Simon Davies
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Born:
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23 OCT 1979
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Place of Birth:
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Haverfordwest
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School:
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Ysgol Dewi Sant, St. Davids
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Famous For: Rising Soccer international from Solva
Trivia: Simon is nicknamed 'Digger' by his family and close friends. He got this name from digging up his parents' garden when he was a youngster.
Biography: One of the rising stars who makes it possible for Welsh fans to be truly optimistic about the future of the national side.
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Born in Haverfordwest, Simon was brought up in the village of Solva by his parents Anthony and Helen. His father is a builder and he kicked off his soccer days playing for local team Solva AFC. Simon has two elder brothers - Lee and Nathan and one younger brother - Christopher, and all four brothers are football fanatics. The talent and enthusiasm might even be genetic - Simon's uncle on his mother's side is former Wales international and goalscoring legend Ian Walsh.
It was while at Solva AFC that Simon was 'talent-spotted', and at age 17 he joined Peterbrough United as a trainee under the leadership of Barry Fry - someone who he now cites as having the "biggest influence on my career". He was described as 'The Peterborough Wonderkid' and he quickly made an impression with his excellent passing and skills on the ball.
Davies joined Spurs from Peterborough for a reported £700,000 in January 2000, making his debut playing away at Anfield. However he spent much of the 2000 - 2001 season on the bench, but came on as a subsitute for the injured Oyvind Leonhard in the home FA Cup tie against Stockport. He seized this opportunity and scored two memorable goals.
Simon's senior Welsh debut was as a substitute against the Ukraine in March 2001 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Since then he has made several appearances in high-profile meetings against the likes of Argentina, the Czech Republic and Germany. He scored a great individual goal for Wales in the friendly against Croatia in August 2002, and his strike against Finland underlined his ability to score from the midfield.
In October 2002 Simon was named Welsh Player of the Year by the Worthington Football Awards. In the infamous Euro 2004 qualification win against Italy on 16 October, Simon scored the first goal of the match. He went on to score again against Finland in Cardiff, the goal that placed Wales in the play-offs. Though not in the squad for the critical final game against Russia in Cardiff, Davies shared his team-mates' bitter dissapointment at the failure to qualify, and along with fans and players set his sights on qualification for the 2006 World Cup, in which he again found himself a crucial part of the team.
In June 2005 Everton signed Simon Davies from Tottenham, to strengthen their midfield, for an initial £3.5m fee. Click here to read the story about it on BBC Sport Online.
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