Richard Davis (footballer)

Last updated

Richard Davis
Personal information
Full name Richard Frederick Davis
Date of birth (1943-11-14) 14 November 1943 (age 79)
Place of birth Plymouth, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) [1]
Position(s) Full-back
Youth career
1960–1961 Plymouth Argyle
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1961–1964 Plymouth Argyle 23 (0)
1964–1965 Southampton 1 (0)
1965–1969 Bristol City 8 (0)
1969–1970 Barrow 50 (0)
1973–1976 Falmouth Town 185 (33)
Managerial career
1979–1981 Falmouth Town (player manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Richard Frederick Davis (born 14 November 1943) is an English retired footballer who played as a full-back for various clubs in the 1960s.

Contents

Football career

Plymouth Argyle

Davis was born in Plymouth, Devon and joined his local club, Plymouth Argyle as a trainee in August 1960, going on to sign as a professional a year later on his 18th birthday. [1] Described as "a strongly built left-back", [1] Davis made his first-team debut in a 3–2 defeat at Derby County on 20 Mar 1963. In his second match, Davis came up against Stanley Matthews of Stoke City, [2] going down to another defeat. Despite being on the losing side in both his opening matches, Davis retained his place for the rest of the season. [3]

He started the 1963–64 season playing six of the first eight games, before losing his place to Wilf Carter. After another five league matches between late-November and mid-January, of which four were defeats, Davis returned to the reserves, with the long-serving Bryce Fulton taking over at left-back. [4] In his two seasons as a professional with Argyle, Davis made a total of 24 appearances. [5]

Southampton

Davis joined fellow Second Division side Southampton in July 1964. [1] He spent most of his time at The Dell in the reserves and made his solitary first-team appearance away to his former club on 17 February 1965, losing 4–0 as the "Saints" were "outplayed fore and aft" by Argyle, with Mike Trebilcock scoring twice. [6]

Later career

Davis left Southampton in July 1965 to join Bristol City where he made only eight appearances in a four-year spell before joining Barrow in March 1969 where he made 50 appearances [7] before dropping down to non-league football in the summer of 1970. [1]

He played for Falmouth Town between 1973 and 1976 and had a second spell at the club, from 1979 to 1981, as a player manager.[ citation needed ] He later assisted Plymouth Argyle in their School of Excellence and was also a physical education teacher in Plymouth for over 20 years. [8]

Related Research Articles

Michael James "Mickey" Evans is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent most of his career with Plymouth Argyle, for whom he scored 73 goals in 384 appearances in the Football League. He also played in the Premier League for Southampton and the Football League for West Bromwich Albion, Bristol Rovers and Torquay United. Born in England, Evans earned one cap for the Republic of Ireland at full international level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Robinson (footballer, born 1870)</span> English footballer (1870–1931)

John William Robinson was a professional footballer who played for, among others, Derby County, Southampton and England.

Frederick Titmuss was an English footballer who played as a full-back for Southampton, Plymouth Argyle and St Austell, and also made two appearances for England.

David Gort Burnside was an English footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder. He made a total of 405 appearances in the Football League for West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Plymouth Argyle, Bristol City and Colcester United. He then moved into non-league football becoming player-manager at Bath City and later became a youth trainer with England and briefly manager at Bristol City. He also made appearances for Los Angeles Wolves as a guest.

Peter Michael Whiston is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender.

John Fitchett was an English footballer who played at full-back or half-back for Bolton Wanderers, Southampton, Manchester United, Plymouth Argyle, Manchester City, Fulham and Exeter City.

Harry James Osman was an English footballer who played as an outside left for Southampton for two seasons in the 1930s and went on to become manager of Winchester City where he "discovered" future England international Terry Paine.

Henry Brown was an English footballer who played as an inside forward for various clubs in the early part of the twentieth century, including West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United, Fulham and Southampton. At Newcastle, he was a member of the team that won the Football League championship in 1906–07.

William Ernest Bevis DSM was an English footballer who played for Southampton as an outside right in the years either side of the Second World War.

Albert Victor Hodgkinson was a Welsh footballer who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in the 1900s, including making one appearance for the Wales national football team in 1908.

Henry Penk was an English footballer who played as a winger.

Bryce Fulton was a Scottish footballer who played as a full back. He made 213 appearances in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City. He also played for Manchester United.

Henry Radford Ashby was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Burton Swifts, Burton United and Leicester Fosse, and the Southern League for Plymouth Argyle. He was a full back.

Michael McCartney was a Scottish footballer who played as a full-back in the 1970s and 1980s. He spent most of his career with Carlisle United, for whom he made nearly 300 League appearances in two spells, between which he played for Southampton and Plymouth Argyle. He subsequently had 11+1⁄2 years as manager of Scottish club Gretna.

The 1921–22 season was the 27th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's second in the Football League. After finishing second in the league the previous season, Southampton achieved promotion to the Second Division as champions of the newly regionalised Third Division South. Following a false start to the campaign, the Saints quickly asserted their dominance in the league when they went on a club record 19-game unbeaten run until the end of 1921. The club also remained unbeaten at The Dell for the entirety of the league season, as well as conceding a Football League record low 21 goals in 42 games, which remained in place until the 1978–79 season. Southampton finished atop the league table with 23 wins, 15 draws and four losses, ahead of runners-up Plymouth Argyle only on goal average.

The 1930–31 season was the 36th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's ninth in the Second Division of the Football League. After securing their place as a top-half side in the Second Division over the past two seasons, the Saints began to lose their footing on the league and dropped to ninth in the division. The club failed to win any of their first four games of the campaign, briefly struggling to stay above the two relegation places, but had soon made their way to the top half of the division where they remained for the rest of the season. The Saints were unable to challenge for promotion to the First Division, however, briefly reaching the top five but remaining a long way off the top two sides. Southampton finished the season in ninth place in the table with 19 wins, six draws and 17 losses.

The 1931–32 season was the 37th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's tenth in the Second Division of the Football League. After finishing in the top half of the Second Division league table for the past three seasons, the Saints struggled to challenge in 1931–32 and ended up finishing in 14th place, closer to relegation than promotion. Southampton's first season with manager George Kay started strongly, as the team picked up four wins in their first five matches and reached the top of the Second Division league table for the first time in the club's history. Form quickly deteriorated, however, and the club was briefly involved in a fight for survival in the new year. After picking up a few more wins, Southampton secured their safety and finished in 14th place with 14 wins, 14 draws and 14 losses.

The 1932–33 season was the 38th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's 11th in the Second Division of the Football League. It was another disappointing campaign for the Saints, who finished mid-table and rarely competed for promotion to the First Division. After a slow start to the season, the club had established themselves in the top half of the table by October with a string of victories. By the end of the calendar year, Southampton had dropped as low as 14th in the Second Division table – the position in which they finished the previous season – after a period of poor form in December. Wins were hard to come by in the second half of the season, but a strong run of results in April meant that the side finished 12th with 18 wins, five draws and 19 losses, seven points above the first relegation place.

The 1948–49 season was the 48th year of competitive football played by Southampton F.C., the club's 22nd season as members of the Football League, and their 20th competing in the Second Division. The Saints finished the campaign in third place in the league table, having gained 55 from a possible 84 points with 23 wins, nine draws and ten losses. The club also competed in the FA Cup, but lost their only fixture in the third round against fellow Second Division side Sheffield Wednesday.

The 1937–38 season was the 43rd season of competitive football by Southampton and the club's 16th in the Second Division of the Football League. Despite an appalling start which saw the side spend much of the first month of the campaign in the relegation zone, the Saints finished the season 15th in the league table – their highest position in four years. With manager Tom Parker entering his first full season as Southampton manager, the club made a large number of signings in the summer, including high-scoring winger Harry Osman and young inside-forward Ted Bates, who would go on to make over 200 appearances for the club and serve as manager for almost 20 years. Southampton finished the 1937–38 season with 15 wins, nine draws and 18 losses, six positions but just three points above the first relegation place.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 96. ISBN   0-9514862-3-3.
  2. ↑ Green, Quintrell (6 July 2009). "Bryce Fulton". Plymouth Argyle Supporters on the Internet. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "Season's Results 1962–1963". Plymouth Argyle database. Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  4. ↑ "Season's Results 1963–1964". Plymouth Argyle database. Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  5. ↑ "Richard Davis". Plymouth Argyle Player Database. Greens on Screen. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  6. ↑ Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. p. 80. ISBN   0-9534474-3-X.
  7. ↑ Brown, Neil. "Dick Davis". A–Z Player's Database. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  8. ↑ In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. p. 501.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.