David Davies (football administrator)
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David Davies (born 1948) is a British broadcaster and consultant, formerly the Executive Director of the Football Association in
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 ...
. He is a regular contributor to
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
television and radio programmes and other networks. Since retiring from the FA, he has worked as a consultant to sporting and other organisations worldwide. Today he is a consultant with Portland Communications, based in London, advising on sport and other subjects.


BBC, 1971–1994

Davies began his journalistic career briefly in Belfast before joining BBC Wales as a reporter in 1971. He was a BBC news trainee alongside
Brian Hanrahan Brian Hanrahan (22 March 1949 – 20 December 2010) was a British television journalist, who was the Diplomatic News Editor for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Early life, education and early career Hanrahan was born in the cou ...
before joining
BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...
in Manchester in 1973. From there he worked on some of the corporation's biggest shows including '' Nationwide'', ''
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'', '' Songs of Praise'' and '' Children in Need''. From 1983, he presented the BBC News and the ''Today'' programme on Radio 4. He was a political correspondent, 1983–1986, and education correspondent, 1986–1989. From 1989 to 1994, he presented BBC ''
Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produ ...
'' and served as a correspondent and occasional presenter of the BBC's biggest sports programmes, ''
Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...
'' and '' Grandstand''. It was during this period one Saturday night that he is said to have coined the phrase on the Saturday night news preceding ''Match of the Day'' "If you don't want to know the score, look away now." He covered every general election and local election night broadcast between 1974 and 1994, as well as every
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
and
UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...
from 1986 to 1994.


Football Association, 1994–2006

Davies served in a variety of senior roles at the FA in England until his retirement in 2006. They included director of communications and public affairs, head of football affairs, director of international strategy and executive director. He worked extensively in the preparation of the European Football Championships in England in 1996. Internationally, he served for eight years on the
IFAB The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
, which agrees any changes to the laws of football around the world, and was one of the earliest advocates of goalline technology. During some turbulent years at the FA, he was described as "arguably the most powerful administrator in the English game" in 1999 when he was acting chief executive and director of public affairs. He became widely known as The FA's "chief spin doctor" for his crisis management of England team managers. He worked especially closely with managers
Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...
,
Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...
, Kevin Keegan and Sven-Göran Eriksson. In 2008, two years after leaving The FA, his book ''FA Confidential'' was published and became a bestseller. He also co-authored ''Glenn Hoddle's World Cup Diary'' in 1998.


Other work

Davies was a member of the UK Government Football Task Force from 1997 to 2000 and was part of the UK Government Business, Culture and Sport delegation to China in 2005. He also chaired the UK Government Free To Air/Listed Events panel in 2008 and 2009. He worked with the
British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...
from 1999 to 2006, during which time London bid successfully to stage the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He served as a partner in the Iraq United sport development programme from 2004 to 2006 and was a senior advisor to the CEO of the
2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
in South Africa. He was a senior consultant for change agents Scott Wilson Group, which was appointed in September 2010 by the Hong Kong FA to lead the reform and restructuring of football on the island. His portfolio of consultancies has included roles with Coutts in London and Wiggin LLP. Over several years he chaired sporting and other conferences, including for ABTA and Soccerex.


Charity work

Davies helped to stage a Game of Peace in the Olympic Stadium in
Kabul, Afghanistan Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
in 2003. Between 2013 and 2016, he was a board member of International Inspiration, a charity which promotes access to sport, play, and physical exercise for low and middle income families with children around the world. He was a founding member of football's anti-racism Kick It Out campaign in England, and part of the initial sports steering group for the
NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity. History Victorian era On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Yor ...
. In 2014, he became a trustee for CAFE, which works across Europe for disability awareness, and is a Vice President of Level Playing Field which campaigns for accessibility to sport and sports stadia for disabled people in England and Wales.


Personal life

Davies is a qualified teacher and holds a certificate of education from the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
and a BA (Econ) in politics from the
University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...
. He lives in the
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
of England near
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
with his wife Susan, and has two daughters, Amanda and Caroline, and one granddaughter, Molly.
Amanda Davies Amanda Davies (born 24 March 1980) is an English sports presenter on CNN International. Early life Davies was born on 24 March 1980 in Manchester. She is the daughter of sports journalist and sports administrator David Davies. She was educa ...
is a sports correspondent and presenter for
CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...
. Davies was awarded an OBE for services to sport in the 2007 New Year Honours.United Kingdom: He is also a Royal Television Society Member and Lancashire County Cricket Club. Since 2012, he has been a Council Member at the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
, and most recently a governor of the University of Birmingham School.


References


External links


TV Ark (archived)

BBC News item

BBC article on his career.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, David 1948 births Living people Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford British television presenters English people of Welsh descent Chief executives of the Football Association BBC North West newsreaders and journalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire