Adrian Doherty
{{Short description|Northern Irish footballer (1973–2000)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Adrian Doherty
| birth_date = {{birth date|1973|6|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = Strabane, Northern Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|6|9|1973|6|10|df=y}}
| death_place = The Hague, Netherlands
| position = Winger
| youthyears1 = 1987–1992
| youthclubs1 = Manchester United
| years1 = 1990–1992
| clubs1 = Manchester United
| caps1 = 0
| goals1 = 0
| years2 = 1993–1994
| clubs2 = Derry City
| caps2 = 3
| goals2 = 1
}}
Adrian Doherty (10 June 1973 – 9 June 2000) was a Northern Irish footballer who played as a winger for Manchester United and Derry City. Once hailed as a prodigious talent, and a contemporary of the "Class of '92", a serious knee injury ended his career prematurely. He died at the age of 26 after moving to The Hague in the Netherlands.
Football career
Doherty was born in Strabane on 10 June 1973, the son of Geraldine and Jimmy Doherty, a former footballer himself. As a 13-year-old, he attended trials at Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, but his coach at Moorfield Boys' Club, Matt Bradley, wrote a letter to the Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson urging them to take a look at Doherty, and in August 1987, alongside the future Celtic, Liverpool and Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers, he was invited to attend a trial.{{Cite web|author=Tifo Football|title=Manchester United's Lost Talent: Adrian Doherty|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W08SzzYlQEE|website=YouTube|accessdate=25 February 2021}}
Manchester United offered Doherty an apprentice contract, but he found it hard to adapt to his new life away from Strabane, and outside of training he would go busking in Manchester city centre or write poetry, and he would play guitar around Old Trafford and the club's training ground, The Cliff.{{Cite news|date=10 May 2016|title=Adrian Doherty: Manchester United's lost star|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36254171|access-date=25 February 2021}}
He starred for the 'A', 'B' team and the reserves, and was taken with the first-team travelling party for a match against Southampton at The Dell in March 1990; however, he was not included in the matchday squad. Around that time, Northern Ireland manager Billy Bingham sought to include him in the Under-21 squad for a match against Israel, but Alex Ferguson blocked the move, as he considered Doherty too young. The club offered him a five-year contract later the same year but he declined, instead opting for a three-year deal, not wishing to be constrained by a long contract. He was only the second player in history, after Duncan Edwards, to sign a professional contract as a sixteen-year-old.{{cite news|url=https://www.football24.news/premier-league/72216/30-years-after-adrian-dohertys-dramatic-injury.html|title=30 years after Adrian Doherty's dramatic injury|work=football24.news|date=23 February 2021|access-date=22 March 2021}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
On 23 February 1991, a week before Ferguson had planned to give Doherty his first-team debut, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury while playing in a reserve game against Carlisle United. Although he made various comebacks throughout the rest of the year, including a youth tournament in Zurich and an end-of-season friendly in Trinidad, the injury would end his Manchester United career. After the expiry of his contract, he played three times for League of Ireland side Derry City, the same team his father had played for, scoring on his debut against Cobh Ramblers.{{cite news |first=Daniel |last=Taylor |title=Adrian Doherty: the lost star of Manchester United's class of 92 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/nov/15/adrian-doherty-manchester-united-class-of-92 |work=The Guardian |date=15 November 2014 |access-date=25 February 2021 }}
After football
While injured in 1991, Doherty pursued other, non-sporting interests. He formed a band called The Mad Hatters and spent a month in early 1992 living in New York's East Village, performing under the name McHillbilly, in the hope of landing a record deal.{{Cite web|title=Forever Young: Adrian Doherty, Manchester United's forgotten young star|url=https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/10287549/forever-young-adrian-doherty-manchester-uniteds-forgotten-young-star|access-date=25 February 2021|website=Sky Sports}}{{Cite web|last=Kay|first=Oliver|title=The United enigma who played football like Ryan Giggs and music like Bob Dylan|url=https://theathletic.com/1818788/2020/06/23/adrian-doherty-manchester-united-giggs-savage-class-of-92-neville/|access-date=25 February 2021|website=The Athletic}}
He later spent time working in a chocolate factory in Preston, Lancashire, then at a hosiery factory in his hometown of Strabane, then working various jobs in Galway. In 2000, he took up work for a Dutch furniture company in The Hague.
Death
Sources
- Irish Football Handbook 1994-95 by Dave Galvin and Gerry Desmond ({{ISBN|0951798715}})
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{GSA player|adrian-doherty/339495}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Adrian}}
Category:Sportspeople from Strabane
Category:Association footballers from County Tyrone
Category:Men's association football wingers
Category:Manchester United F.C. players
Category:Derry City F.C. players