“A dark place”: Brandon Williams makes honest admission about Man United stint | OneFootball

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Former Manchester United defender Brandon Williams has accepted accountability for the trajectory of his career to date, while expressing his determination to stage a remarkable return.

United stint

A product of United’s famed youth system, Williams came through the ranks before eventually breaking into the first team under former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He made his senior debut in September 2019, coming off the bench in an EFL Cup victory over Rochdale, before earning his first start on 3 October in the Europa League clash with AZ Alkmaar.

Williams went on to become a key player in Solskjaer’s plans, featuring regularly, sometimes ahead of the more experienced Luke Shaw. During the 2019/20 campaign, he made 36 appearances across all competitions as the Red Devils finished third in the Premier League.

His game time dwindled following that breakthrough campaign, and he was eventually sent out on loan to Norwich City. He returned to United for the 2022/23 season under Erik ten Hag, though he managed only a single appearance. He was loaned to Ipswich Town, where he was reunited with Kieran McKenna. He helped the Tractor Boys secure promotion, although his involvement waned as the campaign went by.

United released Williams in the summer of 2024 following the expiry of his contract.

His circumstances since then have been challenging, to say the least. He was handed a 14-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, last year, after being found guilty of dangerous driving in connection with an accident caused while travelling at 99mph.

Then there was the doomed spell at Hull City due to injuries. He is presently undertaking a trial with Rotherham United, with the aim of securing a contract and working his way back to the upper echelons of professional football.

He spoke to The Athletic and admitted to being on a self-destructive streak. He also insisted that his experiences should serve as an example to young players.

Williams’ admission

The 25-year-old told the newspaper, “I’ve learned from my mistakes. I take full ownership of everything that’s happened to me. That’s why I always say to myself, ‘I got myself in this mess, I am going to get myself out of it.’”

“I’ve let a lot of people down, to be honest, and I want to prove a lot of people wrong as well. That’s one thing that is left to do in my life, to get back onto the football pitch and show what I can do.”

He said of his United debut, “It was amazing. People always ask me, ‘Were you nervous?’. It’s hard to explain unless you experience it yourself. I never felt the pressure or felt worried, it was just excitement and the butterflies were going… because you’re asking me to go on a football pitch, something I’d done for 12 years. It was just about keeping to my game.”

Williams stressed the attention he got, which was around Covid time, affected him.

“I found it difficult, especially being from Manchester as well. It wasn’t just me who got affected, it was my family as well. It’s funny because we were all on our laptops on Zoom and all the players were in their big mansions with their pools and gyms and I was in my bedroom at my mum’s house, using a suitcase as a dumbbell.”

Williams reflected that his decision to leave his parents’ house for independent living was misguided, as it stripped him of the grounding influence his family had offered.

After his fortunes dipped at both United and then Ipswich, Williams revealed that United psychologist Michael Farrell had reached out in an effort to help him rediscover his path.

“He would come and knock on my door in the morning, because I had an apartment in town, and he’d be like, ‘Brandon, come on, we’re going to get a coffee’, because I’d literally just be in bed all day. It helped me have that to get up and be like, ‘Come on, stop feeling sorry for yourself’”

Asked about United releasing him, Williams said, “At the time I was just like, ‘Whatever, it is what it is’, but I was in a dark space. And then a couple of months passed and I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?’. Then it hit me that was what I’d known all my life from seven years of age. It was a gutting feeling, especially when you are by yourself and you’re just thinking about it. It’s a dark place.”

“I didn’t want to play football again. It was difficult but I just knew I had to go and train for my mental side of things — I knew I had to do something. I had no plans on going back to football for that whole year. It went on until the start of the new year that I was like, ‘Right, I miss this now, I’m ready to go back, I am ready to get back into football’”

Williams acknowledged that his conduct away from football, which included speeding and the use of nitrous oxide, had been “stupid” and “immature.”

Regarding reviving his football career, he told The Athletic, “I know it’s not going to be a quick process, I know I’m not going to be in the Premier League next year. I’m ready to climb the mountain and get back to the top of it.”

Williams made first-team appearances for United.