Dooley waits 50 years for the chance of FA Cup glory

Sheffield United chairman, whose career was ended by amputation at the age of 23, prepares for Sunday's semi-final against Arsenal

Anyone who wonders how much reaching the FA Cup final would mean to Derek Dooley ought to acquaint themselves with the Sheffield United chairman's story of how he made it to Wembley in 1953 for the epic encounter now enshrined in football lore as the Matthews final.

"It was three months after I'd had my right leg amputated but I was determined to go," Dooley recalls during a break in preparations for United's semi-final against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday. "My car had an escort from a police horse and people clapped and cheered when I got out on my old-fashioned crutches. I felt like royalty."

Which, in Sheffield football, is precisely what Dooley is, even if the Wednesdayites who once lionised his tigerish centre-forward play are reluctant to admit his regal status amid their current woes and United's dual pursuit of the Cup and a Premiership place. Now 73, the steelworker's son who became a freeman of the city and an MBE has served the rival clubs in the cradle of football most of his life.

Dooley would be legendary, at least among those who divide between Owls and Blades, had he done no more than score 63 goals in 63 first-team matches before being cut off, quite literally, in his prime. A staggering 47 arrived in 31 games one season, still a record for Wednesday, the team he grew up worshipping.

"I was big, 6ft 2in and 13st 10lb, but very quick," he states matter-of-factly. "And nobody frightened me, though plenty of defenders told me what they were going to do to this young, red-haired upstart."

More than any scoring feats, what happened at Preston in February 1953 shaped Dooley as the great survivor. "Going to Deepdale, which ironically is where our next away fixture is, still stirs memories. I've not been back a lot. I still look at the pitch and I know exactly where it happened.

"It" began as a race between Dooley and [George] Thompson, the Preston goalkeeper, for Albert Quixall's through-ball outside the penalty area. "Thompson hesitated; probably didn't fancy the size of me. Then he thought: 'I've got to go' and came feet first because he couldn't dive.

"I prodded the ball past the post, but he caught me and my leg was broken. I've often thought: 'I wish the ball had just gone inside'. It would have been nice if I'd got a goal from my last kick in football."

In his hospital bed, he became aware he had no feeling in his toes. "Then I overheard the two specialists saying they would have to take the foot off. The amputation was done by Bob Garden, whose son Graeme went on to be in The Goodies.

"All I had left when I woke up from surgery was a six-inch stump at the thigh. Some dirt had got into the blood and caused gangrene. If it had got into my body, I'd have been dead. My first thought was: 'Well, I might as well snuff it now'. There was nothing to live for. Football was everything to me.

"Now I reckon I'm a lucky lad. I count my blessings, although to this day, when I see a striker running through and a keeper charging out, my stump creeps a bit."

He and his wife, Sylvia, had been married six months at the time of the accident and were still living with his parents (he remembers catching the No 2 bus home after scoring five against Notts County). Her protestations -- "What have you done?" she demanded when he agreed to become United's chairman in 1999 -- are as common a thread in Dooley's tale as her support for his decisions.

After the amputation he dabbled in football journalism before manning the switchboard at a Wednesday director's bakery. Two nights a week coaching the Owls' youth team provided the work he really craved (plus "50 bob a week") before a job running the development fund took him back into the heart of the club he loved in 1962.

Nine years later, to his amazement and Sylvia's initial consternation, he was offered the chance to become Wednesday's manager. He held the post for three years and regards the thrill it offered as "the nearest I've come to playing. If you won you thought: 'That's my team'. If you lost you blamed the coach."

If he jokes about it now, he was not amused when Wednesday sacked him on Christmas Eve in 1973. "I was very bitter and upset about the manner and timing of it -- I didn't go back to Hillsborough for two decades -- but I loved those three years. I'd have kicked myself if I hadn't taken that opportunity."

Dooley was a sales rep for a football-boot manufacturer when he was summoned to United 19 years ago. "I assumed I was going to do business. They said they wanted me as commercial manager. I blurted out: 'But I don't like you'. Soon as I said it, I thought [he slaps his head]: 'What have I done?' It was a way back into football, and I've never regretted it."

Dooley confesses to "fear and trepidation" on his first day at Bramall Lane, and some lottery agents saw him as "coming in with yer Wednesday tricks". Yet he was swiftly accepted, eventually joining the board and becoming managing director, though times have often been turbulent. "I've retired on three occasions," he says, "and twice it was a case of: 'There's the door, bugger off'."

After he was invited back as chairman, before a match with Port Vale, he joined Sylvia in the stand. "I'm thinking: 'How do I break this to her?' So I just told her straight and she said: 'You've not accepted, have you?" We lost 3-1 and that night as I lay in bed it was me thinking: 'Derek, what have you done?'"

What he did was name an avowed Blade, Neil Warnock, as manager. "He said he had a three-year plan and I thought: 'Aye, aye, I've heard all that crap before'. Strangely enough, that's exactly how it's worked out. Whatever happens, and God forbid we don't miss out on the play-offs, it's been a hell of a season.

"I had a lot of time for Dave Bassett and Neil reminds me of him because they're both good at working on a shoestring and great motivators. I listened to Dave in the dressing-room and if he'd thrown me the No 9 shirt I'd have given it a go on one leg.

"Neil's the same. He'll have the lads fired up for Sunday. We realise that if Arsenal play up to their best, we haven't a price. But if they're below par... We won't lie down, that's for certain. Everybody has a chance in the FA Cup. That's the beauty of it and I hope nobody ever takes it away."

He knows all about having precious things taken away, and seeing a young United player, Ben Doane, carried off with a broken leg at Wimbledon on Monday inevitably brought it all back again. Half a century on, however, those with an eye for sporting symmetry will feel "the Dooley final" has the ring of justice to it.