Benjamin Philip Williams (born 27 August 1982) is an English former professional

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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He started his career at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, where he made pre-season appearances and was an unused substitute for a number of games. Williams was loaned out to several clubs, being

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

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 ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. Williams signed on a permanent deal with Crewe in 2004, after his release from Manchester United. He later played for

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, Hibernian,

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Playing career

Manchester United

During the 2002–03 season, he was placed on the bench for the first team when

Fabien Barthez Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French racing driver and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, AS Monaco, Manchester United ...

was injured. He was loaned out to several clubs during his career, including spells at

, where he did not play a competitive game, and

, who were down to just one goalkeeper when

Carl Muggleton Carl David Muggleton (born 13 September 1968) is an English professional football goalkeeper who made over 550 appearances in the Football League and Scottish Premier League for a number of clubs, most notably Leicester City, Stoke City, C ...

was ruled out for around six weeks with a double stress fracture of the

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. Chesterfield manager Dave Rushbury said, "We must be doing something right because Manchester United don't let players out on loan unless they are confident they will be properly looked after. We have had the situation in hand following Carl Muggleton's injury and are delighted to welcome Ben Williams now that he is available to come on loan to us". Manchester United agreed to allow Williams to stay with the ''Spireites'' for a second month, following the news that first team goalkeeper, Carl Muggleton, was not expected to be fit for a further few weeks. In September 2003, he spent a month with

making six appearances.

Crewe Alexandra

In 2004, Williams was loaned out to

. Williams made 10 appearances for Crewe, conceding 14 goals and keeping two clean sheets during his loan spell. Williams' teammate,

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the New York Mets. He was drafted by the Mets in 2001 MLB draft and made ...

, told the Crewe website that " illiamsis top drawer and I hope we can sign him for next year. He is young so he can only get better. He is a natural. He can catch the ball and also stops shots which he has no right to. He is an all-round good goalkeeper". In June 2004, Williams signed permanently for Crewe, following his release from Manchester United. In his second season with Crewe, he made 23 appearances. His third season with Crewe was cut short after Williams was diagnosed with

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, in the wake of which Crewe closed their training ground to prevent the spread of the disease. Williams made a full recovery a couple of months later. His fourth season for the Railwaymen did not go according to plan; already three games into the season and Williams had conceded seven goals. However the keeper was trying to get back to his consistent form in which he impressed the majority of the Crewe faithful with his outstanding saves, and was hoping to break

Clayton Ince Clayton Ince CM (born 13 July 1972) is a Trinidadian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and had lengthy spells in the English Football League at Crewe Alexandra and Walsall. He is his country's most capped goalkeeper wit ...

's clean sheet record. His contract expired in June 2008, and he rejected the offer of a new one from the club, so looked set to leave on a Bosman free transfer.

Carlisle United

On 25 June, Williams agreed terms with Carlisle United, who signed him as a replacement for the recently departed

Keiren Westwood Keiren Westwood (born 23 October 1984) is a professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Queens Park Rangers. Born in England, he played international football for the Republic of Ireland. Club career Manchester City Westwood was ...

. Williams began his first (2008–09) season with Carlisle United as the team's first-choice goalkeeper. However, after making a few errors during the club's first few games of the season, he was soon dropped to the bench as the on-loan

Ben Alnwick Benjamin Robert Alnwick (born 1 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Currently unattached, he last played for EFL League 1 team Bolton Wanderers. Alnwick started his career at Sunderland in 2004, having ...

came into the side. Once Alnwick's loan period was over, Williams hoped to regain his first team spot, but Dutch keeper Tim Krul came in on loan from

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

shortly after. Once Krul's loan period finished, Williams got a chance in the first team again, conceding four against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

. His performances improved over the second half of the season, culminating in a clean sheet against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

(which helped Carlisle to avoid relegation) and coming second in the fan vote for player of the season as voted for in the local newspaper.

Colchester United

Williams signed for

for £60,000 on 10 July 2009. He made his debut in the opening game of the season, a 7–1 away win over

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on 8 August 2009. His first clean sheet of the 2009–10 season came against

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 ...

in a 0–0 draw on 5 September 2009. He then kept a further 16 clean sheets during his debut season and has not only established himself as Colchester United's first-choice goalkeeper, but has also become a favourite with the U's faithful due to his assured, commanding performances. These solid performances led to Williams winning three Player of the Season Awards at the end of the 2009–10 season for Colchester United, including both the Colchester United Supporters Association (CUSA) home and away player of the year awards as voted for by fans, and also the Official Player of the Year Award. He decided to leave Colchester when his contract expired in June 2012; manager John Ward said that Williams wanted to play in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Hibernian

On 10 July 2012, Williams signed a two-year contract with Scottish side Hibernian. During the 2012–13 season, Williams has saved five opposition

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s. Williams won the player of the year award made by the Hibs Supporters' Association for 2012–13, ahead of regular goalscorer

Leigh Griffiths Leigh Griffiths (born 20 August 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who most recently played as a striker for Australian club Mandurah City. Griffiths started his career at Livingston where he made his debut as a sixteen-year-old. He ...

. Hibs suffered relegation in the 2013–14 season, after which Williams was released at the end of his contract.

Bradford City

Williams signed for

in August 2014. He made his debut on 12 August, keeping a clean sheet as Bradford beat

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

1–0 in the first round of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Bury

Williams moved to

in June 2016.

Blackpool

Williams signed for

on 3 July 2017. He was released by Blackpool at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Bolton Wanderers

On 3 August 2018 it was announced that Williams would be registered as goalkeeping back-up for

, where he worked as the Academy Goalkeeping Coach. At the end of the 2018–19 season, he reverted to his old role coaching the Bolton Wanderers Academy goalkeepers.

Coaching career

In February 2018, he replaced Dave Timmins as the goalkeeper coach at

with whom he was still playing for at the time. In July 2018, he was working as a goalkeeper coach for the Bolton Wanderers Academy and even turned out for the first team in a friendly against

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in t ...

to cover for regular goalkeeper

. Despite being named as a substitute on numerous occasions, he did not make any appearances for the Bolton first team in the 2018–19 season and reverted to his old youth coaching role that summer, often stepping up to assist Lee Butler and later

Mike Pollitt Michael Francis Pollitt (born 29 February 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Manchester United Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Pollitt began his career at Manchester United turning profes ...

with first team duties. He left Bolton on 29 January 2021.BWFC: "Bolton Wanderers finalises Academy restructure"
/ref>

Career statistics

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ben 1982 births Living people Footballers from Manchester Association football goalkeepers English footballers Manchester United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Bradford City A.F.C. players Bury F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff