@SpursOfficial
Thursday 22 August 2024, 2:15pm|Tottenham Hotspur
This season we’re going down the road of reminiscence by republishing interviews from the tottenhamhotspur. com archives. Coming up, with our first Premier League home game against Everton on Saturday (3pm, UK), we’ll be replaying an interview with former Peterborough United, Spurs, Everton, Fulham and Wales midfielder Simon Davies, published by first time in 2021. . .
Simon Davies, who joined us as ‘one for the future’ at the start of a new era for the club, played almost 150 games for us in his five years in North London and was named Player of the Year. year for the 2001/02 season before leaving for Everton in the summer of 2005.
We recently caught up with the former Wales foreigner to talk about his time at the club, his adventure since then and find out what he’s up to so far.
Simon’s football career has come full circle. After enjoying his first moments on the pitch with his local side, AFC Solva, on the Welsh coast of Pembrokeshire, before moving into professional play at Peterborough United, Davies ended his career in the game in 2013 with a season in the swan song. at Solva outside the league before returning to Posh five years later to begin learning a new coaching profession.
A right-wing midfielder, he emerged as a real asset in his time in London Road’s youth team in the late 1990s. Impressive as a teenager in Division Three, Simon, along with fellow Posh graduate Matthew Etherington, He temporarily headed north to London when he joined us in January 2000.
Entering an era of genuine replacement for the club, the Welsh foreign team integrated well into the N17 and continued to excel under our colours, particularly following the appointment of Glenn Hoddle in March 2001. He played just under 150 games for us a year . For five years, Simon played a key role in our run to the Worthington Cup final in 2002 and, at the end of that campaign, his efforts were rewarded when he was named Player of the Year. His progress in a Spurs shirt, however, was hampered by a series of niggling injuries, difficulties which influenced his next move to Everton in 2005.
Lured to Merseyside with the chance to play in the UEFA Champions League, ‘Digger’, as he was known, spent just 18 months at Goodison Park before returning to London in January 2007 to sign for Fulham. It was during his time at Craven Cottage that the Welshman enjoyed some of the most memorable moments of his career, as well as scoring in the semi-final and final of the Europa League in 2010. However, a persistent hip injury prevented him from playing. . He completed his professional career in West London at the age of 33.
Still, his playing days weren’t over, as later that year, he agreed to reunite with his brother and close friends once he returned to his local team Solva in a big hurrah. And then, after a few years away from the professional game, Simon returns to where it all started to embark on a coaching career by joining the Peterborough Youth Academy in 2018 to reconnect with his old team. “My partner and smart friend Etherington.
“Solva is where I grew up. There I started playing with my friends and my brother,” Simon recalls of his decision to return to AFC Solva in 2013. “My brother played for them and one of my most productive friends was also there. I was retired from professional gaming and evidently spent more time there watching my parents with my family, so I made the resolution to sign up and play a few more games just to complete my gaming days. I left where it started, and it was lovely. Formation
“I think I played five or six matches and it was exactly as you might imagine: betting on the football championship on Sundays with your mates, then going to the pub, having a few beers and laughing. I’ve enjoyed playing golf though, so Le I told my wife that when I retire, I’ll spend a few years playing golf and just enjoy the things I haven’t been able to do since I was 18. E-14 Really, I also have two kids so I enjoyed the time there too. I spent with them.
“After maybe 3 or 4 years I thought ‘I want to start doing anything again’ so I decided to get my training badges and now I’m about to get my A licence. I was lucky enough to find a job in Peterborough. Matt Etherington was badged before me and given under 18s duty at the club. We’re obviously still very intelligent friends and we see each other a lot and I had the opportunity to come back when a position became available. Barry Fry was there (he was our manager during our playing days there) and he was asking me “what’s Simon doing?” » and I said to myself: “why not? Let’s try.
“It’s wonderful to be able to give something back to the club that helped us start with the U18s and try to help them grow, as well as ourselves, and start a new career as a coach. It’s completely different from betting as you imagine. I’ve been doing this for two years now and I just like to review the outputs to improve.
*Simon and Matthew left their roles at Posh in 2022 and were at the helm of Crawley Town in November 2022. . .
The 2001/02 season was arguably Simon’s most productive crusade with the Spurs shirt, as he played an important role in the team under Hoddle. However, despite the high moments of the season, it was also a crusade that, according to him, marked the beginning of his time at the Club with the frustrating appearance of injuries. Despite staying with us for the next 3 years, the Welshman admits that hip problems and persistent leg pain caused him to setback, the latter being a factor that slowed him down. During a part of his time at Everton when his injury luck changed due to an everyday object, he transformed and eventually ended his career.
“Towards the end of George Graham’s time at Spurs, I was starting to feel comfortable and adapt to the club, and I thought I could make an impact. At the time, I was really making efforts to join the team. It just so happened that Glenn came here at the most productive time for me. He saw in me everything I enjoyed and from there I became a normal person for the next two and a half years and played my most productive football during my time at the Club. I was lucky enough to win the Player of the Year award in 2002 and to play with wonderful players from the era who I got along with very well, such as Teddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton.
“That same season, however, I started to suffer some nagging injuries that kept me out for the next two years at Spurs and it was disappointing for me, the way it ended after feeling like Array at one point, was a very vital component of the team.
“I had suffered a hip injury and then I had cramps in my legs. I didn’t exercise much; I came in and out of the team and then (in 2004) Martin Jol became a coach. I think he looked for wingers because of the way he saw the game and I was more of a midfielder betting on the wings. So, although I did the best I could, I don’t think I was his type of player. I had just signed a new contract the year before, but at the time I felt that Everton had just qualified for the Champions League and it seemed like a good opportunity to play in that festival, so I made the decision to take the plunge.
“As a new signing, I knew I had to make an impact, but I was still suffering and was in and out of the team. Sometimes other people don’t realize the other sides of football. I was still suffering a lot with my legs and I had seen so many specialists, but no one could help me, so I hurt every game. My first season was quite disappointing and I don’t forget to talk to the coach about it this summer.
“Fortunately for me, a new doctor arrived in Wales. I was running with the Olympic team and I was interested in how the bones and muscles of my legs worked in relation to the boots and so on. One day, he gave me this sole. I tried it and it was just amazing. From having this pain for 18 months to having nothing after putting on that secure insole. It was just an amazing moment because I didn’t have any pain anymore. And that’s just how it was.