Welcome back to the fifteenth player to be featured in the "Names from the Past" series of articles. This series features various players that have played in the red and white stripes over the club's illustrious history. Of course, it would be easy to profile the standard fare of the Quinns, the Defoes and Phillips but when so many players have appeared for us then it may be better to feature a player who is less well known on Wearside. This time we go back to the 2000s and feature a player who had just one season in our colours and that season wasn't one of the best in our history. The player featured? Goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.
Bedford born Kelvin Davis joined Luton Town as a trainee in 1991 and made his debut for the Hatters in the 1993-94 season, being an understudy to American Jurgen Sommer before being loaned out to Torquay United briefly in the following campaign. He made a total of 10 appearances in his first full season at Luton (1995-96), as the team were relegated to the third tier with Ian Feuer, brought in from West Ham, becoming the new Hatters number one. After a largely blank season in 1996-97, Davis was on loan to Hartlepool United of the fourth tier in 97/98 when Feuer was injured against Southend and he was quickly recalled to deputise for the American. He would impress enough to keep his place and become the first choice in 1998-99: his last season at Kenilworth Road.
That summer, Wimbledon (the original ones) paid a fee of £600K to bring him to South London but he was unable to force his way into the team in his debut season with the Dons. Following Wimbledon’s relegation from the Premier League in 2000, Davis was handed the number one jersey following Neil Sullivan's summer move to Tottenham and became the first choice for three consecutive campaigns before joining Ipswich Town on the expiry of his Dons contract in the summer of 2003. He was again first choice for his new team and his form in 2004-05 saw the stopper be rewarded with a place in the PFA Team of the Year for the Championship, and attract the attention of Sunderland who would subsequently pay £1.25 million for his services.
We thought we had got a good deal especially on the back of his last season at Ipswich but Davis' one season on Wearside would be a horrific one for him. One of the lowlights was being beaten by a 45-yard effort from then Portsmouth midfielder Matt Taylor as the South Coast ran riot in a second half where they scored four times without reply for a 4-1 away win. It was also a horrific one for the club as we recorded just three wins and 15 points in one of the seasons from Hell for us. But Davis had no regrets as he admitted in a 2013 interview:
"I look back at it as a learning part of my career. The lessons I learnt there I still use today and they make you stronger and give you different experiences for now and the future."
Davis would be recruited by Southampton in the summer of 2006 for a fee of £2 million, meaning we would make a profit on the custodian. He would become the Saints first choice keeper for the first six of his ten seasons on the South Coast before seeing his appearance tallies dwindle following the arrivals of Artur Boruc and latterly, Fraser Forster. He was named Southampton Player of the Season for the 2008-09 campaign and was part of the PFA Team of the Year for League One in 09/10 and 10/11 as well as for the Championship in 11/12. All in all, he would feature 301 times in the Saints goal with his 301st and final appearance coming in a 2-2 draw at St Mary's in October 2015. He was awarded a testimonial by the Saints at the conclusion of that season, and joined the coaching team. During his playing career with Southampton he won automatic promotion to the top flight in 2012, automatic promotion to the second tier in 2011 and a Football League Trophy in 2010.
Six years later, Davis' 16-year association with Southampton ended when he parted ways following a club restructuring programme within the coaching network. He was appointed into a permanent managerial role in February 2024 with National League side Eastleigh, who are owned by none other than a certain Stewart Donald. At the Spitfires, Davis has been joined by former Saints teammate Danny Butterfield and this summer extended his stay at the Silverlake Stadium by an additional three years with the side lying in an impressive 7th place at the time of writing: which if they maintained would see them in the National League's play-offs.
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