CURTIS DAVIES, the wild card in Fabio Capello's squad of 30 for his first match as England manager, is a role model for all young players whose careers seem to be over before they have started. Aston Villa's 22-year-old centre-half was rejected by Wimbledon as a YTS boy and worked in a supermarket before making the most of a second chance as a professional, at Luton Town.
Davies is as honest and as level-headed as they come. "The main thing for me is to be in the new manager's thoughts," he said. He had been "shocked" by his call-up, and was not alone in his surprise. His father, Eugene, took some persuading and no wonder. Davies, on loan from West Bromwich Albion, has played just five Premier League matches for Villa this season, and would still be in the reserves but for Zat Knight's suspension.
Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, admitted on Friday that Knight and Martin Laursen would still be his centre-halves but for events at Christmas: "Curtis had to wait and wait to get into the team because of Zat, who was playing well. He was unlucky to get sent off against Chelsea on Boxing Day and in stepped Curtis to take his chance."
Working at Sainsburys in Chingford, Essex, enabled Davies to make ends meet after leaving Wimbledon in 2001. He had gained nine GCSEs but did not shy away from manual labour. "I've never pretended to be something I'm not. I worked in the supermarket to get my train fares to Luton [where he was trialling] and the rest is history."
At Kenilworth Road he made good as the defensive cornerstone of the team that won Division 1 in 2004-05. His form persuaded Bryan Robson to pay £3m to take him to West Brom, when he was still so young that his mum accompanied him to his introductory press conference.
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Inexperienced or not, he was installed as the second youngest captain in the club's history, and made 33 Premier League appearances in 2005-06 as Albion were relegated. Another promotion followed, this time from the Championship, again Davies excelled - so much so that Tottenham and Portsmouth tried to sign him, only to balk at the £12m asking price. Davies became a regular in the England under-21 team, whose coach, Stuart Pearce, recommended him for promotion last week.
O'Neill finally persuaded Villa's local rivals to part with him last summer, on the understanding they would pay £9m to make the move permanent at the end of the season. So technically Davies still belongs to Albion, but he said: "A few people hit me with a stat that I'm the first West Brom player to get in the England squad since 1985. I'm having none of that. I'm a Villa player. If I was still at West Brom I could be having "worldies" every week and not get picked by England."
Of the move to Villa Park, he said: "I never doubted my decision but it was sheer frustration for the first four months. The lads were flying and I could only watch." When he got his chance, in a Carling Cup tie against Leicester, he thought he had blown it. Villa lost 1-0 and Davies likened his form to that of "a pub player".
"I knew that was going to come up," he said, smiling. "If Carlsberg are interested, I'm up for it in probably the best pub team in the world." Had he come to regret the remark? "No, that's the way I deal with things, I'm honest with myself in life, not just in football. That performance was unacceptable and I knew that if I had another bad game it could be the end. But to get back in the team and after only six games to be in an England squad is crazy really. Honestly, it was surreal to me, ringing my dad to tell him."
He had received the news of his call up in a text from the FA on Thursday. "Because I wasn't expecting it, I thought it was a wind-up," he said. "But I looked at it a few times and it seemed a bit too intellectual for a footballer to have written. The spelling and punctuation were right, so I could tell it was genuine. I sat down in shock."
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Was he aware Capello had been watching him? "I saw on TV that he was going to be at a couple of our games, but I just thought: "That's good for Gabby [Gabriel Agbonlahor] and Ash [Ashley Young]. From the fact that I got picked, I suppose I must have done something right."
Fulham v Aston Villa, today, Sky Sports 1, 3.30pm, kick-off 4pm