Matt Doherty does not hesitate when asked to recall the time things sunk to their lowest. It was March 2021: Spurs were travelling to Aston Villa on the back of a defeat to Arsenal and a humiliation for the ages at Dinamo Zagreb.
Although he was not involved in the latter, Doherty knew he had not performed well at the Emirates, but it still came as a surprise to find himself José Mourinho’s fall guy next time out. He was in the 21-strong travelling party but the ignominy hit hardest when, with the youngsters Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett named as substitutes, he was forced to stay in the car park.
“I went to get off the bus and it was Covid at the time, so you weren’t allowed in the changing room if you weren’t in the squad. Ledley [King], who was the assistant coach, was like: ‘You’ve got to stay on the bus.’ Once the game started I was allowed to go into the stands.
“So now I was just sat on the bus on my own. Genuinely, because it was the international break straight after, I was so close to just getting in the car and going. I think [Republic of Ireland] were meeting in Manchester anyway. I didn’t in the end, I decided I’d stay and watch the game and then go.”
Had a hurt, frustrated Doherty let heart rule head, perhaps his Tottenham career would be over by now. “I’m glad I didn’t,” he says. “It’s just not professional, is it, to do that? In your head you’re sitting on the bus and thinking: ‘What’s the point in watching the game? I might as well go.’ There were kids, and that’s no disrespect to kids, on the bench. [Mourinho] was trying to prove a point to everybody, not just for me but for the players who weren’t there either, but it was not fun.”
It has not exactly been a laugh a minute in the subsequent 13 months, even since Mourinho’s departure, but against many expectations Doherty’s prospects have been transformed. Before the new year, he had played 99 minutes of Premier League football and his starts had been limited almost entirely to the Europa Conference League.
Everything changed at the end of February when Spurs demolished Leeds and Doherty showed the expressive instinct that had seemingly deserted him to spring 70 yards up the field and sweep an accomplished opening goal – his first for the club – past Illan Meslier. Since then he has been Antonio Conte’s right wing-back and Sunday’s meeting with Newcastle should offer a seventh straight outing from the beginning.
Spurs lost at Burnley before the visit to Elland Road; Conte’s dissatisfaction afforded Doherty a recall and this time he benefited from a manager’s decision to make changes. “I always judge my game off what I do offensively,” he says. “It took a long time to get my first goal for Tottenham. When I got that I felt really confident and that confidence level has stayed.”
Nine days later, Doherty provided two fine assists for Harry Kane against Everton. Spurs are now seeing the player they thought they had bought from Wolves in August 2020: an intelligent, incisive marauder from deep positions on the flank. He might have expected to blossom sooner in north London: it certainly felt strange he received so few opportunities under Nuno Espírito Santo, who oversaw much of his best form at Molineux, although the ex-manager’s decision to field a back four did not help.
“It’s always tough when you leave one place with a manager and then he ends up coming to the place that you’re at,” he says. “You just never know how you’re going to pick up the relationship from before. Me and him got on really well at Wolves. When he came in, I did think I would have a better chance than most because he already knows my game. For some reason it just didn’t work out.”
They could not recapture the old magic and it would hardly have been a surprise, upon Conte’s arrival, to see Doherty move on even if the Italian’s liking for creative wing-backs is well known. Doherty had simply not done enough at Spurs but sensed an opportunity. “You know the formation he wants to play but you still have to gain his trust,” he says. “I didn’t play at the start: I just kept my head down, trained as hard as I could, did whatever I could in training and I think he saw I was fit all the time, I wasn’t picking up injuries. Even then I was in and out and then against Leeds I nailed it down and have been in ever since.”
From that dark afternoon on the bus, Doherty has reached a position when he can help drive Spurs’ reinvigorated quest for the top four.
