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Steve Williams (footballer, born 1958)

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Steve Williams
Personal information
Full name Steven Charles Williams[1]
Date of birth (1958-07-12) 12 July 1958 (age 66)[1]
Place of birth Romford, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1974–1976 Southampton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1984 Southampton 279 (18)
1984–1988 Arsenal 95 (4)
1988–1991 Luton Town 40 (1)
1991–1993 Exeter City 48 (0)
1993 Derry City 2 (0)
Total 464 (23)
International career
1977–1980 England U21 14 (0)
1979–1981 England B 4 (0)
1983–1984 England 6 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven Charles Williams (born 12 July 1958) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

He began his playing career with Southampton in 1976. Williams joined Arsenal in 1984 and spent four years with the club. In 1988, he signed for Luton Town. He also had a spell with Exeter City before he ended his career at Derry City.[3]

During his international career, he won six caps for the England national team.

Early life

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Williams was born in 1958 in Romford, Essex.[4] His parents ran a grocery shop.[4] Williams excelled in sport at a young age, but he admitted opportunities were limited as his parents were too busy.[4]

Club career

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Southampton

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He started out as an apprentice with Southampton, having been a product of the Saints' London Selection Centre and joining the club straight from school.[4]

He turned professional in 1975 and made his debut aged 17 on 6 April 1976, in a 1–0 victory away to local rivals, Portsmouth in a game where Peter Osgood was dropped for disciplinary reasons.[5][6][7]

He went on to establish a partnership with Alan Ball, with Ball's short passing game being complemented by Williams' deep surges into the opposition half.[7] After his first full season at Southampton in 1976–77, he was awarded the club's Player of the Season Award and earned recognition for England at under-21 level.[8][9]

In the 1978–79 season, he was an ever-present in Saints' run to the 1979 League Cup final which they lost 3–2 to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest.[10][11] He succeeded Alan Ball as team captain and led The Saints to an FA Cup semi-final and to runners-up position in the 1983–84 First Division.[12]

The following season, manager Lawrie McMenemy was becoming disillusioned with Southampton, feeling that he had taken the club as far as he could and this disillusionment spread to several senior players including Williams, leading to a transfer request.[4] In all, he played 349 times for Southampton, scoring 27 goals.[7]

Arsenal

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In December 1984 Williams moved to his boyhood club Arsenal for £550,000.[3][9][13] After making his debut in a North London derby match against Tottenham Hotspur on 1 January 1985, Williams was a regular for the remainder of the season.[3] However, his next season, 1985–86, he suffered toe and hamstring injuries which limited his appearances in the side.[3][14]

By the time he had recovered, George Graham had taken over as Arsenal manager, and initially Williams thrived, playing on the right hand side of midfield, alongside a young David Rocastle.[3] In Graham's first season, Arsenal reached the League Cup final, where they beat Liverpool, with Williams collecting his first piece of silverware.[15][7] Williams continued to play throughout the next season, but after Arsenal lost to Manchester United in January 1988, Williams was dropped to allow Michael Thomas to push forward into midfield.[16][17] Unable to reclaim his place in the side, Williams fell out with Graham.[18] In all he played 121 games for Arsenal, scoring five goals.[3][14][19][18]

Later career

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In July 1988, Williams moved to Luton Town, where he spent three seasons at Luton, before finishing his career at Exeter City, where he was also assistant manager to his former Southampton colleague, Alan Ball.[20][7][3] His eventually retired in 1993, after a brief playing spell at Derry City where he made his League of Ireland debut against Shamrock Rovers in October 1993.[13]

International career

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Williams played fourteen times for England's under-21s.[21] He also won six caps for England, his debut coming against Australia on 12 June 1983.[22]

After football

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After retiring from football, he went into the magazine publishing business in Exeter.[4][7] He has since gone into property development.[7]

Honours

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Southampton

Arsenal

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b "Steve Williams". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Steve Williams: Profile". Arsenal FC. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "The Saint: The Steve Williams interview". Sidmouth Herald. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Portsmouth v Southampton, 06 April 1976". 11v11.com. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  6. ^ Murray, Scott (16 December 2011). "The Joy of Six: Portsmouth v Southampton derbies". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. p. 505. ISBN 978-0-9926864-0-6.
  8. ^ a b Howard, Peter (11 May 2018). "Previous winners of the Daily Echo Southampton FC Player of the Season Award". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Falkens funderingar 14 September 2012: Om Steve Williams". Svenska Fans.com (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  10. ^ "PHOTOS: Remember the first time Saints reached a league cup semi final?". Southern Daily Echo. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Southampton's 1979 League Cup run". MSN.com. Sky Sports.
  12. ^ Struthers, Greg (19 February 2006). "Caught in Time: Southampton finish runners up in the First Division, 1984". The Times. London. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Williams, Steve". The Grecian Archive. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Steve Williams: Defining Moments". Arsenal FC. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  15. ^ Leach, Conrad (5 April 2020). "On This Day: Arsenal's trophy drought ended with League Cup win over Liverpool". inews. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Arsenal v Manchester United". www.11v11.com. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  17. ^ Lawrence, Gary (13 March 2017). "30 Years On this Midfield Hardman and Playmaker would walk into Arsenal's Midfield". gunnerstown.com. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  18. ^ a b Henderson, Charlie (31 January 2007). "Were you there?". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  19. ^ Melman, Charlie (22 September 2014). "Arsenal vs. Southampton: Ranking the Best 5 Players to Swap Saints for Gunners". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  20. ^ Simmonds, Mike (29 September 2023). "Line-Up: The last Luton Town to beat Everton at Goodison Park in 1988". Luton Today. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  21. ^ "England – U-21 International Results 1976–1985". RSSF.org. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  22. ^ "Steven Williams Statistics". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
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