Career
He is from Iraq"s Christian minority, and an ethnic Assyrian. He was a pillar for club and country during the late 1960s and through the 1970s. He made his league debut in 1963 and spent 15 inspiring seasons with Aliyat First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Shurta and with merger club First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Shurta, where he was a key figure in the side along with Abid Kadhim, Majeed Ali, Latif Shandal and Riyadh Nouri.
After making his international debut in 1967, Douglas quickly became an key influence as the midfield general in the heart of the Iraqi team
With the national team, he played in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers in Australia, where Iraq finished second behind the hosts, the 1972 and 1976 Asian Cups in Thailand and Iran, and in the Olympic qualifiers in 1968 and 1972. Douglas played for the Iraqi national team until 1978 and retired from playing a year later.
He went onto coach at First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Shurta and in his first season in charge, led the club to their first ever league title in 1979-1980. He continued to coach the club"s youth teams after stepping down as head coach in 1983, but was renamed coach of the first team in 1985.
In 1989, he stepped down as coach of First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Shurta to work full-time as assistant to Under-19s coach Bill Asprey.
Douglas was also assistant coach to Ammo Baba in the national team set-up from 1983-1984. He coached First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Khutot, Salah-First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Deen and First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Karkh in the 90s before leaving Iraq to settle in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Douglas is in the First Rate (at Lloyd's) Shorta Hall of Fame.
