The 30-year-old left Charlton Athletic by mutual consent at the end of the summer transfer window after sliding down the pecking order despite having captained the club to promotion from League One.

After a strengthening of the squad for the Championship, the former Ibrox man started to see less and less action and moved on in search of first-team football.

Now, journalist Alan Nixon is reporting Docherty is under consideration by another second tier side, Preston North End, as they look to free agents to fill out their squad.

After it was previously reported manager Graham Alexander was looking to the free agent market, it is now claimed Docherty is seen as someone who can come in and help instantly at Deepdale. The player himself is also said to be eager to get back playing in the Championship.

On his search for players, Alexander said: “Yeah, we’ve sort of spoke about that this week in particular actually.

“Looking at who’s potentially available, if they can come in and help us, potentially.

"The problem you’ve got there is you’re probably bringing in players who are not at the level fitness wise to help us in the short term.

“Unless they’ve been training with a team consistently or with the PFA and stuff like that. That’s the information we’re trying to find out right now.”

Upon leaving Charlton, Docherty said: “To be named captain of such an iconic football club was nothing short of a privilege.

“I felt the weight and expectation that title carries, but I can wholeheartedly say I gave my absolute all to represent the club properly every single day with the upmost respect that I felt it deserved through the good and the bad moments. 

“I’ll always be grateful for my time at Charlton and everything the club has given me, but football moves fast I’m now excited to see what the future holds.”