Don Dorman
{{Short description|English footballer (1922–1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Don Dorman
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|9|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hall Green, Birmingham, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|1|12|1922|9|18|df=y}}
| death_place = Worcester, England
| height =
| position = Inside forward, wing half
| youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = Shirley Juniors
| years1 = 1946–1951 | clubs1 = Birmingham City | caps1 = 59 | goals1 = 4
| years2 = 1951–1954 | clubs2 = Coventry City | caps2 = 90 | goals2 = 29
| years3 = 1954–1957 | clubs3 = Walsall | caps3 = 116 | goals3 = 34
| totalcaps = 265 | totalgoals = 67
| manageryears1 = 1970 | managerclubs1 = Birmingham City (caretaker)
}}
Donald Dorman (18 September 1922 – 12 January 1997) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward or wing half. He made 265 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Coventry City and Walsall in the years following the Second World War. He later became a scout.
Life and career
Born in Hall Green, Birmingham, Dorman served as a paratrooper in the 1st Airborne Division during the Second World War. He was wounded and captured at Arnhem and made a prisoner of war. After the war he signed a professional contract with Birmingham City in 1946. He remained at the club for five years, and then joined Coventry City in an exchange deal for Tommy Briggs.{{cite news |title=A short move for Briggs |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=22 September 1951 |page=11}} At Coventry Dorman scored at a rate of a goal every three games. In 1954 he signed for Walsall, and was their leading scorer in 1956–57, the final season of his playing career.
Dorman then rejoined Birmingham as a scout, and became chief scout when Walter Taylor died. He was responsible for bringing to the club a number of young players who went on to very successful careers, including Kenny Burns, Trevor Francis, Bob and Dave Latchford, Malcolm Page and Garry Pendrey. He and coach Bill Shorthouse acted as caretaker managers at the end of the 1969–70 season while the club sought a replacement after Stan Cullis retired. Dorman left Birmingham when Ron Saunders arrived as manager and took up the post of chief scout at Aston Villa. He died in Worcester in 1997 aged 74.
References
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{{Birmingham City F.C. managers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorman, Don}}
Category:Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:English men's footballers
Category:Men's association football inside forwards
Category:Men's association football wing halves
Category:Birmingham City F.C. players
Category:Coventry City F.C. players
Category:English football managers
Category:Birmingham City F.C. managers
Category:English Football League players
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:British World War II prisoners of war
Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany