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David Williams

David Williams
Norwich Career: 1985-1992 (74 appearances, 12 goals), 2004-Present
Current Club:
Date of Birth: 11/03/1955
Nationality: Welsh

Biography

Before joining Norwich, Dave Williams had been a one club man devoting his career to Bristol Rovers. He made 352 league appearances, scoring 66 goals, for the Rovers in a ten year period commencing in December 1975. Originally an amateur, he abandoned the teaching profession when appointed player-manager in succession to Bobby Gould. At the age of 30, no-one expected Dave to go to greater successes on the football field but Norwich manager Ken Brown was able to identify a talent that would benefit both Williams and Norwich City.

He joined Norwich in May 1985 and won a Division Two medal the following season. The next season he played in Division One and gained full international honours for Wales. In May 1987, he became player-coach and stepped up to Assistant Manager's role under Dave Stringer's regime in August 1988. In March 1988, he even took charge of the Welsh international side as caretaker manager for the match against Yugoslavia. The Stringer-Williams team was successful and led Norwich to two FA Cup semi-finals.

Upon Stringer's resignation, Williams managed the team as caretaker for one game (a 1-0 defeat to Leeds). He also left the club after he didn't get the manager's position and joined Bournemouth as Assistant Manager in July 1992.He moved to fulfill the same post at Everton with Mike Walker in February 1994. Following Walker's sacking at Everton, Williams joined the managerial team at Leeds United where he oversaw their reserve team. He has since moved to Manchester United as coach of their highly successful youth team.

Following the resignation of Welsh national team manager Bobby Gould in early June 1999, David's name was suggested as a potential successor, along with those of Kevin Ratcliffe, Bryan Flynn, Neville Southall and Mike Walker.

Dave's contract with United was not renewed when it expired in July 2002 due to the lack of young talent emerging from United's youth teams - only Wes Brown had made an impact in the past two or three seasons although great things are expected of John O'Shea. However his potential was not enough to keep Dave, and his fellow academy coach Neil Bailey with their jobs.

After working as a driving instructor in Harrogate, David returned to Norwich on 7th May 2004 as their new Assistant Academy Manager under 17s/18s and Technical Director; effectively replacing Sammy Morgan in the Academy. Dave is responsible for overseeing the coaching of all age groups within the Academy and the day-to-day coaching and preparation of the Club's under 18 side. He will work closely with Ricky Martin, appointed to the role of Academy Manager. Williams commented: "It's a fantastic chance to come back to Norwich. I had seven very happy years at Carrow Road, first as a player and then on the coaching side. I have lots of fond memories of Norwich and am very much looking forward to coming back. I was involved in youth coaching at Manchester United for many years.  But the extra appeal of this role is to have an impact at all age groups within the Academy and to be working day-to-day with all of the Academy coaches at Colney. My job is to ensure a conveyor belt of talent all the way through to the first team."

In January 2005, David was given a new role with the Welsh Football Association, in addition to his role at Carrow Road. He will take responsibility for looking after Wales' Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 teams under manager Bryan Flynn, who was recently appointed to develop the country's young stars. He will be working with Alan Curtis and his first set of matches are against Germany in February 2005.

David announced his retirement from his role as City's Assistant Academy Manager in May 2007 but will continue assisting the Welsh teams. When John Toshack quit as Wales manager in September 2010, Brian Flynn took over as caretaker and Williams stepped up to assist him.

On 7th February 2013, Williams joined Doncaster Rovers as Flynn's assistant manager (Flynn was appointed manager on 17th January 2013). He left that role at the end of the 2012/13 season.


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