I thought my days in the game were over – Jonny
JONNY Williams admits he had doubts about his future in the game after leaving Crystal Palace following a 17-year stay.
The creative attacker, part of Rob Page’s Wales World Cup squad, has been plagued by injuries during the course of his career and left the Selhurst Park outfit -who he joined as a nine-year-old - in 2019.
He had been sent out on loan to clubs including Ipswich, Nottingham Forest, MK Dons and Sunderland before eventually signing a permanent deal with Charlton.
Williams helped Charlton gain promotion from League One but was once again struck down by injury and joined Cardiff City midway through the 2020/21 campaign. However, his time with the Bluebirds did not go according to plan on a personal level as he made just nine appearances for the club, only one of which was a start.
He was released just months after moving to south Wales and Williams admits he struggled to come to terms with his situation. “Yeah potentially I did have doubts,” he said of his struggles. “My head was a bit all over the place, I was a free agent.
“I had signed for Cardiff and was there for a while. I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked to.
“Mainly because the team went on about an eight-game winning streak which was great. They just missed out on the play-offs at the end and me personally I didn’t really get the chance to show what I can do.
“I felt low at the time and Sunderland was tough. I didn’t get kept on by Cardiff and was out of contract.”
Williams joined Swindon in the summer of 2021 and came into the World Cup as the top scorer of those in Wales’ 26-man squad this season.
Such has been his run of form, Williams was nominated for the October League Two Player of the Month award, and the Welshman admits that, while he had concerns about dropping down the football pyramid, their style was perfectly suited to his ideals.
“I was thinking whether I wanted to be abroad or stay in England. Ben Garner my coach at Palace I had over the years called me,” he added.
“He was the manager at Swindon and liked to play passing football. He said: ‘I think you are probably not going to drop to this level but I would love to have you here to get your career back on track and get you playing regularly.’
“I thought about it for two or three weeks because I wasn’t sure I wanted to drop that low.
“I felt I could still play higher up but I have enjoyed it.
“And when you look back on your career you just want to make sure you have enjoyed it as much as you can. Before that I don’t think I could say I had done that.
“I am trying to play catch up a little bit and trying to stay fit as much as I can. To be here now at World Cup is a bit surreal.”
JAPAN produced another shock at the World Cup as late goals from substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano saw them come from behind to beat Germany 2-1 in their Group E opener at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Having trailed to a 33rd-minute penalty from Ilkay Gundogan, who also hit the post on the hour mark, Japan drew level with 15 minutes of normal time remaining when Doan fired in after Manuel Neuer parried a Takumi Minamino effort.
Asano then cracked past Neuer eight minutes later as the Germans became the latest victims of an upset, a day on from Argentina’s 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia.
It was yet further World Cup woe for four-time winners Germany, who arrived in Qatar looking to bounce back from exiting the 2018 edition, at which they had been defending champions, in the group stage. Their second group match is a crunch clash with Spain on Sunday, when Hajime Moriyasu’s Japan take on Costa Rica. Germany are one of the sides whose captain had been set to wear the anti-discrimination, rainbow-coloured OneLove armband at the tournament before dropping the plan following threats of sporting sanctions from FIFA. And the players made their feelings about the situation known just prior to kick-off, posing for a team photo with their hands over their mouths.