Biography and City Career:

Peter Doherty was born on 5^th June 1913 in Magherafelt, County Londonderry. He joined Manchester City on 19^th February 1936 from Blackpool for a then club record fee of £10,000. At the time he was reluctant to join City as he had just become engaged to a local Blackpool girl. He played nine games in his first season and scored 4 goals.

The following season was one which defined Doherty’s place in City folklore. He scored the first goal in the 1937 fixture against Arsenal, who were league leaders at the time, City being in second place.  City won the game 2-0. which placed them at the top of the table where they remained with an unbeaten run until the end of the season winning their first ever League Championship with a 4 1 victory at Sheffield Wednesday.

Doherty scored 30 league goals that season and was the club’s leading scorer. The following season,1938/39 was not as good for City and the club ended up being relegated to the Second Division despite being the First Division’s leading scorers.

Once again Doherty was the club’s leading scorer with 25 goals. City remained in the Second Division for the 1938/39 season and Doherty scored 18 goals. When war was declared in September 1939, Doherty in common with many other footballers joined the RAF as a PT Instructor based in Blackpool.

Whilst there he continued to play for City scoring 60 goals from 89 matches throughout the war. He also “guested“ for 12 other clubs during the war years, which did not please the Board at City.  In December 1945, shortly before he was demobbed, Doherty left Manchester City and joined Derby County where he helped them to win the FA Cup in May 1946.

Notable facts/stories:

He was amongst the first group of players to be inducted into the English Football Players Hall of Fame.

Non-City career:

He retired from playing in 1953 after spells at Huddersfield Town and as player/manager at Doncaster Rovers. Throughout his playing career Doherty represented Northern Ireland on 16 occasions and in October 1951 he became Manager of the Northern Ireland International team. He led them to the quarter finals of the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden.

In later life Doherty was a scout for a number of clubs including Aston Villa, Preston, Sunderland, Blackpool and Liverpool. He helped to discover Kevin Keegan for Liverpool who was playing at Scunthorpe.

He died in Poulton-le- Fylde in April 1990.