Gordon John Davies (born 3 August 1955) is a Welsh former international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He is the record goalscorer for Fulham and earned 16 caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

between 1979 and 1986, scoring 2 international goals.

Club career

Davies, a forward, played club football for a number of English clubs, including Fulham, Manchester City and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He joined Fulham in 1978 from

Merthyr Tydfil F.C. Merthyr Tydfil Football Club was a Welsh association football, football club based at the Penydarren Park ground in Merthyr Tydfil. In 2010 the club was liquidated and reformed under the name Merthyr Town F.C., Merthyr Town, which was accepted ...

, and spent six years with the London club. After a season with Chelsea he was signed by Manchester City for a fee of £100,000. He made his City debut on 12 October 1985 against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, and his first goal came two days later in a 6–1 victory over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

in the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

; Davies scored a hat-trick that day. Once

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

departed as City manager Davies' days at the club were numbered and his final City match was against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in the Football League Cup, and he returned to Fulham in October 1986. His second spell at Fulham lasted five years, at the end of which he had become Fulham's record goalscorer, with 178 goals in 450 appearances. At the end of his Fulham career, the club granted him a testimonial which was played against a Wales XI. Davies left Fulham in 1991 and went back to Wales to join

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. He became a part of FA Cup history when the minnows beat giants Arsenal in one of the competition's biggest ever shocks. He left the Welsh club in February 1992 to take up an offer of management in Norway with

Tornado FK A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, althou ...

, signing on as player-manager. In the summer of 1992 he returned to the UK and signed for

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

where he spent one season and retired from the game the following close season. He is still a popular and frequent guest at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

matches.

International career

Davies made his

debut on 21 November 1979 against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. He made 16 Wales appearances in total (scoring two goals) with his last game against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

on 26 March 1986.

International goalsWales - International Results and line-ups 1980-1989

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Gordon 1955 births Association football forwards English Football League players Fulham F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Wales international footballers Welsh footballers Living people