Derek Dougan Dies

[T4E]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ers/6234726.stm

[Redrose49er]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ers/6234726.stm

Sad when a former Rover passes away. My dad always blamed him for unsettling the team prior to the 1960 Cup Final, how ironic then that Dougan had his best success at Wolves!

[den]

RIP Cheyenne.

[brfc fan]

God, he was only 69.

RIP

[Mike Graham]

I lived in Wolverhampton until I was 5 before moving up to Euxton then Leyland.

The "Doog" was my hero. My wall was full of his photos and I have his autograph.

My all time great. RIP Doog.

[Wolves_Rover]

RIP Doog

[jim mk2]

Dougan asked for a transfer on the morning of the 1960 FA Cup Final, another setback in a match which turned out to be a pivotal event in the club's history.

The so-called tickets scandal involving Rovers players had been the talk of the town in the build-up to the game, leading to many supporters vowing never to go to Ewood Park again.

Dougan's transfer request unsettled Rovers, who had been favourites to beat Wolves but played poorly. The press called it the Dustbin Final. To cap a bad day, Dave Whelan, the Rovers defender, broke his leg; unfortunate for him but his premature retirement from the game might have inspired him to become the wealthy businessman he is today.

RIP Derek Dougan, good centre forward who shat on Rovers.

[RevidgeBlue]

Sorry, can't have any real sympathy for someone who asked for a transfer to our opponents on the morning of an FA Cup Final.

[Gav]

Sorry, can't have any real sympathy for someone who asked for a transfer to our opponents on the morning of an FA Cup Final.

My dad also blames him for our defeat in the cup final, but RIP.

[DudeAbides]

RIP...

[OhmiBRFC]

Rest In Peace

[Ozz]

Sorry, can't have any real sympathy for someone who asked for a transfer to our opponents on the morning of an FA Cup Final.

I doubt he wants your sympathy, but I'm sure his family will appreciate your kind words Rev.

[92er]

I doubt he wants your sympathy, but I'm sure his family will appreciate your kind words Rev.

He just told it like it was.

[Hanks]

He did ask for a transfer but not to our opponments wolves. He was not fit for the game but probably desperate to play and let his team mates down. when whelan went off it left us with nine men and an invalid.the ins and outs of what made him ask for a transfer we will never know. He was however an outstanding player and character. RIP The doug

[Roar of the Rover]

Rest In Peace.

[IAN57]

Once seen never forgotten.

RIP Cheyenne

[Fife Rover]

He was a very good CF for Rovers, but I too lost all respect for him with the way he asked for a transfer on the very morning of our appearence at Wembley in the Cup Final. That certainly added to the feelings of outrage amongst many 1000's of Rovers fans already angry at the cup tickets scam. Still 69 is very young to die and nobdy deserves that, so RIP.

Edited June 24, 2007 by Fife Rover

[thenodrog]

He was a very good CF for Rovers, but I too lost all respect for him with the way he asked for a transfer on the very morning of our appearence at Wembley in the Cup Final.

My father despised him for that selfish, treacherous and utimately destructive act.

Funny thing is looking at the dates that Dougan stayed for another 12 months! I realise that in those days the clubs held a players registration and the players could do nothing whatsoever about it but it still seems odd that they would keep such a disruptive influence within the squad. The only reason imo being to put him in his place and break both him and his resolve, purely as an example to the other players not to step out of line.

Edited June 25, 2007 by thenodrog

[Fife Rover]

My father despised him for that selfish, treacherous and utimately destructive act.

There is probably a whole lot more that I and others of my generation could say about Dougan's time at Rovers, and I am not meaning to imply it was all bad, far from it, but now is not the right time to be airing these things. Speak no ill of the dead.

[thenodrog]

Speak no ill of the dead.

That is not speaking ill of the dead, that is simply a statement of fact. Nobody before or since has matched that single act. God only knows why he did it, and what he hoped to gain.

[dave birch]

Did it ever come out why he did it?

[Fife Rover]

That is not speaking ill of the dead, that is simply a statement of fact. Nobody before or since has matched that single act. God only knows why he did it, and what he hoped to gain.

By "speak no ill of the dead" I was meaning the other things I could say about him.

[thenodrog]

O.K Fife.

Did it ever come out why he did it?

I might well be able to find that out. If I do I shall let you know.

Edited June 25, 2007 by thenodrog

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

A year before it all went wrong....

That photo of Dougan was taken in 1959, the year before he handed in a transfer request on the day of the FA Cup final. It was a disgraceful act, but now that he's dead I don't want to speak ill of him.

He leaves behind a family who will be grieving - and his family of course are not in any way to blame for the transfer request. So from that point of view I am sorry that he has died at the relatively young age of 69. After his playing career ended, Dougan did a lot of work raising money for various charities. So perhaps God will forgive him for his treacherous act in 1960.

Dougan is the only Wolves player so far to have scored a hat-trick in a European competition, which he did in the UEFA Cup in 1971-72 against a Portugese side. (Wolves lost in the UEFA Cup final that year to Spurs - the first all-English European final.)

Somewhere up in my loft is a book that Dougan co-wrote with Radio 5 broadcaster Pat Murphy in the mid 1980s, called "Matches of the Day 1958-83: a Footballing History" - which is actually a very good read. I'll have to bring it down from the loft sometime. It describes in good detail some of the best matches of that period.

Times Obituary of Dougan

[thenodrog]

A testament to his action in asking for a transfer on the morning of the FA cup final from an opposition source (Wolves centre half Bill Slater) quoted today from the Daily Telegraph.........

"On the morning of the FA Cup final in 1960, he (Dougan) asked Blackburn manager Dally Duncan for a transfer. Wolves, pressing for the double under Stan Cullis, thumped them. Bill Slater, Wolves and England centre-half, observed: "I never expected to play in the Cup final against someone [Dougan] who didn't seem to be trying."

Sorry but to follow that course of action in front of thousands of supporters from BRFC who had been starved of cup success since 1928, who were looking forward to the day of their lives, and who had spent a lot of (very) hard earned money to follow the entire cup run and especially to get to Wembley in those days does not rest easy with me.

I may not choose to speak ill of the dead but I certainly cannot praise him.

Edited June 25, 2007 by thenodrog