Derby leading the way

By Paul Fletcher

My target is to manage at the highest level Billy Davies

The way Derby County manager Billy Davies walks gives a clue as to what lies beneath.

He leans slightly forward as though expecting gale force winds and moves at a brisk pace as if time is somehow against him.

It is done with real intent and purpose - characteristics immediately apparent when watching his football team.

It is perhaps most obvious when Derby do not have the ball - his players harassing and harrying the opposition, ruthlessly closing them down to deny time and space.

Davies' forthright manner gives the impression of a man who knows where he is going and how he is going to get there - regardless of the obstacles in his way.

His ultimate aim is the Premiership and his team - currently sitting top of the Championship - are edging closer and closer with 17 games of the season remaining.

"My target is to manage at the highest level," the 41-year-old told BBC Sport. "In my career I would love to win something. I hope to be in a position to pick my wits against the top managers."

Last summer Davies held talks with Charlton before they eventually opted for Iain Dowie.

Davies ended up at Derby after two seasons at Preston.

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When he walked through the door at Pride Park last June he inherited a team that had finished 20th the previous season, one which he describes as at "an all-time low in terms of confidence".

Early into this campaign, with a new board, coaching staff and handful of players in addition to Davies himself still finding their feet, Derby got off to a sluggish start, winning two of their first seven games.

Davies found certain sections of the crowd calling for his head - and has not forgotten.

"I know how quickly this game can turn - and the fans," added the Scot. "My motivation is to remember those times."

Transforming the club into a position where Derby can compete with the Championship's bigger clubs was a process that Davies thought would take two-to-three years.

In a fickle, results-orientated business Davies appears to have achieved that in a matter of months - and he has done so without an assistant manager.

"We had to start from scratch and are still doing so without an assistant manager, which is a very important position with regards to support and help.

"The plan is to continue to build pieces into the jigsaw puzzle but we have worked very hard so far and the players have responded well."

The Scot is a fiery figure on the touchline - he was sent to the stands during the 1-0 win at Southend on Saturday - but in conversation comes across as intelligent and focused.

And there is no doubt hard work is at the core of his managerial philosophy.

We can all recognise the opportunity of where we are with only 17 games remaining Billy Davies

As an illustration of the day-to-day work involved, Davies took a double training session on Monday and upon returning home spent three-to-four hours in the evening editing the video from Derby's previous match.

Tuesday morning saw another training session before he supervised a game for players short of first-team action.

Davies then drove north to watch Burnley's game against Stoke, preparing for the Rams' home game against the Clarets next week.

The Rams boss describes it as "impossible to say" how many phone calls he has made and received so far this month, but adds that "the phone never stops, even when it isn't January".

It is this dedication and attention to detail that saw Preston reach the play-offs in successive seasons prior to his move to Derby.

But even Davies himself is surprised by the speed at which progress has been made.

"We are well ahead of schedule - that is for sure," he admitted. "We would have been delighted with a mid-table finish.

"If somebody had said to me that in mid-January we would be sitting with 56 points - and that with 17 games left the opportunity to fight for a play-off place or automatic promotion - I would have been doing handstands."

You might think Derby's current position would have led to a reassessment of their goals for the season.

But if Davies is now thinking about promotion he is far too canny to make a rod for his back by saying so in public.

"We can all recognise the opportunity of where we are with only 17 games remaining - but I constantly remind the players and staff that nothing can be taken for granted.

"My opinion is still the same - we aim to finish as high as possibly can."

The way things are going that might just realise one of Davies' burning ambitions.