in 1981. He returned to England in July that year to manage Preston North End, where he had spent nine years as a player. He left after a few months, returning to Australia to manage South Melbourne until the following year. He also managed Sydney Olympic again in 1983. Wolverhampton Wanderers Docherty returned to England once more with Wolverhampton Wanderers just after their relegation from the First Division in 1984. He was sacked just over a year later, however, when Wolves had suffered a second successive relegation, eventually going on to suffer a third relegation in a row the season after Docherty's departure. Docherty's time at Wolves was to be a tough task. The club had once been three times champions of England in the 1950's and had also hosted Honved under the floodlights at their stadium "The Molineux" in 1954, pioneering the way for European Club Football. They had since gone on to be finalists in the 1972 European Cup and winners of the 1980 League Cup where Andy Gray scored the winning goal after setting a British Transfer Record signing when he signed for the club. The club Docherty was taking over as Manager was far away from the historic club Wolves had once been with the chairman in 1978 bankrupting the club with the rebuilding of the Molineux Street stand. A rescue package had to be brought in place during 1982, with the club just hours away from going out of business it was purchased by the Bhatti Brothers, two Saudi Arabian businessmen with help from club legend Derek Dougan. The brothers were property developers and wanted to develop the land around the stadium but when the council did not grant them permissions they sought, relationship with the club soured and the club was receiving no investment and involvement from the brothers. Following relegation from the top flight the previous season, several key players left the club, including goalscorers Mel Eaves and Wayne Clarke, as well as Tony Towner and 2nd highest club appearances holder Kenny Hibbitt. "Tommy Docherty came in as manager and he knew I didn't want to be around to see the club in such dire straits" cited Hibbitt when interviewed on his thoughts on leaving Wolves. Docherty would also have problems leading into the season with first choice goalkeeper John Burridge, who was making demands of the club but instead of meeting these,