Former Man United star Brandon Williams, 24, reveals he considered RETIRING as he opens up on his downfall after being 'stabbed in the back', with defender facing two years in prison
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- Brandon Williams has opened up on his time away from football in an interview
- The defender is facing a potential two-year jail sentence for dangerous driving
- LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off! The signs that Ruben Amorim's Man United side are getting there
Brandon Williams has admitted in a candid interview with former Manchester United star Ben Foster that he considered retiring from football before taking a break from the game this season.
Williams burst onto the scene as a teenager at Old Trafford after being handed his debut by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019, but injuries and loss of form led to him being sent out on loan to Norwich and Ipswich before being subsequently released by the Red Devils last summer.
The 24-year-old, who has taken a break from football following his exit from Old Trafford last summer, is now facing a potential two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving last week.
Williams crashed his car at 99mph 'with a balloon in his mouth' while accompanied by a young woman in August 2023, and will be sentenced on May 9.
Speaking on Foster's The Fozcast, Williams admitted he would have felt compelled to retire from the game altogether had he not taken time away from football since his Manchester United exit.
'I wasn't happy to sit out for a season but I was prepared to have a break. I just didn't know how long that break was going to be or how long I needed that break for. Looking back now, I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have the break,' Williams said.
'I don't even think I would be training now, I think that would have just (been it with football). But being back now, being back watching the football, it actually hurts me watching football at the minute, because I just want to be there, I just want to play, I miss being in a team, on the coach, I just think it's that thing where it gets too much for somebody sometimes.'
Williams revealed that various clubs from the United States, England and Europe had reached out earlier in the season to discuss his return, but the defender was not ready at that stage.
Opening up on the role agents have played in his career so far, the 24-year-old —who is training on his own every day other than Sunday in an effort to build up fitness — said: 'I had one (an agent) for the first three months before I made my debut and I wasn't the person who wanted it.
'I never wanted an agent. I wanted that older brother who has a lot of experience, someone in the family I could really trust but I just never had that. I ended up getting an agent at 18 until I made my debut and then about six months after, I wanted to leave him and go with another agent.
'I was still in contract with that agent and he tried suing me, so we had to go to court and get through all that. It ended up being fine anyway. And I've been with the same agent now since I made my debut.'
Asked how much contact he has with his agent as he pursues a route back into football, Williams admitted: 'I'll be honest, I haven't spoken to him in maybe a year now. Maybe 12 months.'
Shocked, Foster asked if the agent will get back in touch when Williams makes it known publicly that he wants to return to the game.
Williams replied: 'We'll see. I'll have my conversation and see what that conversation is. But since August I've had loads of teams try to get me out. I've just not been ready.
'I want to go somewhere 100 per cent and know where I'm going. 100 per cent focused and just kick on. When it does get to that stage, we'll end up making the right decision.'
Williams has not played a competitive match since December 29, 2023. He was left out of Ipswich's matchday squad for the second half of last season as they secured promotion to the Premier League, and then failed to earn a new contract at United.
Lifting the lid on his time at Manchester United, the 24-year-old full-back admitted that he struggled to get out of bed in the mornings during what was a 'dark' spell in his career.
'I feel like, in my head, I'm very mentally strong. From where I was, to where I am now, if you were on the journey you would see what a massive difference there is,' Williams said.
When asked who he spoke to during his tough times, he replied: 'Mick Farrell, at United, he was a psychologist there and I knew him since I was like 15.
'He used to bring me in all the time, when I wasn't moving out of my apartment and just staying in bed, he would turn up at like nine o'clock, at my bedside just trying to get me out. Things like, "Let's go for a walk" or "Let's go for a coffee".
'It was dark (struggling to get out of bed). It was hard because a lot of people do care, but a lot of people maybe care because they don't want to lose the lifestyle that they had or something like that. They'd be like, "Come on, come on, we need you to get back". I needed that break just to take everything in and reset. Just to go ghost for a bit.
'No one knows what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing, working hard, get back fit - and it's just down to me to do that and just get back.'
The footballer admitted during the podcast that he had been 'stabbed in the back' by people close to him — and it led in large part to him falling out of love with football.
'At that point (shortly before his break from football), it was just getting too much for me. Problems with friends, friends going behind my back, stabbing me in the back and stuff like that. It caused a big thing. I was ignoring my family, not really speaking to them, they were really worried about me.
'My friends were as well to be fair, they could see it. It just wasn't right. Basically, I have this mode where I just don't care.
'I have this switch where I just don't care what happens, I don't care what I do. They wanted me to get back to football but they could see that I fell out of love with it. I just didn't want to do it.'
Williams was once tipped for stardom at Manchester United, with Red Devils legend Gary Neville hailing his attitude in his breakthrough season.
After Williams starred in United's 1-0 FA Cup win over Wolves in January 2020, Neville wrote on Twitter: 'I like Brandon Williams. What I like about him specifically is he has that look in his eye of someone that would eat his opponents nose to win the match. Keep going kid! Oh, he can play football too which is always a bonus.'
Williams did kick on in the latter half of the season, keeping the much more experienced Luke Shaw out of the team as Solskjaer put his faith in him.
It didn't take long for then-England boss Gareth Southgate to sit up and take notice, as he reportedly eyed Williams for a potential spot in his Euros squad the following year.
However, the 2020-21 season didn't go to plan as Williams lost his United place to Shaw and struggled with injury setbacks.
Things did not improve after that, and Williams got into an online spat with Rio Ferdinand after Manchester City won the Treble in 2023.
Williams was seemingly unimpressed with City completing the feat 24 years after United, as he posted on his Instagram story: 'Nobody wants a sloppy seconds'.
He then took aim at Ferdinand after feeling the former United defender had praised City too much, writing: '@rioferdy5 Bet you don't congratulate if you was [sic] player keeep [sic] the same morals. [Snoozing face emoji] too [sic] face is boring.'
Williams did not play again for United after calling out Ferdinand, and he is now facing an anxious wait to see if he will be sent to prison next month.
Reflecting on his Manchester United career, the star admitted that the Covid-19 pandemic was a pivotal turning point as far as his love for the game was concerned.
'At the start (of my Manchester United career), it was unreal. Travelling the world with United, playing in these huge games — it's like a family, being with family for such a long season. Getting that break and everything like that.
'But during my time there, obviously Covid happened, so that really took a toll on me as well. That's when things started to creep in, stuff off the pitch as well. Just before Covid hit, I was speaking to some of the players and it was the March international break. A few were like, "You're going to get a call-up here, you're going to get called up for England".
'Then a few weeks later the league shut down. At the time I was at my mum's and I was on my Zoom calls, and everyone's in their mansions. In home gyms and everything. I was just on my mum's bedroom floor doing the plank! Using a suitcase as a dumbbell and everything.
'All these lot doing stretches in the pool and I'm in the shower, just stood in the shower,' he added, laughing. 'I had a good time at United, I wouldn't change many things.'
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