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.