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It was manager Danny Blanchflower who paid East Stirling £50, 000 to
take striker Jim Docherty - no relation to former manager Tommy - south
of the border in February 1979. Docherty's fine goalscoring form - he
had netted 14 goals in 22 league games for his Scottish club in the
1978/79 season - earned him his move but the English first divison was
to prove a very different proposition to the Scottish second and the
curly haired frontman never looked like making an impact at Stamford
Bridge. Chelsea's previous purchase from the Scottish club, Eddie
McCreadie, had spent 15 years at Stamford Bridge as both player and
manager, making 410 appearances for the club in the process. Sadly,
Docherty was to fall no less than 407 short of McCreadie's total. The
Broxburn-born striker made his debut as a substitute against Liverpool (the photo above is during the game)
as relegation-bound Chelsea held the European champions to a 0-0 draw,
and was given his first start a fortnight later in a 1-0 defeat against
West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. His two-week spell in the Blues'
first-team ended with a 3-1 home beating at the hands of Queens Park
Rangers, another team heading for Division Two, before Blanchflower
recalled Trevor Aylott in Docherty's place. The Scot spent the last two
months of the season in the reserves before he was put out of his misery
with a free-transfer move to Dundee United - for whom he made two
appearances! (Kelvin Barker)
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Senior Football Career.
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1977–1979 East Stirlingshire 47 (28)
1979 Chelsea 3 (0)
1979 Dundee United 2 (0)
1979–1981 Hearts 5 (0)
1981–1982 St Johnstone 49 (13)
1982–1984 Partick Thistle 10 (0)
1984 Meadowbank Thistle 3 (0)
1984 Dunfermline Athletic 2 (0)
His professional career, which ended in his late twenties, lasted seven years.
Jim lived in Bathgate, West Lothian in Scotland and married Kathleen and had
two grown up sons Ryan and Steven. He worked as the Managing Director of a
successful Drainage Company called Euro Environmental Contracts.