Simon Davey makes light of old superstition

By Tim Rich Daily Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:51am GMT 15/02/2008

As the FA Cup is placed beside him, Simon Davey is reminded that tradition dictates you are not supposed to touch it before the final.
Demonstrating an alarming lack of cool, Ruud Gullit once screamed at the sponsors to remove it from Newcastle's training ground completely when asked to pose for a photo with it. It is too late for Barnsley, however, as the man charged with overcoming Liverpool at Anfield has already picked it up.
Arthur Fairclough is the only Barnsley manager to have held the trophy legitimately, on the day in 1912 when they overcame West Bromwich Albion in a replay at Bramall Lane. For a manager of a club in the old Division Two, Fairclough performed a well-nigh perfect job for his directors. Barnsley played 10 games, forcing no fewer than three replays against Bradford in matches that were seen by more than 120,000. No team had ever reached an FA Cup final having taken so much in gate receipts. The players' reward was a bonus of £25.
The Barnsley board would settle for just the gate receipts at Anfield tomorrow, and ever since, in 1987, Terry Yorath called his school in Swansea to ask if the young Davey fancied coming down to the Vetch Field that night and playing sub against Torquay, their manager has not lacked for confidence. Davey went down in his school uniform and played for 25 minutes.
Like Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger, Davey's career began and finished early. The 37-year-old was at Preston, under David Moyes, when an accident with a medicine ball wrecked his back and his career a decade ago. The consolation, revealed long after the pain and fear had died, was that as his former contemporaries are wondering what to do with their lives, he has a Uefa pro licence.
"I was 27 when I finished," he recalled. "I'd won a couple of championships with Carlisle and Preston and played for Swansea against a Monaco side managed by Arsene Wenger in the Cup Winners' Cup. We lost 8-0.
"I had three very young kids and a mortgage to pay and when you have played in League One and League Two all your life there isn't a lot of money in the bank. I had no job or coaching qualifications.
"David pulled me to one side and said he had a job in the youth team for me. I owe him a lot. I called him when Everton were in Norway but most of the tips about Liverpool, we'll get from Match of the Day."
It is a friendship that has endured. Today, Barnsley will travel to Everton's training ground to prepare for their biggest game since they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup in their single, memorable season in top-flight football a decade ago.
Before October 1997 had ended, Danny Wilson's side had lost 5-0 to Arsenal, 6-0 to Chelsea and 7-0 to United. But on Nov 22 they travelled to Anfield and won 1-0 to give them a memory that would endure long after relegation. Moyes and Davey would relish a repeat.
"David was club captain when I arrived at Preston, then assistant and then manager," Davey said. "And I knew from day one he was a manager to be. He was so focused and intense. I don't think he ever went home to his wife and family; he was forever studying videos and watching games. Everything about his training was meticulous.
"I look at him now and think that everything he has done, he has done through hard work."