Peter Doherty

[mayo31]

Joe Mercer said Doherty was the best player he saw in an interview about his City side

 

[petrusha]

I've just remembered that in the mid- or late-seventies, Doherty was voted ahead of George Best as the foremost player ever to come from the island of Ireland. Best by that point had exited top-level football but memories of his greatest days were fairly fresh, yet Doherty still came out on top. I can't recall details of who was allowed to vote or how the survey was carried out, but @Gary James has mentioned it in the past and may (if he has time) be able to supply further information.

I've also dug out this page, which has a short biography of him: https://www.vintagefootballers.com/product/doherty-peter-image-7-manchester-city-1938/

The following quotes are well worth reading:

Bill Shankly:

Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento, Kopa, Pele, Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, Finney and Matthews.

It was an honour to play with and against the last two. But top of them all I would place Peter Doherty of Manchester City. He always gave me the greatest trouble. He was perpetual motion. You could dog, challenge and even hurt him. But you couldn’t dismay him. He kept coming.

Len Shackleton:

Peter Doherty was surely the genius among geniuses. Possessor of the most baffling body swerve in football, able to perform all the tricks with the ball, owning a shot like the kick of a mule, and, with all this, having such tremendous enthusiasm for the game that he would work like a horse for ninety minutes. That was pipe-smoking Peter Doherty, the Irish redhead who, I am convinced, had enough football skill to stroll through a game smoking that pipe-and still make the other twenty-one players appear second-raters. But of course Peter never strolled through anything. His energy had to be seen to be appreciated.

So some pretty decent testimonials there for Doherty putting him as one of the true greats.

 

[Radiohead1981]

Joe Mercer said Doherty was the best player he saw in an interview about his City side

Mercer said he was the best player to come out of Northern Ireland. I don't think he ever said he was the best player of all time.

 

[There is a Light]

He scored 11 in 7 games in the title run in, in 1937.

Not bad as a manager either, took Northern Ireland to the World Cup quarter finals, knocking Italy out in the qualifiers, The only time they failed to qualify before 2018.

He also went onto scout for Liverpool, helping to bring Kevin Keegan to Anfield.

 

[Fat Chance]

Beckham didnt get voted into utds best 11 by utd fans...

What did best do 5yrs?...when he grew his first beard it was all over....kop johan in his 36th yr smashing it for Feyenoord...no comparison.

On a train journey once with an olde knowledgable red, he said it was between finney and doherty....he said edwards didnt reign long enough to evaluate and looked like he would thicken with age.

 

[Radiohead1981]

Beckham didnt get voted into utds best 11 by utd fans...

What did best do 5yrs?...when he grew his first beard it was all over....kop johan in his 36th yr smashing it for Feyenoord...no comparison.

On a train journey once with an olde knowledgable red, he said it was between finney and doherty....he said edwards didnt reign long enough to evaluate and looked like he would thicken with age.

When he said between finney and Doherty. Did he mean the best in England or the best in the world.

 

[Fat Chance]

When he said between finney and Doherty. Did he mean the best in England or the best in the world.

I asked him who the best he'd seen was..

 

[Corky]

I asked him who the best he'd seen was..

In the 30s it is highly unlikely you see many players worldwide.

 

[Fat Chance]

In the 30s it is highly unlikely you see many players worldwide.

The chap had seen the hungarians...knowledgable geezer, he didnt need google.

 

[Radiohead1981]

The chap had seen the hungarians...knowledgable geezer, he didnt need google.

He would have seen puskas then. Did he see de stefano, Pele, cryuff, Maradona etc.