Brett Anthony Williams (born 1 December 1987) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

A.F.C. Totton Amalgamated Football Club Totton is a football club based in Totton, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Standard Chartered club. They are currently members of the . History The club ...

Club career

Williams began his career at

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

before joining

Winchester City Winchester City Football Club are an English football team based in Winchester, Hampshire and playing in the Southern Football League Division One South. Craig Davis is the current manager. The club motto is "Many in Men, One in Spirit". Histo ...

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 Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on 18 January on an 18-month contract after a successful trial period which included scoring for the reserves. Reading paid £50,000 to sign Williams. Other clubs that were rumoured to be interested in signing Williams were

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Brighton & Hove Albion and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. 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 Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

when they played Sheffield United and could be seen warming up on the field before kick off with teammate

Simon Church Simon Richard Church (born 10 December 1988) is a retired footballer who last played as a striker for Football League One side Plymouth Argyle. He spent ten years at Reading after signing for their academy as a teenager. In six years as a prof ...

. 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. In July 2012, Williams joined

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

on a week's trial with a view to a loan move, though ultimately the club did not follow up their interest. On 7 August he joined

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

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 Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

. He had to wait nearly three months for his second goal, scoring in a 2–1 home defeat to Alfreton Town on 17 November. Williams returned to Reading at the end of the season having scored four goals in 31 appearances in all competitions. 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. On 8 August, two days before the start of the 2013–14

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

season, Williams joined Aldershot Town having trialled with the team during pre-season. Williams was the third highest goalscorer in the Conference Premier in the 2013/14 season with 24 goals, and he remained with Aldershot for the 2014–15 season. On 12 June 2015, Williams joined League Two side

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. In November 2015, he dropped back down into the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, signing for Forest Green Rovers on a one-month loan. He made his debut as a substitute in a 2–0 home win over

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

on 28 November 2015. 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. He went on to appear in the 2015-16 National League play-offs for Forest Green and scored the winning goal in a play-off semi-final first leg away win at

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

. He started the play-off final on 15 May 2016 against Grimsby Town at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

but ended up on the losing side. The next day on 16 May 2016 it was confirmed that he had been released. On 4 June 2016 Williams joined National League side

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

after agreeing terms with the club. After a season in which Williams' goals proved vital in saving United from relegation, he left the club and joined National League rivals

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

. After spending half of the 2017/2018 season at

, Williams re-signed for

on 26 January 2018. In June 2019, Williams joined Weymouth. In May 2020, he joined

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

Division One South side

and subsequently joined divisional rivals Lymington Town on a one-month loan deal in January 2022. In May 2022, Williams was forced to play as an emergency goalkeeper for AFC Totton due to injuries in the squad. He kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 win over Folland Sports to win the Southampton Senior Cup at St Mary's Stadium in his 100th appearance for the club.

Personal life

Williams has one brother. He is from

Hedge End Hedge End is a town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Situated to the east of the City of Southampton, it adjoins the districts of West End and Botley. Hedge End lies within the Borough of Eastleigh and is part of the Southampton Urban ...

and attended

Wildern School Wildern School is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in Hedge End, Hampshire, England. It was formerly a foundation school that was established in 1933 and became an academy in 2011. History Wildern School was a foundatio ...

and

Eastleigh College Eastleigh College in Eastleigh, Hampshire is a further education college providing technical and professional training and apprenticeships to school leavers, in addition to part-time professional courses and part-time leisure courses for adults. ...

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

Career statistics

References

External links

Brett Williams profile
at Eastleigh F.C. *
Profile
at Aylesbury United {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Brett 1987 births Living people Footballers from Southampton English footballers Association football forwards Eastleigh F.C. players Winchester City F.C. players A.F.C. Totton players Reading F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Woking F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Lymington Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players People from the Borough of Eastleigh