Sheffield United man opens up on changing role with young player warning ahead of mouthwatering Wolves reunion
Matt Doherty will come up against his former club Wolves on Sunday for the first time since he signed for Sheffield United - and his behind-the-scenes role perhaps explains why Chris Wilder wanted him at Bramall Lane. Danny Hall spoke to him
In the build-up to Sunday’s clash between Sheffield United and relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers at Bramall Lane, Matt Doherty may allow his mind a second to wander back to the past; to a time when his career was in its infancy.
It was Wolves who brought him to English football in the first place, plucking him from Bohemians before he had even played a first-team game for them. Across two spells he played hundreds of times and won two promotions, also playing for two behemoths of football clubs in Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid.
The Doherty that hopes to face Wolves on Sunday is very different to the one they signed almost two decades ago, but the years have not diminished the determination that burns bright inside him.
His challenge when he arrived at Bramall Lane in the summer was clear; to challenge, but also to cultivate. “I used to be a player that would never get involved too much with football. Just get on with my own game.
“But now I'm a bit older, a lot more experienced, and my job is to try and help others. I'm 34 now, and we have players in the team in their early twenties. I'm not competing against them.
“I've done a lot, so now it's about what I can do to help them get a little bit better. And if everybody gets a little bit better, that improves our chances for the season, doesn't it?”
Chris Wilder, who brought Doherty to Bramall Lane after identifying a dearth of leadership, experience and personality in his squad last summer, doesn’t like the term; but Doherty uses it as a compliment.
“I think we’re both a bit old school,” the Republic of Ireland international added. “We have the same traits and the same beliefs so we kind of hit it off straight away. I grew up with Mick McCarthy at Wolves, where he went studs in training, and that stuck with me.
“Now, in pre-season, it can be a little different but those little things just stick with you. Like when I was first on the bus with the first-team players and was going up and down the aisle, fetching them things.
“The people that do that now don't know what you're talking about. They look at you like: ‘You get it for me!’ So it's just different, but you still have to keep some of those traits going. Discipline.”
That is one of the biggest changes Doherty has seen over the years; the notion of serving an ‘apprenticeship’ and earning the status of senior player. “The problem is that you don't have to do much to earn it now,” he said.
“I’ve not seen it here but elsewhere, at other places, I’ve seen lads almost gutted they have to train with the first team. That should be the best thing ever! You should be thinking: ‘Even if I give the ball away, I'll run my socks off.’
“I think you can be 27 or 28 before you can say you’ve really made it. I've seen loads of players get swallowed up. Start well and then get swallowed up at 25. You've got to stay on it. It’s as simple as that, or else it will get you. I've seen too many stories where top players have just gone missing.”
Doherty has been used carefully by Wilder since he arrived at Bramall Lane but returned to the squad on Tuesday at Blackburn Rovers after illness and is challenging Hamza Choudhury for a first-team spot in Femi Seriki’s absence.
Seriki has been a big miss for United and is someone who impressed Doherty from the moment he arrived and saw him up close in training. When he returns to fitness, he can tap into Doherty’s vast experience both on and off the pitch.
“If I feel the need to speak to a player, or they look like they need a bit of encouragement, I do feel like I'm the person for it now,” Doherty added. “I've spoken to loads of lads just here and there.
“Just gone through little scenarios. Actually, I was never really like that, and I'm quite enjoying that part, actually. It's like a leadership role that I sort of evolved into. Putting some of your footballing and even life experiences onto them.
“I mean, they might not be listening! But if something goes in, any bit of information you give over a year if I’m here for that time, then it might help someone. Someone in five or six years might say: ‘Oh, yeah, he told me that five years ago.’
“Like the studs in training with Mick, I’ll remember that forever. Old-school characters who know the best way to go about it. Play well, leave everything on the pitch and work your backside off.
“Fans can accept if people don't have the ability or the talent, but they won’t accept someone who isn’t running themselves into the ground. So you gain that trust by working hard, playing well and not shying away from your responsibilities. I've managed to stay in the game a long time, and that doesn't happen by shirking responsibilities.”