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ERIC DOUGHTY
Born: 09 April 1932
Came from: Arsenal Went to: Retired
First game: 23 August 1958 Last game: 23 August 1958
Appearances: 1 (1/0) Goals: 0
Radstock born Doughty must be one of the unluckiest players ever to don the green shirt. After six years at Arsenal, he became a regular in a powerful reserve side but never made a first team appearance. In exchange for £1,000 he arrived at Home Park in the summer of 1958 to replace long-serving left-back Pat Jones, who had retired. 30 minutes into his debut at Hull, an accidental collision with City forward Colin Smith resulted in Doughty suffering a terrible knee injury. This was before substitutes were allowed and he was forced to play for the whole of the second half, hopping around on the right wing.
An operation in October 1958 was not a success and despite several matches in the South Western and Football Combination Leagues, he was unable to return to the first team and was released in 1960. An attempted comeback with Bristol City ended in failure and he left football to join the Clark shoe company, playing a major role in their great expansion during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Eric's brother-in-law is former Argyle legend Tony Book and he is also related by marriage to former Argyle striker Ashley Barnes.
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
If you can add to this profile, perhaps with special memories, a favourite story or the results of your original research, please contribute here.
From Elaine Doughty in Bristol on 11/11/2017 ...
Eric Doughty played with Les Compton at Arsenal. When my father injured his knee, he went to Manchester United's treatment room, where Sir Matt Busby gave my father his crutches to use. He kept his medals and programmes. Now 85 years old. Respectfully, he loves Arsenal and never misses a match. Yours sincerely, Elaine Doughty (Proud Daughter).
From Steve Rhodes in Romsey, Hampshire on 12/11/2017 ...
In 2008 I had the good fortune to meet Eric, going to his home in North Somerset to interview him for my Thanks For The Memory book. It was a fascinating afternoon where I learned much about how progressive Arsenal were in the 1950s. He showed me a lot of carefully cared-for memorabilia and embellished that with a fund of interesting memories. He seemed to recall every minute of his life in infinite detail. After what happened to him in his one first team game for Argyle, followed by a year-long battle to try and get fit again, he could have been forgiven for a hint of self-pity or ... More
APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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