Welsh footballer
David Michael Williams
(born 11 March 1955) is a Welsh former professional
footballer
who played as a
midfielder
, spending most of his career with
Bristol Rovers
. At international level, he made five appearances for the
Wales national team
.
Playing career
[
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Bristol Rovers
[
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]
Williams started off in amateur football with Clifton Athletic before joining
Bristol Rovers
in 1975. Unusually, he began with the
League
club as an amateur, combining playing League football with studying on a teacher training course, and later with teaching at Mostyn High School in
Cardiff
. After already making 113 League appearances, he finally turned fully professional in 1978.
In May 1983, he was promoted to the position of player-manager after
Bobby Gould
left. He won 51 of his 108 games in the post, and won the
Gloucestershire Cup
twice.
Norwich City
[
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]
Williams was still player-manager of Rovers when
Norwich City
manager
Ken Brown
took him to
Carrow Road
before the start of the 1985?86 season. Williams won a
second division
championship medal in his first season with the Canaries and went on to serve the club as player-coach, assistant manager and, for one game, caretaker manager before he left in 1992.
[3]
Welsh international
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It was during his time with Norwich in
Division 1
that he played five times for the
Wales national team
. In 1988, he also coached Wales as
caretaker manager
, including a 3?1 loss against
Yugoslavia
, prior to the appointment of
Terry Yorath
.
[3]
Managerial and coaching career
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In July 1992 Williams was appointed assistant manager at
AFC Bournemouth
. He also made one appearance as a player towards the end of the
1992–93
season.
[4]
In February 1994 he took on the same position at
Everton
before becoming reserve team coach at
Leeds United
. After completing a youth team coaching role at
Manchester United
in 2002, he spent some time as a driving instructor in
Harrogate
, returning to Norwich to as Assistant Academy Manager in the summer of 2004.
[3]
[5]
In addition to his role at
Carrow Road
, he also coached the Welsh international youth sides as assistant to
Brian Flynn
. In May 2007 at the age of 52 Williams left Norwich and retired from club coaching though continued his involvement with the Welsh youth squads.
[6]
He briefly became assistant manager of the Welsh team when Flynn was appointed caretaker in September 2010.
[3]
[5]
In February 2013, soon after Flynn had been made manager of Doncaster Rovers, he appointed Williams as his assistant. Williams left the role at the end of the 2012?13 season.
[5]
Honours
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- Norwich City
- Individual
References
[
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]
- Canary Citizens
by Mike Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001),
ISBN
0-7117-2020-7
External links
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]