Billy Davies

William McIntosh "Billy" Davies ( born May 31, 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland ) is a former Scottish footballer and current coach. Most recently, he coached the English second division club Nottingham Forest.

Playing career

Billy Davies started his professional career in 1981 at the Glasgow Rangers and thus in his hometown of Glasgow.

For the 1986/87 season he moved to the Fotbollsallsvenskan, the first Swedish football league. After a year at IF Elfsborg he left Sweden again, however, and moved back to Scotland to FC St. Mirren, a club based in Paisley a town 13 kilometers west of Glasgow.

After a brief trip to England in the 1989/90 season at that second division Leicester City Davies moved back to Scotland in 1990 to Dunfermline Athletic.

In the season 1993/94 Davies moved for the last time in his career as a player the club. This time it took him to FC Motherwell. After the 1997/98 season Billy Davies ended his career with stops in Scotland, Sweden and England.

Coaching career

FC Motherwell

Billy Davies remained even after his playing career FC Motherwell faithful and took over the position as head coach in the Scottish Premier League. In his second season with the team from Davies reached Motherwell 4th place and missed so only by 2 points and a place to jump in the UEFA Cup. The 2000/2001 season was after a decent deeply disappointing in the season before. At the end of the season of FC Motherwell came in 11 and thus penultimate place. The only positive to the season was that only the last table were relegated to the Second Division. Davies has been dismissed after a very bad start with 3 points from 7 games in the first round.

Preston North End

After a period as an assistant coach Craig Brown at Preston North End in 2004, he followed Brown in his office and took over the position as head coach. In his first season was Preston North End Table fifth in the Football League Championship 2004/ 05 and moved so into the play -offs. Only in the final you had to admit defeat to West Ham United and missed so extremely tight promotion to the Premier League. After a difficult start to the 2005/ 06 season, Preston North End started with a Davies 22 games ending series without defeat and reached 4th place at the end of the season and once again the play-offs. This time, however, the team failed in the semis at Leeds United.

Derby County

After 2 years at Preston North End Davies joined the 2006/2007 season for league rivals Derby County. There, too, he succeeded with his team through a third of the way into the play-offs. After Derby had prevailed in the semi-final against Southampton FC, the team defeated in the final in Wembley West Bromwich Albion 1-0 and thereby created a place in the Premier League. The start of the Premier League 2007 /08 failed significantly with only 6 points from 14 games and led 26 November 2007 for the separation of Derby County and Billy Davies.

Nottingham Forest

On 1 January 2009 Davies took over as coach for the English second division Nottingham Forest and managed in 2008/ 09 with the league - newcomer the meantime endangered relegation. The 2009/10 season was much more successful and led the club to third place in the table. In the first play-off round against the Forest FC Blackpool had to play. After a 2-1 home win, Blackpool won the high-class leg at the City Ground 4-3 and moved therewith to a play-off final against Cardiff City.

In the Football League Championship 2010/11, the team boosted by a weaker start to the season and held in phases in contact with the direct promotion places. After a slump in the last third of the season, which was also due to the failure of Guy Moussi, Robert Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock, Forest fell at times even from the play-off ranks. Due to good results in recent games Billy Davies team secured in the final sprint to sixth place in the standings and thus a place in the first play-off round tie against Swansea City. After a disappointing 0-0 draw in the first leg at the City Ground, Nottingham lost the return match in Swansea with 1:3. In order for the team as last year failed to reach the final.

The negotiations with the Board were difficult after the season. Disagreements over investment in new players had already shaped the current season. On 12 June 2011, the club announced the separation of Billy Davies.

On 7 February 2013, the new board gave Nottingham Forest the return of Davies known. Thanks to a temporary winning streak led Davies, the team returned to a play-off place before a 2:3 home defeat on the final day against Leicester City cost a place in the promotion round. Following extensive investment in the squad Forest spent much of the following season on a play-off place. Long-term injuries to several key players from mid- February 2014 led to a significant drop in performance of the team. Two days after a 0-5 defeat at neighbors Derby County on 22.03.2014 the Board of Directors announced the separation of Billy Davies.

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