David Davis on his Wolves days, a promotion push and desire to keep on playing

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 – checks notes – scoring goals. Eight goals so far. Comfortably the best return of his career so far.

“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.”

There are plenty of motivations for Davis to keep going as long as he can, not just through an innate sense of competitiveness and wanting to win.

We are talking whilst he is watching his six-year-old son enjoying his own football training, and 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.”

Davis emerged through the ranks at Wolves Academy and, whilst the end of his stay wasn’t as smooth as the early years, and nor was his return with Birmingham City, he harbours so many fond memories of life at Molineux and Compton.

His own 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 some fellow talented recruits.

Danny Batth, Sam Winnall, Scott Malone, Kyle Bennett, Ashley Hemmings. Not a bad year that, with so many Academy graduates going on to turn pro and build successful careers both at Wolves and elsewhere.

Development under the excellent Academy coaches of the time dovetailed for Davis with several loan spells to harden his edge and further strengthen an already single-minded mentality.

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 way further afield.

Whilst up in Scotland, Davis played against Celtic, home and away, and relished a very 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.

“It’s very different to reserve team football, which of course is great when you are learning the game or coming back from injury, but I just wanted to play as many first team games as I could before I was 20, and try and get in the Wolves team.

“Every loan is different, it shapes you in a different way, and they all bring different experiences.

“For me it went from going for promotion to battling relegation, and then up to Scotland, and going up against Celtic and Hearts and Hibernian who were all great at that time.

“Getting exposed to football and stadium and atmospheres that I hadn’t been before – I think that was what Mick was referring to in terms of how much I developed at that time.”

Prior to Inverness, Davis had actually 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, there were hopes of fielding Davis in an FA Cup replay against Birmingham but he was ineligible due to having not been available for the initial tie.

So, 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. And, in quick succession, came up against the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City. Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Mikel Arteta, Robin Van Persie, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero. Welcome to the party!

“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.

“I had nothing to lose really, we weren’t in a great spell, but at the same time I needed to try and impose myself and show what I could do.

“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. For someone like me, growing up watching those legends in a small town like Smethwick, it was an opportunity to just give the best possible account of myself.

“I mean, it sounds silly, but even seeing myself on Match of the Day felt like a massive achievement.”

Davis may have been something a young pretender to the Molineux midfield throne as he emerged, but he had impressed the senior professionals within the Wolves ranks at the time.

None more so than skipper Karl Henry, who would later play in the same engine room after returning from the injury which prompted Connor to recall Davis from Chesterfield.

“One of the big things for me was how great the senior players were, and maybe because I’d been in and around it in training, I had developed that work ethic that Mick and TC loved,” he says.

“Karl in particular – even long before I stepped into the first team, maybe from 18 onwards, he was always really supportive.

“I wouldn’t want to put words into his mouth but maybe he saw a little bit of him in me as well.

“He kind of took me under his wing which made that transition so much easier, along with so many other great characters like Sylv (Sylvan Ebanks-Blake), Carl Ikeme, Stears (Richard Stearman), Foles (Kevin Foley). So many good people which made up an honest bunch of lads, which really helped me going into that environment.”

It was very much a time of transition at Wolves, both with playing staff, and several different managers, and so 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, both starting and coming off the bench in ultimately 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.

“Even at the point when Dean Saunders came in, I didn’t think we were going to get relegated.

“To this day, I would say if we didn’t have Sako injured, Eddo injured, Sylv injured, I don’t think we would have been relegated.

“It is easy to say that, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I don’t think we would have gone down if those lads had been fit.

“But do you know what? Maybe we needed to go down. You have seen it at other clubs, it can become a reset, and that is what happened with Wolves in League One.

“It gave the club the springboard it needed to get where it is today, with the help of the takeover.”

One notable incident involving Davis, and close pal 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 and it was also a time when I had a good rapport with the fans, so all was forgiven.

“It was just about recovering as quickly as possible, and we actually went on a good run afterwards, until we lost players with injury which is what I think finished us in the end.”

Given the time that has passed, the enduring friendship between Davis and Ikeme and the result, it’s an incident that can be looked back on with nostalgic humour all these years on.

Having said that, rarely are there Disney-style departures from football clubs. Where players head off happily into the sunset, with the warm words and wishes of an adoring fanbase ringing in their heads.

And so, 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 was to become a fans’ favourite spending seven years at St Andrew’s, making almost 200 appearances with Blues which, in itself, is perhaps enough to annoy his previous fanbase!

And then, in February 2017, when back at Molineux, he scored in a 2-1 win against Wolves and, understandably, even taking into account his fond feelings towards his former employers, he properly celebrated.

There were also, and perhaps still are, Wolves fans who weren’t completely clear on why Davis actually left the club. A fallout which often happens, and is usually no reflection on the time which had preceded.

“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 didn’t want to just hang around and see my contract out, and I actually nearly joined Barnsley before going to Birmingham.

“I know people probably look at it and I 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. Whether that was aimed at me of because of the rivalry, that’s fair enough.

“When I did score, I celebrated, and it’s all just banter, isn’t it? At the end of the day, it was nothing personal, but I had moved to a different club, and had to give my all.”

Fierce rivals of Wolves they may be – a rivalry to be renewed next season – but Davis flourished at Blues.

In the 2016/17 season in which he scored at Molineux he was named both Players’ and Supporters’ Player of the Year, as well as providing moment of the year for an equalising goal against Aston Villa.

After permanent stays back at Shrewsbury and with Forest Green Rovers, Davis then signed for Kidderminster back 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, and of course being non-league, you can hear absolutely everything from the stands!

“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 does have one eye on the future, and has recently started work in finance with Trulife Financial as a protection adviser.

The role involves working with clients across a variety of areas including life insurance, critical illness, income protection and accident cover.

“A few people I know have gone into this as they finish football and, even though I hope I’ve got a few years left in the game, I’m really enjoying it,” he says.

“It’s nice to be involved with something so important, making sure people are financially secure if the worst was to happen, and I think I’ve been able to transfer a lot of skills from the football side in how to communicate.”

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.”

For now, though, Davis can look back on a career still going and feel grateful for the launchpad he was given at Wolves.

He bumped into Connor at Solihull Moors a year or so back, and was able to pass on those thanks personally for the impact he delivered to so many young players at Wolves, both on and off the pitch.

Davis is also in close touch with Batth, Ikeme and others, many of whom came through during a golden era for the club’s Academy.

“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!

“When you are right in the middle of a career, you don’t quite realise how it is all unfolding, but if you had said to me at 16 that I would go on to play in the Premier League and so many games in the Championship, for some really big clubs, I’d have snapped your hands off.

“So maybe 16-year-old me would give 35-year-old me a pat on the back!

“But yeah, at the same time, there are still a few more years left in the tank.”

It’s a journey which continues at Aggborough on Saturday lunchtime.