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Ben Williams
Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Philip Williams
Date of birth	27 August 1982 (age 27)
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*
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:08, 30 October 2009 (UTC).; † Appearances (Goals).;

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.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Manchester United

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 didn't 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]

[edit] Crewe Alexandra

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 didn't 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

[edit] Carlisle United

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.

[edit] Colchester United

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. He followed this up with two more clean sheets in his next two matches to make it three in a row.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Spireites land Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006
^ Williams stays on news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006
^ Wright keen on Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006
^ Crewe sign keeper Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006
^ Virus fear halts Crewe training news.bbc.co.uk. retrieved 5 July 2006

[edit] External links

Ben Williams career stats at Soccerbase

[ManUtd-0] Spireites land Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006

[1] Williams stays on news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006

[2] Wright keen on Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006

[3] Crewe sign keeper Williams news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2006

[4] Virus fear halts Crewe training news.bbc.co.uk. retrieved 5 July 2006

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