Ryan Neil Williams (born 31 August 1978) 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 midfielder. He notably played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with lengthy spells at

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 ...

, Hull City and Bristol Rovers, having also appeared professionally for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

, Tranmere Rovers and Aldershot Town. He also played Non-League football for Forest Green Rovers, Weymouth, Gainsborough Trinity, North Ferriby United, Scarborough Athletic, AFC Mansfield, East Yorkshire Carnegie and Hall Road Rangers.

Career

Williams started his career with a local club,

before moving to Tranmere Rovers,

, Hull City and then onto Bristol Rovers. After playing for three seasons in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, he joined Aldershot Town on a month's loan in September 2005 when Ian Atkins was manager at Bristol Rovers. After Atkins departed the club, Williams briefly returned to Rovers before leaving the club in December 2005 and joining the Shots on a contract that ran until the end of the 2007–08 season. In a pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace in July 2007, Williams tore his anterior cruciate ligament. He was only able to play one game in the 2007–08 season, as Aldershot won the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

with a record points total. Following their promotion, Williams left by mutual agreement. On 6 May 2008, Williams joined another Conference club, Weymouth, signing a one-year contract. In 2009, he joined

. Following a loan spell with Conference North side Gainsborough Trinity in December 2010, he joined the club on a permanent basis in January 2011. In September 2012 he joined North Ferriby United. Williams and Ferriby secured promotion to the Conference North at the end of the 2012–13 season, and on 26 May 2013 he announced he had re-signed for Trinity. After starting several games and assisting on the coaching staff, Williams moved to Scarborough Athletic in September 2013 after work commitments meant he couldn't continue playing at Conference North level. Williams stayed with the Seadogs until December 2014, when he completed a move to AFC Mansfield, joining former boss Rudy Funk and returning to the town where he began his career.Busy weekend as Bulls welcome Taylor and Williams
The Chad, 22 December 2014

Notes

#Soccerbase incorrectly credits Williams with the stats of

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 ...

player Ryan Williams. Therefore, until and unless the correct it, editors should ignore the Morecambe appearances and goals added to this players Soccerbase page.

References

External links

*
England profile
at the FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ryan 1978 births Living people Footballers from Mansfield English men's footballers Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players North Ferriby United A.F.C. players Scarborough Athletic F.C. players A.F.C. Mansfield players National League (English football) players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders