who will be very thankful to him and I am one.
“We had the same background, both Gorbals lads, and I suppose that was an instant connection.
“But he played a massive part in my football career, signing me twice, including me in his Scotland teams and just being a great person.
“He gave me my debut on my 18th birthday – we hammered a
Birmingham City side with Bertie Auld in it.
“It set me off on a fantastic career and I have so much to thank Tommy for.”
McCalliog would go on to play top-flight football with two of England’s biggest clubs under “The Doc”.
Signed as a fledgling 17-year-old for the Stamford Bridge giants, the hero of Scotland’s 1967 Wembley Wizards side revealed Docherty had actually tried to coax him to London two years earlier but a deal at Leeds kept him waiting.
McCalliog said: “Tommy came to my door when I was 15. I had just played for Scotland schoolboys against England at Ibrox.
“I had just walked home, got in the house, made myself a piece and jam, and my mum shouted and said there was a man at the door. It was
Tommy. That was the first time I met him. At that point I had already given my word to Leeds United and my word was my bond.
“But Tommy never forgot. And when I left Leeds a couple of years later he was the first person to contact me.
“Within three days of leaving Leeds I was on my way to Chelsea.
“That’s when my career took off thanks to Tommy.
“As a man he was never down. I never saw him in a bad mood or talk in any other way than about going out on to the park to win.
“His favourite trick when we were at Manchester United – when team lines were exchanged ahead of kick-off – was to scrunch up the opposition list and throw it in the bin.
“He’d say, ‘We don’t need to know a thing about them – we play our
own game’. He knew the game inside out.
“He would never go overboard on tactics but would just put us in the right frame of mind to go out and play.
“Whenever making a signing, he would make a point of going to see the player himself. The best judge in the world could tell him about a player but he would still want to check it out himself.
“When he led Manchester United back from the Second Division, that was the making of the club.
“With all due respect to Sir Matt Busby, he didn’t have it in him to say goodbye to players.
“Tommy could do that. It’s not a nice part of the job but he could handle it. He was forthright – he had to be – but he was also always fair with players.
“I remember the season before when we lost too Manchester City, the game that saw us relegated to the Second Division.sion. Denis Law had scored the back-heeler.
“After the full-time whistle I went straight into the dressing room.
“Denis was sitting in our dressing room in his blue gear.
“It was incredible. I embraced him and asked if he was OK.
“He obviously wasn’t feeling very good. I was a bit worried The Doc would come in and if he was in a bad mood something could go off.
“But all credit to Tommy, he came in and shook hands with Denis.”
As well as the Second Division title in 1975, Docherty won the FA Cup with United in 1977.
He also won the League Cup with Chelsea in 1965.
But the big one – the First Division title – always eluded him. McCMcCalliog said: “We were very unlucky not to have won it back then.t
Tommy was one of the most positive people JIM McCALLIOG
“Things happen in football, decisions are made. Sometimes they go for a manager and sometimes they backfire. That’s just the way it goes.
“We remained good friends later in life. I do events and he did one with John Greig and Willie Henderson a few years back.
“His stories were tremendous. He got a great ovation.
“Tommy would always come along to reunions of the side that won the Second Division with United too. He was such a popular figure.
“It’s terribly sad news that we have lost him. I, for one, will always be grateful just to have spent so long in his presence, never mind
played for him.”