Wolves may have nothing left to play for except their pride, but for many of their former players, the season is reaching crunch point. Among that number is David Davis, who, whilst already thinking about future career plans, continues to love footballing life with Kidderminster Harriers. He spoke to Paul Berry.
Early Breakthrough at Wolves
It was about this time of the season that David Davis first made his Wolves breakthrough. Fourteen years ago, in the Premier League. When he takes to the pitch this weekend, for Kidderminster Harriers in the National League North play-offs, the stakes are perhaps somewhat lower. But not necessarily in his world.
At 35, midfielder Davis, widely known as ‘Digga’, remains as competitive as ever. Getting box-to-box, flying into tackles, and scoring goals. Eight goals so far. Comfortably the best return of his career.
“I don’t know what’s going on to be fair,” he laughs. “My family are asking me what’s going on as well! It’s all been a bit strange but I’ve been playing a lot further forward and the gaffer (Adam Murray) wants me to disrupt a lot higher up the pitch. It’s an approach which has really benefitted me, and while maybe I do feel 35 after the games, during the week and leading up to it, I still feel as young as ever. I’d still love to carry on playing for the next couple of years at least if I can – I’d love for that to happen.”
Motivation and Family
There are plenty of motivations for Davis to keep going as long as he can, not just through an innate sense of competitiveness. We are talking whilst he is watching his six-year-old son enjoying his own football training, and he is hoping to play in front of him as much as he can before eventually hanging up his boots.
“The little man has seen a few of my games and maybe, because a few people have been coming up to me, he has started to realise that his Dad was once half-decent,” adds Davis with a laugh. “And that’s something that makes me very proud.”
Academy Days and Loans
Davis emerged through the ranks at Wolves Academy and, whilst the end of his stay wasn’t as smooth as the early years, he harbours many fond memories of life at Molineux. His football-loving formative years initially included trials with Walsall alongside playing junior Sunday League, but it was at the age of 15 he was scouted by renowned Wolves Academy recruitment guru Tony Lacey.
After some in-house games he was taken on and given six months to earn a full-time scholarship, which he ultimately achieved alongside fellow talented recruits like Danny Batth, Sam Winnall, Scott Malone, Kyle Bennett, and Ashley Hemmings. Development under excellent Academy coaches dovetailed for Davis with several loan spells to harden his edge.
Some of those loans were fairly close to home, at Walsall and Shrewsbury. Others, Darlington and Inverness Caledonian Thistle under England legend Terry Butcher, were further afield. Whilst up in Scotland, Davis played against Celtic, home and away, and relished a steep learning curve, to the extent that then Wolves boss Mick McCarthy described him as ‘going away a boy and returning as a man’.
“All the loan spells were great for me and it feels different now in that I’m not sure the academy boys are as eager to go out and play,” Davis argues. “Back then, it was almost a competition for us, to see who could go off and play the most games. Playing first team football at any level means you are playing for something, playing for points. Every loan is different, it shapes you in a different way, and they all bring different experiences.”
Premier League Debut
Prior to Inverness, Davis had made his Wolves debut at the start of the 2011/12 season as a late substitute in a Carling Cup win against Northampton. After Inverness, he headed off on another temporary switch, to Chesterfield in League One, helping them to the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Swindon at Wembley. But he would never make it to Wembley, because, with McCarthy dismissed at Molineux and Terry Connor now in charge, injury to Karl Henry saw Davis recalled, and into his first league action for Wolves – Premier League action – at home to Blackburn.
Wolves lost 2-0, but Davis impressed, and was voted Man of the Match. At 21, he had been given the keys to the Molineux engine room. In quick succession, he came up against the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Manchester City, facing Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Mikel Arteta, Robin Van Persie, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero.
“I mean don’t get me wrong, it would have been great to play at Wembley, but this was Wolves, my parent club, and the Premier League,” Davis recalls. “So of course I was delighted to come back, and grateful for the opportunity to try and help Wolves, even though it was a difficult time. It was a big moment, but I’d played a lot of games and, the type of person I am and the player I was then, I knew what I could bring on the physical side and was ready to work my socks off. It was a proper test, and one which showed me how many more levels there was to reach to hit the standards of those opponents. It was motivation.”
Transition and Relegation
It was very much a time of transition at Wolves, with several different managers, and the following two seasons saw a second successive relegation from the Championship, and immediate return with the League One title. Davis was very much in and around it across those two seasons, injuries permitting, contributing to 61 first team appearances.
“I loved my time at Wolves,” he reflects. “At the end of the day, it was Wolves who gave me the opportunity to take the first step into football. And even in the Championship season, until I got injured, I felt I was doing well. I had a lot of interest from other clubs, but at that point it was definitely no, I want to play for Wolves.”
One notable incident involving Davis, and close pal Carl Ikeme, came towards the end of that second successive relegation, in the first half of a home game against Bristol City. A Davis backpass slipped under Ikeme’s foot and into the net, prompting a lively half time discussion between keeper and boss Dean Saunders that ended with a broken tactics board – and a broken hand.
“One of those moments when you just want the ground to swallow you up,” says Davis. “All week we had been working on playing out from the back, which was new to us, but Dean Saunders said that if we messed up, it was on him. It was a bad pass back from me and I thought Kemes maybe should have hit it first time but he was trying to carry on what the gaffer wanted us to implement. And I think everyone knows by now what happened in the dressing room at half time! Thankfully the boys dug me out of a big situation and we came back to win the game.”
Move to Birmingham City
When Davis departed Wolves for Midlands’ rivals Birmingham City in the summer of 2014, it wasn’t to the approval of those he left behind. He became a fans’ favourite spending seven years at St Andrew’s, making almost 200 appearances. In February 2017, when back at Molineux, he scored in a 2-1 win against Wolves and celebrated.
“I fell out with Kenny (Jackett), and that was pretty much it,” says Davis. “So, when that happened, for me it was very much a case of needing to go and play football elsewhere. I know people probably look at it and think I decided to move to a big local rival but the move made sense, another big club and one which really suited me and my family. When I first came back to Wolves, maybe it sounds mad, but as a player who had come through and loved my time there, I thought I might get just a little ripple of applause from the fans. Of course that wasn’t the case, and I was greeted by boos. When I did score, I celebrated, and it’s all just banter, isn’t it?”
Life at Kidderminster and Future Plans
After permanent stays at Shrewsbury and Forest Green Rovers, Davis signed for Kidderminster in the summer of 2024, and is very much loving life at Aggborough. Also captaining the side, this Saturday they take on Macclesfield or Chester where a win would take them within another 90 minutes of a potential return to the National League.
“One of the main things for me, especially coming to this level, is that there are just no egos, and this is the most I have enjoyed my football in years,” says Davis. “It’s just lads trying to work as hard as possible, and enjoy it. We’ve had a great season and now it’s all about going into the play-offs and trying to get the results which will bring promotion.”
Even whilst enjoying his football, Davis has one eye on the future, and has recently started work in finance with Trulife Financial as a protection adviser. There is also one more ambition in the longer term: having spent his career putting out many fires on the pitch, he would like to do it for real, and work as a firefighter.
“I feel like I can work really well as part of a team and to achieve something as part of a team and that is a job with purpose which I would find really fulfilling,” he says.
For now, though, Davis can look back on a career still going and feel grateful for the launchpad he was given at Wolves. “I think it was people like TC and others at Wolves who ensured so many of us made a career in the game because of the hard work and graft which was instilled in us,” Davis reflects. “I’ve still got a bit of time to go hopefully, but when I do stop now and reflect at the age of 35, and with my little man now asking me a few questions about football, it almost feels like it’s been a case of blink and you miss it! But yeah, at the same time, there are still a few more years left in the tank.”
