Gifton Ruben Elisha Noel-Williams (born 21 January 1980) is an English former

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 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, and ...

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

among other clubs. After a serious knee injury in 1999, he was affected by

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are invol ...

for much of the rest of his career. He retired from professional football in 2010 and moved into coaching, briefly managing Burnham in 2016 and

Codicote Codicote is a large village, and civil parish about south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It has timber-framed and chequered brick houses, of special interest being the 18th-century Pond House and the half-timbered Taverners Place (form ...

in 2017 and was the interim manager of Watford Women. He is currently the manager of Real Kashmir.

Playing career

Born in Islington, Noel-Williams started his professional career at

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 Premiership. However, his season ended in February 1999, when he seriously injured his knee after a challenge from Sunderland defender, Paul Butler. He had received his first call-up to the England Under-21 squad on the day of the game. Arthritis in both of his knees restricted him to just three appearances during Watford's single season in the Premiership. 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, with 11 goals. On 14 June 2005, Noel-Williams joined

on a free transfer. He spent the latter part of the 2005–06 season on loan at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

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 A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Burnley's 4–2 victory over Barnsley. He played 56 times for the Clarets scoring 7 goals, the last against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

in November 2006. On 31 January 2007, Noel-Williams joined

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

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 The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, Noel-Williams was transferred to

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Es ...

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 The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

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, eas ...

. He was subsequently loaned to another club in the division,

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

In January 2009, Noel-Williams moved to the United States to join American team

Austin Aztex FC Austin Aztex FC was an American professional soccer team based in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 2008, the team played in the USL First Division, and in the USL Division of the USSF D2 Pro League, the second tier of the American Soccer ...

, signing a two-year contract. 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. He signed with the amateur

DFW Tornados DFW Tornados (also known as Dallas–Fort Worth Tornados) was an American soccer team based in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1986, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer P ...

of the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

in 2010, but the club folded at the end of the 2010 season. In February 2015, after nearly five years out of football, Noel-Williams came out of retirement to sign for Southern Football League side

Daventry Town Daventry Town F.C. is a football club based in the town of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, formed in 1886. They are members of the . History The club was established in 1886 as a local-town club playing in the Northampton Town League. T ...

, who were managed by his former

teammate Allan Smart.

Coaching career

In 2011, while still living in the United States, Noel-Williams was an assistant soccer coach at Brentwood Christian School, a private academy in Austin. Upon returning to England, he 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. On 26 September 2016, Noel-Williams was announced as the new manager of the

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

club Burnham. In October, he signed his 18-year-old son Dejon, a youth team striker at

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

, on a work experience deal. He parted company with Burnham in November 2016, having struggled to combine the role with other coaching commitments. In June 2017, Noel-Williams was appointed manager of

. He was sacked in November after the club lost 12 of their first 14 league matches. In October 2019, Noel-Williams was appointed assistant manager at

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

, a position he held until June 2020. He has said that because of his race,

unconscious bias In social identity theory, an implicit bias or implicit stereotype, is the pre-reflective attribution of particular qualities by an individual to a member of some social out group. Implicit stereotypes are thought to be shaped by experience and b ...

may have played a part in limiting his coaching opportunities. In January 2021, Noel-Williams became a striker coach at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on a part-time basis, in addition to his work for the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

. In December 2021, he was appointed interim manager of Watford Women. On 16 August 2022, Noel-Williams was appointed as a coach supporting the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

youth teams as part of

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

and

's joint England Elite Coach Programme (EECP). In February 2023, he was appointed head coach of Indian

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

club Real Kashmir. In his very first match on 8 February, the "snow leopards" achieved 4–2 win against Sudeva Delhi. He was later appointed technical director of the club.

Personal life

Born in England, Noel-Williams is of Grenadian descent. His father died when Gifton was 13. He became a father himself at the age of 16. His son Dejon Noel-Williams is also a professional footballer, and has represented the

Grenada national football team The Grenada national football team represents Grenada in international football and is controlled by the Grenada Football Association, a member of the Caribbean Football Union of CONCACAF. The team is nicknamed ''The Spice Boys'', a reference ...

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Austin Aztex bioBBC Sport Article: Gifton's place in the sunEngland stats
at theFA {{DEFAULTSORT:Noel-Williams, Gifton 1980 births Living people Footballers from Islington (district) Austin Aztex FC players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Burnley F.C. players DFW Tornados players Daventry Town F.C. players English footballers English sportspeople of Grenadian descent English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Men's association football forwards Millwall F.C. players Premier League players Real Murcia players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players USL First Division players USL League Two players Yeovil Town F.C. players Watford F.C. players Southern Football League players Black British sportsmen England men's youth international footballers Elche CF players English football managers Burnham F.C. managers Codicote F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate football managers in India Association football coaches Women's Championship (England) managers