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 lea ...

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) ** Smal ...

for club AFC Stoneham.

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 United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

before joining Winchester City 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 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 and play at the Test ...

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 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 sys ...

team

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

. Since then he has gone on to score again and provide an assist in a reserve match against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. 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 Bramall ...

when they played

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and could be seen warming up on the field before kick off with teammate Simon Church. On 22 February 2011, Williams was named on the bench to face

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

at the Madejski for the first time. For the 2011–12 season, Williams joined firstly

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

on loan until January, and then

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. He scored his first professional goal for Rotherham in the 2–1 loss to

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

. In July 2012, Williams joined

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

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, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

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

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. He had to wait nearly three months for his second goal, scoring in a 2–1 home defeat to

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

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, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

season, Williams joined

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

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 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, Stevenage w ...

. In November 2015, he dropped back down into the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

, signing for

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

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, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

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 The 2015–16 National League season (known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) was the first season under the new title of National League, the twelfth season consisting of three divisions and the thirty-seventh season overal ...

play-offs for Forest Green and scored the winning goal in a play-off semi-final first leg away win at Dover Athletic. He started the play-off final on 15 May 2016 against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

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 association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

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 southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. After spending half of the 2017–18 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 football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

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

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 St Mary's Stadium is a seated but also safe-standing football stadium in Southampton, Hampshire, England, which has been the home stadium of club Southampton since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest footbal ...

in his 100th appearance for the club. In November 2022, Williams joined Gosport Borough. In June 2023, Williams joined Bashley ahead of the new season. In March 2024, he spent time at

Wessex League The Wessex Football League, known as the Velocity Wessex Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English regional men's football league in southern England. Its members are primarily from Hampshire and Dorset, but clubs from adjoining co ...

side AFC Portchester. In July 2025, Williams joined Wessex League Premier Division side AFC Stoneham.

Personal life

Williams has one brother. He is from

Hedge End Hedge End is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hampshire, England. Situated to the east of the Southampton, City of Southampton, it adjoins the districts of West End, Hampshire, West End and Botley, Hampshire, Botley. Hedge ...

and attended Wildern School 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 People from the Borough of Eastleigh English men's footballers Men's 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 Gosport Borough F.C. players Bashley F.C. players A.F.C. Portchester players A.F.C. Stoneham players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Wessex Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen