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Billy Davies

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For the River City character, see Billy Davies (River City).
Billy Davies
Personal information
Full name William McIntosh Davies
Position(s) Midfielder (retired)
Team information
Current team
 Nottingham Forest (Manager)

William McIntosh "Billy" Davies (born 31 May 1964) is a Scottish football manager, former player and current manager of Nottingham Forest.

Playing career

As a schoolboy Davies was associated with Manchester United and was offered a contract by then manager Dave Sexton, but left without ever playing a first-team game.

He started his professional playing career at the Scottish club Rangers F.C. where he spent six years before a brief spell with Swedish team IF Elsborg. He later played for St Mirren, Leicester City and Dunfermline Athletic before finishing his playing career with Motherwell in his native Scotland.

Management career

Motherwell

Davies went on to manage Motherwell and he took them to the brink of European Football but was subsequently sacked after poor form saw Motherwell gain just 3 points from 7 matches at the start of the 2001–02 season.

Preston North End

Following his dismissal as Motherwell boss, Davies moved south to England and took on the role of assistant manager to former Scotland national coach Craig Brown at Preston North End. Following Brown's departure in 2004 he was installed as caretaker manager [1] before being given the job on a permanent basis.

Davies took Preston to the brink of the Premier League via the play-offs in May 2005 but lost in the final. Despite a difficult start to the 2005–06 season, Preston went on an unbeaten run, from September until February, which saw them go 22 games unbeaten - equaling the record set in the 1888 season by the double-winning 'Invincibles' side, leading some sections of the media to dub them 'The New Invincibles'.[citation needed] This helped the club qualify for the play-offs for a second successive season although Davies and Preston again failed to win promotion when they were knocked out by Leeds United after losing the semi-final second leg.

Davies's success at Deepdale saw him linked with a number of other jobs. He was interviewed for the position at Charlton Athletic when it was announced that Alan Curbishley would be stepping down after 15 years as manager, but Davies was unsuccessful and the job went to Iain Dowie instead.[2] Davies then accepted an offer to manage Preston's Championship rivals Derby County in June 2006.[3]

Derby County

In Davies's first season as Derby manager he led them to third place in the league and then won the play-offs after defeating Southampton in the semi-finals and then West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium, ending Derby's five year absence from the top flight. Despite signing a one year extension to his contract, Derby struggled in the Premier League, gaining only six points from fourteen games. After criticising Derby's board for lack of investment, Davies left Pride Park by mutual consent in November 2007, with the club bottom of the league. [4]

Davies was later linked with the managerial positions of the Scottish national team after Alex McLeish stepped down to take charge of Birmingham City[5] (he would eventually withdraw his interest from this post),[6] Leicester City (after Gary Megson defected to Bolton Wanderers), as well as Dundee and Hibernian. He was also considered a candidate to become assistant manager to Everton boss David Moyes, a role which came vacant when Alan Irvine left to take charge of Davies's old club Preston.[7][8]

Nottingham Forest

On 31 December 2008, it was announced on the official Nottingham Forest website that the club was in negotiations with Davies to succeed the recently sacked Colin Calderwood.[9] He was confirmed as their manager on 1 January 2009.[10]

In his first interview as Nottingham Forest manager, Davies stated that he wants to "beef up the squad" but will not be "rushed into any rash decisions."[citation needed]

On Monday 27 April 2009, Billy Davies experienced his "proudest moment" in his managerial career, when Norwich City's 2-0 loss at home to Reading secured Forest their place in the Championship for the 09/10 season.

Managerial honours

Club awards

Preston North End
Derby County

Individual awards

Statistics

Manager

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Motherwell Scotland 14 October 1998 18 September 2001 123 41 31 51 33.33
Preston North End England 29 August 2004 2 June 2006 101 45 35 21 44.55
Derby County England 2 June 2006 26 November 2007 69 31 14 24 44.93
Nottingham Forest England 1 January 2009 Present 13 5 3 5 38.46
Total 306 122 83 101 39.87
As of 9 March 2009

References

  1. ^ "Brown leaves Preston post". BBC Sport. 29 August 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  2. ^ "Charlton opt against Davies moves". BBC Sport. 25 May 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  3. ^ "Davies unveiled as new Derby boss". BBC Sport. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  4. ^ "Billy Davies leaves Derby County". BBC Sport. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
  5. ^ "McAllister rules out Scotland job". BBC Sport. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Davies out of race for Scots job". BBC Sport. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
  7. ^ Bernstein, Joe (8 March 2008). "I beat myself up, so I need help, says Moyes". Daily Mail. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  8. ^ "Ex-Derby boss Davies in line for Everton job". 8 March 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
  9. ^ "Official Statement". 31 December 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  10. ^ "Forest confirm Davies as boss". 1 January 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
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