May be old but I hadn't seen this

paul.d · Jun 18, 2007

A Carlisle newspaper article-I'd googled Davey and Ferguson!!Rookie boss Simon has to Tyke the rough with the smooth at Barnsley

Published on 16/02/2007

Time witha legend: Barnsley manager Simon Davey spent time with Sir Alex Ferguson recently. ‘Just words of wisdom, really,’ says Davey. ‘It was a morning, but it felt like two weeks, because the man inspires you.’

Imagine, if you can, the following scenario: your club’s manager has just been sacked and you have been asked to step in as caretaker. Your team is second bottom of the league, with only 15 points to show from the first three months of the season.You are a mere 36 years old and have held no higher position than academy manager. But you accept the challenge, because it is all you have wanted to do ever since you retired from playing.

And it all starts perfectly: you win your first game, then three days later you win your second. A week after taking temporary charge of first-team affairs, you wake up on a Friday morning and reflect on your first seven days at the helm with calm contentment.Sure, the work is piling high – contract issues, the constant drone of agents, training schedules, motivational techniques, attempted murder – but you reckon you are coping pretty well. You could get used to this.

Come again? Attempted murder? Nobody mentioned that on the Pro-Licence course. Nobody said that would be stuffed in the in-tray. Welcome to your strange new world, Simon Davey.“A week into the caretaker role, and I get a call to say that one of my players has been stabbed,” says the man whose day job involves rescuing Barnsley from the perils of relegation from the Championship. “It’s not the normal conversation you expect at a quarter past nine in the morning.

“They say you never know what’s around the corner in football.” Davey chuckles and shakes his head. “I suppose they’re right.”The story was this: Ronnie Wallwork, a midfielder on loan with the Tykes, was on a night out in Manchester last November when he was attacked. He suffered stab wounds to his hand, back and stomach and was rushed to hospital. Mercifully, he survived. Robert Rimmer, 20, of Abbey Hey Lane, Gorton, Manchester, will appear before Manchester Crown Court later this month, charged with Wallwork’s attempted murder.

“Ronnie’s doing ok now,” says Davey. “He’s back in training with West Brom and he’s hopeful that by the end of this month, or early March, he’ll be able to start playing.“It was a difficult situation. But we dealt with it. As a manager, you have to.”

It is, perhaps, football’s most important lesson, and Davey was always quick to absorb it. Whatever fortune throws at you, no matter how crushing or how outrageous, you deal with it as best you can. Then you move on.It happened when he was released from Swansea, when his boyhood heroes told him there was no longer a place for him in their squad. It happened when he wrote letters to the league’s 92 professional clubs, begging for a chance, and received 91 rejections and a solitary offer of a trial at one of the also-rans: Carlisle United.

After finally making his name at Carlisle – captain at 22, midfield driving force behind the club’s 1990s revival – it happened again when he walked in from training and was told that the club, who were top of the league and en route to a Wembley final, had accepted an offer from Preston and he was free to leave.



And then, most brutally, it happened when he went for the results of an MRI scan on a back injury at the age of 27. “Within 10 seconds of me going in there, the neurosurgeon said, ‘I hope you’ve got insurance, because your career’s over’. It couldn’t have been blunter.“You’ve got to take that in, and then you’ve got to go home and tell your family that you’re not playing again. My contract was up in the summer. I had a mortgage and three children in the house. It was disturbing. Where was the next paycheque coming from?”

To Davey’s relief, his period of professional limbo lasted only a week. David Moyes, then the Preston manager, quickly offered him a coaching role with North End’s academy, thus triggering the chain of events which ended last December with Davey being appointed Barnsley’s manager on a permanent basis.“I owe a lot to David Moyes,” says Davey, who still lives in Preston, grateful that he can escape the Oakwell furnace at the end of a working day. “He created that job for me. He asked me to go and work with the youth team manager for six months until my contract finished, then it would be reviewed. He kept his word, and there was a job at the end of it.”

That youth team manager, incidentally, was Neil McDonald, more of whom later. First, let’s ask Davey how he is coping with life in a relegation battle. What has Andy Ritchie’s successor learned so far?“I was surprised at how much agents are involved,” he says. “They seem to be involved with every transaction, every player you’re interested in. During the transfer window I was still taking calls from them at 11 o’clock at night.

“I never had one when I played. It’s probably why I never earned any money.”Ask him what else he has absorbed, and this managerial greenhorn of three months already sounds like a veteran. Thus, we learn during the conversation that “players win matches, but managers lose them,” “every game is a cup final,” “your most important signings are your staff,” “anyone can beat anyone in this division,” and “it’s a cut-throat business … I could get the sack in six weeks.” A bright man, Davey’s eyes are firmly open to the pressures and nuances of his job.

The morning he spent at the knee of a legend helped, too. “Our club’s owner is friendly with some of the top men at Man United, and I was privileged to have a morning with Alex Ferguson recently. We were discussing how to structure clubs, talking about tactics, how things are at that level. Just words of wisdom, really. It was a morning, but it felt like two weeks, because the man inspires you.

“The more people you can speak to who have been in this situation, the better. When I took the job, I spoke to David Moyes, I had a chat with Chris Coleman, who I played with from the age of 10. And I spoke to Neil (McDonald) at Carlisle. Mainly because he wants to get some of my players, and I’m trying to get some of his!”In truth, Davey was a surprise appointment at Oakwell. But the doubting fans soon learned that their new man could not be better prepared;he has every coaching badge going, and has been quick to assemble an experienced backroom staff which includes two fellow ex-Carlisle men in Kelham O’Hanlon (first-team coach) and Martin Wilkinson (chief scout). Additionally, his club captain – Paul Reid – is another former Brunton Park old boy.

Davey’s first game in charge, against Ipswich on November 25, ended in a 1-0 win for Barnsley. “You take youth and reserve teams, but never on those occasions do you have 10,000 people looking at your every move and decision. Luckily, early results went my way with two wins and then a draw at Leeds.“But then we lost, and that first loss hurt. It hurt more than when I was a player. I didn’t like it.”Although he has not walked out in front of a crowd as a player for almost a decade, Davey’s memories are still as sharp as a winter’s morning. Hie career took flight at Carlisle, once he had come through that trial and been awarded a contract alongside players like Ian Arnold, George Oghani and Ricardo Gabbiadini during the infancy of Michael Knighton’s reign.

“Six weeks after I’d signed, the manager, Aidan McCaffrey, got the sack,” he recalls. “But then David McCreery came in and appointed me as captain, which was a great honour. Then Mick Wadsworth came in, and we got success.”In the 1993/4 season, Davey shone. His box-to-box energy drove United to the play-offs, to a memorable 1-1 FA Cup draw at Sunderland (Davey scored), and to the brink of the Auto-Windscreens Shield final. Mention of one goal – a staggering 40-yard free-kick against Shrewsbury – still draws a smile. “Those are the ones you tell your grandchildren about,” he says.

The following campaign, he skippered United to the top of Division Three and into another Auto-Windscreens run that would eventually lead to Wembley. In February, however, the Preston move landed from the sky. “My contract was up in the summer and I hadn’t been offered anything,” he says, “Then Preston came in, offered money for me, and put a three-and-a-half year contract on the table.“I’d got married the previous year, I had a little girl and that contract offer was security for me. I had to take it. But it was difficult, because I was leaving a team who were 17 points clear in the league and on the way to Wembley. To see them go on and achieve all they did was hard, because I was still living in the area, seeing all the hype in the papers.

“Fortunately at the end of the season they invited me back to the promotion party and I got my medal. It was a nice feeling. And the year later, we won the league with Preston. There are always forks in the road. Maybe if I hadn’t taken that one, I might not be where I am today.”

The tale of his North End debut has been recounted many times, but never tires in the retelling. “The day I signed, they also got David Beckham on loan from Man United. We made our debuts together – me in the centre, him on the right – and during the game we got a free-kick on the edge of the box.“I was due to take it, and as I stepped up I heard this whispering in my ear: ‘Can I take it? Can I take it?’ I said ‘No, I’m taking it’. But I ended up letting him take it after all. And he put it straight in the top corner. That was it. I never took another free-kick again.”

Happy times continued at Deepdale, but a pre-season exercise with medicine balls in 1997 triggered an old back problem from which Davey could not recover. Retirement brutally announced itself. That’s when Moyes rode to his rescue, and his first encounter with the current Carlisle manager soon followed.

 “Neil (McDonald) was the first coach I ever worked with, and you could see he would go on to be a fantastic coach. About nine months later, he moved on to Bolton. It was a step up for him, but also for me, because I got his job.”Davey’s spell at Preston ended with his resignation in 2005, under something of a cloud. “There were issues with my staff that I wasn’t happy about,” is all he will say on the subject. In the following months, he took himself overseas, opened his mind to new methods and philosophies at clubs like Metz in France, and then returned when he was invited to head up Barnsley’s academy last summer.How his world has changed since then. No longer responsible for nurturing young talent away from the glare, Simon Davey now has a club’s precarious future in his hands. Does he really need the hassle?“I relish it,” he replies, his enthusiasm filling the room. “Never once did I have any doubts about taking the job. I was honoured that they asked me.

“Most managers start their careers at about 45, so I’m probably nine or 10 years early. But opportunities like this don’t come along very often.“The job comes with pressure, but that’s what we get paid for. Mind you, there are times when I would love to fall asleep, and then wake up in May with us still in the Championship. That would be nice.”

He drains his coffee and leaves. The following day, his team are beaten 3-0 at home by Colchester and drop to third bottom. One cup final lost, 14 more to go. And three more months of trials, traumas, obstacles and dramas in the life of Simon Davey. You suspect he would not have it any other way.

Dale BFC · Jun 18, 2007

good read tht mate

Arnside Red · Jun 18, 2007

excellent article

he has obviously had tough times and come out of them fighting, i think he has more going for him than a lot of people give him credit for

Shy Talk · Jun 18, 2007

RE: excellent article

Totally agree, I was sceptical about his appointment but I've warmed to him and articles like that make me feel that we might just be on to something here.

Then again, the last Manager who could "talk the talk" was Mr Spackman!!

Jay · Jun 19, 2007

cheers paul

good read

North Ardsley Red · Jun 19, 2007

RE: cheers paul

Yeah was a good read

Journo Tyke · Jun 19, 2007

How good it is...

To read such a well written, interesting article.

Credit to the journo and to Mr Davey - I wish him all the best.

North Ardsley Red · Jun 19, 2007

RE: How good it is...

TBH felt more like i was reading a biography rather than a Article

tyke_jow · Jun 19, 2007

good read, lad deserves a fair chance. theres no doubting hes done well so far i was same sceptical when he was appointed but he has earnt the right to have a good shot at it good luck to him.

Johnny the tyke · Jun 19, 2007

good article! has some good contacts..... an played along side Beckham LOL ;-)

Chris Coleman if he gets another job, David Moyes & Fergy

Guest · Jun 19, 2007

Gives an interesting insight into his character and motivation

Enjoyed reading that.

barnsleyone · Jun 19, 2007

That was in the Carlisle Times a nt

pointdexter · Jun 19, 2007

RE: excellent article

i just have a feeling about this guy that he could be the best manager barnsley have ever had,i just hope fowk don,t start getting on his back if we don,t start too well.

Guest · Jun 19, 2007

PLEASE DONT MISS THE CHANCE OF READING THIS ARTICLE IF YOU THINK DAVEY IS A CLUELESS NUMPTY!!

(clap)

madmark62 · Jun 19, 2007

Not being funny , but why does that make him a good manager nt

Farnham_Red · Jun 19, 2007

The Journalist who wrote that

Is wasted on a local paper -really well written article not trying to ram an opinion down our throats

Learns summat reading that - The only place on the net for Barnsley fans take note

Owen Blackadder · Jun 20, 2007

Worrying thing to me is that he left Preston after 'differences'

with his staff. Given the number of players he has fallen out with already that makes me a bit uneasy.

Only time will tell though.

paul.d · Jun 20, 2007

no worries

it was when Billy Davies was appointed-a lot of fans wanted Davey and as soon as Davies came in he basically sacked Davey

Owen Blackadder · Jun 20, 2007

Oh aye, that'll be why Davey doesn't want to talk about it then.

Rumours boomers. Shame on you Paul, thought you were strictly a stats and facts man.

May be old but I hadn't seen this

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