a home match against Czechoslovakia in September 1973. Manchester United In December 1972, Docherty attended a match that Manchester United lost 5-0 to Crystal Palace; in the Selhurst Park boardroom afterwards he was offered the Manchester United job by Matt Busby. His first game in charge of United was against Leeds United at Old Trafford. The game finished 1–1, with Ted MacDougall scoring one of his few goals for United. Although United were in serious trouble when he took them over, because of an ageing squad, he managed to keep them in the First Division in 1972–73. The 1973–74 season saw United continue to struggle and they were eventually relegated to the Second Division. In the following season, United returned to the top flight as Second Division champions. In 1975–76 they finished in third place in the First Division and also reached the 1976 FA Cup Final, but lost 1–0 to Southampton who were then in the Second Division. Docherty led United to the FA Cup final again in 1977, this time as underdogs, and beat league champions Liverpool 2–1. Shortly afterwards, news that Docherty was having an extramarital affair with the wife of a United physiotherapist, Laurie Brown, became public. He was sacked in a blaze of publicity in July 1977, and was replaced at Old Trafford by Dave Sexton, the same man who had replaced him at Chelsea. The affair also resulted in the end of his marriage to Agnes, who had been his wife since December 1949. In 1988 Docherty married Mary, and the couple remained together until his death in 2020. After his sacking, Docherty had a frosty relationship with the club. Later career Docherty became manager at Derby County in September 1977, where he stayed for two seasons before resigning in May 1979. His next appointment was at Queens Park Rangers in May 1979. When he took over at Loftus Road, Rangers had been relegated to the Second Division (three years after almost winning the league title) and he had to lift the team's spirits to start the new season. QPR finished the season four points short of promotion to the First Division. In May 1980, Docherty was sacked by chairman Jim Gregory, then reinstated after just nine days away. In October 1980, he was sacked for the second time in five months. This was followed by a short spell in Australia coaching Sydney Olympic