Derek Douganwho has died aged 69, played for Northern Ireland in the finals of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. He was not Northern Ireland's first choice, but Billy Simpson, the Glasgow Rangers centre forward, had pulled a muscle after just five minutes' training in Sweden, leaving Dougan to lead the attack in the first game against the Czechs, which Northern Ireland won 1-0.
Had Derek Dougan been just a few years older, who knows what Northern Ireland might have achieved in the finals of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. To get there at all was an astonishing feat, knocking out Italy on the way. But a mature Dougan rather than the gangling 19-year-old might have made all the difference.
Dougan, who has died aged 69, was then the highly promising centre forward for Portsmouth. He was not Northern Ireland's first choice, but Billy Simpson, the Glasgow Rangers centre forward, had pulled a muscle after just five minutes' training in Sweden, leaving Dougan to lead the attack in the first game against the Czechs, which Northern Ireland won 1-0. Tall, agile, technically adroit, making good use of his height in the air, Dougan did not disgrace himself that day.
His career in football, variously as player, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association and chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers, was at once successful and controversial. Fluent to a fault, humorous, alert and plausible, he made as many foes as friends. There was always something of the maverick, the impulsive opportunist, about him.
Dougan never managed a club but played for many, beginning in 1954 with Distillery of Belfast, the city where he was born. His second season with Portsmouth saw him transferred to Blackburn Rovers where, as his physical strength increased, so did his prowess.
In his first full season, 1959-60, he helped Rovers to reach the FA Cup final, versus Wolves, which made him seem quite a bargain at £11,000. But on the day of the final, the Doog, as he was nicknamed, suddenly demanded a transfer. Blackburn lost 3-0.
The 6ft 3in Dougan did not get his transfer until he had played another full season for Blackburn. Then he signed for Aston Villa. Overall, these were not happy days. His form fell away at Villa Park, to such an extent that when he was transferred in 1963, this time it was, humiliatingly, to an obscure third division club, Peterborough United. There he languished for two seasons until he was rescued by Leicester City, who bought him for £25,000 in 1965.
Rejuvenated, he regained his place in the Northern Ireland side. Then Wolves bought him for double what Leicester had paid at the tail end of 1966-67. He stayed a Wolves player until 1976.
Yet he remained an enigma. And with his fellow Wolves players, he was not, it was said, a popular figure. Where many found him persuasive and intelligent, others tended to see him as arrogant and opinionated. There was a significant moment in the warm-up before an FA Cup semi-final. Steve Kindon drove in a shot which hit Dougan in the genitals and knocked him out. The other players, far from sympathising, stood around laughing, as did Sammy Chung, the trainer, when he ran on the field to help Dougan.
Dougan always had ambitions that went beyond football, and with the help of a loyal lieutenant he produced various books about the game, including a novel, The Footballer (1974).
In 1982, Dougan became chairman of Wolves, by then in deep financial difficulty. Alas, things would quickly go wrong. The Asian businessmen of Allied Properties who had bought Wolves failed to revive them, and so Dougan's chairmanship came to a premature and disappointing end.
In December 2005, he was one of the coffin carriers at George Best's funeral. He was also a representative of the UK Independence party.
He is survived by two sons.
Alexander Derek Dougan: born January 20th, 1938; died June 23rd, 2007