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OMG I can't believe, they actually played for the mighty Leeds #4 - Russell Doig
OMG I can't believe, they actually played for the mighty Leeds #4 - Russell Doig
Monday, 25th Jul 2011 19:59

It was a very close-call between the flying Scotsman Doig and the lesser scoring John Donnelly.

Great Scots form part of our heritage here in West Yorkshire.

Bobby Collins, Billy Bremner, even the turncoats Jordan and McQueen, Jock Stein, Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer, Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, Robert Snodgrass have all followed the well-beaten path from north of the border to Elland Road.

However like our focus on the French last week, sadly there are a couple of lemons in the basket too.

And indeed it was Billy Bremner, who judged East Stirlingshire right-winger Russell Doig good enough to wear the white shirt he wore with such distinction during the glory-years.

Maybe it is harsh to criticise Billy as being unfallable, at Elland Road as we approach the fourteenth anniversary of his passing, he is still viewed as somebody superhuman with superpowers, not prone to making mistakes of any kind.

In mitigation, he did lay out just £15,000 in July 1986 on a former Scottish Youth International who had made 109 starts for his club. However in two years, Doig was restricted to 10 appearances with 5 starts and 5 as sub, with no goals.

Doig initally went to Peterborough for seven games on loan before he made his United debut as a sub for John Sheridan in the 2-0 win over Derby in November 1986. He started against Brighton on 13/12/86, playing in the first half as Leeds won 3-1. However he lasted the full ninety on 21/12/86 when Leeds crashed 2-7 at Stoke City.

Leeds fans who were misfortunate to have watched him struggle are quick to nominate him for our worst ever X1. One pundit (on leedsfans.org) Johnny Lord recalls "he actually dribbled the ball across the touchline in front of the lowfeilds (sic) endpen...and didnt notice the linesman stopped as did the rst (sic) of the players...he went a further ten yards and belted a 40 yrd crossfeild (sic) ball to nobody"

Despite this, Hartlepool United offered to take him off our hands for £10,000 in March 1988, so Billy cut his losses on his fellow countryman.

At Pools, he would go on to make 43 appearances and manage two goals. The Hartlepool website In The Mad Crowd recall him as "a frustrating presence in the squad and, despite a great goal in a win at York, he found himself out of the side more often than in it."

In 1990, Doig drifted into non-league football, with Nuneaton Borough his first stopping point. According to the wherearetheynow website, as recent as 2010 he was working as a cab-driver in Leeds.

If only it had been a case of "Taxi for Doig" a quarter of a century ago!

 

Photo: Action Images



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