I feel good, so I’m not sure about retirement – Ash

ASHLEY Williams says he is unsure over when he will retire.

The Wales and Bristol City defender is out of contract at the end of the season and, due to the coronavirus shutdown, no decision has been made over his future at the Robins.

There have been links to abroad, and it appears that Williams will keep playing for now.

At 35, some may expect Williams’ retirement to be around the corner, but the former Swans and Everton centre-back says he is keeping his options open for now.

He told the Robins Nest podcast: “I think 35 is the magic number that most people say if you’ve got to there, you’ve been lucky.

“I’m here now, I’ll be 36 in August. “I don’t know, I can’t really answer that, but I feel good, though.

“Coming to Bristol City, I’ve felt as good as I’ve felt for the last few years, so I don’t know.

“There’s so many factors that go into it – there’s family life also, being away from the children and your family home, just a lot of things that factor in.

“I enjoy football, I miss football at times like this.

“What I do miss about it is match days, the game and being able to compete against other players.

“Whilst I can do that and there’s a manager there that’s happy with me and I don’t feel like I can’t do it anymore, then I’ll play.

“I can’t really put a number on it, I always had 35 in my head, but now I’m at 35 I feel completely fine.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to see - I can’t give you a number.”

Williams admits he was slightly surprised when Lee Johnson contacted him in August over the prospect of joining the Robins, but was immediately impressed by the man he used to play against.

“I’d obviously played against Bristol City many times,” he said.

“I spoke to the gaffer on the phone – as soon as I spoke to him, I knew I wanted to come.

“The Lee Johnson on the phone and the Lee Johnson I used to play against are two totally different people.

“When my agent told me that Lee Johnson and Bristol City had called about the possibility of me going there, I was quite surprised.

“It was more that I used to argue with him so much – I think everyone argued with him all the time.

“I was a bit surprised by that but once I spoke to him on the phone I knew that what he was trying to do at Bristol City was something I wanted to be involved in.”