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KEVIN Davies may have one of football’s toughest reputations but wife Emma had never seen her husband cry — until his final match for Bolton Wanderers.
The former captain was leaving the club after a decade with no new contract on offer.
“I’ve never seen him so hurt,” states Emma, the wife who was always in the stands supporting her husband at matches. “Our little girl came to me and said ‘mummy, daddy’s crying on the pitch’ and I said ‘Don’t be silly — he never cries.’ But he was.”
There has been much emotion and dismay in the Davies household in the last month or two. “We felt certain they (BWFC) would come back with some role for Kevin, but they didn’t,” adds Emma.
Emma’s more immediate concerns are for her husband and young family.
She and Kevin met three weeks before he signed for the Wanderers while he was still playing at Southampton.
She had a high-powered job working for a post-production film company and the relationship signalled a spell of commuting between London and Bolton, which ultimately resulted in the couple marrying and setting up home in the town.
They now have three children — aged nine, seven and three — and for the past five years have lived in a large house overlooking the West Pennine Moors, which they love.
“We’ve invested a small fortune into this house because we felt we would always be in Bolton,” she insists.
“The children are very settled in local schools and I’ve made brilliant friends here. This is our home and it’s where we wanted to be.”
Part of this settled lifestyle and commitment to the Bolton community was the setting up three years ago of the couple’s own charity, KiDs of Bolton.
This was destined to help deserving young local individuals and groups in practical ways.
Both Kevin and Emma were directly involved in all the decisions — they were adamant they didn’t just want to sign cheques.
They have held a number of successful, high-profile events since then and raised more than £200,000.
As a result the charity has been able to help an array of local burgeoning talent — from football teams to figure skaters and future Olympic stars via the re-launched Bolton Gymnastics Club with everything from new strips to equipment.
Kevin had big plans to establish indoor football pitches because, as Emma explains: “He got sick of our son’s matches being cancelled because of the weather and realised there was a great need for indoor pitches locally.”
The uncertainty now surrounding the family’s future home, however, means that the couple have had to undergo a seachange in their plans for the charity.
“If we were staying — and I’ve still no idea whether we’ll be able to live in Bolton or not — we would have been able to commit the charity to the pitches and to raising the money for the ongoing costs but that’s all changed now,” says Emma.
So, the couple are now looking for more individual projects to benefit from the £100,000 or so still in the charity’s coffers.
“We’d love to hear from lots of different local projects to see who we can help,” she states. “If people look on the website kidsofbolton.org.uk) they’ll get an idea of who we’ve helped so far and will, hopefully, apply.”
Emma has lived in a variety of places including London, Boston and Montreal.
“I’m not fazed by moving and I know it comes with the territory, but I don’t want to move.” she says. “When Kevin was considering going to Toronto, I had to go into the three different schools that the children attend to let them know. It was quite traumatic for the children, then that fell through and currently we don’t know what will happen next.”
If her husband ultimately goes to a Championship club nearer to Bolton, which is always a possibility, the family might be able to remain where they are, and go forward with plans for the charity.
She is, however, grateful for the lengthy time they have had as a family in Bolton and grateful to local people making them welcome.
The only “regret” Emma says she has is that she didn’t emulate some other footballers’ wives and spend match days “shopping in Harvey Nichols” instead of watching the match. “That way,” she admits. “I wouldn’t care so much now.”
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The former captain was leaving the club after a decade with no new contract on offer.
“I’ve never seen him so hurt,” states Emma, the wife who was always in the stands supporting her husband at matches. “Our little girl came to me and said ‘mummy, daddy’s crying on the pitch’ and I said ‘Don’t be silly — he never cries.’ But he was.”
There has been much emotion and dismay in the Davies household in the last month or two. “We felt certain they (BWFC) would come back with some role for Kevin, but they didn’t,” adds Emma.
Emma’s more immediate concerns are for her husband and young family.
She and Kevin met three weeks before he signed for the Wanderers while he was still playing at Southampton.
She had a high-powered job working for a post-production film company and the relationship signalled a spell of commuting between London and Bolton, which ultimately resulted in the couple marrying and setting up home in the town.
They now have three children — aged nine, seven and three — and for the past five years have lived in a large house overlooking the West Pennine Moors, which they love.
“We’ve invested a small fortune into this house because we felt we would always be in Bolton,” she insists.
“The children are very settled in local schools and I’ve made brilliant friends here. This is our home and it’s where we wanted to be.”
Part of this settled lifestyle and commitment to the Bolton community was the setting up three years ago of the couple’s own charity, KiDs of Bolton.
This was destined to help deserving young local individuals and groups in practical ways.
Both Kevin and Emma were directly involved in all the decisions — they were adamant they didn’t just want to sign cheques.
They have held a number of successful, high-profile events since then and raised more than £200,000.
As a result the charity has been able to help an array of local burgeoning talent — from football teams to figure skaters and future Olympic stars via the re-launched Bolton Gymnastics Club with everything from new strips to equipment.
Kevin had big plans to establish indoor football pitches because, as Emma explains: “He got sick of our son’s matches being cancelled because of the weather and realised there was a great need for indoor pitches locally.”
The uncertainty now surrounding the family’s future home, however, means that the couple have had to undergo a seachange in their plans for the charity.
“If we were staying — and I’ve still no idea whether we’ll be able to live in Bolton or not — we would have been able to commit the charity to the pitches and to raising the money for the ongoing costs but that’s all changed now,” says Emma.
So, the couple are now looking for more individual projects to benefit from the £100,000 or so still in the charity’s coffers.
“We’d love to hear from lots of different local projects to see who we can help,” she states. “If people look on the website kidsofbolton.org.uk) they’ll get an idea of who we’ve helped so far and will, hopefully, apply.”
Emma has lived in a variety of places including London, Boston and Montreal.
“I’m not fazed by moving and I know it comes with the territory, but I don’t want to move.” she says. “When Kevin was considering going to Toronto, I had to go into the three different schools that the children attend to let them know. It was quite traumatic for the children, then that fell through and currently we don’t know what will happen next.”
If her husband ultimately goes to a Championship club nearer to Bolton, which is always a possibility, the family might be able to remain where they are, and go forward with plans for the charity.
She is, however, grateful for the lengthy time they have had as a family in Bolton and grateful to local people making them welcome.
The only “regret” Emma says she has is that she didn’t emulate some other footballers’ wives and spend match days “shopping in Harvey Nichols” instead of watching the match. “That way,” she admits. “I wouldn’t care so much now.”
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