Reebok Heroes: SKD

Super Kevin Davies joined Bolton Wanderers in a bid to revive his career after an unsuccessful big money move from Southampton to Blackburn, and a disappointing return to St Mary’s. However, he managed to make an immediate impact at the Reebok and was Bolton’s player of the Year in his first season at the club, scoring 10 goals.

One of many admirable aspects of Kevin Davies’ Bolton career is the fact that in each of his 10 seasons at the Reebok, he managed to make over 30 appearances.

Davies is notorious for the amount of fouls he commits, and often topped the Premier Leagues list. However, he was also among the most fouled players in the Premier League and never complained of dived. In fighting for his teams over the years, SKD has picked up knocks, scrapes and has even taken to Twitter to show pictures of his scars, though he always gets up with a smile and battles on. This mentality made him an obvious choice as captain when predecessor Kevin Nolan left.

He’d never been much of a goalscorer, although three decent seasons of goalscoring (12, 9 and 10 goals in all competitions from 2008-2011) earnt him a belated England call up – the oldest England debutant for almost 60 years. Although he only came on for about 20 minutes, and touched the ball a few times Davies ‘enjoyed every minute of it’ and was ‘delighted to have been given the chance’. As a Bolton Wanderers fan you don’t tend to see your players play for England. We had Cahill, but to be honest we always thought that he would move on to greater things. I always thought that Kevin Nolan and Mark Davies (when fit) deserved a chance on the international stage. Seeing Kevin Davies throw himself around in an England shirt was a rare proud moment for Bolton fans.

His game never featured particularly striking technical ability. He could never do the things the likes of Nicolas Anelka could do with the ball. However, what he did offer (and still does for Preston) is his physical presence, which at its prime was second to none in the Premier League. Standing at 6 ft he isn’t massive, but was always a handful for even the biggest of central defenders. Hi ability to leap and knock the ball down, or flick the ball on was missing for Bolton last season until the arrival of Jutkiewicz.

On March 27th 2013, on Davies’ birthday he was told that he wouldn’t be offered a new contract. As Dougie Freedman looked to clear signs of eras past and start afresh, while trying to slash the wage bill. This was to most people’s surprise, including Super Kevin’s who thought he’d be finishing his career at Bolton and maybe even start coaching as well.

Kevin Davies was an incredible servant to Bolton Wanderers and will be kicking off his second season at League 1 outfit, Preston shortly. He has been studying for coaching badges, and who knows – maybe he’ll find himself back at Bolton in a non-playing role in the future?