Soprano to Newcastle via Shrimpers

£10 REG DAVIES FETCHES £10,000 FROM NEWCASTLE

The announcement of the Reg Davies transfer to Newcastle has set the town talking. From the financial aspect it is without a doubt a good deal which will, if certain conditions are fulfilled, net the Blues over the £10,000 mark. The club badly need this money and the excellent price obtained is a tribute to the shrewd business capabilities of secretary-manager Harry Warren. (Plus ça change, ed.)

The deal was completed at the Great Northern Hotel late Friday evening when Newcastle arrived in London for their match with Charlton. It is understood that their was keen competition for Reg's signature and Newcastle are satisfied with this buy. Many supporters are annoyed that the management decided to part with such a promising young player.

Sir - Surely the Club have reached their lowest possible level in virtually giving away Reg Davies" Rectory Road, Pitsea.

It must be borne in mind that Davies has spent the major part of the season in the reserve side, his slight build is a great handicap on extremely heavy grounds and this partially neutralised his undoubted natural ability.

From the Southend Standard 19^th April 1951

Reg Davies was born in Wales (born Ellis Reginald Davies) and although from an early stage was clearly a naturally talented footballer, he was also a very talented soprano and he travelled the length and breadth of the country with a hugely popular choir. Although his parents wanted him to have a professional singing career he had other ideas, he wanted to play football.

He was inventive, a schemer and a goalscorer, and he had the invaluable instinct to find the telling position. He signed amateur forms for Southend but this was interrupted by National Service in the Army Medical Corp. but when he was demobbed in 1949 he signed professional forms for the Blues and made 41 appearances scoring 18 goals.

Reg signed for Newcastle a month before his 22^nd birthday and the fee included a £1,000 which would only be payable if he reached full International status, this he did within eighteen months. In seven years at Newcastle he played 157 times scoring 49 times and made 6 appearances for the Welsh National side.

He later played for Swansea and Carlisle and was even a football coach at a holiday camp in Clacton and died in Australia in 2009 aged 79.

Extracts from "Southend United the Boom Years 1946 to 1955" by Peter William Baker.

Footballer who renounced singing for sport - an obituary:
www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/
reg-davies-footballer-who-renounced-singing-for-sport-1606279.html

(Thanks to www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5882757 for the use of the photo.)

The Davies Files