After my first match up at Leicester a fortnight ago, I was more than happy, having gone on the road to a place like that [Welford Road] and won. But then Nigel Melville came in and bollocked us for ‘under-performing’. Unbelievable! They’re the standards I have to get used to.”And make no mistake, he is. The coach’s castigation was in no way pointed at the new man, who observers confirm was as effective in Monday’s defeat at Wasps as he had been against the Tigers. Leicester will be chasing revenge tomorrow as The Shed gets its first glimpse of their Taff in West Countrymen’s clothing It’s yet another proving ground for Davies “I’m getting used to them,” he says.. Mid-week Manchester City reserve games do not draw much of a crowd beyond the smattering of players’ friends, the occasional football agent and a few hundred supporters who are so hopelessly besotted with the club that they cannot wait for the weekend to see a team in sky blue. Most of them are there because, for one reason or another, they have no choice.

But all of them are surprised when they find out for the first time that Shaun Wright-Phillips comes to every game. He is a footballer who every manager – and that includes Ars? Wenger at Arsenal – would like to make room for in their team. The 23-year-old right winger, who measures 5ft 5in in his socks, has announced himself as the player who would give England pace and width. The dribbler who, few now dispute, will one day replace David Beckham on England’s right. The £25m man.None of that has precluded him from watching the reserves though.

He’s there to see his brother Bradley, 19, play but also because when it comes to dealing with fame, there are few with a better sense of perspective than Wright-Phillips, the stepson of the former Arsenal and England international Ian Wright. He is himself a father of two young children; he shares a house with Bradley in a quiet cul-de-sac in the uncomplicated Cheshire town of Warrington. They share the cooking and drive to training together in Bradley’s Ford Focus – if this is life as a famous international footballer, then few would recognise it.It is not hard to see why Wright-Phillips is so popular at City. No surprise that when trouble erupted at the players’ fancy dress Christmas party, the man who came as Bob Marley was not involved.