United saddened to hear of Davies passing away

All at Manchester United are saddened to receive the news that our former centre-forward, Wyn Davies, has passed away, aged 83.

Born in Caernarfon in 1942, Wyn began his professional career with Wrexham, after spells with local clubs around the North Wales area where he worked as a quarryman.

He rose to wider acclaim in the 1960s, first with Bolton Wanderers (74 goals in 170 games) and then at Newcastle United (53 goals in 216 games), whom he helped to win the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

The Wales international (34 caps) moved to Manchester in 1971, and spent one season with City before joining the Reds in mid-September-1972 for a fee reported to be around £65,000.

In one season at Old Trafford, he scored four times across 17 appearances, before moving on to Blackpool.

Davies had signed for United at a particularly worrying moment for the club, with manager Frank O’Farrell hustling to arrest a winless streak of eight matches at the beginning of the 1972/73 league season.

The Irishman’s ailing team lost the ninth too, away at Wolves, just days after announcing Davies’ transfer – a game Wyn missed while waiting for his registration details to clear. But O’Farrell informed the United faithful that the centre-forward would “add height and heading ability to our forward line”.

His first appearance in the shirt came in novel circumstances, on the night that Old Trafford honoured the legendary Bobby Charlton with a testimonial against Celtic.

But when the serious, competitive stuff returned the following Saturday, Davies made an immediate difference, scoring our thunderous second in a 3-0 win against reigning First Division champions Derby County, helping to seal that long-awaited first victory.

When Rams defender David Nish failed to clear Willie Morgan’s cross, Davies blasted a magnificent drive across the visitors’ goalkeeper, Colin Boulton, sparking scenes of wild abandon in the Scoreboard End.

United eked out four more wins by early December, with Davies and fellow new boy Ted MacDougall spearheading the attack.

They combined for the opener in an encouraging victory over Liverpool, which was tapped home by Wyn after MacDougall’s shot was parried, before the latter added a second after the interval. They pair both scored again in the win over Southampton in late November.

But a humiliating 5-0 defeat to Crystal Palace brought O’Farrell’s tenure to an end just weeks later, and Davies played just four further games for the club under new boss Tommy Docherty.

There had been rumours of a February switch to West Brom, and Davies had publicly conceded that he did not expect to feature in Docherty’s long-term plans. He eventually left that summer for second-tier Blackpool.

Wyn’s United career was a short one, during a difficult spell for the Reds that eventually led to our relegation from the First Division the following season.

But many fans retain fond memories of his efforts during this period, and strong affection remains for him throughout British football – particularly in the north-east, where he was a significant influence on the budding career of a young Magpies fan by the name of Bryan Robson!

Writing in his 2007 autobiography, Robbo spoke of Davies – known on Tyneside as ‘The Mighty Wyn’ and ‘The footballer who could fly’ – with great affection.

“My hero in those days was Wyn Davies, a big, no-nonsense centre-forward who battered everybody in his path,” eulogised the United legend. “The continental teams just couldn’t cope with him. He absolutely murdered them in the air and set up his team-mates for fun.

“It made me appreciate from an early age that aerial power could be so important in football… I idolised Wyn Davies.”

Our thoughts are with all of Wyn’s family, friends and his many fans at this sad time. Rest in peace.

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