The remarkable tale of senior football's demise in the Maiden City during the early 1970s amid the mayhem brought by the Troubles before Derry City's glorious cross-border return is told in Different League: The Derry City Story which will be on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC Two network at 21:00 BST on Monday 19 April. "Felix was a different class," recalls another Derry City legend Tony O'Doherty. Suddenly what had seemed a pipedream had momentum and when Northern Ireland's football governing body, the Irish FA signed off the cross-border initiative, Derry City's 13 years in the wilderness were over. Derry's first League of Ireland contest was on 8 September 1985 as they defeated Home Farm 3-1 at a packed Brandywell. Eventually something had to give and King's resignation in November 1987 meant McLaughlin could finally sit in the Derry dugout.

Source: BBC April 18, 2021 09:11 UTC