Billy Davies

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Billy Davies

William McIntosh "Billy" Davies (born 31 May 1964 in Glasgow) is a former Scottish professional football player and is currently the team manager of Derby County having been appointed on 2nd June, 2006 after departure from Preston North End F.C..

1 Playing Career
2 Management Career
3 Managerial stats
4 External links

[edit] Playing Career

Davies started his 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.

[edit] Management Career

Davies went on to manage Motherwell and he took them to the brink of European Football but was subsequently sacked after poor form. He was appointed manager by Preston in 2004 having been assistant to the previous manager Craig Brown.

He took Preston to the brink of the Premiership via the play-offs in May 2005. Despite a difficult start to the 2005/2006 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. This after claiming it was "Job Done" after the first leg.

Davies won Manager of the Month for the first time in English football for January 2006, having won all four league games played without conceding a single goal. In April 2006 he won the award for the second time in three months. Davies won three similar awards in Scotland whilst manager of Motherwell.

As his contract allowed him to explore employment opportunities at Premiership clubs Davies applied and was interviewed for the vacant management job at Charlton football club with Preston's blessing. However, his application was unsuccessful. This was something of a humiliation for Davies, as he had suggested to local press in Lancashire that the Charlton job was his should he want it. With his credibility at Preston damaged, he then expressed a desire to speak with a competitor Championship club, Derby County, for which permission was refused by Preston. Despite the fact that his contract at Preston only required the Deepdale club to allow him to speak to Premiership sides, Davies bizarrely claimed that Preston had been wrong to deny him the chance to speak to Championship Derby. Davies then took legal advice and, eventually, after a suitable compensation package had been agreed between the two clubs, Davies was allowed to leave Preston North End, followed by most of his coaching staff including first-team coach Julian Darby. Because of this perceived lack of loyalty, Davies is now unpopular with the majority of Preston fans.

Billy's new club, Derby County, struggled during the 2005/2006 season. However, they have been taken over by local business people, stabilised the finances and hope to improve under Davies' guidance. On the 22nd July, 2006 Billy Davies completed his first signing as manager of Derby, paying Luton Town a fee of £1 million for striker Steve Howard. The transfer is Derby's first £1 million plus transfer since 2001. The 2006/2007 season has started well with Davies winning Manager of the Month in November following 6 consecutive wins. Derby currently sit 2nd in the Championship, 2 poins and 2 places above Preston. He will make his 1st return to Deepdale as Derby manager on New Years Day for what is sure to be a promotion show down.

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	L	D	Win %
Motherwell		October 14, 1998	September 18, 2001	123	41	51	31	33.33
Preston North End		August 29, 2004	June 2, 2006	101	45	21	35	44.55
Derby County		June 2, 2006	Present	23	12	6	5	52.17

[edit] External links

Billy Davies management career stats at Soccerbase

Preceded by: Harri Kampman	Motherwell F.C. Manager 1998-2001	Succeeded by: John Philliben & Miodrag Krivokapic (Caretakers)
Preceded by: Craig Brown	Preston North End F.C. Manager 2004-2006	Succeeded by: Paul Simpson
Preceded by: Terry Westley	Derby County F.C. Manager 2006-	Succeeded by: incumbent