Danny Williamson (footballer)

Daniel Williamson (born 5 December 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

For other people named Danny Williamson, see Danny Williamson (disambiguation).

Danny Williamson
Personal information
Full name Daniel Williamson
Date of birth (1973-12-05) 5 December 1973
Place of birth West Ham, London, England
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
West Ham United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1997 West Ham United 51 (5)
1993 → Farnborough Town (loan) 6 (0)
1993 → Doncaster Rovers (loan) 13 (1)
1997–2000 Everton 15 (0)
Total 85 (6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 02:19, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

He notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United and Everton, as well as in the Football League for Doncaster Rovers and for non-league side Farnborough Town. He suffered a foot injury in 1997 which would eventually lead him to prematurely retire three years later.

Early life

Williamson was born in West Ham, London in December 1973. As a youth, he cheered on the Hammers from the North Bank at Upton Park. He played for Newham and Essex Schoolboys, signed schoolboy forms with West Ham, completed a two-year apprenticeship and signed professional forms in 1992.[1] He was a strong-running right-footed attacking midfielder, who liked to play in a central position but was equally at home on the right-hand side.[2]

Club career

West Ham United

After signing professional forms with West Ham in July 1992, Williamson was loaned out to non-league side, Farnborough Town, making his debut in a 3–2 home defeat against Runcorn on 6 February 1993 and a total of six appearances between February and March 1993.[3] He was loaned out again to Third Division side, Doncaster Rovers, in October 1993 where he made 16 league and cup appearances, scoring three goals.[4] He played the final three games of the 1993/94 season for West Ham, making his debut in a 2–0 win at Arsenal on 30 April 1994 and scoring his first goal for the club in a 3–3 draw with Southampton on 7 May 1994.[5] Competition for the midfield places from John Moncur and Don Hutchison and an ankle injury restricted him to only four appearances in 1994/95. However, he gained a regular place in the first-team in the 1995/96 season, when he made 37 league and cup appearances and scored four goals, helping West Ham to finish in the top-half of the table for the first time in ten years. Harry Redknapp said of him, "He was an outstanding passer of the ball. He had a terrific shot on him and I always thought he was going to be a very good player."[1] Another ankle injury interrupted his season in 1996/97, when he made 18 league and cup appearances. His season ended in March 1997 after he had surgery on the ankle.[1][5] He made a total of 58 league and cup appearances for West Ham, scoring five goals.[5]

Everton

In August 1997, Williamson moved to Everton in an exchange for David Unsworth and £1 million as Howard Kendall sought to add creativity and strength to the Everton midfield and Harry Redknapp sought a left-sided centre-half to fill a gap created by a long-term injury to captain Julian Dicks.[1][2] He made his debut for Everton in a 2–1 victory over West Ham on 23 August 1997 and went on to make a total of 17 appearances for Everton in the 1997/98 season.[5] He picked up a foot injury against Wimbledon on 13 December 1997 and the injury, which required surgery, and subsequent complications led him to miss the rest of the 1997/98 season and the two following seasons 1998–1999 and 1999–2000.[2]

Williamson did return to training in September 1999, declaring he was relieved to be showing that his injury problems were behind him. However, after breaking down again in training, he never played another first-team game for Everton and his playing contract with the club was terminated at the end of September 2000, nine months early,[2] which also marked the end of his playing career.

Williamson's time at Everton was a costly one for the club. He was labelled as one of the highest rated English players at the time of purchase and made a bright start to his Everton career.

Personal life

Williamson lives in Essex and works for a property company.[6]

Career stats
Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
West Ham United[5] 1992–93 0000000000000000000000000
1993–94 0300100000000000000003001
1994–95 0400000000000000000004000
1995–96 2900403000010000000033004
1996–97 1500002000010000000000000
Subtotal 515502000585
Farnborough Town[3] (loan) 1992–1993 0600000000000000000006000
Subtotal 6000000060
Doncaster Rovers[4] (loan) 1993–1994 1300102002000000100016003
Subtotal 131220010163
Everton[4] 1997–98 1500000000020000000017000
1998–99 0000000000000000000000000
1999–00 0000000000000000000000000
2000–01 0000000000000000000000000
Subtotal 150002000170
Total 85 6 7 2 4 0 1 0 97 8

References
  1. Kirk Blows and Ben Sharratt (2002). Claret and Blue Blood, pp. 203–207. Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh and London. ISBN 1-84018-489-2
  2. Past Player Fact File: Danny Williamson, ToffeeWeb. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  3. Profile: Danny Williamson Archived 26 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Farnborough F.C. Official Site. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  4. Soccerbase: Danny Williamson, Racing Post. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  5. John Northcutt (2003). The Definitive West Ham United F.C. SoccerData, Nottingham. ISBN 1-899468-19-6
  6. "Where Are They Now? | Footballers | Danny Williamson".
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