Ben Davies / Ben Davies / 04 March 2010 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet View Market

The Notts County midfielder on summer plans, his tip for the World Cup and mourning the loss of Keith Alexander.

"Hopey looked like a Yeti and his beard was wild. When we did eventually lose and Hopey shaved it off, he had got an in-growing hair on the side of his face which caused him to have a massive scar along his jaw line, which he has still got today."

We continue to make our way through our busy schedule and backlog of fixtures as the countdown to the end of the season ticks away. We now have sixteen games left, which is the most in our division, and is a result of our FA Cup run.

We are still in a very good position, sitting in seventh, with three and four games in hand on the other teams in our division. We have just picked up back-to-back wins in the League and have got ourselves within touching distance of the teams above us. We had a very good win in our match against Hereford, beating them 5-0, and then came through a very tough and hard fought game on Tuesday night, where we beat Macclesfield 1-0..

The Hereford United game saw our recently appointed manager Steve Cotterill take charge of the team for the first time. The gaffer is our fourth manager of the season and we could not have wished for a better start to his reign with the result and performance. He has a wealth of managerial experience and the lads are all looking forward to working with him. He absolutely loves the game I think he will do a great job in charge of Notts County Football Club.

I read an article this week about player's superstitions and what they do in the build-up to games. It was fascinating to read some of the things that some players do before games. I am not really one for superstitions at all and don't really have any pre-match rituals. I do tend to always eat the same food on the day of a game though, which will be beans on toast with a banana to finish. The only other thing I will always make sure of is that in the warm up before the game I will never wear one of the training bibs. The lads get split in to two teams with one of the teams wearing bibs. The only time I did put one on, I had a stinker in the game so never again!

The most superstitious man at our club is Graeme Lee. He has got all sorts of crazy things going on before he goes out for the game. Just seconds before we go out he will shout "come on!" at the top of his voice, followed by twelve fast little claps and he will do this several times over before he gets out on to the pitch. Another very superstitious bloke was Richard Hope who I played with at Shrewsbury Town and Chester City. Hopey was a great lad and a good friend who I lived with for a while. He wouldn't shave or cut his hair if we had won or drawn. When Ian Rush first took over we went on an unbeaten run that lasted about fifteen games. Hopey looked like a Yeti and his beard was wild. When we did eventually lose and Hopey shaved it off, he had got an in-growing hair on the side of his face which caused him to have a massive scar along his jaw line, which he has still got today.

As the summer draws closer the lads are all starting to plan their summer get-away. It is hard to plan anything too concrete as we do not know whether we are going to be in the play-offs or not. The play-offs put an extra month on to your season and you cannot really book anything until you know whether you will be in them or not. All footballers love their holidays and look forward to them all season. It is the only real chance we get to relax all year long. I always make sure I take my wife away for two weeks and have a complete rest where even the word "football" is banned. I have a brother who lives in America and we always try to see him or meet up with him for a few days in addition to our main holiday.

This summer, like everyone else, I will be glued to the television for the World Cup. I cannot wait for it to start and think it will be a great tournament this time round with all the big guns out there. I will be supporting England of course and I really do think they have a realistic chance of winning the tournament. Like most other countries, they will have to have their key players fit to stand any chance. As long as Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard remain fit, England will be one of the favourites to lift the Cup though Spain are my tip to win it.

I would like to end my column this week by passing on my deepest sympathies to the family of Macclesfield town boss Keith Alexander, who passed away suddenly on Tuesday night. Just hours before he died I had shaken his hand and wished him all the best after we had played his side at Meadow Lane earlier that evening. His death came as an enormous shock to us all and having played against his teams on a number of occasions, I knew what a lovely man he was and how much he loved the game. He will be sadly missed. Rest in peace Keith.

This week's bet is in the Fulham v Tottenham FA Cup tie, a game we would have been involved in had we beaten Fulham. I am going for Fulham to win at [3.2].

Tags: Ben Davies, football bets, Keith Alexander, League two football, Notts County players