Nugent progress delights Davies

By Paul Fletcher

Nugent scored on his England debut

Former Preston boss Billy Davies has spoken of his joy at seeing David Nugent - the player he brought to Deepdale - scoring for England.

Davies, who left Preston for Derby in the summer of 2006, signed Nugent from Bury for £100,000 in January 2005.

"I knew of his potential when I signed him and I'm delighted for him because of the way he has worked at his game," Davies told BBC Sport.

Nugent, 21, scored the third goal as England beat Andorra 3-0 on March 28.

Davies said that Nugent deserves all the recognition that he receives after working extremely hard to develop his game.

"When he first came to Preston there were many parts of his game that he had to improve on - his fitness, his positional play, his discipline," added Davies.

"He certainly did that in his first season and brought himself to the fore with his reputation as a result of his goalscoring."

Irrespective of what people say, the first result I look for is that of Preston North End Billy Davies

Nugent scored nine goals in 21 games in his first season at Deepdale as North End made the 2005 play-off final.

But Davies revealed that he considered leaving Nugent out of the team for the final at Cardiff, which Preston lost 1-0 at the hands of West Ham.

"At the end of that season I thought he was looking very jaded and I actually thought about not playing him in the play-off final," said the Scot.

"The biggest disaster came when instead of having a break that summer he had to go away and play for the England Under-21 side.

"He was bitten by an insect and that put him out of the start of the following season with impetigo for several months. We were chasing our tail trying to get him back then he broke a metatarsal bone that puts him out for six-and-a-half weeks.

"Now in his third season he has come back after a break and is looking fresh and scoring goals - he is doing exactly what we bought him to Preston for."

Davies's departure from Deepdale in the summer was acrimonious and badly received by many of the club's fans.

The Rams boss was booed when he brought his new team back to Preston on 1 January - but, despite this, he is desperate to see his former club succeed.

"Irrespective of what people say, the first result I look for is that of Preston North End," he said.

"I have many great friends there and it is a wonderful club.

"The dream scenario for me would be for Derby and Preston to go up. I'm always interested and want them to do well.

"We had great success at Preston and it has helped new boss Paul Simpson and his staff having a ready-made side and they have carried that on very, very well."