Hero Davis opens up on Southampton career and 'brutal' prank

Midfield stalwart Davis, 40, retired from playing in 2023 and is the most-capped player in British history with 136 appearances for Northern Ireland.

Sandwiched by two spells at Rangers, Davis played 226 times for Saints between 2012 and 2019, during the club's best Premier League years.

Speaking about his Saints career on the club's Early Doors programme, the legend offered a unique insight into the dressing room banter.

"I absolutely loved it my time at Saints, it was six and a half great years for me and a good period in the club's history as well," he said. 

Steven Davis scored 14 goals for Saints (Image: PA)

"The team done magnificently to get back-to-back promotions. To join that team in the first year in the Premier League was very important.

"We managed to obviously stay up and then things went stronger in the seasons to come. Some of the players I played with were real quality."

Davis added: "I think probably Secret Santa was always an interesting time of year. It could be pretty brutal in terms of what people got.

"There's plenty I could say that I probably shouldn't be saying on camera, but I think there is one that kind of sticks out for me.

"Do you know the way you get the sandwich boards, where people are selling sandwiches down the streets?

"Gaston Ramirez had signed here and didn't have the best start that he would probably have liked for his Southampton career to start.

"One of the lads got one of these boards and he had to wear it out to training. It said 'January sales, was £10million now £1million," Davis quipped. 

Saints midfielder Gaston Ramirez (Image: PA)

"It could be pretty brutal. Kelvin Davis was another very funny character. I think a lot of you will know him, he's got a very dry sense of humour.

"A lot of it is close to the edge but I really enjoyed sharing the dressing room with Kelvin. His was not so much pranks, just one-liners.

"He would throw them out there usually and it's just all this stupid stuff really but as a club captain, I think he was fantastic."

Davis was also asked for his favourite game at Saints and said the 8-0 win over Sunderland, while his favourite goal came at Chelsea.

He equalised just before half-time at Stamford Bridge in 2015, before Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle combined to win the game 3-1 for Saints.

Asked for his favourite manager, he responded: "I would have to say either Mauricio Pochettino or Ronald Koeman for different reasons.

"I think with Poch it was when he came in, the style of football we played, the intensity we played at and the belief that he gave us to make that next step.

"We could go and compete with some of the bigger teams in the league. And then Koeman was probably a little more pragmatic, a little more relaxed.

"But some of the players that I had the opportunity to play with over the years were real quality. We didn't manage to keep the core of the group together.

"We seemed to sell a lot of our best players every season and probably got away with it a couple of years as we replaced them with equal quality."

Steven Davis alongside Maya Yoshida (Image: PA)

In 2017, Davis captained Saints out at Wembley Stadium for the club's first cup final in 14 years, when they took on Man United in the EFL Cup.

Saints were beaten by an incorrect offside decision against Manlo Gabbiadini and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's late winner meant a 3-2 win for the Red Devils. 

"If we had have won it, it would definitely have been the ultimate memory from the time at the club, but unfortunately we didn't," admitted Davis.

"I think things didn't go for us. We had a strong performance. We were undone with a little bit of quality they had and some decisions, unfortunately.

"To get into a cup final, especially since it's been such a long time for Southampton as well. Obviously on the day, you want to go on and win it.

"We knew we had a real level of quality of opposition and that it was going to be a difficult game for us, but I think we did all we could, really."

Davis continued: "I think my best moment would probably have to be the semi-finals against Liverpool, against a really good team.

"We didn't have a lot of possession of the ball, but we managed to make the position we had count. Obviously then Shane Long got the goal up at Anfield."