Billy Davies

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Scottish footballer and manager

title: "Billy Davies" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "living-people", "footballers-from-glasgow", "illeists", "scottish-men's-footballers", "scottish-expatriate-men's-footballers", "men's-association-football-midfielders", "manchester-united-f.c.-players", "rangers-f.c.-players", "jönköpings-södra-if-players", "if-elfsborg-players", "st-mirren-f.c.-players", "leicester-city-f.c.-players", "dunfermline-athletic-f.c.-players", "motherwell-f.c.-players", "scottish-football-league-players", "english-football-league-players", "allsvenskan-players", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-sweden", "scottish-football-managers", "motherwell-f.c.-managers", "motherwell-f.c.-non-playing-staff", "preston-north-end-f.c.-non-playing-staff", "preston-north-end-f.c.-managers", "derby-county-f.c.-managers", "nottingham-forest-f.c.-managers", "scottish-premier-league-managers", "english-football-league-managers", "premier-league-managers", "scottish-expatriate-sportspeople-in-sweden"] description: "Scottish footballer and manager" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Davies" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Scottish footballer and manager ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox football biography"]

Field	Value
name	Billy Davies
image	Billy Davies clipped.jpg
image_size	200
caption	Davies in 2006
fullname	William McIntosh Davies
birth_date
birth_place	Glasgow, Scotland
height	5ft 6in
position	Midfielder
currentclub	Greenock Morton (Technical Head Coach)
youthclubs1	Pollok United
youthyears2	1980–1981
youthclubs2	Manchester United
years1	1981–1986
years2	1986
clubs2	Jönköping
caps2
years3	1987
years4	1987–1990
years5	1990
years6	1990–1993
years7	1993–1998
clubs1	Rangers
clubs3	Elfsborg
clubs4	St Mirren
clubs5	Leicester City
clubs6	Dunfermline Athletic
clubs7	Motherwell
caps1	13
caps3	18
caps4	74
caps5	6
caps6	104
caps7	116
totalcaps	331
manageryears1	1998–2001
manageryears2	2004–2006
manageryears3	2006–2007
manageryears4	2009–2011
manageryears5	2013–2014
manageryears6	2025–2026
managerclubs1	Motherwell
managerclubs2	Preston North End
managerclubs3	Derby County
managerclubs4	Nottingham Forest
managerclubs5	Nottingham Forest
managerclubs6	Greenock Morton (interim)
::

He won the 2007 Championship play-offs with Derby County, finished as runners-up in the 2005 play-offs with Preston North End, and reached the semi-finals in 2006 (Preston), 2010 and 2011 (both with Nottingham Forest).

Playing career

As a schoolboy, Davies was associated with Manchester United and he was offered a contract by then manager Dave Sexton.

Davies started his professional playing career at the Scottish club Rangers. He made his debut aged against Brechin City on 23 September 1981, but rarely featured for the first team in his six years at Ibrox. He then had spells with Swedish teams Jönköping and Elfsborg. Davies went on to play for St Mirren, Leicester City and Dunfermline Athletic before he finished his playing career with Motherwell in his native Scotland.

Management career

Motherwell

Davies went on to player-coach and then manage Motherwell, helping them first avoid relegation with few games remaining in his first season in charge. In the next season he took them to the brink of European football. The subsequent season was less successful, due mainly to the club's financial situation. The club sold nine first-team players in the off-season and Davies resigned on 18 September 2001 after poor form saw Motherwell gain just three points from seven matches at the start of the 2001–02 season.

Preston North End

Davies moved south to England and took on the role of assistant manager to former Scotland national coach Craig Brown at Preston North End. Following Brown's departure on 29 August 2004, Davies was installed as caretaker manager before being given the job permanently on 27 September.

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, a 25-game unbeaten run meant Preston went on to qualify for the play-offs for a second successive season although the side again failed to win promotion as they were knocked out by Leeds United after losing the semi-final second leg, after he famously left Elland Road following the first leg issuing the quote "Job done" to the media, only to lose at home and be knocked out.

Davies's success at Deepdale saw him linked with a number of other jobs. He was interviewed for the position at Charlton Athletic when it was announced that Alan Curbishley would be stepping down after 15 years as manager but Davies was unsuccessful and the job went to Iain Dowie instead. Davies then accepted an offer to manage Preston's Championship rivals Derby County on 2 June 2006.

Derby County

In Davies's first season as Derby manager he led them to third place in the league and won the play-offs after defeating Southampton in the semi-finals and then West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium, ending Derby's five-year absence from the top flight – the scorer of the winning goal, Stephen Pearson, was a former youth player from Davies's time at Motherwell. Davies signed a one-year extension to his contract. Derby struggled in the Premier League, gaining only six points from 14 games. After criticising Derby's board for lack of investment, Davies left Pride Park by mutual consent on 26 November 2007 with the club bottom of the league. Some critics believed that Davies was a victim of his own success after overachieving in his first season at Pride Park, while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level, poor big money signings (including £3m Claude Davis) and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board so as to avoid having a relegation on his CV.

Davies was later linked with the managerial positions of the Scotland national team after Alex McLeish stepped down to take charge of Birmingham City (Davies would eventually decide against the post), Leicester City (after Gary Megson left to manage Bolton Wanderers), as well as Dundee and Hibernian. Davies was also considered a candidate to become assistant manager to Everton boss David Moyes, a role which came vacant when Alan Irvine left to take charge of Davies's old club Preston.

Nottingham Forest

On 31 December 2008, it was announced by Nottingham Forest that the club was in negotiations with Davies to succeed the recently dismissed Colin Calderwood. Davies was appointed as their manager on 1 January 2009, officially taking over on 5 January.

In the summer of 2009 Davies made several additions to his squad and spent around £4m. Despite having six first-team strikers, the season did not get off to the best start, with Forest playing well but failing to get the results many thought their performances deserved. However Forest embarked upon an 18-match unbeaten run starting at the end of September and including 10 wins, five of which came successively, to climb the table rapidly into a play-off position at the end of November.

Davies was nominated for the manager of the month award for October after guiding Forest to three successive wins and a draw, but he missed out to Dave Jones of Cardiff City. Following failure in the play-offs for the second season running,

Return to Nottingham Forest

On 7 February 2013, Davies returned to Nottingham Forest as manager, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal, 20 months after being dismissed by the previous Forest board. Davies took charge of his first match since coming back on 16 February 2013, a 1–1 draw against Bolton Wanderers at the City Ground. The first victory of his second spell came three days later, a 6–1 win at home against Huddersfield Town. This was followed by his first away game at Charlton Athletic where Forest won 2–0. Under Davies they won six games in a row, including a 2–1 away win against second placed Hull City, placing them fifth in The Championship table and in a play-off position. Forest were unable to sustain their form and eventually finished eighth after losing 2–3 to Leicester City on 4 May 2013. On 18 October 2013, Davies signed a four-year contract extension at the City Ground. The chairman and club owner, Fawaz Al-Hasawi said "This is a fantastic day for Nottingham Forest. I look forward with great excitement to working alongside him for many years to come as we aim to bring success back to this magnificent club."

Davies's second spell proved to be a controversial and damaging one., banned journalists as part of a "near media blackout" and employed his cousin, Jim Price, a suspended solicitor, as his closest adviser.

After an eight-game winless run left Nottingham Forest one place and two points outside of the play-off positions, and having seen his side lose 5–0 to local rivals Derby County two days earlier, Davies was dismissed on 24 March 2014. A statement on Forest's website read simply: "Nottingham Forest Football Club have confirmed the termination of manager Billy Davies' employment."

Louise Taylor of The Guardian pointed to Davies' "paranoia", "self-destructive insecurities" and "obsession with conspiracy theories and old grudges" as the reasons behind his downfall, suggesting that he had "shattered" his reputation. *The Daily Telegraph'''s John Percy, who was one of a number of reporters who were "accused of being in league with his former employers" for questioning decisions Davies made, said that Davies was "destined for failure" because he was "obsessed" with conspiracies and hidden agendas. He pointed to the "huge funds" Davies was given to get Forest promoted and suggested that he "could have got away with" the "unsavoury" behaviour, had Forest been winning. John Payne of *The Metro'' said that Davies owed the Forest fans an apology for his behaviour after failing to acknowledge them at the end of the defeat to Derby and "insulted fans' intelligence" by refusing to answer straight questions on the rare occasion he gave press interviews.

Technical Head Coach role at Greenock Morton

On 11 July 2025, Davies was appointed technical head coach at Greenock Morton. BBC Sport reported that Davies would take temporary charge of the first team after manager Dougie Imrie moved to Raith Rovers on 25 November 2025, but Gary Miller was given that responsibility.

Personal life

Billy Davies is the elder brother of John Davies and the brother-in-law of John Spencer. Davies signed both his brother and Spencer when he was manager of Motherwell.

Davies frequently refers to himself in the third person during interviews as a running gag.

Managerial statistics

::data[format=table title="Managerial record by team and tenure"]

Team	From	To	Record	Ref	P	W	D
Motherwell	14 October 1998	18 September 2001
Preston North End	29 August 2004	2 June 2006
Derby County	2 June 2006	26 November 2007
Nottingham Forest	5 January 2009	12 June 2011
Nottingham Forest	7 February 2013	24 March 2014	title=Managers: Billy Davies	url=http://www.soccerbase.com/managers/manager.sd?manager_id=1353	work=Soccerbase	publisher=Centurycomm	access-date=29 March 2017}}
::

Managerial honours

Derby County

Football League Championship play-off winners: 2006–07

Individual

SPL Manager of the Month: November 2000
Football League Championship Manager of the Month: January 2006, April 2006, November 2006, January 2007, December 2009, January 2011, March 2013

References

{{Hugman. 4835
[https://www.fitbastats.com/rangers/player.php?playerid=1408 (Rangers player) Davies, Billy], FitbaStats
[https://www.sodrasajten.se/sasongen-1986/ Säsongen 1986] [1986 Season], Södrasajten (in Swedish)
[http://www.motherwellnet.com/database/player-archive/d/billy-davies/ Billy Davies (player)], MotherWELLnet
(18 September 2001). "Motherwell part with Davies". BBC Sport.
[http://www.motherwellnet.com/database/manager-archive/billy-davies/ Billy Davies (manager)], MotherWELLnet
(29 August 2004). "Brown leaves Preston post". BBC Sport.
(27 September 2004). "Davies lands Preston job". BBC Sport.
(25 May 2006). "Charlton opt against Davies moves". BBC Sport.
(2 June 2006). "Davies unveiled as new Derby boss". BBC Sport.
[https://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/davies-reveals-joy-pearsons-progress-2175276 Davies reveals the joy of Pearson's progress], Motherwell Times, 22 February 2016
(26 November 2007). "Derby split with manager Davies". BBC Sport.
(27 November 2007). "Billy Davies leaves Derby County". BBC Derby.
[https://footballbh.net/2019/06/21/billy-davies-a-constant-battle-to-conform/ Billy Davies: A Constant Battle to Conform], Football Bloody Hell, 21 June 2019
(2 September 2009). "Gerald Mortimer: No sad farewell to Davis". Northcliffe Media.
Jackson, Jamie. (25 November 2007). "Davies rages at Derby dilemma". The Observer.
(27 November 2007). "McAllister rules out Scotland job". BBC Sport.
(15 January 2008). "Davies out of race for Scots job". BBC Sport.
(8 March 2008). "Ex-Derby boss Davies in line for Everton job". tribalfootball.com.
(31 December 2008). "Official Statement". Nottingham Forest F.C..
(1 January 2009). "Davies appointed Forest manager". BBC Sport.
(4 December 2009). "Remaining Focussed". Nottingham Forest F.C..
(4 November 2009). "Manager of the Month Nominations". The Football League.
(12 June 2011). "Nottingham Forest talk to McClaren after sacking Davies". BBC Sport.
(12 June 2011). "Billy Davies Contract Terminated". Nottingham Forest F.C..
(7 February 2013). "Davies appointed Forest Manager". BBC Sport.
(16 February 2013). "Nottingham Forest 1–1 Bolton". BBC Sport.
(19 February 2013). "Nott'm Forest 6–1 Huddersfield". BBC Sport.
(24 February 2013). "Charlton 0-2 Nottm Forest". BBC Sport.
(17 March 2013). "Nottingham Forest 2012/13 Fixture List". Nottingham Forest.
Phillips, Owen. "Nott'm Forest 2 – 3 Leicester City". BBC Sport.
(18 October 2013). "Billy Davies: Nottingham Forest boss signs four-year contract". BBC Sport.
(4 January 2014). "Billy Davies thriving under Nottingham Forest's siege mentality as West Ham await in The Cup". The Daily Telegraph.
"Billy Davies: Nottingham Forest sack manager". BBC Sport.
"Club statement". Nottingham forest.
(24 March 2014). "Billy Davies left to reconsider his style by Nottingham Forest sack". The Guardian.
(24 March 2014). "Billy Davies was destined for failure at Nottingham Forest after a year of drama, fallouts and media blackouts". The Daily Telegraph.
(23 March 2014). "Say sorry! Why Billy Davies owes every single Nottingham Forest fan an apology". The Metro.
(11 July 2025). "Billy Davies joins as Technical Head Coach". The Metro.
(25 November 2025). "Dougie Imrie: Raith Rovers appoint Greenock Morton manager as new boss".
(2 January 2026). "Ian Murray arrives as new First Team Manager". Greenock Morton FC.
Walker, Andy. (28 November 1999). "Support from the sidelines". Sunday Herald.
(27 February 2016). "Former Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies claims 'whispering campaign' has sabotaged Premier League ambitions". The Independent.
"Managers: Billy Davies". Centurycomm.
"Bristol City 2-0 Nott'm Forest". BBC Sport.
Fletcher, Paul. (28 May 2007). "Derby 1–0 West Brom". BBC Sport.
"SPL / SPFL Manager and Player of the Month Award 2000-01 to 2020-21".
(2006-02-02). "Davies is Championship's top boss".
(2006-05-04). "Davies handed Championship award".
(2006-12-07). "Rams manager earns November prize".
(2007-02-08). "Davies claims manager award again".
(2010-01-12). "Modest Davies plays down manager award".
(2011-02-10). "Manager award for Forest's Davies".
(12 April 2013). "Davies named Manager of the Month". The Football League.

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