Married to a Man of Two Halves

Book excerpt: When Agnes Docherty passed away she left strict instructions for her son, asking him to publish her memoir and reveal the truth about her marriage to one of soccer's most colorful and controversial characters, Tom Docherty, the manager of Manchester United. Agnes was married to Tom Docherty for over 27 years and they had four children before she learned of her husband's affair with Mary Brown, the wife of the club's physiotherapist. Tom sold the information to the Sunday People for GBP 25,000 before telling Agnes by telephone the following afternoon after the story had broken. The affair cost Tom his job as the manager of arguable the most famous soccer team in the world. From the very beginning Agnes battled to balance her family life and their initial poverty with unwavering loyalty that helped her husband, both as a player and then as manager, to ultimately reach the pinnacle of his cut-throat profession. Pregnancies and a miscarriage, fractured legs and broken dreams, major surgery and four FA Cup Finals, relegations and promotions, from Morris Minor to Mercedes Benz, pawn shops to private yachts, Agnes and Tom's marriage had seen them ride a rollercoaster through life. Including tales of Tom Finney, Bill Shankly, Matt Busby, George Graham, and Terry Venables, Best, Law and Charlton plus many more, Agnes paints a unique portrait of life as an athlete's wife. A truly touching love story that ended in disbelief, divorce, and debt. The story of a remarkable life and a remarkable woman.