Billy Davies

Managerial career Motherwell Davies went on to player-coach and then manage Motherwell, helping them first avoid relegation with few games remaining in his first season in charge. In the next season he took them to the brink of European football. The subsequent season was less successful, due mainly to the club's financial situation. The club sold nine first-team players in the off-season and Davies resigned on 18 September 2001 after poor form saw Motherwell gain just three points from seven matches at the start of the 2001–02 season.

Preston North End Davies moved south to England and took on the role of assistant manager to former Scotland national coach Craig Brown at Preston North End. Following Brown's departure on 29 August 2004, Davies was installed as caretaker manager before being given the job permanently on 27 September.

Davies took Preston to the brink of the Premier League via the play-offs in May 2005 but lost in the final. Despite a difficult start to the 2005–06 season, a 25-game unbeaten run meant Preston went on to qualify for the play-offs for a second successive season although the side again failed to win promotion as they were knocked out by Leeds United after losing the semi-final second leg, after he famously left Elland Road following the first leg issuing the quote "Job done" to the media, only to lose at home and be knocked out. Davies then accepted an offer to manage Preston's Championship rivals Derby County on 2 June 2006.

Derby County In Davies's first season as Derby manager he led them to third place in the league and won the play-offs after defeating Southampton in the semi-finals and then West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium, ending Derby's five-year absence from the top flight – the scorer of the winning goal, Stephen Pearson, was a former youth player from Davies's time at Motherwell. Davies signed a one-year extension to his contract. Derby struggled in the Premier League, gaining only six points from 14 games. After criticising Derby's board for lack of investment, Davies left Pride Park by mutual consent on 26 November 2007 with the club bottom of the league. Some critics believed that Davies was a victim of his own success after overachieving in his first season at Pride Park, while others cited his apparent tactical inefficiencies at top flight level, poor big money signings (including £3m Claude Davis) and suggested Davies had engineered his own departure, in the form of an outspoken rant against the board so as to avoid having a relegation on his CV.

Davies was later linked with the managerial positions of the Scotland national team after Alex McLeish stepped down to take charge of Birmingham City (Davies would eventually decide against the post), Leicester City (after Gary Megson left to manage Bolton Wanderers), as well as Dundee and Hibernian. Davies was also considered a candidate to become assistant manager to Everton boss David Moyes, a role which came vacant when Alan Irvine left to take charge of Davies's old club Preston.

Nottingham Forest On 31 December 2008, it was announced by Nottingham Forest that the club was in negotiations with Davies to succeed the recently dismissed Colin Calderwood. Davies was appointed as their manager on 1 January 2009, officially taking over on 5 January.

In the summer of 2009, Davies made several additions to his squad and spent around £4m. Forest embarked upon an 18-match unbeaten run starting at the end of September and including ten wins, five of which came successively, to climb the table rapidly into a play-off position at the end of November.

Davies was nominated for the manager of the month award for October after guiding Forest to three successive wins and a draw, but he missed out to Dave Jones of Cardiff City. Following failure in the play-offs for the second season running,

Return to Nottingham Forest On 7 February 2013, Davies returned to Nottingham Forest as manager, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal, 20 months after being dismissed by the previous Forest board. Davies took charge of his first match since coming back on 16 February 2013, a 1–1 draw against Bolton Wanderers at the City Ground. The first victory of his second spell came three days later, a 6–1 win at home against Huddersfield Town. This was followed by his first away game at Charlton Athletic where Forest won 2–0. Under Davies they won six games in a row, including a 2–1 away win against second placed Hull City, placing them fifth in the Championship table and in a play-off position. Forest were unable to sustain their form and eventually finished eighth after losing 2–3 to Leicester City on 4 May 2013. On 18 October 2013, Davies signed a four-year contract extension at the City Ground. The chairman and club owner, Fawaz Al-Hasawi said "This is a fantastic day for Nottingham Forest. I look forward with great excitement to working alongside him for many years to come as we aim to bring success back to this magnificent club."

Davies's second spell proved to be a controversial and damaging one. , banned journalists as part of a "near media blackout" and employed his cousin, Jim Price, a suspended solicitor, as his closest adviser.

After an eight-game winless run left Nottingham Forest one place and two points outside of the play-off positions, and having seen his side lose 5–0 to local rivals Derby County two days earlier, Davies was dismissed on 24 March 2014. A statement on Forest's website read simply: "Nottingham Forest Football Club have confirmed the termination of manager Billy Davies' employment."

Louise Taylor of The Guardian pointed to Davies' "paranoia", "self-destructive insecurities" and "obsession with conspiracy theories and old grudges" as the reasons behind his downfall, suggesting that he had "shattered" his reputation. The Daily Telegraphs John Percy, who was one of a number of reporters who were "accused of being in league with his former employers" for questioning decisions Davies made, said that Davies was "destined for failure" because he was "obsessed" with conspiracies and hidden agendas. He pointed to the "huge funds" Davies was given to get Forest promoted and suggested that he "could have got away with" the "unsavoury" behaviour, had Forest been winning. John Payne of The Metro said that Davies owed the Forest fans an apology for his behaviour after failing to acknowledge them at the end of the defeat to Derby and "insulted fans' intelligence" by refusing to answer straight questions on the rare occasion he gave press interviews.

Technical head coach role at Greenock Morton On 11 July 2025, Davies was appointed technical head coach at Greenock Morton. On 2 August 2025, Davies took interim charge of Morton for their opening-day Scottish Championship match against Dunfermline, following first-team manager Dougie Imrie's absence due to a private matter. . On 25 November 2025, Davies assumed interim charge of Morton following the departure of Imrie to Raith Rovers. On 18 December 2025, Morton announced that Davies would remain as technical head coach for the remainder of the season, with Gary Miller, the club's Head of Youth and Emerging Talent, temporarily fulfilled the position the club was recruiting for. On 16 January 2026, Davies departed by mutual agreement following the establishment of a new management structure.

Personal life Billy Davies is the elder brother of John Davies and the brother-in-law of John Spencer.

Davies frequently refers to himself in the third person during interviews as a running gag.

Managerial statistics + Managerial record by team and tenure

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Individual' SPL Manager of the Month: November 2000 Football League Championship Manager of the Month: January 2006, April 2006, November 2006, January 2007, December 2009, January 2011, March 2013