Ross Davidson (born 6 September 1989) is an English

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 le ...

who play as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for side Leek Town. A youth player at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, he was a professional at the club from 2008 to 2010. After two

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

spells at

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

and one at Nantwich Town, he signed permanently with Stafford in 2010. He soon switched clubs to Hednesford Town, before joining Kidsgrove Athletic in 2011. He switched to Leek Town in July 2012, and joined New Mills in December 2012. He moved on to Nantwich Town the following year, before playing for

Witton Albion Witton may refer to one of several places in England: *Witton, historic name of an area of Northwich, Cheshire **Witton Albion F.C. *Witton Gilbert, County Durham *Witton-le-Wear, County Durham *Witton, an area of Blackburn, Lancashire * Witton, B ...

. He returned to Kidsgrove Athletic in November 2014. He spent four years with Kidsgrove, before spending 2018 to 2022 with Trafford. He rejoined Leek Town in January 2022.

Career

Davidson, a product of the

youth team was handed his professional

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

at the end of the 2007–08 season. By his second season he was a first team regular, he received his first

sending off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

for a 34th-minute slide challenge on Karleigh Osborne. He received a three match ban, but was supported by his teammates, parents and also a Vale supporting Priest who visited him in the locker room to give Davidson support. Assistant

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Ian Brightwell Ian Robert Brightwell (born 9 April 1968) is an English former professional footballer and manager. As a player, he was a defender from 1986 to 2006 and who played 468 league games in a 20-year career the Football League and Premier League. H ...

believed the challenge did not warrant a sending off and the club appealed the ban, to no avail. Despite being a regular in the first half of the season, he played just four games of the 2009 end. He considered leaving the game, but in June 2009 signed a new 12-month deal with the club. He joined Conference North side

in August 2009. At the same time he was also transfer listed by Vale manager Micky Adams, along with five other youngsters. With his prospects at Vale Park limited, Rangers were keen to extend the loan deal, after Davidson was impressive in his first six games for the club. However he instead returned to Vale Park. In December that year he joined nearby Nantwich Town on loan, a team mid-table in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. In January the loan deal was extended by a further month. In March 2010 he was informed that he would not be offered a new contract by the "Valiants" at the end of the season, and immediately re-joined Stafford Rangers on loan until the expiry of their contracts. Expected to join Rangers permanently in summer 2010, Davidson was hopeful of playing higher level football, but did however sign with Rangers. Before the end of the season he switched clubs to

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

of the Southern League Premier Division. Following defeat in the play-off final to

Salisbury City Salisbury City Football Club was an English football club based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. They were formed in 1947 and played at The Raymond McEnhill Stadium. Salisbury had gained back-to-back promotions in recent years, first to the Conference S ...

and a second-place finish in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Hednesford were moved to the Northern Premier League Premier Division. In summer 2011 he joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One South club Kidsgrove Athletic. The club finished in 13th place in 2011–12. He switched to Leek Town in July 2012, before leaving

Harrison Park Harrison Park may refer to: * Harrison Park (Leek), a stadium in Leek, Staffordshire * Harrison Park (New Jersey), a former baseball ground in Harrison, New Jersey * Municipality of Harrison Park, a rural municipality in Manitoba * Harrison Park, a ...

and moving on to New Mills in December 2012. He joined Nantwich Town of the Northern Premier League Premier Division for the 2013–14 season. He later moved on to

, making his debut on 25 March 2014. He played nine games in the 2013–14 season and scored two goals from sixteen games in the 2014–15 campaign. He returned to Kidsgrove Athletic in November 2014. The "Grove" finished 20th in the Northern Premier League Division One South in 2014–15, 15th in 2015–16, and 12th in 2016–17. He scored two goals in the 2016–17 season. Athletic finished 18th in the 2017–18 season. Davidson signed with Trafford in summer 2018. He scored two goals in twenty games during the 2018–19 season and featured 33 times in the 2019–20 season, which was abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

. He played nine games in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, which was also abandoned. He rejoined Leek Town in January 2022, making his second debut for the club almost ten years after his first spell had ended. He featured 13 times in the second half of the 2021–22 season. He made 38 appearances in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, including in the play-off semi-final defeat to

Runcorn Linnets Runcorn Linnets F.C. are an English football club based in Runcorn, Cheshire. The club currently plays in the , and is a full member of the Cheshire County Football Association. The club is run by a trust which is a registered society under th ...

Personal life

Born in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

, Davidson attended

Thomas Alleyne's High School Thomas Alleyne's High School (TAHS) is a coeducational upper school and sixth form located in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. It is one of three schools founded in 1558 from the will of Thomas Alleyne. It has four different coloured houses: ...

. He grew up an

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

fan.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Ross 1989 births Living people Footballers from Burton upon Trent Black British sportsmen English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Port Vale F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Leek Town F.C. players New Mills A.F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Trafford F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Northern Premier League players