Ryan Williams (footballer, born 1978)

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Ryan Williams

| image =

| fullname = Ryan Neil Williams{{Cite book

| editor-first = Barry J.

| editor-last = Hugman

| title = The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004

| year = 2003

| publisher = Queen Anne Press

| isbn = 1-85291-651-6

| page = 455 }}

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=5}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1978|8|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sutton-in-Ashfield, England

| currentclub =

| clubnumber =

| position = Midfielder

| youthyears1=

| youthclubs1= Mansfield Town

| clubs1 = Mansfield Town | clubs2 = Tranmere Rovers | clubs3 = Chesterfield | clubs4 = Hull City | clubs5 = Bristol Rovers | clubs6 = → Forest Green Rovers (loan) | clubs7 = → Aldershot Town (loan) | clubs8 = Aldershot Town | clubs9 = Weymouth | clubs10 = Mansfield Town | clubs11 = → Gainsborough Trinity (loan) | clubs12 = Gainsborough Trinity | clubs13 = North Ferriby United{{ref|1|1}} |clubs14 = Gainsborough Trinity | clubs15 = Scarborough Athletic | clubs16 = AFC Mansfield |clubs17 = East Yorkshire Carnegie |clubs18 = Hall Road Rangers

| nationalyears1 = 1996

| nationalteam1 = England U18

| nationalcaps1 = 1 | nationalgoals1 = 0

| club-update = 16:52, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

}}

Ryan Neil Williams (born 31 August 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

He notably played in the Football League with lengthy spells at Chesterfield, Hull City and Bristol Rovers, having also appeared professionally for Mansfield Town, 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, Mansfield Town before moving to Tranmere Rovers, Chesterfield, Hull City and then onto Bristol Rovers.

After playing for three seasons in League Two, 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 with a record points total. Following their promotion, Williams left by mutual agreement.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aldershot/7375695.stm Aldershot bid farewell to quartet] BBC Sport, 30 April 2008

On 6 May 2008, Williams joined another Conference club, Weymouth, signing a one-year contract. In 2009, he joined Mansfield Town.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/weymouth/7385137.stm Terras sign Aldershot's Williams] BBC Sport, 6 May 2008

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.[http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Popular-Ryan-Williams-bids-fond-farewell/story-16892539-detail/story.html Popular Ryan Williams bids fond farewell to Gainsborough Trinity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916015106/http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Popular-Ryan-Williams-bids-fond-farewell/story-16892539-detail/story.html# |date=16 September 2012 }} Lincolnshire Echo, 13 September 2013 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.[http://www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/Ryan-Williams-confident-Gainsborough-Trinity/story-19786274-detail/story.html Ryan Williams confident Gainsborough Trinity can return to winning ways] Lincolnshire Echo, 12 September 2013

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.[http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/busy-weekend-as-bulls-welcome-taylor-and-williams-1-7017360 Busy weekend as Bulls welcome Taylor and Williams] The Chad, 22 December 2014

Notes

{{Note|1}}Soccerbase incorrectly credits Williams with the stats of Morecambe player Ryan Williams. Therefore, until and unless the correct it, editors should ignore the Morecambe appearances and goals added to this players Soccerbase page.