Some of you may not know that my grandad and great-grandad both played professional football. Here are some things i found online that have interested me about them.
From Martin Tyler’s Q&A blog on Sky Sports.com:
Hi Martin, with Darren Ferguson taking the reins at Peterborough United, I was wondering if this is the first time a father and son have managed in the league at the same time? Dan Higgins, Dartford
MARTIN SAYS: It has happened on at least one occasion before Dan, and not only did the father and son in question manage at the same time, they also came up against each other in a game – albeit in the cup. In the 1970 FA Cup first round, Bill Dodgin Snr took his Bristol Rovers side to Fulham, who were managed by one Bill Dodgin Jnr. For the record dad got the upper hand with a 1-0 win and just to add a personal note, Bill Dodgin Snr took over the local sweet shop where I grew up in West Byfleet and on meeting my father – also a West Byfleet shopkeeper – and hearing about my love for football, promptly gave me a load of football programmes which I still have to this day!
From Arsenal.com:
BILL DODGIN
England U-23 centre-half Bill Dodgin starred as Arsenal finished third in the top-flight in 1958/59. Initially an amateur with Southampton, he followed his father of the same name to Fulham in September 1949 and joined Arsenal for £4,000 in December 1952. He twice helped the Gunners reach the FA Cup sixth round and made 191 First Division appearances before rejoining Fulham for £7,000 in March 1961, featuring in their 1961/62 FA Cup semi-final replay defeat. Subsequently coach at Millwall, he managed QPR, Fulham, Northampton Town (twice), Brentford and Woking, then was Brighton’s chief scout. He died in June 2000.
About Great-Grandad from Fulhamfc.com:
When the Second Division title was won, Fulham turned to Southampton, the team that was pipped at the post for promotion, for a new team manager.
Bill Dodgin had enjoyed a successful spell at the Dell since his appointment, his first as a manager, in June 1946. Before the war, he been a wing half with Huddersfield, Lincoln, Charlton, Bristol Rovers, Clapton Orient and Southampton, and at 39 years of age, he was not only one of Fulham’s youngest managers (about the same as Kelso and Ducat) but he was one of the youngest in the First Division.
He found it tough going. The Cottagers were probably not good enough for the top flight and, apart from buying three or four players in the summer of 1950, seemed unwilling to spend the money necessary to keep them there.
After two seasons of struggle, they were relegated in the third. Dodgin was given another season in charge but mid table in 1952-53 was not good enough and in the autumn of 1953 he was on his way, first to Brentford and then Sampdoria.
From 1961 until his retirement in 1972, he was associated in various capacities with Bristol Rovers. Dodgin always claimed that he was unlucky at Fulham, Haynes and Robson were just breaking through, but not soon enough. He did not help his own cause, however, letting the popular Len Quested move to Huddersfield and playing his own son, Bill junior.
About Grandad from Fulham as well:
In the chaos that followed Robson’s sacking in November 1968, Johnny Haynes took over the reins temporarily, but he had no desire to fill the role on a permanent basis.
On the Maestro’s recommendation, his friend and former Fulham defender, Bill Dodgin junior, took the job the next month, the second time a father and son had managed the Cottagers.
After leaving Fulham for a second time in 1964, Dodgin had won plaudits for his coaching skills, first at Millwall but especially at QPR where his partnership with Alec Stock lifted Rangers from the Third to the First Divisions.
There was little he could do to save Fulham from a second relegation in 12 months, and so the Cottagers kicked off Dodgin’s first full season in the Third Division for the first time in almost 40 years.
Open attacking football was the only way Dodgin knew how to play and since the nucleus of the side had First Division experience, the policy worked at a lower level. Within two years, promotion was won and but for a home defeat on the final day, the Third Division title would have come Fulham’s way.
This same attacking policy did not work back in Division Two in 1971-2 and relegation was on the agenda until the final matches and the controversial loan signing of Alan Mullery. Despite beating the drop, Dodgin was shown the door by chairman Tommy Trinder, much to the chagrin of the supporters. In his subsequent career, at Brentford and Northampton, Dodgin enjoyed success in the lower divisions by sticking to his attacking principles. For a few months in 1994, by then in his sixties, he was back at the Cottage as youth development officer but this role ended with the club’s relegation that summer.
About Great-Grandad, comparing him to Matt Busby – he wasn’t quite that good…:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19991022/ai_n14282059
Finally, a good quote from Jackie Graham about Grandad:
http://www.legendspublishing.net/cultbees2.html
My favourite quote from my grandad is the following:
“At times I think I’m too much of a liberal. I think you’ve got to be a bit of a fascist with women and footballers.”
