Date / Year of birth: 20th February 1925

Position: Midfielder

Season of first appearance: 1959/60

Season of last appearance: 1963/64

Also played for: Bayview Youth Club (Scotland), Heart of Midlothian (Scotland) (260,17), Glasgow Celtic (Scotland) (0), West Ham United (0), Bath City, Clyde (Scotland) (59,4), Hibernian (Scotland) (10,0),Gillingham (88,5), Ramsgate Athletic and Canterbury City

Stylish 5' 8" tall Scottish playmaker born in Strathmiglo who had two spells with Margate.

A product of Wemyss School, Davie started his career with Scottish junior outfit Bayview Youth Club before joining Hearts in 1942 aged 17, he was one of five Bayview players signed by the club at the same time. Later in 1942 Davie joined the Royal Navy and he didn't feature in Hearts' first team before starting his service.

Before the end of World War II he made some guest appearances for Celtic and West Ham.

At the start of the 1946/47 season Davie had a spell with Bath and he scored three times from 11 outings there before returning home to Scotland.

After finishing his term in the Navy Davie finally made his debut for Hearts in a game at Greenock Morton in November 1946 and he went on to make 311 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring 18 goals. The highlight of his time there came when they finished the 1953/54 campaign as the second-placed team in the Scottish League Division 1 and it was an injury to Davie that gave future Tottenham legend Dave MacKay his debut for Hearts in November 1953.

Davie played three times for the Scottish League representative side during 1953/54, twice against the League of Ireland and once against the Welsh League. At the end of the season he was part of a 16-player Hearts squad that travelled to South Africa for a 10-game tour. Two of the matches were against the national side with Hearts winning 2-0 in Pretoria and then losing 2-1 in Durban.

Davie ended a 12 year spell at Tynecastle when he was transferred to Clyde early in September 1954 for a fee of £6,000 and he made his debut for the Bully Wee in a 2-2 draw with visitors Celtic on 11.9.54. His first season with Clyde ended in triumph when he gained a Scottish Cup winners medal as Clyde beat Celtic 1-0 in a replay in April 1955 after the initial game had ended in a 1-1 draw. Davie made a total of 59 appearances for Clyde before joining Hibernian in July 1956.

After only playing ten games for Hibs during the 1956/57 campaign he moved to England in August 1957 and signed for Gillingham.

Davie made his debut for the Gills against visitors Brighton on the opening day of the 1957/58 season and on 16.11.57 he was in the side that recorded Gillingham's biggest ever FA Cup win - a 10-1 win over Eastern Counties outfit Gorleston. After scoring five times from a total of 88 first team appearances for the Gills Davie was surprisingly released at the end of the 1958/59 campaign.

In the summer of 1959 Davie joined Margate and became club captain for the 1959/60 season. His hard tackling and excellent distribution were a feature of a consistent campaign in which he was ever-present, making 57 appearances and scoring six times. His goals included a 25 yard effort on his debut - a 3-2 win over Cambridge United in the Southern League at Hartsdown Park on 22.8.59. On 14.11.59 he played in a 1-1 draw at Kettering in the FA Cup 1st Round and Davie also featured in the replay at Hartsdown Park on 19.11.59 that Margate won 3-2. He was then in the side that drew 0-0 with visitors Crystal Palace in the 2nd Round on 5.12.59 and took part in the replay at Selhurst Park on 9.12.59 that the Eagles won 3-0.

Davie also wrote a weekly column for the Thanet Times as part of his work as a sports journalist and its sister paper The Isle of Thanet Gazette said that he was "a joy to watch" during the season. In its end of season review the East Kent Times said that Davie's signing by Almer Hall was "almost a stroke of genius" and that Davie was "undoubtedly Margate's driving force on the field". The paper added "Not only his intelligent play but also his compelling captaincy frequently held Margate together when an opposing side was getting on top. It says much for his fitness that he played in every league and cup game".

Davie retained the captaincy for the 1960/61 campaign and made a further 45 appearances, scoring twice. One of his goals was a stunning 25 yard effort that gave Margate a 1-0 win over Ramsgate on 18.2.61. He continued to be inspirational during the season and added another string to his journalistic bow when he began a feature called "Davie Laing Coaches the Young Footballers" in the Thanet Times - Davie was a qualified FA coach. It ran in addition to his weekly "Keeping in Touch" column. However at the end of the campaign Davie was controversially released and after the final whistle of his last appearance the Hartsdown Park crowd chanted "we want Laing !" for several minutes in a show of support for his talents.

Davie then joined Ramsgate for the 1961/62 season and after a year at Southwood, during which he suffered from a niggling knee injury, he signed for Canterbury in June 1962. On 3.4.63 he disturbed a burglar at his home and captured him with the help of a passing postman.

On 4.5.63 Davie played in what was supposed to be the final match of his 21 season career. He was named as Canterbury's captain for the match - against Margate - and was applauded onto the Kingsmead pitch by the Margate players, Davie said it was "a pleasant surprise and made a sad occasion more nostalgic than ever." He finished the campaign having made 20 Southern League appearances for City without scoring.

However the lure of playing proved too strong for Davie to resist and he made a comeback in Margate's reserves early in the 1963/64 season. At that time he was also helping Almer Hall to run a youth side on Sundays that was effectively a Margate 'nursery'. Davie made 23 appearances for the second X1 and also played in four first team games during which he showed that his "powers of distribution remained undimmed" according to the local press. The last of them was a 3-2 win at Ashford in the Kent Floodlight Cup on 4.3.64. Davie played at left-back and was 39 years old at the time.

During the 1964/65 season Davie continued to coach the Margate 'A' side and he also played a few games for them in the local amateur league.

In the summer of 1965 he left Thanet and returned to his native Scotland to work for the Daily Record as a football journalist. Davie later became editor of Hearts' matchday programme for a spell that included the 1970/71 season.

In the mid-1970's Davie returned to Kent and became Sports Editor of the Dover Express. He formed a five-a-side team and also played Sunday football in the Dover area despite being over 50. After working for the Dover Express for 16 years Davie retired in May 1990 and went back to Scotland.

In 2008 he was living in East Kilbride and the East Kilbride Mail ran a story about Davie meeting up with lifelong Clyde supporter Andy Fleming who he'd written to 54 years earlier. Andy had been seriously ill with Tuberculosis aged 15 and his sister had contacted Clyde to let them know. Davie had written a letter wishing Andy well and the two of them finally met up over half a century later. Davie told the paper "I felt wonderful when I saw Andy's letter. This is what makes my life worthwhile. You can't beat memories being brought back. It's so nice to be remembered. Football is all about the fans and I have always had a good relationship with them. Now I know I have another good friend."

In 2009 Davie was living with his daughter in East Kilbride and despite suffering from Alzheimer's disease he still went to watch football games when he could. By then a Scottish Junior Football Association competition named the D J Laing League Cup in Davie's honour had been running for many years.

By the summer of 2011 Davie's condition had sadly deteriorated and he was living in a nursing home in Calderwood, East Kilbride.

On 30.9.11 he was one of five former players inducted into Clyde FC's new 'Hall of Fame' at a glittering ceremony held in Glasgow. The others included former Chelsea and Scotland winger Pat Nevin. Two days before the ceremony the East Kilbride News ran an article about the event which you can read by clicking here. Despite his condition Davie bravely managed to make an acceptance speech which the East Kilbride News described as "decipherable and positively rousing". Clyde's club dentist David Macpherson told the paper "It was just magic to see how happy Davie was. His eyes lit up and he had a huge smile as he gave his speech. It was tremendous." A full report can be seen by clicking here.

On 19.5.12 Davie was present at Hampden Park as his beloved Hearts beat Hibernian, another of his former clubs, 5-1 in the Scottish Cup Final.