Billy Davies
William McIntosh "Billy" Davies (born 31 May 1964 in Glasgow) is a former Scottish professional football player and is currently the football manager of Derby County having been appointed on 2nd June, 2006 after an acrimonious departure from Preston.
Playing Career
Davies started his playing career at Scottish team 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.
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 rescued from the soccer wilderness and appointed manager by Preston in 2004 having been assistant to the previous manager Craig Brown.
With minor changes to the side he inherited, he enjoyed near success at Preston taking them to the brink of the Premiership via the play-offs in May 2005. Despite a difficult start to the 05/06 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 despite him claiming after the first leg of the play-off semi-finals that it was "Job Done!".
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, following his second successive failure to win promotion at Preston, Davies applied and was interviewed for the vacant management job at Premiership Charlton Athletic with Preston's blessing. However, his application was unsuccessful. He then expressed a desire to speak with a competitor Championship club, Derby County for which permission was refused by Preston. Davies then threatened to take legal advice and, eventually, after a suitable compensation package had been agreed between the two clubs, Davies was allowed to leave Preston North End.
Despite his desperate wish to move to a big club, 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.