The little man has split opinions since he walked out however whilst manager he won 44% of his games which has to be said is not a bad record at all. Started well with a 3-0 win against Rotherham had a bit of a blip with a 5 goal drubbing by the pies at the JJB however started to put in some good performances which got even better the Hammers were beaten twice(remember the reports of the match at Upton Park described it as rancid) Started to bring in useful palyers such as Ageymang and the Sedgewick, however the trump card was bought in January in the shape of one David Nugent, little did we know that a legend had been brought to the club. In little less than a season the man from North of the border had turned us in to a very hard to beat outfit and hardly anybody was beating us. Play offs arrived Nugent and a faff by Lee Camp gave us a 2 goal lead, the only way Derby were ever going to score was with a penalty which they duly got in the 2nd leg poor decision by the ref, didn't matter the diving Pole Rasiak hit the post with it. Cardiff bound again understandible joy except Rasiak who left the pitch in tears. So it was Hammers, the game was poor two on the day not so good teams. Zamora shinned the winner in after both Claude and Matty Hill slipped on the poor surface. Billy tarted himself round the country during the close season but decided to stay and off we went again. An unbeaten run of 20 plus games was ended by Reading in mid March but play offs were achieved again this time the semi opponents were Leeds. Thefirst leg was away and super Brett gaves us the lead before a late equalizer pinned us back(was it Eddie Lewis?) However Billy's over the top celebration and the Job done comments did worry me. Sure enough this remarked fired up the Yorkshire outfit and they basically kicked us off the field. Ormerod's leg was broken by a shocker of a tackle by Douglas which set the tone for the night. We were not helped by the lights failing at half time which led to a 45 minute delay and also ended Marcus Stewart's PNE career. Two goals and two sendings off form the Yorkshire side as they wentb through to lose to Watford. For Billy the writing was on the wall literally and he got a helicopter ride to Pride Park. Next in the hot seat Paul Simpson
Great post again maclad and your memory serves you better than mine does, that's for sure, and it's good to have those memories refreshed once again I've mixed feelings about Davies. He probably oversaw the most solid PNE side that we had in our time in the Championship. A side to be feared both home and away, and Deepdale was a fortress. An excellent manager but was always looking to get away to a bigger club. He left quite a bitter taste in my mouth when he went to Derby and I don't think I'm alone with those feelings.
Yes, but only with him chained to Deepdale and a court order on him not to speak to any other club! Like I said, he's a VERY good manager and gets the best out of players
Great stuff Maclad... Billy Krankie.. Well now, he did inherit a good group of players from Brown, and turned them into promotion contenders. He is obviously a great motivator and shrewd, he was so close to becoming a freeman of Preston and in the end it ended in tears. Sort of bloke who could start a brawl in a telephone kiosk with only him inside it, but much to admire about his managerial ability at Championship level. He is flawed material though and things always seem to end in disaster for him at some stage at a club. He is never satisfied and always wants more, which is no bad thing in many respects, but sometimes you cant have everything you want and have to accept it, BD unfortunately doesn't see things in the same way and ends up throwing his toys out. At PNE he twice got us soooooooooooo close but I feel got things wrong in both the Final against West Ham and the Semi against Leeds. As you point out Maclad he just couldn't keep his mouth shut following the game at Leeds and it was obvious that Leeds would respond in the way they did in the second leg at Deepdale. For the West Ham game he chose to take the team away prior to the game and this in my opinion was a bad mistake. PNE turned up dressed like they were going to a wedding but it ended more like a funeral. The Hammers arrived direct from Upton Park in their tracksuits and although didn't play well, they had come to get promoted and not for the day out. BD also chose to play an unfit Nugent who would have been better being used from the bench. That Final was PNE's one big chance for the Prem and they cocked it up. There are those who say that BD should have been given money to bring a couple of players in to add weight for the final push, maybe they are right. The result of that game was a disaster for PNE and BD, so he decided eventually to move on and did get the Rams promoted. He can certainly manage at that Level and he could take the Forest to the Prem as well. His name should be Jekyll and Hyde and not Billy Davies.
