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Welsh Legend has two seasons at Blackpool - Ronald Wyn Davies 1942-2025
A tribute by Blackpool historian Gerry Wolstenholme 1/2
Wyn Davies was born in Caernarfon on 20 March 1942 and, after school, he began his senior football career as a centre forward with Caernarfon Boys Club before, while working as a quarryman in Llanberis, he moved to Llanberis FC. He later commented on this part of his career, ‘I was working in the quarries and played first for a village team outside of the quarries. I didn’t play very well at all and went to Llanberis, the quarry village itself and played with them.’
In 1959 he moved to Caernarfon Town where his potential was noted and he joined Wrexham in April 1960. He played 55 League games and scored 21 goals for the club before he was transferred to Bolton Wanderers in March 1962 in a deal that netted Wrexham a handsome £25,000 profit.
He made 155 League appearances for Bolton and scored 66 goals, including leading the line in a third place finish in Division Two in 1964/65 when Bolton had Francis Lee and Gordon Taylor alongside him.
Bolton transferred him to Newcastle United for a fee of £80,000 in October 1966; he was at that time Newcastle’s record signing. He went on to play 181 League games and score 40 goals for Newcastle and in addition he scored 10 goals in 24 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup ties, being a member of the successful 1969 Newcastle Cup-winning side. Newcastle transferred him to Manchester City for a fee of £60,000 in August 1971 and while at St James’s Park he played 45 League games and scored eight goals.
He moved across the city in September 1972 when he was transferred to Manchester United for a fee of £70,000 but his stay at Old Trafford was relatively short after a change of manager when Frank O’Farrell was replaced by Tommy Docherty saw him on the transfer list. He played just 15 League games, made one substitute appearance, scoring four goals, and one FA Cup tie for the Reds.
From United he was signed by Blackpool for a fee of £25,000 on 14 June 1973; ironically Blackpool had originally considered signing him when he was with Newcastle United in May 1971, at the time when the north east club were first interested in signing Blackpool’s Tony Green. By the time he signed for Blackpool he had played four games for the Welsh Under-23 side and 33 full internationals for his country. After discussions with Blackpool manager Harry Potts, he chose to join the Seasiders in preference to Luton Town and Aston Villa as both clubs had expressed a desire to sign him.
He made his first appearances for Blackpool in the pre-season friendly games of the 1973/74 season, playing in a 2-0 victory over Rhyl on 10 August, a 0-0 draw with Manchester City on 15 August and a 1-0 defeat by Newcastle United on 18 August.
He made his League debut for Blackpool in the first game of the 1973/74 season against West Bromwich Albion on 25 August 1973 when the game was drawn 2-2. He did not score in his first four games but opened his account with one of Blackpool’s goals in a 3-2 defeat at Orient on 15 September. Blackpool were on a lean spell and, unusually, he then went six games without a goal before netting in a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest on 20 October.
Ironically it was during this spell that he earned a recall to the Welsh international side for the game against Poland on 26 September 1973 at Chorzow. Wales lost 3-0 and it was to be the last of his 34 international appearances.
He played in the first 13 League games of the season plus two League Cup ties before he suffered an injury in a 2-0 victory over Fulham on 22 October 1973.
On the road back from his injury, he made his first appearance for the Central League side against Blackburn Rovers reserves on 19 November 1973 when the game was drawn 2-2. But in his second Central League game against Bury reserves he was injured again and had to retire at half-time to be replaced by Dave Tong as Blackpool won 2-1.
Returning from injury and a bout of influenza he appeared again for the Central League side against Coventry City reserves on 5 January 1974 when Blackpool lost 2-0. And he scored his first goal for the Central League side in a 2-1 victory over Burnley reserves on 9 February 1974, with his second Central League goal coming in a 4-2 defeat by Sheffield Wednesday reserves on 16 February 1974. He scored in a third successive Central League game when netting in the 3-3 draw with Nottingham Forest reserves on 23 February 1974 when he took a pass in the penalty area from Dave Tong, ‘pivoted and scored’.
At the end of his first season at Bloomfield Road he had played in 17 League games, scoring three goals, one League Cup tie, 14 Central League games, scoring five goals, and three pre-season friendly games.
Blackpool placed him on the transfer list prior to the 1974/75 season and on 19 August he went out on a month’s loan to Third Division Crystal Palace just before the season began. The Sunday Express commenting on his first game for the club, Palace’s 2-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers stated, ‘Their lack of a marksman was again too obvious despite having Welsh international centre forward on loan from Blackpool.’ However, Wyn, who had suffered a badly gashed head in the game, continued, bandaged after a 15-minute absence, and was instrumental in the scoring of the Palace winner. He went on to play three League games for Palace but failed to score a goal and despite strong rumours that the club were prepared to sign him, manager Malcolm Allison decided that he should return to Blackpool after his loan spell was over.
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