WHEN it comes to attention to detail, Billy Davies is prepared to explore every avenue to get the best results.

His first managerial role came with Motherwell in Scotland, and he led them to the brink of Europe qualification.

But when he was dismissed after a poor start to the 2001/02 season, he did not mope about.

Instead he went on to make himself a better manager at his own financial expense.

Davies sent letters, e-mails and faxes to clubs all over Europe in an effort to learn from top European coaches at the best clubs.

It led to him spending a week watching Real Madrid train and speaking to players such as Luis Figo.

It was an experience that added more training techniques and tactical nous to his armoury, but he had to wait until 2004 to put them to use.

In the intervening time he was Craig Brown's assistant at Preston, but when the former Scotland boss left his post Davies stepped into the hot seat.

And his record in the Championship since then stands out for all the right reasons.

His led Preston to the play-off final in his first season, before losing to West Ham.

And the following year, after a record-equalling 22-match unbeaten run, he made the play-offs again only to lose out in the semi-finals to Leeds.

That summer saw him leave to join Derby County, and after challenging for automatic promotion all season the Rams ended up third.

Davies made it third time lucky in the play-offs with victory against West Brom at Wembley to seal a place in the Premier League.

During his time in management in England, Davies shelled out a few thousand pounds from his own pocket to have an editing suite installed in his home.

And he is known to spend hours on a Sunday editing his own DVDs of matches to show to players in the week.

A poor start in the top flight saw him part company with Derby.

But there is no doubt that, like after he left Motherwell, he will have been learning from the past and will now be ready to put that extra knowledge to good use.

The last time he stepped back into management after a setback, he had three seasons challenging for promotion from the Championship.

His first task at the City Ground is to avoid relegation. But then he can focus on matters at the right end of the table.