Southampton striker who was once the First Division's top scorer
After he scored four goals against Manchester United for Southampton in August 1969, Ron Davies was described by United's manager Matt Busby as "the finest centre-forward in Europe". Davies, who has died aged 70, scored 153 goals in 281 appearances for the Saints. As powerful with his head as his fellow Welshman John Charles, he attributed his remarkable jumping ability to his practice of leaping over hurdles in army boots. "When I took those boots off," he recalled, "I felt I could jump over the moon."
Born in Holywell, in Flintshire, north-east Wales, he went to the same school as the Spurs footballer Mike England, whom he played alongside in internationals for Wales. His brother Paul Davies later played for Arsenal.
Chester City, in the Fourth Division, was the first of Ron Davies's clubs. In his first full season there, in 1960-61, he scored 23 goals in 39 games, but no bigger club came in for him. Early in the 1962-63 season he moved to Luton Town, but his 21 goals in 32 games did not save the club from relegation to the Third Division. Early in the next season he returned to the Second Division when he was signed by Norwich City.
By the time he arrived at top-flight Southampton in 1966 (for a then club record of £55,000) he was a Welsh international. His first cap, against Northern Ireland, came at the age of 21 in 1964. At the Dell, he immediately formed a devastating partnership with another tall striker, Martin Chivers, who was as adept on the ground as Davies was in the air. In his first season at Southampton, Davies scored 37 league goals – the first of two consecutive seasons in which he was the top goalscorer in the division (the second was shared with George Best).
It took Davies a few years to gain a regular place with Wales, but his eventual partnership with Wyn Davies was a trial to any defence. In the 1968-69 British Home Championship, Davies was on splendid form: he scored twice against Scotland at Wrexham, following that with a spectacular goal at Wembley against England. His final goal tally for his country was nine in 29 appearances, his international career ending in 1974.
Gradually, the goals ran out for him at Southampton; he scored nine in his final season, 1972/73, and then moved along the coast for a Second Division season with Portsmouth. Manchester United surprised many by signing him in November 1974. Although he never started a game for their first team, he made eight league appearances as a substitute, then had a brief spell at Millwall.
A gifted draughtsman, Davies published cartoons and caricatures in his playing days. He ended his career in the US, where he played for the Los Angeles Aztecs (on the recommendation of Best) and Seattle Sounders in the late 70s. He eventually moved to New Mexico, where he lived in a mobile home with his partner, Chris. She died in 2009.
Davies said of that memorable game at Old Trafford in 1969: "I have still got the tape, and when I see the way I could jump in the air, I do think, hell, man, that was a talent." He was never forgotten at Southampton, where a campaign began in 2007 to raise money for a hip replacement operation that he needed. "I was told it would catch up with me," he said. "It is my left hip – the leg I took off on."
• Ronald Tudor Davies, footballer, born 25 May 1942; died 24 May 2013