| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Benjamin Philip Williams | ||
| Date of birth | 27 August 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Manchester, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Colchester United | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2004 | Manchester United | 0 | (0) |
| 2002 | → Coventry City (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2003 | → Chesterfield (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2004 | → Crewe Alexandra (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2004–2008 | Crewe Alexandra | 125 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | Carlisle United | 31 | (0) |
| 2009– | Colchester United | 94 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:30, 2 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Benjamin Philip "Ben" Williams (born 27 August 1982 in Manchester, Greater Manchester) is an English Footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Colchester United. He started his career as a Manchester United trainee, where he made a few pre-season appearances and was on the bench for a couple of games during Fabian Barthez injuries. Williams had been loaned out to several clubs, including Coventry City; Chesterfield and Crewe Alexandra.
Williams signed on a permanent deal with Crewe in 2004, after his release from Manchester United. After two reasonable seasons with Crewe, Williams picked up an injury and was replaced by Ross Turnbull, Williams' season was made even worse when he was diagnosed with meningitis. By the end of the season, Wlliams had fully recovered and returned to the team at the start of the 2006/07 season. He moved to Carlisle United for the 2008–09 season, before signing for Colchester.
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During the 2003–04 season, he was placed on the bench for the first team when Fabien Barthez was injured.[1] He was loaned out to several clubs during his career, including spells at Coventry City, where he did not play a competitive game, and Chesterfield, who were down to just one goalkeeper following the injury to Carl Muggleton, who was out for around six weeks with a double stress fracture of the fibula.[1] Chesterfield manager, Dave Rushbury said that "We must be doing something right because Manchester United don't let players out on loan unless they are confident they will be properly looked after. We have had the situation in hand following Carl Muggleton's injury and are delighted to welcome Ben Williams now that he is available to come on loan to us".[1] Manchester United agreed to allow Williams to stay with the Spireites for a second month's loan, following the news that first team goalkeeper, Carl Muggleton, was not expected to be fit for a further few weeks.[2]
In 2004, Williams was loaned out to Crewe Alexandra. Williams made 10 appearances for Crewe, conceding 14 goals and keeping 2 clean sheets during his loan spell. Williams' teammate, David Wright, told the Crewe website that "Ben is top drawer and I hope we can sign him for next year. He is young so he can only get better. He is a natural. He can catch the ball and also stops shots which he has no right to. He is an all-round good goalkeeper".[3] In June 2004, Williams signed permanently for Crewe, following his release from Manchester United.[4] In his second season with Crewe, he made 23 appearances in which he made no clean sheets. His third season with Crewe was cut short after Williams was diagnosed with Meningitis, Crewe closed their training ground to stamp out the spread of a suspected case of viral meningitis.[5] Williams made a full recovery a couple of months later.
His fourth season for the Railwaymen did not go according to plan, already three games into the season and Williams had conceded seven goals. However the keeper was trying to get back to his consistent form in which he impressed the majority of the Crewe faithful with his outstanding saves, and was hoping to break Clayton Inces clean sheet record.
His contract expired in June 2008, and he rejected the offer of a new one from the club, so looked set to leave on a Bosman free transfer. On 25 June Williams agreed terms with Carlisle United, as they looked to replace recently departed Keiren Westwood
Ben Williams began his first (2008/09) season with Carlisle United as the team's first choice goalkeeper. However, after making few errors during the clubs first few games of the season, he was soon dropped the bench as the on-loan Ben Alnwick came into the side. Once Alnwick's loan period was over, Williams hoped to regain his first team spot, but Dutch Newcastle keeper Tim Krul came in on loan shortly after. Once Krul's loan period finished, Williams got a chance in the first team again, conceding four against Tranmere Rovers. His performances improved over the second half of the season culminating in a clean sheet against Millwall (which helped Carlisle to avoid relegation) and coming second in the fans vote for player of the season as voted for in the local newspaper.
Williams signed for Colchester United for £60,000 on 10 July 2009. He made his debut in a 7–1 away win over Norwich City on 8 August 2009. His first clean sheet of the 2009–10 season came against Southampton in a 0–0 draw on 5 September 2009. He since kept a further 16 clean sheets during his debut season and has not only established himself as Colchester United's first choice goalkeeper, but has also become a favourite with the U's faithful due to his assured, commanding performances. These solid performances led to Ben Williams to winning three Player of the Season Awards at Colchester United, including both the CUSA home and away player of the year awards as voted for by fans and also the Official Player of the Year Award.
On the 3rd September after an impressive Mark Cousins performance, Ben was dropped from the 1st keeper position in favour of Cousins. John Ward praised cousins for his ability in the 1-1 draw, saying afterwards "he kept us in the game. It was an impressive team performance but Mark kept us in it from the start."
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other[7] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester United | 2002–03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Coventry City (loan) | 2002–03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chesterfield (loan) | 2002–03 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |
| Manchester United | 2003–04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crewe Alexandra (loan) | 2003–04 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Crewe Alexandra | 2004–05 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | 46 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 49 | 0 | ||
| Total | 125 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | 138 | 0 | ||
| Carlisle United | 2008–09 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 | ||
| Colchester United | 2009–10 | 46 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 49 | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 37 | 0 | ||
| 2011–12 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Total | 94 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 104 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 274 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 302 | 0 | |
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