Ron Davies: The former Wales and Southampton striker in Erling Haaland’s sights

In Erling Haaland’s season of landmarks, the next player in his sights is a Welshman once described by Sir Matt Busby as the finest centre-forward in Europe, but who ended up living in a mobile home in New Mexico.

Ron Davies scored 37 First Division goals for Southampton in the 1966-67 season, a tally not matched by any player in the English top flight.

Haaland has 36 Premier League goals to date in his extraordinary debut campaign at Manchester City, and has the chance to draw level with – or even overtake – Davies when Pep Guardiola’s team meet Chelsea on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Norwegian has played only 33 top-flight league games so far, whereas Davies’ 37 strikes came in 42 matches.

Nevertheless, there are some who feel Davies’ feats were more impressive.

“I know I am biased,” says Duncan Holley, official historian of Southampton Football Club, “but Haaland has done what he has done in a very successful team, and having played at the top level in Germany. He is no novice.

“Ron was in his first season playing top-flight football and it was Southampton’s first ever season at that level.

“We were fighting relegation until the penultimate game of the season. I would argue what Ron did was a greater achievement.”

Davies, from Holywell in Flintshire, began his career at Chester before spells at Luton Town and then Norwich City, where he impressed against Southampton in the old Second Division.

Boss Ted Bates paid a then club-record fee of £55,000 to take Davies to the south coast following Southampton’s promotion in 1966.

It proved a masterstroke, as Davies scored 153 goals in 281 appearances for the Saints over seven years.

“He is revered in Southampton to this day,” says Peter Rodrigues, captain of Southampton’s 1976 FA Cup-winning team, who won many of his 40 Wales caps alongside Davies.

“I don’t think there are many like big Ron around now. He was a traditional striker – phenomenal in the air.”

There are others who have scored more top-flight goals in a season than Davies, with former Everton player Dixie Dean way out in front in the list having scored 60 times in 1931-32.

But Davies’ haul is the best in 56 years.

He actually scored 43 Southampton goals in all competitions in 1966-67 and, while he was famed for his aerial presence, 23 of his league strikes came via his boots.

Many of his goals stemmed from crosses by Terry Paine, who featured for England at the 1966 World Cup, and John Sydenham, another famed former Southampton winger.

“Ron was well fed, you could say,” Holley says.

“He was no slouch on the ground, but it was heading that he became famous for. He was a big guy and had that ability to hang in the air.

“He said that when he was at Chester, they used to make him hurdle in army boots – and that’s what made him so good.”

Sir Matt Busby’s praise for Davies came after he scored four goals for Southampton at Old Trafford in 1969, all of which were laid on by Sydenham.

“If you have somebody like Ron in your team, you get down the line and knock it in the box,” says Rodrigues, 79.

“Even with a half-decent cross, there would be a good chance it would end up in the goal.”

Such was Davies’ impact that Holley remembers graffiti messages declaring “Ron is king” appearing across Southampton.

Davies, who scored nine goals in 29 Wales appearances, topped the goalscoring charts once more in 1967-68, with 28 top-flight goals, although this time he was joined at the summit by George Best.

He eventually left Southampton for Portsmouth, and had a brief spell at Manchester United – although by then he was past his prime – before moving to Los Angeles Aztecs, where Best became a team-mate.

Davies never came home, playing for a couple more American clubs before eventually settling with his American partner Chris in Albuquerque.

He was known as a modest man, hence Chris was left shocked by the reception he received when they visited Southampton for a club dinner.

“She was incredulous,” explains Holley, 67. “I was sat next to her and explained that Ron was our Joe DiMaggio (the baseball great).

“He was our schoolboy idol. He was also a real heartthrob – all the girls loved him.”

Davies, who died 10 years ago this month at the age of 70, was working on construction sites in his later years, when Southampton fans launched the ‘Give it to Ron’ appeal to raise funds for two hip replacements he needed.

Holley, who was 11 when Davies signed for Southampton, was the chairman of the campaign.

“We raised a lot of money – we ended up buying his trailer for him, and buying him a car,” he says.

“He was very grateful, just as we were for what he did at Southampton.”