Bert Williams (footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Bert Williams


fullname = Bert Frederick Williams
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1920|1|31
cityofbirth = Bradley, Staffordshire
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1937-1945
1945-1959
clubs = Walsall
Wolverhampton Wanderers
caps(goals) = 025 0(0)
381 0(0)
nationalyears = 1949-1955
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 024 0(0)

Bert Frederick Williams (born 31 January 1920) is a former English football goalkeeper.

Born in Bradley, Staffordshire, Williams began his football career while employed as a member of the groundstaff at Walsall, making his league debut for the Division 3 club on October 16, 1937 against Bristol City.

The outbreak of World War II halted his progress, after two seasons of playing, as he joined the RAF. He also found time in between his duties to turn out as a guest for both Nottingham Forest and Chelsea in friendlies.

With the conflict over, Williams resumed his career by signing for First Division Wolves in September 1945 for £3,500. He immediately became first choice at the Molineux club and gained his first honour in 1949 as they lifted the FA Cup.

His part in winning this prize saw him rewarded with an England call-up later that month, as he made his international debut on May 22, 1949 in a 3-1 friendly win in France. He held onto the goalkeeper's jersey through the 1950 FIFA World Cup, playing all 3 of England's matches. However, he got injured in November 1951 and Gil Merrick established himself in the meantime, and he did not get another chance until December 1954.

Although his international career stalled, he won the league title with Wolves in 1953/54, the club's first championship. He played on for three more seasons after this triumph as the club made a string of top 6 finishes before retiring in May 1957. In total, he made 420 appearances for the Midlanders.

After ending his football career, he later ran a sports shop in Bilston and a sporting academy involving goalkeeping and areas of specialism in many other sports.

In later years, Bert has continued to harness his industrious flair involving himself in the property market and most notably the buying, refurbishing and selling on of manufacturing businesses. This has latterly been more commercially based property development and has seen him in to his retirement. He now lives near Shifnal in Shropshire.

In 2007, 87-year-old Williams released a book of pictorial memories complied from his vast memorabilia collected over the years.

External links

* [http://www.wolves.premiumtv.co.uk/page/GoldenOldies/0,,10307~65459,00.html Official Wolves profile]
* [http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php?id=1061 England Profile]