FC Halifax Town: Williams glad to have winged his way to Halifax

The 31-year-old was on trial at the club over the summer, and impressed Pete Wild enough to

form part of the squad at The Shay.

Williams left Accrington Stanley at the end of last season, but was faced with more upheaval at Halifax.

“I went into training with Halifax - it was a bit of a tough summer really with the manager leaving, and me not knowing where I was standing, and then the new gaffer came in,” he said.

“He offered me something and hopefully I can get some games under my belt this season.

“The gaffer said he wanted me to do that here because I’ve not really played a lot in the last year or so.

“So that’s what was important for me more than anything else, was to come here and play some games.

“The training facilities are great, and I liked what the gaffer had to say. He’s a very positive manager.

“It was just unfortunate I picked up a little niggle. That’s the last thing I needed to be honest. but hopefully it’s not too bad.”

Williams also trained with a couple of other National League clubs and spent some time in Scotland over the summer in his search for a new club.

“I want to play closer to home and Halifax isn’t too far away,” he said. “It’s a good club, got good fans behind them, a nice stadium to play football, and it’s a good standard.

“I want to play games. I know there’s competition for places and there’s good players here.”

Williams was at Wigan until he was 15 and then moved around the non-league scene with clubs such as Clitheroe, Kendal, FC United and Chester.

He then joined Inverness Caledonion Thistle and Dundee in Scotland, winning the Scottish Cup and playing in the Europa League with Inverness

“It was good, although it didn’t really work out at Dundee,” he said of his time north of the border. “The manager who signed me left and I just felt like I wanted to come closer to home, which is when I moved to Accrington.

“We had a good winning team there, the gaffer kept the same 11 pretty much every week, and didn’t make any subs for about 10 games in-a-row.

“They won the league, but I wasn’t really getting a lot of game-time, so I went to Fylde on loan.

“It was pretty much a joint decision for me to leave.”

Williams is philosophical about the nomadic nature of his career.

“It’s part and parcel of football, it happens to so many people,” he said.

“I have a mortgage and bills to pay, the same as everyone else, so it’s tough, but you’ve just got to stay positive and hope the right club comes about.

“It’s early doors but I’m really enjoying it here. Everything’s positive at the moment.

“I know it’s a bit of a cliche and everyone says it when they join a new club but it’s a great group of lads.

“The manager is so positive, and he’s one of them that you really want to do well for.

“Even though he’s only been here a month or so, he really rubs off on the players, and everyone’s enjoying it.”