During the years immediately following the injury he took a job with a firm owned by one of the club directors. He also worked with the Wednesday junior team. He was put in charge of the club's development fund when it was launched in 1962. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1961 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Kings Cross station. Dooley became Sheffield Wednesday manager in January 1971 with the team in the lower half of the Second Division and having just exited the FA Cup. There were 16 games left in the season. Under Dooley's charge they won 3 matches collecting 11 points leaving them in 15th place at the end of the season. This was followed by another stuttering season that saw them finish just a place higher. The 1972–73 season would prove to be Dooley's most successful in his short managerial career. Wednesday led the Second Division for a period near the beginning of the season eventually finishing 10th. The highlight of the season was beating First Division Crystal Palace. The next season started badly. The team was badly hit by a virus that affected a total of 16 players between early September and November. The board was radically changed in early December when the chairman and vice-chairman both resigned. Despite a slight improvement in form the new board decided to sack Derek Dooley on 24 December 1973. The decision left him bitter about his treatment and it would be almost twenty years before he would set foot in Hillsborough Stadium again. After being sacked by Wednesday he took a job in public relations at a Leeds firm. He was then offered the position of Commercial Manager at the Owls' bitter rivals Sheffield United. He went on to have a variety of roles including the role of managing director before taking on the job of chairman of United's Football Club board. He also co-founded the "Senior Blades Club", with the late George McCabe. Later life After declining several previous offers he finally accepted an invitation to watch the Sheffield derby at Hillsborough in 1992. There he was given a standing ovation by both sets of fans. He was also made a freeman of the City of Sheffield in 1993. In the 2003 New Year Honours, Dooley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for