Steve Davis (footballer, Born 1965)
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Steven Peter Davis (born 26 July 1965) is an English
football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...
and 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 lea ...
who is currently a trainer scout for
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
. As a defender, he played over 100 league games at each of three clubs:
Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...
,
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
and
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
. After managing
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
-based non-league teams Northwich Victoria and Nantwich Town, he was appointed assistant manager at Crewe Alexandra in 2009. Two years later, in November 2011, he was appointed Crewe manager, winning a Wembley play-off final in 2012 and the
EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...
in 2013. He left Crewe in January 2017 (at which date he was the fourth longest serving manager in the top four divisions of English football) and then head coach at
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
club
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
for just over four months to November 2017. He later joined Wolves as under-18s coach. In October 2022 he became interim manager of Wolves' first team ahead of Julen Lopetegui taking charge from 14 November 2022.


Club career

Born in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, Davis started his career with Stoke City as an apprentice in 1982 but never made a senior appearance. However, he played more than 140 matches for both
Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...
and
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
, making his Crewe debut at the age of 18, and captaining the team aged 19. He was also a key figure in the time he was at Burnley. He then played over 100 matches for
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
in Division 1, including 24 appearances in the season in which they were promoted to the Premier League. He had loan spells at
York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...
and
Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...
, eventually being signed by Division 1 outfit, Oxford United in 1998. The final years of his playing career saw him in Cheshire with Macclesfield Town, and with Northwich Victoria and Nantwich Town – where he was player-manager of both clubs.


International career

Davis was capped by the England national youth team.


Management career


Northwich Victoria

He was appointed as player-manager of Northwich Victoria in June 2003. He resigned in September 2003, after the team were second bottom of the
Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...
in the 2003–04 season.


Nantwich Town

However, his managerial career at Nantwich Town was the most successful time in the club's long history, converting a club that had never achieved anything above the North West Counties League to one that was challenging for a Conference spot. He led Nantwich to two promotions in successive seasons and a
FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...
victory, just missing out on promotion to the
Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...
at the end of the 2008–09 season. His abilities attracted the attention of
Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...
, where he had spent four seasons as a player. On 17 May 2009, it was announced that he would become assistant manager to Gudjon Thordarson at Crewe.


Crewe Alexandra

Davis remained as Thordarson's assistant through the Icelandic's short lived tenure at Gresty Road before the former Stoke City manager was relieved of his role in October 2009. Taking up the vacant manager's role was Dario Gradi, now in his third stint as Crewe manager kept Davis as his assistant manager. Gradi remained in the managerial position at the club until the autumn of 2011 his position was starting to become questioned by the Crewe fans, this was only galvanised further by a 3–0 home defeat to
Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...
which left the club near the relegation zone.Hornbrook (2014), p. 22 Although Gradi was still manager of the club, Davis took charge of the next match against
Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...
in the
Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...
after the Crewe manager could not attend after feeling unwell.Hornbrook (2014), p. 23 Although Crewe lost the match 3–1, Davis was appointed the new Crewe manager a couple of days later with Gradi moving to his former role as Technical Director – a role he took following the appointment of Steve Holland as first team coach back in the summer of 2007. Promoting coach Neil Baker as his assistant manager,Hornbrook (2014), p. 30 Davis' first match, officially, as Crewe manager was a home
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
tie to
Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...
. Although the railwaymen lost the tie 4–1, Davis' brief for the remainder season was specific: keep Crewe in the football league. Davis was successful in his target keeping Crewe in the football league and, in a run that saw the club go 16 matches unbeaten, the English manager helped Crewe qualify for the League Two play-offs. Following a 3–2 win over two legs with Southend United and a 2–0 win over
Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...
at Wembley, Davis' team were promoted to League One. Davis had lost two key figures in that season's promotion campaign in the summer with Nick Powell completing a three million pound transfer to
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
and captain Ashley Westwood for an undisclosed fee to
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...
but they were replaced by a number of summer signings such as forward
Mathias Pogba Mathias Fassou Pogba (born 19 August 1990) is a Guinean former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. His twin brother Florentin Pogba, Florentin and younger brother Paul Pogba, Paul ...
, defender Mark Ellis and midfielder Abdul Osman. Davis successfully secured safety in League One in his first season and also guided his team to a second Wembley appearance this time in the final of the Football League Trophy against Southend. The Railwaymen won the tie 2–0 with goals from Luke Murphy and Max Clayton. As with the previous summer, Davis lost a key member of his midfield this time in the form of Luke Murphy who left the club for Championship club
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
in 2013 for a million pounds. Despite a brief period linking him with the vacant
Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
managerial position, Davis remained at the Alex. The 2013–14 season was less successful than Davis' previous seasons, compacted even more after seven first team players were held by
Devon and Cornwall Police Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly) in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an ...
for an alleged sexual assault during the team's pre-season training in
Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...
. The players were cleared of all charges in November, a few months into the new campaign. Davis described the decision as a "noose being removed from our necks" citing the case as one of the reasons for the team's poor start to the campaign. Further to the sex assault allegations, Davis was also having attitude issues with summer signing Anthony Grant and former
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
youngster Brad Inman – listing the pair on loan and isolating them from the rest of the squad in training labelling the pair as a "disruption." The pair were later reinstated to the squad and first team duties following an improvement in their attitudes and helped Crewe avoid relegation on the last day of the season with a 2–1 victory over local rivals
Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...
. The 2014–15 season was no better in terms of Crewe's performance. The team lost 10 of their first 12 matches, and eventually finished in 20th position – remaining in League One despite losing the final match of the season, against
Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...
, because of results in fixtures elsewhere. The following season started in a similar pattern, with the team winning just two of their first 15 league matches, and crashing out of the FA Cup in the first round, defeated at Gresty Road by non-league
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...
, forcing Davis to defend his position as the 'right man' for the job. Crewe's relegation to League Two was confirmed following a 3–0 defeat at Port Vale on 9 April 2016, with five matches remaining. Davis was sacked as Crewe Alexandra manager on 8 January 2017, at which date he was the fourth longest serving manager in the top four divisions of English football.


Leyton Orient

On 10 July 2017, Davis was appointed as head coach of newly relegated
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
club
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
on a two-year contract. After the club won just five of their 19 league matches, he was sacked on 14 November 2017. In September 2018, Davis was reported to be in the running to be appointed manager of
Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...
.


Wolverhampton Wanderers

He subsequently joined
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
as under-18s head coach. In October 2022, following the sacking of Bruno Lage, Davis was appointed interim manager of his boyhood club, with under-23s coach James Collins, also formerly at Crewe, as his assistant. His first game in charge was a 3–0 defeat at Chelsea. His first win was a 1–0 victory at Molineux against
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...
. After multiple failed attempts by the club to sign a permanent manager, it was initially announced Davis would remain in charge for the rest of 2022. However, Wolves re-approached Julen Lopetegui and, on 5 November 2022, announced he would become their new head coach, taking charge from 14 November 2022. After the success for the under-18s squad, and brief caretaker stint for Wolves' first team, the club appointed Davis as Player Pathways Manager to help link the academy players with the first team players. This had proven successful during his time as caretaker manager, with Joe Hodge, Hugo Bueno and Dexter Lembikisa given more first team experience and regular game time. Davis's former assistant manager at under-18s level, James McPike took over as caretaker manager, until a permanent replacement was found.


Personal life

Davis's son Harry was at Crewe Alexandra but now plays for AFC Fylde, and is also a centre-back. He made his professional debut at the end of the 2009–10 season, playing for Crewe against Bradford City. Another son, Joe, is a former defender, having made his professional debut at Port Vale during his first spell in April 2011. During Steve Davis's time as Crewe manager, for 33 minutes of a match at Port Vale on 22 February 2014, his sons played on opposite teams against each other. Joe later played at Nantwich Town before retiring.


Career statistics

Source:


Managerial statistics


Honours


Player

Barnsley * First Division runner-up: 1996–97 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 Football in England, En ...
: 1990–91 Fourth Division


Manager

Nantwich Town *
FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...
: 2005–06 Crewe Alexandra * Football League Two play-offs:
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
*
Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...
: 2012–13


References

Footnotes Bibliography *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Steve 1965 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Stoke City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players York City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Northwich Victoria F.C. managers Nantwich Town F.C. managers Crewe Alexandra F.C. managers Leyton Orient F.C. managers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Northern Premier League managers English Football League managers Premier League managers