Ben Davies

Benjamin James Davies (born 27 May 1981) is an English football coach and former professional player who is a first team coach at club Grimsby Town.

He then joined Walsall in 1999 as part of their youth team.

As a player he was as a right back and midfielder playing between 2000 and 2021.

Born in Birmingham, he began his career with Walsall before dropping into the Football Conference, playing for Kidderminster Harriers and Chester City.

Moving back to the Football League he had spells with Shrewsbury Town, Notts County and Derby County before signing for Sheffield United, Portsmouth and Grimsby Town His career continued in non-league with a spells at Boston United and Cleethorpes Town.

He had spells with Kidderminster Harriers and Chester City, where he won a Football Conference championship medal in 2004.

During his time at the Deva, he was made club captain.

Davies joined Shrewsbury Town two days before turning 25, making his club debut in the 2006–07 opener against Mansfield Town, which finished 2–2.

He scored in Shrewsbury's next three matches, going on to net a total of 12 times over the course of the season.

After Davies helped Shrewsbury to seventh position in the league, he suffered an injury in the play-off semi-final against MK Dons, which meant that he missed the 2007 Football League Two play-off final, and was expected miss to the first half of the 2007–08 season.

Davies recovered faster than expected from his Achilles tendon injury, returning for the first team in late November.

He played an instrumental role in Shrewsbury's return to winning ways, scoring a stunning free kick and an excellent driven goal in a 4–0 win against Dagenham and Redbridge and also scoring away against Accrington Stanley.

Having missed the 2007 final, Davies played the 2009 League Two play-off final, which Shrewsbury lost.

One of several key players out of contract at the end of the season, Shrewsbury did offer Davies a contract extension, however, Notts County offered him a deal which he felt gave him a greater chance at achieving his ambition to play at a higher level.

As a result, Davies left Shrewsbury to join County.

Following Stewart Drummond's departure in the January 2008 transfer window, Davies was installed as Shrewsbury's club captain.

He underwent a double hernia operation in November 2008, which kept him out for a month.

Davies had a successful first season at League Two club Notts County during their 2009–10 campaign, playing an integral part in them winning the league.

He became the highest scoring midfielder in a single season in County's history as he scored 16 goals, alongside 20 assists, and won several awards, including Supporters player of the year, club player of the year and goal of the season, as well as being named in the PFA Team of the year.

His form was such that in August 2010 he was subject to overtures from Championship club Derby County, with Derby boss Nigel Clough leaving a 2–1 defeat at Coventry City 5 minutes early left to watch the player.

Davies remained at County however, and in his first season at League One level hit 5 goals in 22 games, including two strikes in a 3–2 victory at Peterborough United, as well as numerous assist.

The form saw Derby retain their interest into the January 2011 transfer window, lodging several bids which were rejected, Davies desire to play Championship football saw him hand in a transfer request, despite proclaiming "I absolutely love it here, I'm the happiest I have ever been in my career."

Finally, a bid from Derby in the region of £350k was accepted by County and the player completed a move on 20 January 2011, signing a 2 1⁄2-year deal to run until July 2013.

Davies made his full Derby County debut on 22 January 2011 in a 1–0 home defeat to fierce rivals Nottingham Forest.

Joining the club in a run of form which had seen just one win from their previous nine fixtures, Davies had to wait until his seventh appearance before tasting a victory at his new club; a 1–0 victory at relegation rivals Sheffield United.

As the club itself struggled, so did Davies with the step up and, after starting in a 3–1 home defeat to Doncaster Rovers, Davies was dropped to the bench.

Davies later admitted that he deserved to be dropped; "I'm not one to hide and my performances weren't good enough – I know that. I hold my hands up. I couldn't go knocking the manager's door down saying I deserved to be in the team because, based on my performances, I didn't."

Davies was eventually recalled to the starting line-up in April 2011, hitting the winner in a 2–1 victory over Leeds United, with an "unstoppable" 20-yard volley.

Despite this, Davies was unable to hold down a regular place for the remainder of the season.

After playing an active role in Derby's pre-season fixtures, Davies found himself in the first team for the start of the 2011–12 season, playing every minute as Derby won their opening four fixtures for the first time in 106-years to find themselves in 2nd place in the early season table.

The fourth victory, 3–0 over Doncaster Rovers, saw Davies open his account for the season as well as provide assists for the other two goals.

Davies was rewarded with a place in the Championship Team of the Week, something he repeated following his performance in a 3–0 win over Millwall, a game in which he created two of Derby's three goals.

Davies was eventually credited with 11 assists during the 2011–12 season, 10 in the league and 1 in the League Cup.

The form of Davies dropped during November he was dropped from the starting 11 at the start of December, making only three substitute appearances until the start of March 2012, making an immediate impact as he set up a headed goal for Steve Davies within 2 minutes of coming on.

With Davies restored to the starting eleven, Derby manager Nigel Clough urged Davies take advantage of the injury of Jamie Ward, stating the quality Davies can offer from set pieces and crosses.

In 2012–13, Davies lost his place as a regular member of the matchday squad and was restricted to limited substitute appearances and games as an overage player in Derby's under-21 team.

Despite this Davies scored his first goal in 15 months in a 3–1 win against Leeds United Davies scoring in the stoppage time after being introduced in the 82nd minute of the game.

Davies hoped this goal help regain his place in starting line up at Derby after he turned down several loan moves due to personal issues after his ten-month-old son Evan had health issues and had an eye operation.

In 2019 he returned to Grimsby as a coach and briefly registered as a player again during 2020–21 season.

Davies began his career with the youth system at Stoke City aged fifteen.