N/A: Simon Davies, Manchester United, Subbuteo Squads 1995/96

During the Fifth Test of the 2001 Ashes series, England’s no.9, Jimmy Ormond, was greeted to the crease by the Australian batsman, and captain’s brother, Mark Waugh with the question “Mate. What are you doing out here? There’s no way you’re good enough to play for England.” Ormond quickly responded “Maybe not, but at least I’m the best player in my own family.” I’d love to say that Ormond then inspired England to victory with a swashbuckling knock but the Aussies had already smashed their hosts around the park and eventually won by an innings and 25 runs. It was England in the early 2000s, what did you expect?

 

The reason I refer to this is because the vast majority of professional sportspeople can always cling on to the fact that at least they’re the best at what they do in their own family (unless that family includes George Weah of course). This is probably true for today’s subject but, due to his fairly common name, he can’t even claim to be the best Simon Davies to play for Wales in recent years. Apologies if you came looking for tales of tousle-haired wingers and Europa League exploits but stick with me for a tale of promise, Patrick Vieira and away days at Port Talbot Town.

Our Simon Davies came through the fabled Manchester United youth team and was a part of the infamous ‘Class of 92’ alongside the likes of David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes who lifted the FA Youth Cup in…1992 following a 6-3 aggregate victory over Crystal Palace. Unlike his more celebrated contemporaries, Davies was limited to only 20 appearances for the Red Devils across all competitions but did notch his only goal for the club in a 4-0 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League. During his time at United he gained his one and only cap for Wales in a friendly against Switzerland ahead of Euro 96 coming off a star studded bench ahead of the likes of Robbie Savage and Jeremy Goss as the Swiss ran out 2-0 winners.

 

In 1997 Davies moved on to Luton Town where he made 22 appearances and contributed a solitary goal before heading to Macclesfield Town and Rochdale. In 2001 he moved to the Welsh Premier League with Bangor City where he racked up 60 appearances across two seasons and found the net an impressive eight times. The 2002/03 season saw Bangor finish third and qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup, arguably the second greatest European club competition, with Davies named as the league’s Player of the Season. This impressive homecoming, well, sort of homecoming as Davies was actually born in Cheshire, earned him a move to Total Network Solutions but a trophyless season saw him return to North Wales with Bangor and later Rhyl before hanging up his boots in 2007 after brief spells with Chester City and Airbus UK.

 

Despite failing to reach the playing heights of his ‘Class of 92’ companions Davies had demonstrated an impressive coaching ability during the latter days of his career and had even taken charge of Chester on a caretaker basis at the end of the 2006/07 season. He stayed on at the club as the youth team coach and was thrust into the main job again in April 2008 where he halted the club’s slide down the League Two table to secure survival. However, the 2008/09 season did not start well for Chester and Davies and he was relieved of his duties in November 2008 when he made a return to his previous youth team post. In 2010 he made the move to Manchester City’s youth coaching setup.

 

Back in Manchester, albeit on the blue side of the divide, Davies was reacquainted with the continental flavour of his early career and was promoted to the assistant manager post of City’s Elite Development Squad working under the great Patrick Vieira. The pair led the EDS to the inaugural Premier League International Cup title with a Kelechi Iheanacho goal enough to defeat Porto’s u23 side in the final. Vieira moved on to Juventus in 2016 but Davies remained in post until 2018 when he became the club’s Head of Academy Coaching on the look out for the next Phil Foden. When long-serving captain Vincent Kompany departed the Etihad for his former club Anderlecht he took Davies with him as part of his coaching team. Davies was swiftly promoted to Head Coach as Kompany looked to elongate his playing career but, dismissed as a “yes man” by the Belgian press and disregarded as a less exciting appointment than club legend Kompany, was demoted to an assistant’s role after only five games in charge.

 

You’ve got to feel for Simon Davies. A forgotten member of the revered ‘Class of 92’, a talented coach who was dismissed for being less famous than the man who brought him to Belgium and not even the best known Welsh footballer called Simon Davies. However, his abilities have provided him with a decent career in the beautiful game and, with time and talent on his side, we might be looking back at him in years to come as one of the best coaches of his generation. Hopefully, for his sake, his more famous namesake doesn’t lead his boyhood club Solva AFC to Champions League glory in the meantime.