Simon Davey

Football player infobox
playername = Simon Davey
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1970|10|1
cityofbirth = Swansea
countryofbirth = Wales
height = height|meters=1.75
currentclub = Barnsley (manager)
position = Midfielder (retired)
years = 1987–1992
1992–1995
1995–1998
1997
clubs = Swansea City
Carlisle United
Preston North End
→ Darlington (loan)
caps(goals) = 049 0(4)
105 (18)
106 (21)
011 0(0)
manageryears = 2006–
managerclubs = Barnsley

Simon Davey (born 1 October 1970 in Swansea) is a Welsh football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Barnsley.

Career

In 1987, Davey was a teenager preparing for O-levels in school in his home town of Swansea when the head teacher came into the classroom and said, 'Terry Yorath has just called. He is asking if Simon can be excused and pop down to the Vetch'. Davey went straight down to afc|Swansea City’s ground, Vetch Field, in school uniform. Yorath informed him that he was short of players and would like to name him as a substitute for Saturday’s game against fc|Torquay United. Davey made his debut during the second half of that game and went on to make 58 appearances, scoring 5 goals in 4 years, as a midfielder with the Swans.

In August 1992, he went from Swansea to fc|Carlisle United on a free transfer. Within a few games, aged 22, he took over as team captain. In the 1993–94 season he played every game and challenged for the title of leading scorer, eventually finishing second to David Reeves with a tally of 13. Carlisle supporters voted one of these goals, a 35-yard free-kick against fc|Shrewsbury Town, as their second best goal of all time. Davey went onto make 132 appearances for the club and scored a total of 23 goals. In February 1995 Davey was sold to fc|Preston North End for £125,000. At the end of that season, Carlisle won the Division Three Championship and although Davey had already left the club he had played the minimum requirement of 26 games to qualify for a Championship medal.

At Preston, Davey played 5 matches in midfield alongside a youngster on loan from fc|Manchester United who arrived to make his league debut, David Beckham. Beckham scored his first league goal when the novice asked Davey if he could have a go at a free-kick Davey was planning to take; Davey stepped aside and let him have it. Davey went onto to score 22 times in 122 games for Preston and was named in the PFA Team of the Season in 1995. While with the club, he also made 11 loan appearances for fc|Darlington.

Davey’s playing career was cut short at the age of 27 following a back injury while training with a medicine ball. However, Preston manager David Moyes gave him a chance at coaching with the club and within a short time Davey was in charge of Preston’s Youth Academy, later moving to the Youth Academy at fc|Barnsley. As part of his coaching education, he gained the UEFA C Licence, the UEFA B Licence, the UEFA A Licence and the UEFA Pro Licence in 2005 as well as the Academy Managers licence and the UEFA Youth Licence.

Davey was appointed caretaker manager of Barnsley in November 2006, following Andy Ritchie's dismissal. [cite news
date=2006-11-21
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/6169804.stm
title=Barnsley dismiss manager Ritchie
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-31] After a successful start he was given the job on a permanent basis at the end of the year, [cite news
date=2006-12-31
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/6221085.stm
title= Davey appointed boss of Barnsley
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-31] and later led the club to a successful fight against relegation at the end of the
2006–07 season. He later signed a four-year contract in December 2007 after an impressive start to the following season. [cite news
date=2007-12-07
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/7132558.stm
title= Barnsley boss agrees new contract
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-01-06] Two months later, he led the club to a shock FA Cup win at Liverpool [cite news
date=2008-02-16
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/7248835.stm
title= Davey celebrates 'fairytale' win |publisher=BBC Sport |accessdate=2008-02-17] and 3 weeks after that, led them to victory over Chelsea to take the club into the semi-finals, before losing to Cardiff City.

Honours

As a a player

Swansea City
*Welsh FA Cup winner: 1991
*West Wales Senior Cup winner: 1987, 1990, 1991

Carlisle United
*Nationwide Division Three Title winner: 1994–95

Preston North End
*Nationwide Division Three Title winner: 1995–96

Managerial stats

References

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=2061|name=Simon Davey