As a footballer, the next game is always the most important. This is particularly true if you didn’t exactly cover yourself in glory in the previous one. Consider, therefore, the foreboding of one Derek Dougan as he lined up for the Rovers in the opening game of the 1960/61 First Division season at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Dougan’s previous appearance had been in the 1960 FA Cup Final at Wembley, and what should have been the Rovers’ finest hour was shrouded in controversy, recriminations and remorse. 

Sad to say the big Irishman was a key feature of the debacle and bore the brunt of the invective, having totally miscalculated the timing of a transfer request to the club, which he had posted just before the team left their Hendon Hall Hotel en route to Wembley for the match. The written request was delivered to Ewood the following Tuesday. Despite the timings, Dougan insisted there was no vindictiveness in the circumstances surrounding the request. 

In addition, a troublesome thigh strain which had plagued Dougan’s preparations for the Final build-up, flared up barely three minutes into the game and rendered Rovers effectively down to ten men, which became nine when Dave Whelan was stretchered off. Whilst the press and some supporters were less than kind, Dougan had a worthy advocate in skipper, Ronnie Clayton who, typically, lent his support to the Irishman at a difficult time.

It was to Dougan’s credit that in the Old Trafford opener, he was in majestic form and helped himself to a hat-trick in a splendid Rovers 3–1 victory.

With hindsight perhaps we should not have been surprised that Derek Dougan was in the thick of things because here was a footballer who was far from conventional – the polar opposite in fact – extrovert, flamboyant, mercurial, outspoken and a natural showman. In short, he was something of a phenomenon not previously seen at Ewood Park.

Supporters were divided. To the older generation he was just a crackpot but to we youngsters he was exciting – sometimes socks round his ankles, diving into the Blackburn End, it was wonderful and he could do no wrong as far as we were concerned. Supporters revelled in it, he revelled in it.

I believe we forget in any debate about Dougan’s Rovers career that he was young, just turned 21, and a relatively inexperienced player, having played just 33 times for Portsmouth in the League before joining the Rovers for a five-figure fee in March 1959. 

True to the script his early Rovers performances were halting, until it was diagnosed that he was debilitated by a particularly virulent tonsilitis infection, which ultimately required surgery. Post-surgery, he became a totally different player.

To my young, and subsequently my more mature eyes, Derek Dougan was a highly talented footballer, predominantly left-footed, who was skilful and controlled on the ball, prodigious in the air, and was pacy using his long, loping stride to maximum effect. He was cunningly physical yet his most endearing attribute was his unpredictability. 

He was to some extent the antithesis of his fine forward line colleagues, Douglas, Dobing, Vernon and MacLeod. Despite this anachronism, the Dougan-led front line was individually and collectively outstanding, high on skill, enterprise, entertainment and endeavour. 

Not long at the club, Dougan was nicknamed “Cheyenne” by supporters, after the popular TV Western character of the time, Cheyenne Bodie played by Clint Walker – even years later I’m baffled by the so-called resemblance.

Converted from centre-half to centre-forward during his time at Fratton Park, Dougan was rangy and angular in physique which perhaps gave the impression of being languid, which was far from the truth. His movement off the ball was intelligent and together with the promptings of Douglas and Vernon allowed the fleet-footed Peter Dobing to take full advantage of his goalscoring prowess. Dougan wasn’t just a foil, however, he was a goalscorer in his own right. In his Rovers career he accumulated 26 League goals from 59 appearances and was capped 43 times by Northern Ireland.

It was Dougan who scored the Rovers goal on his debut at Arsenal on 14th March 1959 whilst, after a period of injury and reserve team football, Dougan bowed out at Craven Cottage on 22nd April 1961, in a 1–1 draw with Fulham, playing at Outside Left.

Perhaps two games sum up his time at the Rovers, both coming in that fabulous FA Cup run in 1959/60.

The first was the 6th Round replay against Burnley at Ewood, after that sensational comeback in the first game at Turf Moor (Rovers were 3–0 down with 17 minutes to go before levelling the scores).

In that replay, with the game on a knife edge, and just seven minutes before half-time, Dougan went down under a bad challenge and the portents looked ominous as he was carried off on a stretcher. No substitutes in those days and as both teams took to the field for the second half, Dougan was missing – the Ewood faithful crestfallen.

As the game was about to kick off for the second period, a huge and raucous roar was emitted from the stands and terraces as Dougan trotted out of the tunnel. This was typical Cheyenne, the showman making an entrance – pure theatre. Rovers went on to win the replay 2–0 in extra time, with goals from Dobing and MacLeod.

The second was the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday at Maine Road, Manchester as Rovers ran out 2–1 winners with a brace from Dougan. His first, superbly crafted by Douglas, whose deft feint completely foxed his opponent and a square pass found McGrath, who, moving forwards found Dougan in space in the box and after his instant control he unerringly fired the ball, right-footed, past the Wednesday keeper, Ron Springett.

Dougan’s second and decisive goal was again started by Douglas who turned defence into attack by finding Ally MacLeod, who had moved from his wing to the inside right position. The Scotsman’s astute forward ball found Dougan and the Irishman went through the gap to score past Springett. Cheyenne’s typical exuberant celebration behind the goal was a joy to behold. 

Along with keeper Harry Leyland, who, had the kitchen sink been available, would have stopped that as well, Cheyenne had a day to remember. It wasn’t just the two goals he scored, but his cunning off-the-ball play, his mobility and pace completely outmaneuvered the England man Peter Swan. There was even time for a touch of Cheyenne impudence as he enquired of Swan whether he “wanted two tickets for the Final.”

Roy Vernon’s departure to Everton in March 1960, perhaps changed the dynamics for supporters of just how successful this era’s Rovers team could be, something that was not lost on Dougan. If you have an interest in Rovers history this was to become an irritating trend. Dougan, never far away from an opinion or argument, voiced his own disquiet and it became obvious that his tenure at Ewood would be a short-term affair.

Then, far too soon, in July 1961, after being on a temporary one-month contract, the man with the yearn for fast living, a fast red E-Type Jaguar and a former Miss Great Britain on his arm, departed the scene. It was perhaps apposite that this itinerant footballer moved to Aston Villa for £15,000, stopping off at Third Division Peterborough United (where he reinvigorated himself) and then Leicester City before finding his niche at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he fulfilled that latent talent and more. 

Although, having said that, he could have made his name on the continent, because prior to joining Villa he had met with officials of Anderlecht in Belgium after the Rovers had agreed a deal. Despite being noncommittal on his return to Ewood and with a hint of possibility, the deal never materialised.

Dougan had a brief flirtation as the player-manager of Kettering Town before a high-profile role as Chairman of the PFA followed his retirement from his playing days and did some World Cup punditry work for ITV during the World Cup in 1974. An entry into the world of politics also failed, however, as he stood as an “Independent Former Captain NI Football Team” candidate for East Belfast in the 1997 General Election.

It is difficult, even with hindsight, to properly sum up Cheyenne’s tenure at the Rovers. At the time, and barely a teenage supporter, I was awestruck not just at his footballing skills and abilities, but also his idiosyncrasies – the shaven head, the socks round the ankles, his rapport with supporters. It was all new, exciting and completely out of sync with anything I’d witnessed in those formative early 1950s.

Notwithstanding his Cup Final naivety, Derek Dougan to me in a blue and white shirt will always be a young, charismatic, exciting, stylish and prodigious talent. 

As an addendum to that infamous transfer request, Dougan was duly transfer listed by the Rovers yet, remarkably in April 1961, he officially requested to be taken off the list. One final surprise was that Dougan really wanted to become a Half Back – “I’d rather play Left Half than any other position on the field. I feel that’s my true place.” That was Cheyenne Dougan to a tee.

Derek Dougan passed away on 24 June 2007 at the age of 69. 

*This article was originally published in Issue 106 of 4,000 Holes in November 2022. Fanzines are available to purchase here.