Gifton Noel-Williams

Gifton Ruben Elisha Noel-Williams (born 21 January 1980) is an English former footballer who played for Watford, Stoke and Burnley among other clubs. After a serious knee injury in 1999, he was affected by rheumatoid arthritis for much of the rest of his career. He retired in 2010 and moved into coaching, briefly managing Burnham in 2016 and Codicote in 2017. He is currently assistant manager at Billericay Town.

Gifton Noel-Williams
Personal information
Full name Gifton Ruben Elisha Noel-Williams[1]
Date of birth (1980-01-21) 21 January 1980
Place of birth Islington, London, England
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Billericay Town (assistant manager)
Youth career
Islington St Mary's
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2003 Watford 169 (33)
2003–2005 Stoke City 88 (23)
2005–2007 Burnley 51 (7)
2006 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 7 (2)
2007 Real Murcia 10 (4)
2007–2008 Elche 21 (5)
2008–2009 Millwall 1 (0)
2008 → Yeovil Town (loan) 6 (0)
2009 Austin Aztex 16 (3)
2010 DFW Tornados 9 (0)
2015 Daventry Town
2017 Codicote 3 (0)
Total 381 (77)
National team
1997 England U18 3 (0)
Teams managed
2016 Burnham
2017 Codicote
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Born in Islington, Noel-Williams started his professional career at Watford where he spent a seven-year spell playing 127 games and scoring 43 goals. Aged 19, he was Watford's top goalscorer in the 1998–99 season, at the end of which they were promoted to the Premier League. However, his season ended in February 1999, when he seriously injured his knee after a challenge from Sunderland defender, Paul Butler.[2] He had received his first call-up to the England Under-21 squad on the day of the game.[3] Arthritis in both of his knees restricted him to just three appearances during Watford's single season in the Premier League.

Noel-Williams joined Stoke City on a free transfer on 2 June 2003, playing 83 games and scoring 23 goals in two years. He was Stoke's top goalscorer in the 2004–05 season, scoring 11 goals.

On 14 June 2005 Noel-Williams joined Burnley on a free transfer. He spent the latter part of the 2005–06 season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion before returning to Burnley at the end of the season. He remained a Burnley player, despite being made available for a transfer throughout the close season, and, after an improvement in form was taken off the transfer list on 22 September 2006.

On 12 September 2006 Noel-Williams scored his first ever professional hat-trick in Burnley's 4–2 victory over Barnsley. He played 56 times for the Clarets scoring 7 goals, the last against Leeds United in November 2006.

On 31 January 2007 Noel-Williams joined Real Murcia for a fee of around £50,000, signing an 18-month deal and becoming only the second English player to represent the Spanish side, after Tom Thompson, who was player-coach in the 1920s. Upon Real Murcia's promotion to La Liga, Noel-Williams was transferred to Elche CF who finished 18 points behind Murcia in the Segunda División.

In 2008 Noel-Williams returned to England, signing a short-term contract with League One side Millwall. He was subsequently loaned to another club in the division, Yeovil Town

In January 2009 Noel-Williams moved to the United States to join American team Austin Aztex FC, signing a two-year contract.[4] The club has a co-operation agreement with Noel-Williams' former club, Stoke City.

He was released by the Aztex at the end of the 2009 season, having made 16 appearances and scored three goals for the Texas club.[5][6] He signed with the amateur DFW Tornados of the USL Premier Development League in 2010,[7] but the club folded at the end of the 2010 season. As of 2011 he was an assistant soccer coach at Brentwood Christian School, a private academy in Austin.[8]

After nearly five years out of football, Noel-Williams came out of retirement to sign for Southern Football League side Daventry Town in February 2015. Noel-Williams reunited with ex Watford teammate and Daventry Town boss Allan Smart in the process.[9]

Coaching career

Following retirement, Noel-Williams worked as a coach at Westfield Academy school in Watford, before being appointed as the Reserves and Under-18's manager at Northwood in June 2016.[10] Noel-Williams stepped down from this role, however, in September 2016. On 26 September, Noel-Williams was announced as the new manager of the non-league club Burnham.[11] In October, he signed his 18-year-old son Dejon, a youth team striker at Oxford United, on a work experience deal.[12] He parted company with Burnham in November 2016, having struggled to combine the role with other coaching commitments.[13] In June 2017 he was appointed manager of Codicote.[14] He was sacked in November after the club lost 12 of their first 14 league matches.[15] In October 2019 he was appointed assistant manager at Billericay Town.[16]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Watford 1996–97[17] Second Division 2522110283
1997–98[18] Second Division 38743314511
1998–99[19] First Division 281010002910
1999–2000[20] Premier League 30000030
2000–01[21] First Division 3281030368
2001–02[22] First Division 2961152359
2002–03[23] First Division 1663000196
Total 1693312512319341
Stoke City 2003–04[24] First Division 421010104410
2004–05[25] Championship 461300104713
Total 882310209123
Burnley 2005–06[26] Championship 2920030322
2006–07[27] Championship 2351000245
Total 5271030567
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 2005–06[26] Championship 7200― 72
Real Murcia 2006–07[28] Segunda División 10400― 104
Elche 2007–08[28] Segunda División 21500― 215
Millwall 2008–09[29] League One 10000010
Yeovil Town (loan) 2008–09[29] League One 60200080
Austin Aztex 2009[6] USL First Division 16300― 163
DFW Tornados 2010[30] USL Premier Development League 9010― 100
Codicote 2017–18[30] Spartan South Midlands League First Division 3 0 0 0 ― 3 0
Career Total 3827717517341685

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. "Watford – Team – Academy – Academy – ACADEMY GRADUATES". world.watfordfc.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  3. Unwin, Will (4 April 2016). "Watford legend Gifton Noel-Williams: Elton John saved my career". ITV News. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  4. "Austin Aztex FC Announce A Major Signing". Archived from the original on 19 January 2009.
  5. "Austin Announces Release Of 14 Players From The 2009 Squad". 6 November 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  6. Gifton Noel-Williams at Soccerway. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Fancy a 4,800-mile trip to empty your old house, Gifton?". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  9. "Former Watford and Stoke Striker signs for Town – News – Daventry Town Football Club". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  10. "Northwood F C – Latest News". www.northwoodfc.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  11. Luther Blissett [@LBliss8] (26 September 2016). "@BBC3CR great to introduce the new @FC_Burnham 1st team Manager...@WatfordFC golden boy Gifton Noel-Williams!…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. "Striker Noel-Williams signs for father's side". oufc.com. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  13. Darlington, Daniel (10 November 2016). "Burnham part company with Gifton Noel-Williams". Maidenhead Advertiser. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  14. "Former Burnley, Stoke and Watford forward Gifton Noel-Williams appointed manager of Codicote". Hertfordshire Mercury. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  15. Metcalfe, Neil. "Codicote looking for new boss after 'parting company' with Gifton Noel-Williams". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  16. "Watford favourite Noel-Williams becomes Billericay assistant". Non League Daily. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  17. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  18. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  19. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  20. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  21. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  22. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  23. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  24. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  25. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  26. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  27. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  28. "Noel Williams, Gifton Rubén Elisha Noel-Williams – Footballer". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  29. "Games played by Gifton Noel-Williams in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  30. "Gifton Noel Profile | Aylesbury United FC". www.aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
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