Player Profile

For a League Two side under a transfer embargo, with new ownership and still amongst the favourites to be relegated out of the Football League to sign an active Welsh international footballer recently released by championship Cardiff seemed firmly from the realms of Football Manager, rather than reality. However, that was the scenario that led to Williams becoming one of the final summer signings of 2021. The club’s official statement described the signing as a huge statement of intent, and it was certainly enough to rouse much of the club’s fanbase into posting pictures of hubristically named naval vessels on Twitter.

Of course, there were reasons why a player as outrageously talented as Williams was dropping down the leagues: his injury record and general fitness was less than ideal, meaning it was fourteen games in a Town shirt before he played a full game, a feat he only accomplished six times over the whole season. At times it looked like Williams and Ben Gladwin were operating as a timeshare footballer, so often did one replace the other around the hour mark. To focus on his substitution record does a disservice to the impact Williams had on most games he participated in though, and this careful management allowed him to manage 45 games over the season.

Whether deployed as an impact substitute raising the occasionally ponderous tempo of Ben Garner’s side, or from the start as a midfield playmaker, Williams often looked a class apart from League Two. In particular, his ability to draw fouls from the opposition and unpick a deep defence stood out. He also showed an eye for a spectacular goal, with three of his five goals included in the club’s goal of the season shortlist: a long range effort against Sutton United, a headed finish against Hartlepool and finishing off a long, patient passing move away at Port Vale.

It says something for the technical level of the players around him - Louis Reed, Jack Payne and Harry McKirdy in particular, that Williams was not always a standout. His contributions were often telling though, and he became a firm favourite with Town fans - and a pantomime villain with fans of other clubs.

It came as a pleasant surprise to Town fans to discover that Williams was under contract for a second season in Town, and with Williams himself having more than one eye fixed firmly on making Wales’ squad for the World Cup in Qatar, he seemed more than happy to remain at a club where his fitness was being well managed. His form in the lead up to the winter World Cup was excellent, with six goals in the 18 appearances before departing, including a brace in Town’s 5-2 demolition of Mansfield.

He was named in Rob Page’s Wales squad on 9th November and missed around a month of Town action. Despite not getting onto the pitch as his nation suffered a group stage exit, he became the first current Swindon player to be at a World Cup since Massimo Luongo in 2014 and only the fourth ever alongside Alan McLoughlin & Jan Aage Fjortoft.

When Williams left for Qatar, Town were 6th in the league and two points behind the promotion places. By the time he returned to first team action on 10th December, they were 9th and 8 points off third, having scored one goal in three games. Perhaps understandably having reached such a clear career high, Williams took a while to get back to his best and didn’t manage to right a rapidly listing Town ship. In January, he was heavily linked to joining Harry McKirdy’s Hibernian, with multiple bids being rejected, but saw out the season in red and white.

In the end, he made 35 starts in the 2021/22 season, by far the most he’d ever managed as a professional player and contributed ten goals from midfield, finishing as Town’s leading scorer, one ahead of Charlie Austin who had joined in January. With his contract expiring at the end of the season, Williams was heavily linked to a range of clubs including newly promoted Netflix series Wrexham and Ben Garner’s Colchester, and Town chose not to even offer a contract in their end of season retained list, raising more than a few eyebrows even if it seemed unlikely that he would stay. Williams’ Town spell will be one looked back on fondly by player and club.

Williams would join Gillingham that summer, where he would continue to play regularly without really setting the division alight.

Playing Record

Senior

Career details

Club	Details
Tonbridge Angels Tonbridge Angels	(youth)
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace	2002 (youth)  (youth scholarship) May 10th, 2011 (signed professional contract); transferred out
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town	February 27th, 2014 (loan)
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town	September 29th, 2014 (loan); expired (rptd January 2nd, 2015)
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town	rptd March 26th, 2015 (loan); expired (2014/5)
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest	September 10th, 2015 (loan); recalled from loan (rptd January 4th, 2016)
Milton Keynes Dons MK Dons	January 22nd, 2016 (loan); expired (April 24th, 2016)
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town	August 31st, 2016 (loan); expired (2016/7)
Sunderland Sunderland	August 31st, 2017 (loan); expired (2017/8)
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic	January 4th, 2019 (transferred in, free transfer); released (rptd May 30th, 2019) rptd July 18th, 2019 (unattached); transferred out (February 1st, 2021)
Cardiff City Cardiff City	February 1st, 2021 (transferred in, undisclosed fee believed to be around £200,000); released (rptd June 2nd, 2021)
Swindon Town Swindon	rptd August 13th, 2021 (unattached); released (rptd May 19th, 2023)
Gillingham Gillingham	July 1st, 2023 (announced June 14th, 2023) (unattached)