Brett Williams (footballer, born 1987)

Brett Williams
Personal information
Full name Brett Anthony Williams
Date of birth (1987-12-01) 1 December 1987
Place of birth Southampton, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
Forest Green Rovers
Number 26
Youth career
0000–2004 Hedge End Rangers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2008 Eastleigh ? (?)
2008 Winchester City ? (?)
2008–2009 Eastleigh 34 (4)
2009–2010 A.F.C. Totton ? (?)
2010–2011 Eastleigh 23 (8)
2011–2013 Reading 0 (0)
2011–2012Rotherham United (loan) 11 (2)
2012Northampton Town (loan) 18 (3)
2012–2013Woking (loan) 26 (2)
2013–2015 Aldershot Town 77 (36)
2015–2016 Stevenage 8 (1)
2015–2016Forest Green Rovers (loan) 6 (1)
2016– Forest Green Rovers 12 (2)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:39, 16 April 2016 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

Brett Anthony Williams (born 1 December 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Forest Green Rovers.

Club career

Williams began his career at Eastleigh before joining Winchester City in 2008. However, in November 2008 Williams returned to Eastleigh on loan before signing a new contract in February 2009. In October 2009, Eastleigh received a club record transfer fee from AFC Totton where he then played for one season before returning to Eastleigh for a third time after a successful one-month-long loan.

Williams joined Championship team Reading on 18 January on an 18-month contract after a successful trial period which included scoring for the reserves.[1] Reading paid £50,000 to sign Williams. Other clubs that were rumoured to be interested in signing Williams were Southampton, Brighton & Hove Albion and Wycombe Wanderers.[2] Since then he has gone on to score again and provide an assist in a reserve match against Crystal Palace.

Despite never being named in a squad to face opposition, Williams has travelled with the first team squad including to Bramall Lane when they played Sheffield United and could be seen warming up on the field before kick off with teammate Simon Church. On 22 February 2011, Williams was named on the bench to face Millwall at the Madejski for the first time.

For the 2011–12 season, Williams joined firstly Rotherham United on loan until January, and then Northampton Town. He scored his first professional goal for Rotherham in the 2–1 loss to Crawley Town.[3]

In July 2012, Williams joined St Johnstone on a week's trial with a view to a loan move, though ultimately the club did not follow up their interest.[4][5] On 7 August he joined Conference National side Woking on a season long loan and scored his first goal for the club on 28 August in a 4–1 home defeat to Braintree Town.[6][7] He had to wait nearly three months for his second goal, scoring in a 2–1 home defeat to Alfreton Town on 17 November.[8] Williams returned to Reading at the end of the season having scored four goals in 31 appearances in all competitions.[9]

He was released by Reading on 24 May 2013 having never made a first team appearance in his two-and-a-half years with the club.[10] On 8 August, two days before the start of the 2013–14 Conference Premier season, Williams joined Aldershot Town having trialled with the team during pre-season.[11]

Williams was the third highest goalscorer in the Conference Premier in the 2013/14 season with 24 goals. He remains with Aldershot for the 2014/15 season.

On 12 June 2015, Williams joined League Two side Stevenage. In November 2015, he dropped back down into the National League, signing for Forest Green Rovers on a one-month loan.[12] He made his debut as a substitute in a 2–0 home win over Altrincham on 28 November 2015.[13] He returned to Stevenage at the end of his loan spell, but on 15 January 2016 re-joined Forest Green permanently after Stevenage had agreed to mutually terminate his contract.[14]

Personal life

He has one brother. He is from Hedge End and attended Wildern School and Eastleigh College.[15]

Before joining Reading, Williams was a part-time taxi driver for Airlynx Express who sponsor Eastleigh.[16]

References

  1. "Royals Buy Morrison and Williams". Reading F.C. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  2. "Royals keen on Williams". Sky Sports. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  3. "Brett scores first career goal". Reading F.C. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  4. "St Johnstone take two on trial". Sporting Life. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  5. "Lomas looking to add". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  6. "Woking sign Reading striker Brett Williams on loan". BBC. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  7. "Woking 1 – 4 Braintree Town". Woking FC.
  8. "Woking 1 – 2 Alfreton Town". Woking FC. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  9. "First team profiles: Brett Williams". Woking F.C. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  10. "Contract offers". Reading F.C. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  11. "Shots confirm five signings". Aldershot Town F.C. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  12. "Stevenage striker Brett Williams signs on loan". BBC Sport. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  13. "Forest Green 2–0 Altrincham". BBC Sport. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  14. "Forest Green re-sign former Stevenage striker". BBC Sport. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  15. "Brett's officially a Royal". Daily Echo. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  16. "Williams living the dream at Reading". Reading Chronicle. 20 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.

External links

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