Derek Dooley MBE (13 December 1929 – 5 March 2008) was an English football player, manager and chairman.

He started his football league career with Lincoln City in 1946, but made only two appearances for them before joining Sheffield Wednesday the following year.

[3] After leaving school at the age of 14 he took a job at a hearing-aid factory and played football for a Sheffield YMCA.

A meeting with Eric Taylor, the Wednesday manager, was organised and as his contract with Lincoln had lapsed he was signed immediately.

[6] After a slow start to the 1952–53 season Dooley eventually achieved a respectable 16 goals in 24 games but his career was abruptly ended on 14 February 1953, when he collided with the Preston goalkeeper George Thompson at Deepdale and broke his leg.

Dooley became Sheffield Wednesday manager in January 1971 with the team in the lower half of the Second Division and having just exited the FA Cup.

Under Dooley's charge they won 3 matches collecting 11 points leaving them in 15th place at the end of the season.

The decision left him bitter about his treatment and it would be almost twenty years before he would set foot in Hillsborough Stadium again.

[11] After declining several previous offers he finally accepted an invitation to watch the Sheffield derby at Hillsborough in 1992.

[12][13] In the 2003 New Year Honours, Dooley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to association football.

In April 2006 with the club still celebrating promotion, Dooley announced his resignation of the chairmanship to take up the role of Vice-President.

[19] The following day the Blades announced that they would also be commissioning a statue of Dooley, which would be placed to the rear of the South Stand at Bramall Lane.

[20] There was a minute's silence prior to Wednesday's home game against QPR and Barnsley's FA Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea on 8 March.

The cathedral was surrounded by thousands of fans from Sheffield's two major clubs who listened to the service on loudspeakers.

Inside, the service was attended by Sir Bobby Charlton, Dickie Bird and former United managers Neil Warnock and Dave Bassett, both of whom read eulogies.

[22] In 2008, the Council decided to rename part of the ring road as Derek Dooley Way,[23][24] a move supported by his widow, Sylvia.

In 2010, a statue of Dooley was erected at the Bramall Lane home of Sheffield United, to commemorate his service to the club.