Ben Davies: Our aim is to be in the Premier League within five years

English Football League / Ben Davies / 28 August 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ben Davies suffered play-off hearbreak with Shrewsbury Town last season and is hoping to be promoted with Notts County this year.

"Then there is Sven Goran Eriksson. To entice a former England manager and his assistant, Tord Grip, to take up rolls at the club is nothing short of amazing."

New betting.betfair.com columnist Ben Davies, of Notts County, talks about his summer move from Shrewsbury Town, early impressions at his new club and Sol Campbell's fitness regime.

Firstly I would like to say hello to you all. I have taken over this column from a good friend of mine, Ben Herd. Ben has moved onto Aldershot town this summer from Shrewsbury Town. That was the club where I first met Ben, and we still remain very good friends. My wife and his fiancé are also very good friends and we still keep in regular contact. I wish him all the very best at his new club and hope he has a very long and successful time with the Shots... except for the two games against us of course!

It's been a very busy summer for me. I had to pack in a play-off final, my wedding to my wife Lisa, my honeymoon and a change of job. I moved from Shrewsbury to my new club, Notts County, in July. The decision to leave Shrewsbury, after three great years and two play-off finals, was incredibly hard. It was a fantastic club and I loved every minute of my time there. But the Notts move was something I just could not turn down. I spoke to several clubs in the summer, and although many of them were in higher divisions, after an hour with my new manager, his coaching staff, and chairman Peter Trembling there was no doubt that it was the best club for my career and Lisa was happy to support me.

The club has been taken over by a middle eastern based company called Munto Finance. Since that takeover the club's profile has taken off. Notts County is the oldest football club in the world and has a fantastic set of fans who deserve success after all they have been through in recent years. Behind the scenes every effort is being made to ensure that the club is ready for promotion, and the ambition is that the club will be in the Premier League within the next five years.

Since I signed at the club there have been a number of high profile additions. The signings that have been made are a real credit to the manager and the chairman. Players such as Lee Hughes, Luke Rodgers , Carl Hawley, Kasper Schmeichel and Sol Campbell have all arrived since I put pen to paper. There are also other very good players here who signed before I did.

Then there is Sven Goran Eriksson. To entice a former England manager and his assistant, Tord Grip, to take up rolls at the club is nothing short of amazing. They are both very hands-on and attend all of our training sessions and matches. It is unreal to have theirs and our gaffer's wealth of knowledge at the club.

The latest person to sign, if you didn't already know, was Sol Campbell. Big Sol trained with us for the first time yesterday and is about to embark on his own personal pre-season training. He is probably a few weeks away from making his debut, as he has not been at a club since he left Portsmouth in the summer but we are all delighted that he has signed.

The other Sven we have at our club is Marcus Svensson, who is one of the best fitness coaches around. If our pre-season training is anything to go by, Sol will have to have a few early nights in the next couple of weeks. On the subject of Portsmouth, my bet this week would be that Man City will beat Portsmouth by two goals or more so get backing the Man City -1 at [2.06] on the Betfair Asian Handicap.