Dean Williams (footballer, born 1972)

Dean Williams (born 5 January 1972)[2] is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made nearly 100 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Brentford and Doncaster Rovers,[3] and represented Welsh Premier League clubs TNS in the UEFA Cup and Aberystwyth Town in the Intertoto Cup.

Dean Williams
Personal information
Full name Dean Paul Williams[1]
Date of birth (1972-01-05) 5 January 1972
Place of birth Tamworth, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
– Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1992 Birmingham City 4 (0)
1991 → Cobh Ramblers (loan) 21 (0)
1992–1993 Tamworth 34 (0)
1993–1994 Brentford 7 (0)
1994–1997 Doncaster Rovers 83 (0)
1997 → Huddersfield Town (loan) 0 (0)
1997–1998 Gateshead 24 (0)
1998–2001 Telford United 74 (0)
2001–2004 TNS 71 (0)
2004 Aberystwyth Town 14 (0)
2004–2005 Forest Green Rovers 23 (0)
2005–2007 Stafford Rangers 48 (0)
Total 403 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Williams, born in Tamworth, Staffordshire, signed for Birmingham City on schoolboy forms at 14. When he left school in 1988, he was accepted as a trainee under the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) system, and turned professional in 1990.[2] He made his first-team debut aged 17 at the end of the 1989–90 season, in a 2–1 defeat at home to Notts County.[4] A spell on loan in Republic of Ireland with Cobh Ramblers followed in 1991. Birmingham used five different goalkeepers, including Alan Miller and Kevin Dearden on loan from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, during the 1991–92 season, but Williams was not one of those five;[5] he was released in March 1992 and joined Tamworth.[2]

Williams played for Brentford in the 1993–94 season before joining Doncaster Rovers in August 1994.[2] He spent three seasons with the club, making nearly 100 first-team appearances, before moving on to Gateshead in late 1997. Released by the club at the end of the 1997–98 season following their relegation from the Conference, he joined Telford United in August 1998.[6] He made 90 appearances for the club before joining Welsh Premier League club Total Network Solutions (TNS) in 2001.[7]

In nearly three seasons with TNS, Williams played 72 games in all competitions,[8] including representing the club in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup, conceding only twice in the second leg of the qualifying round against Manchester City at the Millennium Stadium.[9] After a dispute with the club's management, Williams' contract was terminated. He had planned to take TNS to an employment tribunal, but the parties reached a financial agreement before the hearing.[10]

He signed for Aberystwyth Town, playing in the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup against Dinaburg and keeping a clean sheet in the first leg,[11] and also played six games in the Welsh Premier League, before moving on in September 2004 to Forest Green Rovers,[12] for whom he played 23 games in the Conference.[13] Williams then moved on to Stafford Rangers, helping them to runners-up spot in the Conference North and promotion via a man-of-the-match performance in the play-off final in which he saved Droylsden's first kick in the penalty shootout.[14] He played nine times for the club in the Conference before retiring at the age of 35 due to injury.[15]

Later career

Williams joined Telford United as part-time goalkeeping coach in 2008.[7] In 2014, he was head goalkeeping coach at a Tamworth-based academy.[16]

References
  1. "Dean Williams". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  3. "Dean Williams". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  4. Matthews, p. 225.
  5. Matthews, p. 50.
  6. "United welcome back Williams". The Independent. 15 August 1998. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2010 – via HighBeam Research.
  7. "Williams keeps up Bucks links". Shropshire Star. 22 November 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008.
  8. "Profile: Dean Williams". Saints-Alive!. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  9. "TNS not disgraced in cup exit". Welsh Premier League. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  10. Bagnall, Steve (23 September 2004). "Goalkeeper settles row with ex-club". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 21 August 2014 – via NewsBank.
  11. "Aber fail to break down Latvians". Welsh Premier League. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  12. "Welsh Premier career details for Dean Williams". Welsh Premier League. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  13. "Games played by Dean Williams in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  14. McLean, Dave (11 May 2006). "Cool Boro bin Bloods". Staffordshire Newsletter. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  15. "Games played by Dean Williams in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  16. "Goalkeeper Training Tamworth". Dean Williams. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
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