Football: Thanks for the memories Super Gavin Williams!

THE departure of Gavin Williams from Yeovil Town brings to an end a wonderful playing tenure with the Glovers stretching back over 11 years.

Williams was yesterday named as one of three players being released from npower League One play-off winners Yeovil alongside fellow midfielder Dominic Blizzard and defender Richard Hinds.

Williams' services with Yeovil have come during four different spells – but he will go down in the club’s history books as the only player to have played in all three of the promotion campaigns from Nationwide Conference to League One to The Championship.

Admittedly, he only played a ‘bit part’ in the successful League One season of 2004-05 when he departed midway through the campaign to join West Ham United; but such was his contribution to the side that it was only a matter of time before he was lured away from Huish Park.

It cannot be forgotten that his last appearance for the Glovers before heading for Upton Park came at Lincoln City on November 27, 2004, when he was shown a red card.

News of his disappointing, but ultimately, unsurprising release from Huish Park yesterday meant that his final contribution as a player in the green and white of Yeovil Town came at Wembley Stadium on May 19 with a stoppage time booking when he knocked the ball away after it had gone out of play in order to waste a few more precious seconds. It was Gavin Williams all over.

He had been the joker of the pack when he first arrived at Huish Park in the summer of 2002 when drafted in from Hereford United by Yeovil manager Gary Johnson.

PHOTO: Gavin Williams, left, with top National Hunt jockey Daryl Jacob during a day at Wincanton Races in October 2012.

Williams became a key cog in the Conference-winning campaign of 2002-03 with a succession of wonderful performances in a team which buzzed with confidence.

He would glide across the pitch with effortless ease and pass opponents as if they were not there with the ball glued to his boot. It was a pleasure to watch as he took his place in a midfield which would not have looked out of place in The Championship – Williams, Darren Way, Lee Johnson and Michael McIndoe. It purred like a well-oiled engine and Williams gave it that all-impressive luxurious Rolls Royce feel.

Fans may not know that Yeovil had swooped to sign Williams from Hereford in a double deal with McIndoe in February 2001, but the then manager Colin Addison only managed to snare the latter in the exciting move.
Who is to know what might have happened had Addison been able to have brought in both – would Yeovil have gone on and won their Conference title race with Rushden and Diamonds in that 2000-01 season?

If that had happened, then it would probably have resulted in the name of Gary Johnson going unheard of at Huish Park. It is strange how twists of fate help to pave what happens in football’s rich tapestry.

Williams made a total of 188 appearances for the Glovers and scored 34 goals over a course of 11 years which was interspersed with spells at West Ham United, Ipswich Town, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers.

Although Williams has now departed Yeovil Town, he will always be welcomed back to Huish Park in the years ahead.

It only leaves us to say....thanks for the memories Super Gav!

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