Graham Evan Williams (born 2 April 1938) is a Welsh 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 lea ...

who played as a full back. He spent his entire 17-year professional career at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Biography

Williams was born in

Henllan Henllan is a village and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales, approximately 2.25 miles (3.5 km) north-west of Denbigh. The name is derived from Old Welsh language, Old Welsh, ''Hên-llan'', meaning "old church-enclosure". ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

. He joined

as an amateur in September 1954 and turned professional in April 1955. He captained the side to victory in the 1966 Football League Cup Final and

1968 FA Cup Final The 1968 FA Cup final was the 87th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 18 May 1968 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Bromwich Albion and Everton. West Brom won 1–0 after extra time. Jeff Astle scored the winning goal, thus ...

, scoring in the second leg of the 1966 final against West Ham United. He also won 26 caps for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. After leaving Albion in 1972 he took up the post of player-manager with Weymouth, with whom he remained until 1975. In November 1981, he was appointed chief coach of

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

, taking over from Richie Morgan, who moved to a general manager's role. After a disastrous run of nine losses in fifteen games, both Williams and Morgan were sacked in February 1982, with

Len Ashurst Leonard Ashurst (10 March 1939 – 25 September 2021) was an English football player, manager and administrator. He spent most of his playing career with Sunderland, making 458 appearances, the second most in the club's history. He retired at ...

taking over at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovatio ...

. Williams took several coaching jobs abroad including steering Finnish team

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

to the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup. Later on in his career he served as the assistant manager of the Welsh national side under

Bobby Gould Robert Alfred Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Robert Alfred Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on Wednesday, 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould ...

, and held a scouting role at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

while Bobby Gould was manager of the team. Following his coaching career and scouting for Cheltenham he went in to scouting of academy players for Newcastle, Chelsea and the Tottenham Hotspurs before retiring in 2019

Honours

West Bromwich Albion *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1967–68

References

* *

External links

Williams' profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Graham 1938 births Living people Sportspeople from Rhyl Footballers from Denbighshire Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Wales men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football defenders West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Welsh football managers Weymouth F.C. managers Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff Rovaniemen Palloseura managers English Football League players Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate football managers in Finland Veikkausliiga managers