Billy Davies

Football player infobox
playername = Billy Davies


fullname = William McIntosh Davies
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1964|5|31
cityofbirth = Glasgow
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1982–1984
1986–1987
1987–1990
1990
1990–1993
1993–1998
clubs = Rangers
Elfsborg
St Mirren
Leicester City
Dunfermline Athletic
Motherwell
caps(goals) = 013 0(1)
018 0(1)
074 0(5)
006 0(0)
104 (10)
116 0(9)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1998–2001
2004–2006
2006–2007
2008-
managerclubs = Motherwell
Preston North End
Derby County
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

William McIntosh "Billy" Davies (born 31 May 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football manager and former player.

Playing career

As a schoolboy Davies was associated with Manchester United and was offered a contract by then manager Dave Sexton. He started his professional playing career at the Scottish club Glasgow Rangers 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.

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 2001/2 season.

Preston North End

Following his dismissal as Motherwell boss, Davies moved south to England and took on the role of assistant manager to Craig Brown at fc|Preston North End. Following Brown's departure in 2004 he was installed as caretaker manager [cite news
date=2004-08-29
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/preston/3609772.stm
title=Brown leaves Preston post
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-09-09] 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 - equalling 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'. 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' success at Deepdale saw him linked with a number of other jobs. He was interviewed for the position at fc|Charlton Athletic but was unsuccessful [cite news
date=2006-05-25
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/preston/5016344.stm
title=Charlton opt against Davies moves
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-09-09] and, instead, joined fellow Championship club fc|Derby County in June 2006. [cite news
date=2006-06-02
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/5040106.stm
title= Davies unveiled as new Derby boss
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-09-09]

Derby County

In Davies' first season as Derby manager he led them to third place in the league and then won the play-offs after defeating fc|Southampton and then fc|West Bromwich Albion, 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 in November 2007, with the club bottom of the league. [Cite news
publisher = BBC Sport
title = Billy Davies leaves Derby County
accessdate = 2007-12-02
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2007/11/26/davies_departure_2007_feature.shtml]

Recent times

Following the resignation of Alex McLeish as Scotland manager, Davies was installed amongst the front runners to take over the job, [cite news|date=2007-11-27|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7115967.stm|title=McLeish successor search begins|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2007-11-27] but withdrew his interest in the position two months later. [cite news
title = Davies out of race for Scots job
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7186059.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2008-01-15
accessdate=2008-01-15] He has since stated that he would be interested in the vacant managerial post at Hearts. In a few newspapers it has been suggested that Davies was being lined up for the Leicester City job since the departure of Ian Holloway.

Davies has been closely linked with the vacant Assistant Manager's role at Everton, [cite news
date=2008-03-08
url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=528768&in_page_id=1779
title=I beat myself up, so I need help, says Moyes
accessdate=2008-03-08] [cite news
date=2008-03-08
url=http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=82267
title=Ex-Derby boss Davies in line for Everton job
accessdate=2008-03-08] although Everton manager David Moyes stated he would wait until the close season to appoint a number 2.

Managerial honours

Preston North End 2004-2006

*Football League Championship Playoffs
**Runners-up (1): 2004-05
**Semi-finalists (1): 2005-06

Derby County 2006-2007

*Football League Championship Playoffs
**Winners (1): 2006-07

Manager awards

* SPL Manager of the Month (1): November 2000

Managerial stats

:"As of 17 November 2007."

References

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=1353|name=Billy Davies