Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Toronto Villa on December 31, 2020, 04:25:33 PM
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Sad news breaking that former Villa manager Tommy Docherty has passed away aged 92. RIP Tommy who once famously said “Villa have amazing support. If you hung 11 Villa shirts on a washing line 5,000 fans would turn up to watch them!"
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RIP
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It all started with him.
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Sad news. One of the games great characters.
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Rather fitting that we're at Old Trafford tomorrow night.
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Very sad news.
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It all started with him.
Exactly. The narrative that ended on a May night in Rotterdam started when the Doc rocked up at Villa Park.
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His arrival as manager was an exciting time for a young teenage me and changed the atmosphere at the club, giving us something to look forward to at the time. RIP Tommy.
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Sad news breaking that former Villa manager Tommy Docherty has passed away aged 92. RIP Tommy who once famously said “Villa have amazing support. If you hung 11 Villa shirts on a washing line 5,000 fans would turn up to watch them!"
30,000, I thought he said.
Anyway, sad news: he was the first 'saviour' of my Villa-watching days.
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RIP Tommy, was a huge character in football as a whole.
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It all started with him.
Exactly. The narrative that ended on a May night in Rotterdam started when the Doc rocked up at Villa Park.
Did it ? Genuine question was he good for us . Bit before my time , he seemed to have a lot of clubs after that and there is the story with Man United. Was he a good manager?
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Started getting deep into Villa post Tommy but read a lot about him and I know he was responsible for signing one of my all time favourites Bruce Rioch and told us us that Jimmy Brown was going to be the best scottish midfielder of his generation. RIP Tommy.
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Rather fitting that we're at Old Trafford tomorrow night.
Tmmy being one of those larger than life characters I wouldn't be surprised if he arranged it this way :)
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It all started with him.
Exactly. The narrative that ended on a May night in Rotterdam started when the Doc rocked up at Villa Park.
Did it ? Genuine question was he good for us . Bit before my time , he seemed to have a lot of clubs after that and there is the story with Man United. Was he a good manager?
The Doc said himself he had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus.
Arriving at Villa Park when he did was absolutely fantastic. If you want a manager who will make players run through brick walls for the cause, who will make ordinary players believe they can take on the world and win then yes he was a great manager. If you want a manager who can make fans so proud and excited that they will shout and sing till they lose their voice then yes he was a great manager.
I will always look back on his arrival at the Villa as the most incredibly exciting time ever as a Villa fan.
RIP
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It all started with him.
Just before my time but I always got the impression he was a character and a factor in us starting to think big/be ambitious again (as epitomised by the quote TV mentioned above) after years in the doldrums.
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He was manager when I first started to go to the games
He started to wake up the sleeping giant
When Doug said "he was right behind him " he replied that
He would rather him be in front as he could keep an eye on him lol
RIP Doc God bless x
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The first real “hero” Villa manager in my memory.
That summer of 1969 after taking over the previous December., Villa trained at the Delta sports ground in Holly Lane Erdington and we went down to watch most days. Tommy Doc was brilliant with us and I remember him pipping the horn of his Daimler as he drove by me as I rode my bike on some shopping errand for my mom.
The crowds were back, we’d signed the Rioch brothers for a combined £110,000 (!) as well as Chico Hamilton. We were favourites to win the second division - but we got relegated! But I never lost faith in The Doc and remember shedding tears when my mom shouted up the stairs that he’d been sacked with a few months of the season remaining. I think it was after we’d lost 5-3 at home to Portsmouth despite being all over them (at least that’s how I saw it).
Doc helped revive the ailing giant that Villa were in the late 1960s. RIP Tommy Doc.
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For anyone who's interested, Talksport are repeating the Tommy Docherty "My Sporting Life" with Danny Kelly at 7pm tonight. Well worth a listen!
RIP
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25. On his career: "I’ve had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus."
24. On his reputation: "I've been called a sadist, a sergeant major, a Glasgow tough who lashes his players. I'm not in the game to make friends."
23. On the pressure at Manchester United: "I don't think Henry Kissinger would have lasted 48 hours at Old Trafford."
22. On the finest player he ever saw: "You can keep all your Bests, Peles and Maradonas, Duncan Edwards was the greatest of them all."
21. On Chelsea: "Chelsea is my club. I won’t have a bad word said against them. I love the Bridge. I go five or six times a year and they’re brilliant to me."
20. On Ray Wilkins: "He can't run, he can't tackle and he can't head the ball. The only time he goes forward is for the toss."
19. On growing up in Glasgow: "I remember this about the Gorbals. If you wanted a new pair of shoes you went down the swimming baths in bare feet and just nicked a pair."
18. On Lorenzo Amoruso: "Somebody compared him to Billy McNeil, but I don’t remember Billy being crap."
17. On his forwards: "Our strikers couldn’t score in a brothel."
16. On his former QPR chairman Jim Gregory: "When you shook hands with him, you counted your fingers."
15. On how the game should be played: "Football wasn't meant to be run by linesmen and air traffic control."
14. To his chairman at Chelsea: "Mr Chairman, when I want your advice I'll give it to you."
13. On Jimmy Hill: "He was probably one of the worst players I’ve ever seen. He once said to me: ‘I’m good in the air.’ I replied: ‘So was Douglas Bader.’"
12. On Aston Villa: "Villa have amazing support. If you hung 11 Villa shirts on a washing line five thousand fans would turn up to watch them."
11. On celebrity football club ownership: "Elton John decided he wanted to rename Watford and call it Queen of the South."
10. On Barry Ferguson: “He had no pace. I’ve seen malt turn quicker.”
9. On compensation: "They offered me a handshake of £10,000 to settle amicably. I told them that they would have to be a lot more amicable than that."
8. On modern players: "I’ve seen some recently who could trap a ball further than I could kick it. When they pass it, they should attach this message: ‘To whom it may concern!’ And they’re getting 50 grand a week and upwards."
7. On Jimmy Johnstone: "On my first day as Scotland manager I had to call off practice after half an hour, because nobody could get the ball off wee Jimmy Johnstone."
6. On surviving in management: "People ask me what makes a great manager and I say it is good players. Crap players get you the sack, it's as simple as that."
5. On the best player in the world: "Lionel Messi is an immature Tom Finney."
4. On Manchester City: "There are three types of Oxo cubes. Light brown for chicken stock, dark brown for beef stock and light blue for laughing stock."
3. On getting rid of George Best: "George just kept on going missing at the time - Miss America, Miss Canada, Miss Great Britain."
2. On the media: "I've always said there's a place for the press but they haven't dug it yet."
1. On being sacked by Manchester United after having an affair with the physio’s wife (who he later married): "I’m the only manager to be sacked for falling in love."
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I was off the scale when we appointed him. As shit as we have been these last few years, it's nothing compared to what we were when The Doc was made manager.
He really did re-start the motor.
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Wasn't he in charge when we got relegated to the 3rd tier
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They missed out his opinion of Dwight Yorke.
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December 68, Doug's first manager, fans were excited at the appointment, made a great start to his Villa career winning 7 of his first 9 matches. Next season we were favourites to up, as we were the biggest spenders in the close season, sadly it all went wrong, sacked in January.
RIP Tommy
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He was manager when I first started to go to the games
He started to wake up the sleeping giant
When Doug said "he was right behind him " he replied that
He would rather him be in front as he could keep an eye on him lol
RIP Doc God bless x
I’ve always credited that to Vic Crowe.
I will always be grateful for the Doc bringing in Bruce Rioch, though.
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We were on our knees.The Doc brought the crowds back.RIP
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They missed out his opinion of Dwight Yorke.
‘If that lad makes a First Division footballer, then I’m Mao Tse-tung.’ for Yorke was about as accurate as "You've just seen a future captain of Scotland" for 15 year old Jimmy Brown.
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He was manager when I first started to go to the games
He started to wake up the sleeping giant
When Doug said "he was right behind him " he replied that
He would rather him be in front as he could keep an eye on him lol
RIP Doc God bless x
I’ve always credited that to Vic Crowe.
I will always be grateful for the Doc bringing in Bruce Rioch, though.
It was definitely the Doc, he was one of the top managers at the time and didn't take much persuading to join Villa I believe. After all the shit the preceeding years had served up, the excitement the appointment of the Doc created was palpable. Those of us old enough, had known nothing like it since 1957.
When I told Mrs S about his passing, she reminded me that his grandson went to the same school as our kids. I said wasn't he in our lads class as I thought he may have been, she couldn't remember that. Later on I got a text from my daughter asking had I heard the news about the Doc and asking about the grandson. I told her and she said she thought the grandson may have been in the years between her and her brother. Mrs S says she definitely remembers the Doc collecting the child on a few occasions.
RIP Tommy Docherty and thank you for the hope you gave us.
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I think the first game where I had an inkling of how big we were was the Boxing Day fixture v Cardiff in 1968. I was only 6 then but my dad told me how much he did to reinvigorate our support after several years of dross ( though the players were all heroes to me). RIP Tommy.
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I think the first game where I had an inkling of how big we were was the Boxing Day fixture v Cardiff in 1968. I was only 6 then but my dad told me how much he did to reinvigorate our support after several years of dross ( though the players were all heroes to me). RIP Tommy.
A crowd of 41,000 for Doc’s second home game in charge after gates had dwindled to 12,000 for the home game before his appointment. We soon had a 59,000 gate for the 4th round FA cup match against Southampton, which we won.
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Very sad news RIP
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I posted on the wrong thread
He got the adrenalin flowing through the club, we were in the news
Always ready with a quote, Respectful of the club and its traditions.
I have the Mercury pull out from the away game at s,hampton then that victory at home.
I can picture him on the pitch with Doug,
All around Brum graffitti artists sprayed walls, Doc is God
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Ah bless him one of life’s true characters. I went to see him at a brmb sports forum and he was hugely entertaining. His stories about Doug when he was villa manager were brilliant.
He said he came back off holidays once after the summer break and Doug had signed three players for him without consulting him.
I remember when he was making his way to the stage someone I think it might have been Tom Ross was holding up prompt cards for the Audience to shout out the name of every club he had managed.
Imagine pep enjoying that as he walked onto a hastily put together stage at the Gaiety in Smethwick!
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I remember the excitement when it was announced the Doc was going to manage us compare it to today it was like The Albion getting Jurgen Klopp. RIP
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RIP Mao Tse-Tung!
One of the game's great characters in 70s and 80s, what a life he had.
Can remember being at Bodymoor Heath years back and Doug's AV1 rolls royce rolled out. Plenty of people went to get his autograph but I noticed someone in passenger seat and had a look and it was Tommy Doc. Signed and posed for photo etc, might try and go find it.
One of those I thought would live forever and possibly outlive the Queen. R.I.P.
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RIP.
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RIP The Doc.
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RIP.
There's something to be said for this kind of populist football manager, clubs need them every so often. He took both us and Man Utd down, but is still held in high regard at both.
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My memory may be deceiving me but on at his frst home game didn't he walk around the pitch wallowing in the fans adoration. It was exiting while it lasted.
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The Doc was the manager when I went to my first game. It’s where it started for me so I remember him fondly RIP Doc
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I played for his local pub against a Docherty Best X1 including many ex pros.
He was a real character and very popular with the locals.
R.I.P. The Doc.
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Sad news even at such an age. He injected such an energy into the club along with Ellis and Matthews. That first half season was great. I was 10 and suddenly Villa were in the papers and The Doc provided a belief I hadn't seen before.It couldn't last of course.
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We were in such a wretched state when Doug Ellis/Matthews took over and had the good sense to appoint a charismatic Scotsman who immediately transformed the mood and image of the club. I was there for the Boxing Day victory over Cardiff on a bone hard pitch and the next month in the Holte for the cup defeat of Southampton in front of 59000!
After he had rescued us from relegation and made some astute summer signings, including Bruce Rioch, we were favourites to go up next year (1969-70). I never understood why it went so badly wrong. The Doc was sacked and we went down anyway.
Hitch hiking back to Brum after an away defeat at Blackpool near the end of that miserable campaign, we got picked up by Doug Ellis in his Roller. He confessed that sacking Tommy D was the hardest decision he had ever made.
However, the fans were back in droves and belief was there, despite looming relegation. As mentioned earlier this was the start of the journey that culminated at Rotterdam.
RIP Tommy and thanks for the memories.
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After they (Man u) had won the 2nd division and we finished runners up I remember him being asked about any game during that season they didn’t deserve to win. He mentioned that our game against them was the one. He was then pulled up on this as it intimated we should then have been champions as we were only a few points behind them. Some back tracking ensued. Maybe somebody will remember this in greater detail.
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I still have fond memories of the Holte chanting:
"Doc - Doc - Doc-her-ty!"
And the opposition fans - without missing a beat:
"Who - the - fuckin' - hell - is - he?"
RIP Tommy.
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One hell of a character was our Tommy and he captured the Supporters from the first match, I think it was versus Norwich.
I was there for the QPR cup win. All the midlands clubs were at home that day for the FA Cup third round. But who got (by some distance) the largest crowd with over 39,000 at Villa Park?
He captured our imagination and gave us momentum with the Southampton replay filling Villa Park to the rafters with over 59,000
An incredible evening.
It was the Doc who helped me to understand the true potential of our great club and I was gutted when it did not work out.
But then again it paved the way for another great servant to the club when Vic Crowe took over the reins.
Bless you Tommy RIP
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Tommy was manager when I watched my first game at Villa Park.
May he rest in peace.