Sean Davis (born 20 September 1979) is an English former professional

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 played as a midfielder. He made his professional debut for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in 1996 and went on to make over 150 league appearances for the club. He joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in 2004. In January 2006, he signed for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, helping them avoid relegation and then win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. He moved on a free transfer to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in 2009, and following a loan to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and relegation from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, retired in 2012. He was called up for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 2003, but did not play.

Club career

Fulham

Born in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

, London, Davis attended

Ernest Bevin College Ernest Bevin College is a secondary school for boys and a mixed sixth form located in Tooting, London, England. The school is all-boys for ages 11 through 18, and has a co-educational sixth form. It has about 1,173 pupils. The school was judg ...

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

. Davis is a product of the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

. He is one of the few players in the world to have played at all four professional levels of football in England with the same club and is also the only Fulham player to achieve this. He made his first-team debut for Fulham aged just 17 years and 25 days in 1996. Davis progressed under managers Keegan,

Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former footballer and coach. He has played in midfield and managed professional football extensively throughout France, including 52 appearances and one goal for the France national football team ...

and later Chris Coleman. At the end of the 2002–03 season, Davis was named as the Player of the Season. He attracted interest from Everton and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

during that season, more so after he had handed in a transfer request citing his "ambition to further his career". However, Fulham were reluctant to sell Davis until they had found a suitable replacement. A transfer to either Everton or Middlesbrough never occurred as Davis was injured during the summer and unable to pass a medical to switch clubs, so this kept him at Fulham for the 2003–04 season. Davis sustained a knee injury in a pre-season friendly match against

ASK Voitsberg ASK Voitsberg is an Austrian football club located in Voitsberg, a town in the state of Styria in the south-east of the country. They currently play in the Austrian Landesliga, the fourth tier of Austrian football. History Early years ASK Vo ...

As a result of his sustained injury, his proposed move to Everton was broken down. After a month out injured, Davis made his return in the reserve match 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, a ...

on 8 October 2003. A month later, Davis had withdraw his transfer request, as he began dedicating to Fulham by starting a negotiations to sign a new contract. In an exclusive interview with the club, Davis says his attempted move in the summer transfer window resulted fans was questioning his commitment with Fulham. During his club career at Fulham, Davis is the only player in the Club's history to have represented Fulham in all four divisions.

Tottenham Hotspur

After this, he signed for

prior to the 2004–05 season. After starting early season games, injuries restricted his appearances.

Portsmouth

He was unable to break into the Tottenham team and was later bought by

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

in the January 2006 transfer window in a combined deal estimated at £7 million which saw Davis and fellow Tottenham fringe players

Pedro Mendes Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

and

Noé Pamarot Noé Elias Pamarot (born 14 April 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Before moving to Spain, Pamarot played for Portsmouth in the Premier League. He is a right-footed defender who is also known for ...

sign for

. While arriving at the club short of match fitness, he played an important part in Portsmouth's 2006 survival campaign, including scoring the second goal in their 4–2 win over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 18 March 2006. At the end of the 2005–06 campaign, Davis stated that Portsmouth supporters had yet to see his best form, and expected that after having taken part in a full pre-season, that he would be much more prepared to play a greater role in the coming season. Davis was part of Portsmouth's 2007–08 FA Cup-winning team. Despite not making the squad for the final he appeared in the earlier rounds, including the semi-final. On 1 February 2009, Portsmouth rejected a bid in the region of £3 million for Davis from

. Pompey manager

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. He spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre back at Arsenal, making 672 ...

was keen to secure the player to a new contract with his present deal due to run until the summer of 2009.

Bolton Wanderers

On 1 July 2009, Bolton confirmed the signing of Davis on a free transfer on a three-year deal. He made his debut in a 1–0 loss to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on 15 August but made only three more appearances after two major injuries, his last appearance, against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 29 August 2009, bringing him the first red card of the

2009–10 Premier League The 2009–10 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. A total of 20 teams competed in the league, with Chelsea unseating the three ...

. Davis played for the first time in 27 months on 13 December 2011 when playing the first 45 minutes for the reserve team in a 1–1 draw against Newcastle reserves. On 24 February 2012, Davis joined

on a one-month loan deal and made his debut the day after in their 3–1 home defeat to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, picking up a booking. At the conclusion of the month he returned to Bolton after playing just three games and picking up another injury. He was released at the end of the 2011–12 season following Bolton's relegation from the Premier League and announced his retirement from football on 25 September.

International career

After a 2002–03 campaign in which he firmly established his position in the Fulham starting line up Davis was called up to be part of the

squad that faced

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, although he did not play.

Personal life

During his time at Portsmouth, due to influence from teammate

Linvoy Primus Linvoy Stephen Primus MBE (born 14 September 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in Forest Gate, England, to Caribbean-born parents, Primus began his professional career at Charlton Athletic, wh ...

and the Faith and Football organisation, Davis converted to Christianity. Since retiring, Davis has returned to Fulham as a columnist and commentator for their home matches.

Career statistics

Honours

Fulham *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 2000–01 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Portsmouth *

: 2007–08 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2000–01 First Division

References

External links

*
BBC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Sean 1979 births Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Clapham Living people Converts to Christianity English Christians Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Fulham F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Bristol City F.C. players People educated at Ernest Bevin College