Steven Davis

Steven Davis (born 1 January 1985) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Davis, who was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, started his career at St Andrews Boys Club before transferring to Aston Villa in 2002.

He was a member of the 2002 FA Youth Cup winning team that beat Everton 4–2 in the final.

Davis began his club career with English Premier League club Aston Villa in 2004.

His first professional appearance was on 18 September 2004, he was a 57th-minute replacement for Nolberto Solano in a goalless Premier League match against Norwich City at Carrow Road.

He made his full international debut in 2005 and made 140 appearances at senior level, scoring 13 goals, to become the most capped Northern Ireland player, also a record for any man from the British home nations.

He was named "Young Player of the Year", "The Fans Player of the Year" and "Player of the Year" for the 2005–06 season after making 42 appearances during the season.

Davis made 28 league appearances across the season, scoring the winner in a 3–2 comeback victory at Southampton on 16 April 2005.

On 13 August 2005, in Villa's first game of the new campaign, Davis volleyed past Jussi Jääskeläinen to secure a 2–2 home draw against Bolton Wanderers, albeit after nine minutes.

He scored twice on 20 September in the third round of the Football League Cup, as Villa won 8–3 at Wycombe Wanderers.

By October 2005, he was a regular for the club and missed only one game for Villa in the 2005–06 season.

Davis was named Villa's "Young Player of the Year", "The Fans Player of the Year" and "Player of the Year" for the 2005–06 season.

His form prompted the Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez, to state that Davis could be "another Frank Lampard".

Davis made 102 appearances for Villa and scored nine times.

On 2 January 2006, he headed the first goal of a 2–1 win at rivals West Bromwich Albion.

He was sold to Fulham for £4 million in the summer of 2007, but moved on loan to Scottish club Rangers in January 2008 for an initial six months.

In the summer of 2007, Davis followed teammate Aaron Hughes to Fulham on 5 July 2007 to team up with international manager Sanchez, for a fee of around £4 million.

He made his Fulham debut against Arsenal on 12 August 2007 and made 22 appearances for Fulham before moving to Rangers.

He was part of the team that reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final and won the 2007–08 Scottish League Cup and 2007–08 Scottish Cup.

At the end of the season, he moved to Rangers permanently for £3 million.

On 31 January 2008, Davis was signed on a six-month loan by Rangers, the club he supported as a boy.

He made his Rangers debut against Panathinaikos in the UEFA Cup on 13 February.

He scored his first goal, again in European competition, against German team Werder Bremen.

Davis scored in the penalty shootout against Dundee United that won Rangers the League Cup.

He also helped the team reach the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, and won the Scottish Cup in May.

Davis made his move from Fulham permanent on 21 August 2008 in a transfer worth £3 million, signing a four-year contract.

He made his first appearance of the season a day later against Aberdeen, a 1–1 draw.

He scored his first goal since his move became permanent against Motherwell.

Davis won the SPL title and Scottish Cup with Rangers in the 2008–09 season.

He won three consecutive Scottish Premier League titles with the Glasgow club in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as one further Scottish Cup in 2009 and two more League Cups (2010 and 2011).

He scored the only goal in the final Old Firm derby of the season on 9 May 2009 to take Rangers to the top of the SPL by two points.

Davis scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against St. Mirren on 27 January.

He continued his goalscoring form against Falkirk in the next game, curling a free kick into Bobby Olejnik's top right hand corner.

Davis's performances in January 2010 earned him the SPL Player of the Month award.

Following Rangers' liquidation in 2012, Davis exercised his rights under TUPE regulations to rescind his contract and become a free agent, returning to the Premier League with Southampton where he made over 200 appearances across six full seasons and captained the side for much of that time, which included twice qualifying for the Europa League from league position and reaching the 2017 EFL Cup final.

He captained his country at UEFA Euro 2016 where they reached the last 16.

Davis returned to Rangers under manager Steven Gerrard in 2019.

He won another Scottish league title in 2021 and another Scottish Cup in 2022, as well as reaching the 2022 UEFA Europa League final.

He announced his retirement from playing in January 2024, having been absent through injury for over a year (during which he was briefly the interim manager of Rangers, taking charge of two matches).

He made 371 appearances, with 28 goals, across his two spells at Ibrox.