Simon Davies (soccer player, 1979)

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Simon Davies
Simon Davies Wales October 2006.jpg
Davies in the Welsh National Shirt (2006)
Personnel
birthday October 23, 1979
place of birth Haverfordwest ,  Wales
size 177 cm
position Midfield (right)
Juniors
Years station
1992-1997 Peterborough United
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1997-2000 Peterborough United 65 0(6)
2000-2005 Tottenham Hotspur 121 (13)
2005-2007 Everton FC 45 0(1)
2007-2013 Fulham FC 137 (13)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1998-2001 Wales U-21 10 0(0)
1999 Wales B 1 0(0)
2001-2010 Wales 58 0(6)
1 Only league games are given.

Simon Davies (born October 23, 1979 in Haverfordwest ) is a former Welsh football player . He began his professional career with English fourth division club Peterborough United before moving to the Premier League , where he played for Tottenham Hotspur , Everton and Fulham . His biggest success in 2010 was the final with Fulham in the Europa League . He also made 58 appearances for the Welsh national team and was twice "Wales' Player of the Year".

Athletic career

Club career

Peterborough United (1992-2000)

Davies grew up in a small village outside Haverfordwest. Although this area also has a penchant for rugby , he developed his penchant for football only - especially since his maternal uncle Ian Walsh was a role model and advisor as a professional player for Crystal Palace and the Welsh national team. At the age of twelve he played in the school holidays for Norwich and when youth coach Kit Carson later joined Peterborough United , he took 25 youngsters with him, including Davies himself. When he was 16, Davies signed an apprenticeship contract and lived with many others The club's youth players (including Matthew Etherington ) under one roof. The generation around Davies attracted attention in the 1997/98 season in the FA Youth Cup when the team reached the semifinals. In addition, the Welshman was since July 1997 in the squad of the first team and on January 24, 1998 coach Barry Fry changed him to Hull City (1: 3) for the second half.

In his sophomore year, Davies became a Peterborough regular. He missed only three competitive games, came to the Welsh U-21 and B national team and he was elected to the end of the 1998/99 season in the (fourth division) team of the year. There was sometimes criticism that he only scored four goals despite his strengths in the offensive game, but the interest of clubs from the Premier League was piqued. Together with Etherington, he completed various trial training sessions at Manchester United in the summer of 1999 , which included a test match against the Boca Juniors . United coach Alex Ferguson ultimately refused a transfer and the duo returned to Peterborough. Davies even signed a new five-year deal in Peterborough afterwards.

Tottenham Hotspur (2000-05)

At the turn of 1999/2000 Davies and Etherington moved to Tottenham Hotspur regardless . The transfer fee for Davies was £ 700,000 and Tottenham saw him primarily as an actor for the reserve team. At the end of the season he was still in the first team three times, including his debut in the starting line-up against Manchester United, in which Davies was particularly committed.

After a few more opportunities, he made his sporting breakthrough with the "Spurs" from February 2001. Helpful for this was his performance in the FA Cup against Stockport County , when he came on for the injured Norwegian Øyvind Leonhardsen and contributed two goals to the 4-0 win. With further goals against Bradford City and Leicester City, he consolidated his position and showed himself to be confident, intelligent and dangerous in his way of playing. The change of coach to Glenn Hoddle also had a positive effect on him . In the 2001/02 season he underlined his increased ambitions as an attacking midfielder, scored seven competitive goals and his speed was an increasing threat to defensive rows, especially in one-on-one duels on the flank. In the 2002/03 season at the latest, he matured into one of the hottest talents in the Premier League and speculation about an imminent move to a top club increased, especially since Davies did not qualify for a European competition with Tottenham. Injuries then ensured that he only played a total of 38 league games in the following two years until mid-2005 and thus the previously fairly constant development came to a standstill.

Everton FC (2005-07)

In May 2005, Davies moved to Everton FC for an initial transfer fee of £ 3.5 million . At the new club, his first year was changeable, although he completed 30 league games, but "only" 22 of them from the start and the team was only in the lower midfield (after fourth place in the previous year ). After a total of only 18 months Davies' engagement with the "Toffees" ended and at the end of January 2007 he moved back to the English capital for league rivals FC Fulham .

Fulham FC (2007-13)

At the "Cottagers" Davies fit in right away on the right side of midfield and he was also in demand as a free-kick taker; he scored his first goal for Fulham by “free-kick praise” against Arsenal on April 29, 2007. In the 2007/08 season, he equalized with five league goals the personal record from his most successful Tottenham year and he was in an internal election honored as "best player". The following year he qualified with Fulham for the Europa League and he was largely responsible for it, as he completed every league game until April 2009 before he had to undergo surgery after a foot injury and missed the last five games of the season. The comeback was bumpy and after a few attempts he did not re-establish himself in the regular formation until February 2010. The competition in midfield had meanwhile also increased. He often started in left midfield in front of full-backs like Nicky Shorey or Paul Konchesky . He helped out as a right defender and convinced there especially in the duel with VfL Wolfsburg . In the Europa League, he scored one goal each in the semi-finals against Hamburger SV and in the final against Atlético Madrid (1-1, final score 1: 2).

In August 2010 Davies signed a new three-year contract with Fulham FC. Subsequently, however, he was increasingly plagued by wounds, including a knee and a hip injury. In the last two years in particular, he has only played six league games and although he was in the first team's squad in the 2012/13 season, he only played in the reserve team. The contract ended in summer 2013 without Davies finding a subsequent job.

Welsh national team

Davies played 58 times for the Welsh national soccer team and scored six goals in the process. He made his debut against Ukraine in March 2001 and his most successful period was during qualifying for Euro 2004 . He scored three goals in three back-to-back games, including a 2-1 win over Italy in 2002 before Wales narrowly defeated Russia in the playoffs .

After the failed qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa , Davies, who had meanwhile been promoted to captain and increasingly vulnerable to injury, resigned from the national team.

Activities after professional career

After the end of his professional career in 2013, he initially remained "without a club" before he decided in September 2014 to play in the Welsh homeland for the lower-class club Solva AFC .

Title / Awards

Web links

Simon Davies in the barryhugmansfootballers.com database. Retrieved August 16, 2020.

  • Simon Davies in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d "On the Spot: Simon Davies (2002)" (The Telegraph)
  2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 77 .
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 78 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 83 .
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 77 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 104 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 107 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 103 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84596-111-0 , pp. 103 .
  10. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007-08 . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3 , pp. 102 .
  11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008-09 . Mainstream Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8 , pp. 115 .
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009-10 . Mainstream Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0 , pp. 109 .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010-11 . Mainstream Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0 , pp. 109 .
  14. ↑ "Fulham midfielder Simon Davies suffers injury setback" (BBC Sport)
  15. ↑ "Manchester City v Fulham: Where to Watch, Preview and Team News" (International Business Times)
  16. ↑ "Davies Returns" (Fulham FC)
  17. ↑ "Fulham's Simon Davies calls time on Wales career" (BBC Sport)
  18. ^ "Simon Davies signs up for his village team after earning £ 30,000 a week as Premier League star and Wales captain" (Wales Online)
  19. ↑ "Davies wins Welsh football gong" (BBC Sport)
personal data
SURNAME Davies, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION welsh football player
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Haverfordwest