In Sunshine or In Shadow

David Tossell

Description

Derek Dougan was no ordinary footballer. A flamboyant Northern Irish goalscorer, his unwillingness to accept injustice and mismanagement won him as many enemies as friends. Shortly after being asked to collaborate on a new autobiography, a project undone by Dougan's sudden death, David Tossell set out to retrace his life through a series of over 70 interviews. The result is a definitive account of a contradictory icon with a unique place in the evolution of modern British football. Dougan demanded a transfer on the eve of an FA Cup final, quoted Voltaire and fell out with various clubs. As chairman of the PFA, he fought for freedom of contract; as a club executive, he introduced shirt sponsorship; and 'The Doog' saved Wolves from extinction. In Sunshine Or In Shadow reveals the darkness and light of Derek Dougan, the drive and demons that kept him fighting to the very end.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781909178106
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Published by Pitch Publishing, 2012 Text © 2012 David Tossell
David Tossell has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-908051-39-4 eISBN: 978-1-909178-10-6
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
The Doog, RIP
Belfast Child
Over the Rainbow
Pompey Crimes
Rovers Rebellion
National Service
Hero and Villain
The Posh Life
Back in the Big Time
Happy Wanderer?
Media Darling
Captains and Cup Finals
United We Stand
Rebel for the Cause
Getting Shirty
Wolves at the Door
Friends and Enemies
Love Finally
Postscript
Bibliography
Photographs
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book of this nature can proceed without the memories and opinions of those who knew, or shared a playing field, with its subject. Therefore I am greatly indebted to everyone who spared time to talk to me about Derek Dougan.
Among the football fraternity – and following the rough chronology of Dougan’s career – teammates Ken Hamilton and Frankie Watters helped to complete the picture of his time at Distillery, while Bill Albury, Sammy Chapman, Ray Crawford, Tommy McGhee, John Phillips and the late Norman Uprichard illuminated his Portsmouth days.
For insight into the various stages of Dougan’s Northern Ireland career I have Billy Bingham, Harry Gregg, Bryan Hamilton, Eric McMordie, Sammy Nelson, Peter McParland and journalist Malcolm Brodie to thank, while former teammate and manager Terry Neill was helpful in both Irish and PFA matters. Peter Dobing, Bryan Douglas, the late Ronnie Clayton, Mick McGrath and Matt Woods spoke about the controversial couple of years Dougan spent at Blackburn, and valuable Aston Villa contributions came from McParland, Nigel Sims, Bobby Thomson and Ron Wylie.
A transfer to Peterborough brought the assistance of Graham Birks, Peter Deakin, Peter McNamee and Frank Rankmore, while thanks are due to Leicester teammates Gordon Banks, Davie Gibson, Richie Norman, Bobby Roberts, Peter Rodrigues and Tom Sweenie, as well as former club secretary Eddie Plumley.
Among colleagues at Wolves, I spoke with Mike Bailey, Kenny Hibbitt, John Holsgrove, the late Frank Munro, Geoff Palmer and Derek Parkin, while the story of Dougan’s return to the club as chief executive could not have been told without Graham Hawkins, Doug Hope and Ian Cartwright. Gordon Livsey and Sean Suddards recalled historic times at Kettering, as did Alan Merrick, who, along with Brendon Batson, Bruce Bannister and Jackie Fullerton, was enlightening on Dougan’s involvement with the PFA. Comments from opponents include those from Bobby Clark, Frank McLintock, Peter Simpson and Terry Conroy, who was also a big help in relation to Derek’s involvement in the all-Ireland team and the latter years of his life. Bob McNab and Nick Owen shared memories of Dougan’s broadcasting career.
Coreen Long and Josephine Long gave me great assistance in many areas, notably family life in Belfast, while friends and acquaintances who spoke about various elements of Dougan’s life included Peter Bartlett, Peter Creed, Simon Dunkley, Stuart Earl, Robert Goddard, Alex Lattimer, Chris Westcott and Linda Westcott. As well as providing valuable background on his friend’s campaigning for former footballers, Bob Runham played a vital role in getting this project under way.
Among my interviewees, final and greatest thanks go to Merlyn Humphreys, Derek’s partner in later life, who offered me outstanding support, hospitality, contacts and insight into the man whose memory and legacy she continues to keep alive on a daily basis.
Many other people whose names may not appear elsewhere in this book deserve my gratitude for assistance given, with special mention for Haydn Parry and Richard Whitehead. Thanks to Alan Bennett, Adrian Bevington, Mike Davage, Matt Hill, Mark Hooper, Mike Jackman, Shaun Keogh, Paul Mace, John Nagle, Richard Owen, Neil Rioch and Dawson Simpson. As always, the written work of many other people has been of great assistance in my research and I have attempted to acknowledge as many as possible in the bibliography. Paul Camillin at Pitch Publishing ensured that this book came to fruition and I thank him and everyone in production for their support and professionalism.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This book was researched and written between July 2007 and July 2008, the 12 months immediately following Derek Dougan’s death.
Chapter 1
DOOG, RIP
The voice at the end of the line was unmistakeable, the introduction superfluous. "David," the uncompromising Belfast accent announced. "It’s Derek Dougan."
What started out as a simple call several weeks earlier to request an interview for a book about Malcolm Allison had turned into a series of telephone exchanges and meetings in which we had discussed all manner of subjects, yet never been far from a return to the recurring theme of Dougan’s passion for helping retired former footballers in times of trouble. Most of our discussions seemed to have taken place in between his appointments with lawyers, insurance companies or football authorities; engagements he approached with the same relish with which he’d attacked crosses from the wing during two decades as a centre-forward with Distillery, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Peterborough, Leicester, Wolves and his beloved Northern Ireland.
That he had also shown an interest in – and asked for copies of – my previous books, I’d taken as little more than polite interest. Now it had all become clear. I had, it appeared, been auditioning. "What are you doing for the next few months?" Dougan asked, in a manner that left me in no doubt about the answer he wished to hear. "I want to get a new version of my autobiography out for my 70th birthday and I’d like you to work on it with me. You could come and stay at my house in Wolverhampton. We’d split any money 50-50."
It should have been an offer I couldn’t refuse, but with several months of work left on another project and Derek apparently keen to work to a tight deadline, I had to suggest, with considerable regret: "I’d love to do it, but it depends on when you want to get started. If you want to begin immediately I think you are going to have to ask someone else. Otherwise, let’s look at it again in the summer."
Cursing the missed opportunity to work with an icon of the football era I grew up with and which, for me, retains an addictive fascination, I listened to Derek’s parting comment. He laughed as he delivered his words, but I sensed the edge in his voice. "If I go ahead without you, I hope you read the book and wish you’d been involved."
A few months later, I discovered that his book would never be written. Turning on Sky Sports News to get the day’s headlines, I learned that Derek Dougan, aged 69, had died from a heart attack at his home.
The tributes that followed in the next few days were fulsome, whether from teammates, opponents, friends, administrators or those who had simply stood on the terraces cheering or, in some cases, cursing the man they knew as "the Doog". Privately, those who had known him most closely over the years were in no rush to create a saint. Many had witnessed or been recipients of his extraordinary acts of thoughtfulness and generosity, but through their grief and their love they still recognised that Derek could make reckless, ill-judged decisions and, if he chose, be a bastard. By God, he could be a right bloody-minded bastard. John Holsgrove, a former Wolves teammate and a friend for four decades, would tell me: "If Derek fell out with you, or didn’t like you, he would just shut you out."
The trick, it seems, was not to attempt to work out how you could reconcile the two sides of the man. You just accepted that the contradiction was as much a part of him as his long legs and gap-toothed grin. Take it or leave it.
The obituary writers had any number of themes to pursue, demonstrating the rich and varied texture of his life and the paradoxical nature of his character. Some reflected on the combustible nature of the young footballer who ventured from Belfast to the Football League, staying at clubs just long enough to get the management’s back up before being moved along to the next one. Others, especially those with a geographical bias towards the Midlands, noted the legendary status the more mature Dougan acquired at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he scored 123 goals and achieved his dream of a Wembley victory during eight years as a player before later becoming chief executive in one of the club’s darkest hours.
Those focusing on his life away from the pitch paid tribute to his work as chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, where his constant campaigning played an important role in laying the foundation for the contractual freedom today’s players take for granted. Having worked towards securing the rights of the modern generation, he persisted – in his supposed reti