Paul Dougherty quips that when he made his Wolves debut against West Bromwich Albion as a relative unknown, the home fans probably mistook him for the mascot.

 

At 5ft 2in tall, he's certainly always been one to stand out from the crowd!

 

That Dougherty debut as a 19-year-old back in April, 1984, finished up as a goalless draw.

 

Not exactly a fairytale start, but the first of almost 50 appearances in the gold and black ahead of what was certainly a dream to follow - the American Dream.

 

Because since leaving Wolves in the early part of 1987 Dougherty has spent over two decades enjoying both life and football in the 'good old US of A', a career as player, coach and manager which currently sees him in charge of the San Diego SeaLions Women's Team in what amounts to the second tier of American Women's Football.

 

Life is certainly different Across the Pond, but for Leamington-born Dougherty the Wolves memories will never fade, and certainly not relating to that debut against the old enemy.

 

As he explains, up until two hours before kick off he was happily dead to the world and fast asleep in his bed, blissfully unaware he was about to make his Molineux bow in front of a crowd in excess of 13,000!

"I'd joined Wolves as a schoolboy, through the normal channels," Dougherty recalls.

 

"I remember coming across from Leamington Spa for training, often in the old gym at Molineux particularly in the Winter.

 

"No one in our family had a car at the time so it would be a question of running to the train station from home, getting into Birmingham New Street and changing for Wolverhampton, and then running from the station to Molineux.

 

"That was just how it was and it didn't mind - I'd look forward to it all week.

"It was a great experience for me, but being on the small side did have its disadvantages.

 

"Graham Hawkins was the Wolves manager at the time, and he told me when I was an apprentice that I was probably going to be too small to make it.

 

"He said I wouldn't be taken on, and that then meant either leaving straightaway to try and find another club or staying and seeing out your apprenticeship to see what happened.

"But as things turned out, towards the end of the season Graham was sacked and Jim Barron, who had seen me play in my schoolboy days, was put in caretaker charge.

 

"As it happened, I'd played for the reserves on the Tuesday in the week that Graham left and the first team had the game against West Brom coming up.

 

"I'd not played for the first team before and hadn't been named in the squad on the Friday so on the night I went out to 'Eves' nightclub.

 

"I wasn't a drinker so hadn't touched a drop but I'd had a bit of a dance and gone home in the early hours.

 

"I was a big sleeper though and was still in bed at 1pm on the Saturday when my landlady woke me up to say I'd had a call from the club and had to get down there quickly.

 

"I caught the bus in and when I got there the chief scout was waiting to take me straight through to the dressing room.

 

"When I got in there Jim shut the door and started doing his team talk and I still didn't really understand what was going on.

 

"Then he read out the team and I was in it!

 

"I'd been out dancing the night before, and now I here I was playing in the First Division as it was.

 

"No one knew who I was, my name wasn't even on the back of the programme, and when I ran out everybody probably thought I was the mascot!"

Playing on the right of midfield, Dougherty found himself up against Albion's Steve Hunt, who he had watched play for England on the television in the midweek.

 

From there he started the remaining four games of the season as Wolves dropped out of the top flight, and then scored twice in the first three games of the following campaign as Tommy Docherty took the helm.

 

Over the following two-and-a-half seasons he was in and out of the team, often as a substitute, including the 2-2 draw against Wigan at Molineux in December, 1985, which was the first ever meeting between the two sides.

 

He also scored in the return fixture, a 5-3 defeat at Springfield Park, but it wasn't long before it was San Diego rather than Springfield which provided Dougherty with a major career change.

 

"For me it was obviously great to play for Wolves, even though it was often as a substitute," he admits.

 

"And I managed to make almost 50 appearances.

 

"It was just strange that just when the good times were coming back it was when I eventually left.

 

"Bully had just come in to join Andy Mutch, and with those two being such a huge asset it was a case of the team going direct and getting the ball up to them as quickly as possible.

 

 

"Obviously I wasn't the best either in the air or defensively, and it was a time when the midfield were often being bypassed and so I became a bit disillusioned.

"I was given a trial over in San Diego to play indoor football, and within five weeks I'd been granted a VISA.

 

"And so it was then I ended up playing over here for 16 years!

 

"I very quickly went from playing in front of 4 or 5,000 at Molineux to these big arenas in America with 15,000 fans and a great atmosphere.

 

"The style of indoor football suited me as well - less headers, more passing, more goals.

 

"It was strange though that in my first season I was the player with the most 'penalty minutes' as you used to get sent to the sinbin for fouls and so on.

 

"My style of play was sometimes thought to be aggressive, which probably stems from when I was with Wolves trying to assert myself because of my size."

 

 

The San Diego Sockers were Dougherty's first port of call on a footballing road Stateside which took in various different outposts also including the wonderfully-named Buffalo Blizzards, Houston Hotshots and Tampa Bay Rowdies.

 

Much of his time was spent in the hugely popular indoor side of the game - the outdoor football in the summer carried less of a profile - although he did spend three years playing Major League Soccer towards the end of his career.

 

Personal accolades during his spell, which included a return home and one game played for Cheltenham Town, included being named Championship Series Unsung Hero as well as garnering the league's All Star Honours on several occasions.

 

Having retired as a player in 2000, and made a couple of comebacks thereafter, it is in coaching where Dougherty now holds employment.

 

Various successes have included taking the San Diego Nomads Under-15s through to the final four of a national competition which started with a cast of thousands, while he now coaches the San Diego WFC SeaLions.

 

"I really enjoyed my football," he admits.

"We managed to win five championships with San Diego and I came up against players like Mickey Thomas and Steve Daley.

 

 

"Coaching was something I'd always been keen to get involved in, as most footballers will say you always want to try and stay involved with the game if at all possible.

 

"It's led me to various jobs and taking the under-15 team to the national championships was certainly one of the highlights.

 

"I've also worked with the team from the University of California and am now enjoying being in charge of the San Diego SeaLions.

 

"It's my first experience coaching in the women's game and it's certainly a big deal in America.

 

"Infact when you look at kids in the country now there are probably the same number of girls as boys playing the sport.

 

"If you have a boy and a girl then it's 50-50 as to which one might actually end up as a footballer.

 

"At a national level we're in the second tier and it's taken very seriously with the games being extremely competitive."

 

And forgetting the football for a moment, what of the lifestyle?

 

"It's great," admits Dougherty.

"More often than not the sun is shining and whether playing or coaching it doesn't feel like a job.

 

"I love it in San Diego where I've settled here with my wife Libby and 21-year-old twins Heather and Abbie.

 

"The weather is so good over here that you always know you'll be able to do something if it's planned, be it a barbecue, a run on the beach, whatever.

 

"But of course I still try and keep in touch with all the football back home, and we probably get to see more live Premier League games here than are shown in England."

And during a recent trip back to Blighty for several weeks either side of Christmas, the 45-year-old was able to pay closer attention to top flight football, including Wolves.

 

Efforts to take in as many possible games were dashed by the arrival of the Big Freeze, but Dougherty, back to see family in Leamington, was still able to watch Wolves at Old Trafford.

 

He also admitted, prior to flying home last weekend, that the snow was something of a novelty given the lack of it falling in San Diego!

 

"It was nice to get back over for Christmas even though a few of the games I was going to were postponed," he says.

 

"I did get up to Old Trafford but went with a Manchester United fan who caught the coach from Leamington so I had to keep quiet during the game.

 

"I've still got a soft spot for Wolves and always look out for their results.

 

"It was actually nice in a way to be back when all the snow was around.

 

"You don't tend to get much where I am now, except for in the mountains, and believe it or not - you can sometimes have too much sun!"

 

* THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE MATCHDAY MAGAZINE FOR SATURDAY'S GAME WITH WIGAN

 

* Photos of Paul in America reproduced with kind permission of San Diego Sealions WFC.