From next Gary Neville to brush with jail: the fall of Brandon Williams

Times

23-05-2025

A little over six years ago, Brandon Williams was being lauded as the latest talent off the Manchester United production line.
The 19-year-old was earning plaudits from coaching staff, pundits, team-mates and supporters as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made him the 228th academy graduate to break into the first team. He didn't waste time in establishing himself as the first-choice left back at the club he had supported his whole life.
Now 24, Williams is without a club and has not played a game of professional football for more than 18 months. On Friday, he was sentenced at Chester Crown Court to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, after admitting dangerous driving. Williams was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid community service and has been banned from driving for three years.
It is the latest chapter in the rapid rise and fall of a Manchester boy destined for the top until off-the-pitch issues and poor advice led to his career trajectory taking a very different turn.
In at the Anfield deep end
It was a few weeks after his 19th birthday in September 2019 that Solskjaer handed Williams his first senior start in a League Cup game against Rochdale. His mum Lisa, who runs a cafe in the Harpurhey suburb of Manchester, proudly stuck Manchester Evening News cuttings from the match and the team sheet on the kitchen walls of her business. It was a proud moment for the family and the area.
After joining United at seven, he started as a right back but switched flanks when he broke into the under-18s. Ethan Laird, now at Birmingham City, had nailed down the right-back position so Williams showed his determination and character by getting his head down and making the left back shirt his own.
By January 2020, injury to Luke Shaw and the form of Ashley Young meant Williams was the club's first-choice left back. Solskjaer privately spoke to staff about how impressed he was with the player's mentality and maturity. He had no qualms about throwing him in at the deep end at Anfield, knowing he would thrive in the hostile atmosphere and drawing comparisons with Gary Neville.
Speaking about him in that breakthrough year, Nicky Butt, then the head of United's academy, said: 'A lot of it was through ability, but a lot through his character and drive. At this club we're big believers that it's not just talent, it's that character that keeps you at the club for a long time.
'I always say it: talent gets you through the door but it doesn't keep you here, determination and the will to train hard and learn — that's massive. And Brandon has amazing character.'
By the end of his breakthrough season he had made 36 first-team appearances as United finished third. He had also played in the Europa League semi-final and earned a call up for England Under-21.
'Brandon's never ever let us down and another excellent performance by him. [He's] definitely a lesson for everyone who wants to be a professional footballer; the attitude he's showing,' Solskjaer said in June 2020.
Bumper contract, Heaton clash and hangers on
Solskjaer liked his confidence but was also wary. The Norwegian had been considering taking Williams on pre-season tour in 2019 only to hear him tell one of his team-mates in a youth team game that he was 'f***ing shit' after failing to control a through-ball. In later years he would clash with the veteran goalkeeper, Tom Heaton, during a pre-season friendly and was known to occasionally lose his head on the training pitch.
Williams's rapid progress meant he was rewarded with a bumper contract to reflect his status and standing within the squad. It was a four-year deal with a significant wage increase and those who worked closely with Williams noticed a change in demeanour.
But outside of the walls of Carrington, United's training ground, there was a feeling that some around him were trying to use him. His confidence was bordering on brashness and it was felt he had a group of hangers-on around him who weren't helping him make the best decisions to benefit his career.
Financially he had people relying on him and he was generous with his cash; he bought his dad a brand new Mercedes with his first paycheck. That money allowed him to have a lifestyle and a status but he struggled with the pressure of being a United regular. He found the limelight difficult and couldn't get his head around not being able to do everyday tasks, such as going to the supermarket or having dinner with friends, without fans wanting to take his picture. 'It went from 0-100 real quick and that's what people will never understand,' Williams said in March.
He spoke about family members he had never heard of getting in touch with him, and how he felt people he was barely friends with were latching on to him and then stabbing him in the back. Those who work in the game doubted that some of the people he had around him had his best interests at heart.
The road to redemption just got longer
During the 2020-21 season, which was played behind closed doors because of the Covid pandemic, Williams struggled to have anywhere near the same impact and played only four times in the Premier League. His performance levels dropped and the defender partially blamed the empty stadiums and not being able to thrive off the atmosphere of the fans for his decline. He also struggled with the at-home training players had to do during lockdown, because he did not have the space in his bedroom at his mum's house. The fact his fitness levels dropped meant lost his place to Luke Shaw.
A loan spell at Norwich City the following season helped Williams mature and there was a feeling that leaving Manchester and certain negative influences would help him. He spoke about the benefits of training, recovering and eating well with no distractions.
Yet he continued to be poorly advised. Take an Instagram post while he was at Carrow Road where he posted a picture of himself raising his middle finger after he was abused by fans following a 4-0 defeat by West Ham United in May 2022. 'He posted that in an emotional moment. He did the right thing and took it down,' the Norwich manager at the time, Dean Smith, said. A year later, Williams made an ill-judged post about Manchester City when they had won the Treble which United sources were quick to distance themselves from.
That summer United were willing to listen to offers to let Williams leave permanently. He was left out of the pre-season tour squad with a 'small issue' but it was clear Erik ten Hag did not want him and he made only one appearance.
In March 2023 he was pictured in a car near the training ground by The Sun, allegedly inhaling nitrous oxide. In August of that year, he was arrested after being involved in a high speed crash where prosecutors allege he had a balloon in his mouth, which he denied in court as he was sentenced for the crime. That was not the first driving-related incident he had been involved in, having twice been banned from driving after amassing 30 points on his licence.
Off the pitch the situation, in Williams' words, was 'bad' but Solskjaer's former assistant Kieran McKenna, with whom Williams had a close bond, offered him a lifeline on loan at Ipswich Town. He signed four days after his arrest.
The move started well enough as he was a regular starter, scoring key goals against Huddersfield Town and Preston North End in their ultimately successful bid for promotion from the Championship, but injury and illness affected his time there and he played his last game for the club on December 29. His decision to turn up to training in expensive sports cars was said to have irritated players and staff at the club and off-the-pitch matters and issues with his family and friends were felt to be affecting his focus, so McKenna sent him back to Manchester to sort out his problems.
Sources who recall seeing him at Carrington remarked he looked gaunt and not like himself, potentially embarrassed at how the season had ended up playing out. 'Things were starting to go crazy off the pitch, with friends and stuff like that,' Williams said on the More than a Match podcast. 'I ended up coming back to Manchester, sorted a lot of things out. Things got worse, so then the process didn't really get me back down there.'
Instead he ended up training at The Cliff, United's former training ground, on his own with a coach before being released. It is understood United have since tried to offer support and Williams has a close bond with one of the first-team staff who has regularly checked in.