Mark Williams (footballer, born 1970)

For other people with the same name, see Mark Williams.

Mark Williams

Personal information
Full name	Mark Stuart Williams
Date of birth	(1970-09-28) 28 September 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth	Stalybridge, England
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1992	Newtown
1992–1995	Shrewsbury Town	99	(3)
1995–1999	Chesterfield	168	(12)
1999–2000	Watford	22	(1)
2000–2002	Wimbledon	70	(7)
2002–2003	Stoke City	6	(0)
2003	Columbus Crew	5	(0)
2004	Wimbledon	11	(1)
2004–2005	Milton Keynes Dons	13	(0)
2004–2005	→ Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	7	(0)
Total		401	(24)
International career
1999–2005	Northern Ireland	36	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mark Stuart Williams (born 28 September 1970) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Shrewsbury Town, Chesterfield, Watford, Wimbledon, Stoke City, Milton Keynes Dons and Rushden & Diamonds.

Born in England, Williams played international football for Northern Ireland, being selected 36 times.

Club career

Williams started his career at Newtown, then moved to Shrewsbury Town where in 1993–94 season he helped the side win the Third Division title. After three seasons with the Shrews he moved to Chesterfield. In the 1996–97 season, he was part of Chesterfield's historic run to the FA Cup semi final, playing in both the semi-final ^[1] and semi final replay ^[2] against Middlesbrough. Williams had earlier kick started their memorable cup run when he scored the only goal in the first round against Bury. ^[3]

In 1999, he was signed by newly promoted Premier League side Watford. He scored once for Watford, his goal coming in a 2–1 defeat to Leeds United. ^[4] However, at the end of the season the Hornets were relegated outright, in bottom place with just 24 points and Williams moved to another relegated side Wimbledon. Although an integral part of the team in his first season, he lost his place and joined Stoke City in March 2003. ^[5] Stoke were in deep relegation trouble in 2002–03 and Williams played in six matches helping them to avoid the drop on the final day of the season. In the summer of 2003 he moved to the United States to play for Major League Soccer team Columbus Crew where he made five appearances before returning to England. ^[6]

Williams re-joined old club Wimbledon in February 2004 and played 11 times for the club in 2003–04 as they suffered relegation to League One. He stayed at the club following their controversial change to Milton Keynes Dons and played 15 times for the club before ending his career with seven games on loan at Rushden & Diamonds.

International career

Williams played for Northern Ireland between 1999 and 2005 and won 36 caps, scoring once. ^[7]

Personal life

In 2006, Williams married glamour model and pornographic actress Linsey Dawn McKenzie. The couple have one child, Luca Scott Mark Williams, born in May 2005. Mark also has a daughter Chardae from a previous relationship.

In November 2016, amid the United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal, Williams waived his right to anonymity and alleged he had been abused by youth coach Barry Bennell while a trainee at Crewe. ^{[8] [9]} In Manchester on 5 December 2016, Williams was one of five abuse victims at the launch of an organisation, the Offside Trust, to support player victims of abuse and their families. ^{[10] [11]}

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^[12]

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other [a]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Shrewsbury Town	1992–93	Third Division	28	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	32	1
	1993–94	Third Division	36	1	3	0	5	0	2	0	46	1
	1994–95	Second Division	35	1	1	0	2	0	3	1	41	2
	Total		99	3	6	0	8	0	6	1	119	4
Chesterfield	1995–96	Second Division	42	3	2	0	1	0	5	0	50	3
	1996–97	Second Division	42	3	7	1	2	0	0	0	51	4
	1997–98	Second Division	44	3	3	0	4	0	1	0	52	3
	1998–99	Second Division	40	3	1	0	3	0	1	1	45	4
	Total		168	12	13	1	10	0	7	1	191	14
Watford	1999–2000	Premier League	22	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	26	1
Wimbledon	2000–01	First Division	42	6	6	1	4	0	0	0	52	7
	2001–02	First Division	5	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	6	1
	2002–03	First Division	23	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	25	1
	Total		70	7	8	1	5	1	0	0	83	9
Stoke City	2002–03	First Division	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Columbus Crew	2003	Major League Soccer	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Wimbledon	2003–04	First Division	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
Milton Keynes Dons	2004–05	League One	13	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	15	0
Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	2004–05	League Two	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Career Total			401	24	29	2	26	1	14	2	470	29

1. Includes Football League Trophy.

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[13]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Northern Ireland	1999	8	0
	2000	5	0
	2001	4	1
	2002	3	0
	2003	5	0
	2004	10	0
	2005	1	0
Total		36	1

Honours

Shrewsbury Town

• Football League Third Division champions: 1993–94

References

1. Shaw, Phil (13 April 1997). "Hewitt keeps the Chesterfield dream alive". The Independent . London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
2. Moore, Glenn (22 April 1997). "Foreign legion go back to Wembley". The Independent . London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
3. "Season of dreaming Spireites". The Independent. 13 April 1997. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
4. Haylett, Trevor (3 October 1999). "Bridges' pointer to pots of gold". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
5. "Williams joins Stoke". BBC Sport. 11 March 2003. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
6. 2003 Columbus Crew Statistics, USA Today.
7. "Irish Football Association, Northern Ireland – Squad Profiles – Mark Williams – Defender". Archived from the original on 13 July 2008.
8. Parveen, Nazia (29 November 2016). "Former Northern Ireland player Mark Williams was 'victim of sexual abuse'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
9. Austin, Jack (29 November 2016). "Football abuse scandal: Former Premier League player becomes fifth footballer to reveal sexual abuse". Independent. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
10. "Southampton 'abuser' still working in football". BBC News. BBC. 3 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
11. "Sex abuse footballers 'want to be free of pain'". BBC News. BBC. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
12. Mark Williams at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
13. Mark Williams at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

• Mark Williams at Soccerbase
• Northern Ireland profile