Gareth John Glyn Williams (born 16 December 1981) is a Scottish 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was capped five times for his country and last played for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, also playing for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. His career was blighted and ultimately ended by knee injuries.

Club career

Nottingham Forest

Williams was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He started his career at

, a product of the club's youth system, where he played alongside

Jermaine Jenas Jermaine Anthony Jenas ( ; born 18 February 1983) is an English television presenter, football pundit and former professional footballer. He played as a central midfielder for English club sides Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Tottenham Ho ...

and

David Prutton David Thomas Michael Prutton (born 12 September 1981) is an English former footballer, who last played for Sheffield Wednesday. He currently works as lead presenter of the EFL Championship on Sky Sports. He has previously played for Notting ...

. While at Forest, Williams was described as the "best passer at the club" by former England player and

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

manager

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

. During the 2001–02 season, Williams was named the club's player of the year, in a season which also saw him achieve the first of his five full caps for Scotland.

Leicester City

Williams signed a three-year deal with

in July 2004. The transfer fee was decided by tribunal due to his age and the player being a free agent. Williams' agent later confirmed the decision of the tribunal was around £1 million, rising if the ''Foxes'' achieved promotion to the Premiership. Having spent almost two and a half years with City, and with his contract up at the end of the 2007-08 season, the club sold Williams to Premiership side

for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £600,000, on 31 January 2007. It was later reported that the player was one of the club's top earners.

Watford

On 3 February 2007 he made his Premiership debut for Watford against

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 ...

. He only played for Watford a further two times, before sustaining anterior cruciate ligament damage during a match against Chelsea in April 2007, an injury that kept him out of action for the remainder of the 2007–08 season. Although recovering the following season, he suffered further setbacks due to the seriousness of the injury and in total endured six knee operations within a period of 18 months. Williams was treated by knee specialist

Richard Steadman Dr. J. Richard Steadman (June 4, 1937 – January 20, 2023) was a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and founder of The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) located in Vail, Colorado. Dr. Steadman revolutionized orthopaedic ...

in America. Failing to recover fully, he was released by Watford when his contract expired in May 2009 and later trained with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

sides

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

in July 2009 and

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

in March 2010 in an attempt to achieve a return to full fitness, before retiring later in the year.

International career

Williams captained the Scotland Under-21 team and won the first of his five full caps against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

in April 2002.

References

External links

*
Gareth Williams profile
at watfordfc.com
Scotland U21 stats
at Fitbastats {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Gareth 1981 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland B international footballers Scotland international footballers Association football midfielders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Europa Point F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players