Paul Anthony Williams (born 16 August 1965) is an English football coach and 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. As a player he made 300 appearances in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for Crystal Palace as well as 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for Charlton Athletic,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

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 ...

and Southend United. He retired in 2000 whilst with Non-league side

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

. He was capped by England at under-21 and B international level. Since retiring from playing Williams returned to former clubs Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace where he was an academy coach before emigrating to Florida to coach youth soccer and run personalized trainings.

Playing career

Born in Stratford, East London, Williams was signed by First Division Charlton Athletic from non-league Woodford Town in 1987. Where he was top goal scorer for two successive seasons. This prompted Ron Atkinson to spend nearly a million pounds to bring the Londoner to

in 1990, where he enjoyed a productive partnership with David Hirst. That season he won a League Cup medal at

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 ...

when Wednesday defeated

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

1–0. In the same season, Wednesday achieved promotion back to the First Division. Williams moved back to London with Crystal Palace in 1992, in a swap deal involving

Mark Bright Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former Association football, footballer. Born to a The Gambia, Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early a ...

. In season 1993–94 he won a

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

(second tier) winners medal with Crystal Palace and was second top goal scorer behind Chris Armstrong. After loans with

and

he returned to Charlton Athletic, followed by a few months at

before ending his league career with Southend United in 1998, due to injuries. From there, Williams went on to complete two very successful years playing and coaching at

. While there, the club gained consecutive promotions and won two league Cups. His professional career ended in late 2000 when he announced his retirement.

Coaching career

Williams continued coaching at the Charlton and Crystal Palace youth academies, before moving to

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

in 2012, where he was the director of the Florida Fire Juniors who were affiliated with

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

team Chicago Fire, and he was the coach for several teams in the

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

area like Azzurri Storm, who are affiliated with Orlando City. He also runs personalized trainings in a program called "Premier Soccer Academy", and was the head coach of Seacrest Country Day School's soccer team.

Honours

; Sheffield Wednesday * League Cup winner: 1991 * 1st Division Runners-up: 1991 ; Crystal Palace * * 1st Division Champions Medal: 1993

References

General * Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Paul 1965 births Living people Footballers from London English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers England men's B international footballers Men's association football forwards Aveley F.C. players Clapton F.C. players Woodford Town F.C. (1937) players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players