Ashley Williams (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Ashley Errol Williams is a Wales
international footballer who plays for Swansea City
as a defender
.
as a youth player but was released by the club at 16 and went on to join Hednesford Town
. He impressed enough in his time at the club that he eventually joined Stockport County
, who prevailed over competition from Oldham Athletic in December 2003. He plays mainly as a central defender, and can also play right-back.
On 12 November 2007, Williams won the Inaugural North-West League Two Player of the Year Award. On the same night he won the Inaugural North-West Player of the Year Award too, beating such players as Steven Gerrard
, Cristiano Ronaldo
and Wayne Rooney
to the award.
On 26 March, Williams made his international debut for Wales national football team
, and two days later secured a move to a side close to clinching promotion to the Football League Championship
.
on loan until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent move. On 22 May he made the move permanent, it is believed to be around £400,000. Williams scored his first Swansea goal against Derby County
on 16 September 2008. He has since covered the midfield position at Swansea due to the midfield injury crisis.
On 11 November 2009 Williams was named "Wales Footballer of the Year" and "Clubman of the Year" at an FAW
awards dinner in Cardiff
. In May 2010 he was selected in the Championship
PFA Team of the Year
for the 2009–10 season.
On 30 October 2010, Williams equalled a club record jointly held by Andy Legg
and Gilbert Beech by playing 106 consecutive league games, which started in a 2–0 defeat to Charlton Athletic
on 9 August 2008.
By the end of the 2010-11 season, Williams had played almost every minute of every league game for the last three seasons, missing out only when he was rested, but came off the bench in a game against Leicester City in January 2010. He was also named in the PFA Championship team of the season for the second time. Due to his performances for the Swans, there has been media speculation of a bid of £2.6 million for Williams from QPR
, which was denied to exist by Swansea.
On the 24th September 2011, Williams scored his first ever Premier League goal in a 4-1 loss to Chelsea
, he headed in a Mark Gower
free kick.
|2003–04||rowspan="5"|Stockport County
||rowspan="2"|League One
|10||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||0
|-
|2004–05||44||1||3||1||1||0||49||2
|-
|2005–06||rowspan="3"|League Two
||36||1||1||0||1||0||38||1
|-
|2006–07||46||1||2||0||1||0||50||1
|-
|2007–08||26||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0||29||0
|-
|2007–08||rowspan="5"|Swansea City
||League One
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0
|-
|2008–09||rowspan="3"|Championship
||46||2||4||0||1||0||51||2
|-
|2009–10||46||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||46||5
|-
|2010–11||48||3||2||0||2||0||52||3
|-
|2011–12||Premier League||6||1||0||0||1||0||7||1
|-
307||14||12||1||9||0||328||15
307||14||12||1||9||0||328||15
Wales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
international footballer who plays for Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
as a defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
.
Stockport County
He began his career at West Bromwich AlbionWest Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
as a youth player but was released by the club at 16 and went on to join Hednesford Town
Hednesford Town F.C.
Hednesford Town Football Club are an association football team based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They play at Keys Park.-History:...
. He impressed enough in his time at the club that he eventually joined Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...
, who prevailed over competition from Oldham Athletic in December 2003. He plays mainly as a central defender, and can also play right-back.
On 12 November 2007, Williams won the Inaugural North-West League Two Player of the Year Award. On the same night he won the Inaugural North-West Player of the Year Award too, beating such players as Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger...
, Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH, , commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team...
and Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
to the award.
On 26 March, Williams made his international debut for Wales national football team
Wales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
, and two days later secured a move to a side close to clinching promotion to the Football League Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
.
Swansea City
In March 2008, he signed for Swansea CitySwansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
on loan until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent move. On 22 May he made the move permanent, it is believed to be around £400,000. Williams scored his first Swansea goal against Derby County
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
on 16 September 2008. He has since covered the midfield position at Swansea due to the midfield injury crisis.
On 11 November 2009 Williams was named "Wales Footballer of the Year" and "Clubman of the Year" at an FAW
Football Association of Wales
The Football Association of Wales is the governing body of association football in Wales. It is a member of FIFA, UEFA and the IFAB.Established in 1876 , it is the third-oldest national association in the world, and is one of the four associations The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is the...
awards dinner in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. In May 2010 he was selected in the Championship
Championship
Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...
PFA Team of the Year
PFA Team of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the top four tiers of English football; the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two, whom are seen to be deserving of being named in a "Team of the Year".The award...
for the 2009–10 season.
On 30 October 2010, Williams equalled a club record jointly held by Andy Legg
Andy Legg
Andrew "Andy" Legg is a Welsh footballer and Wales international who is currently player-manager of Welsh Premier League side Llanelli. He has previously played for Swansea City, Notts County, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Reading, Peterborough United, Cardiff City and Newport County...
and Gilbert Beech by playing 106 consecutive league games, which started in a 2–0 defeat to Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
on 9 August 2008.
By the end of the 2010-11 season, Williams had played almost every minute of every league game for the last three seasons, missing out only when he was rested, but came off the bench in a game against Leicester City in January 2010. He was also named in the PFA Championship team of the season for the second time. Due to his performances for the Swans, there has been media speculation of a bid of £2.6 million for Williams from QPR
QPR
QPR usually refers to Queens Park Rangers F.C., an English football club.QPR may also refer to:*Queen + Paul Rodgers, a 2004-2009 musical supergroup*Queen's Park Rangers , a football club playing in the Grenada League...
, which was denied to exist by Swansea.
On the 24th September 2011, Williams scored his first ever Premier League goal in a 4-1 loss to Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
, he headed in a Mark Gower
Mark Gower
Mark Gower is an English footballer who plays for Swansea City. He joined Swansea from Southend United in the summer of 2008. He also played for the England schoolboys team.-Career:...
free kick.
Career statistics
|-|2003–04||rowspan="5"|Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...
||rowspan="2"|League One
Football League One
Football League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....
|10||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||0
|-
|2004–05||44||1||3||1||1||0||49||2
|-
|2005–06||rowspan="3"|League Two
Football League Two
Football League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
||36||1||1||0||1||0||38||1
|-
|2006–07||46||1||2||0||1||0||50||1
|-
|2007–08||26||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0||29||0
|-
|2007–08||rowspan="5"|Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
||League One
Football League One
Football League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....
||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0
|-
|2008–09||rowspan="3"|Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
||46||2||4||0||1||0||51||2
|-
|2009–10||46||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||46||5
|-
|2010–11||48||3||2||0||2||0||52||3
|-
|2011–12||Premier League||6||1||0||0||1||0||7||1
|-
307||14||12||1||9||0||328||15
307||14||12||1||9||0||328||15
International goals
Wales' goal tally first| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 11 August 2010 | Parc y Scarlets Parc y Scarlets Parc y Scarlets is a rugby union stadium in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, that opened in November 2008 as the new home of the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC. The ground replaced Stradey Park, the home of Llanelli's rugby teams for almost 130 years... , Llanelli Llanelli Llanelli , the largest town in both the county of Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed , Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west-north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town is famous for its proud rugby... , Wales Wales Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²... |
4 – 1 | 5–1 | Friendly Exhibition game An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition... |
Swansea City
- Football League Championship play-off Final2011 Football League Championship play-off FinalThe 2011 Football League Championship play-off final was a football match contested by Reading and Swansea City on 30 May 2011 at Wembley Stadium to decide the third team to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League for the 2011–12 season....
Winner: 2010–11
External links
- Ashley Williams profile at Swansea City A.F.C.Swansea City A.F.C.Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
- Ashley Williams profile at Football Association of WalesFootball Association of WalesThe Football Association of Wales is the governing body of association football in Wales. It is a member of FIFA, UEFA and the IFAB.Established in 1876 , it is the third-oldest national association in the world, and is one of the four associations The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is the...