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The job is tough, demanding, utterly exhausting … but I absolutely love my role,” remarks Scott Davies, positioned in an empty dressing room waiting for his players to come to training. Since 2022, Davies has served as the playing boss of the National League South side who, sitting third bottom of the table, are the lowest-ranked team remaining in this season's FA Cup.

Balancing Two Worlds: Coaching and Education

Some players are stuck in traffic; the session was shifted earlier to teatime to accommodate a community side’s match. When the drills gets under way in bucketing rain, the sixth‑tier side are using the 3G surface with a youth side. “I long believed I’d love to be a manager of a semi-professional team and have a job on the side,” says Davies. The veteran has opted out, instead watching from the sidelines, with a tactics board propped up in front of him.

“We continually emphasize the importance that our role extends beyond coaching: we’re life coaches, advisors, role models,” he states.

On the previous day, he is at Aylesbury grammar school for his second role. During 45 minutes, he silences a lecture theatre of students with a harsh presentation on how a betting problem ruined his career as a footballer, damaged his connections and brought him to the brink of suicide.

A Path Off Course: The Descent

After going into rehab a decade past, Davies has not placed a bet since and is now an advocate on the risks of gambling. He recounts to pupils how, when he netted a set-piece against Chelsea’s Petr Cech in a summer match, he believed he had made it. But by then, at 21 years old, his betting was unmanageable.

The skilled player, then playing the second tier, was slipping away of training at the first opportunity to visit the betting shop, often making up excuses to leave. Upon being questioned by his manager to verify the story, Davies was unable to. He was omitted by his club again.

While on loan at another club, Davies thought he was on his way to Leeds. When he saw they had signed someone else, he went to the bookmakers and lost £7,000 in a single day. Subsequently, at a different club, he started gambling on his own matches and would sneak off into a restroom at half-time to place bets. Then, at yet another team, he would stay up all night to place bets.

A Moment of Clarity

By the age of his mid-twenties, Davies’s career was in freefall. He dropped three divisions to play for a minor club. His debut was an away trip that passed his old stadium. “It was a moment of realisation,” Davies recalls. “I remember seeing the ground from the bus and thinking: ‘How did I get here?’ I will always remember that moment.”

His mentor from that time is now his assistant at Slough and the pair have fostered an environment where players can speak openly about their issues, dismantling the walls of toxic masculinity that were prevalent when Davies was a youth and was afraid to talk his problem.

An Ideal Target: Why Young Footballers

While every case is individual, Davies believes prospective professionals are vulnerable to becoming problem gamblers. Financial means, idle hours, a driven personality, and the perceived insider knowledge in sports betting were all elements in his addiction. “Combining all of those things together, you create the dream client for a gambling operator.”

Ahead of Sunday’s second-round tie, Davies is addressing two elite teams’ academy sides. “I do feel that we’ve got a moral obligation to safeguard the younger generation, the ones that are coming through, and which is why I do the job that I do,” he says.

Looking Ahead and A Historic Run

Currently content, married and the dad to a 10-month-old daughter, Davies is has not yet hang up his playing boots and is aiming to start on his advanced coaching badge. “I have many regrets but the positive aspect of recovering and moving on to management is that I aim to correct the mistakes of my playing career.”

Slough have already made it through several stages but have never reached the next stage of the Cup. Such is the financial rewards, drawing a Premier League club in the next round could bring a financial boost in seven figures for a team whose squad includes tradesmen, personal trainers and educators.

The idea of facing coaches such as Pep Guardiola is a curious one for Davies. “It's unlikely we would use any tactics. It’s one of those where you’d be content to lose just for the occasion.

“It’s incredible to see the small clubs that get drawn against some of these powerhouses. You see it and you ask yourself: ‘One day, can it be you?’”