Williams keen to rebuild career at Hull

BBC News

4 hours ago

Brandon Williams says he has learned from past mistakes as he refocuses on his football career.Williams is now at Hull City to begin a new chapter, having signed on a one-year contract.He was out of the game for 20 months, a period in which he was sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, having been convicted for dangerous driving.It was a dark chapter for the former Manchester United full-back, but he now wants to look forward."It was in the moment I was in, I wasn't in a good place," the 24-year-old told BBC Radio Humberside. "It's a big regret and I've learned from my mistakes. I was still a young boy and I'm grown up now. My focus is back on football and that's all I want to do now."
Williams played 51 games for United after coming through the ranks at Old Trafford.More than two thirds of those appearances came in his debut season as a teenager under the then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and it looked like he was destined for a glittering career.He was arrested for dangerous driving in August 2023, before he was eventually released by United last summer and took a complete break from football."I just fell out of love with football," he said. "Things were going on off the pitch, I had a lot going on and I just couldn't focus on my football. "It just got to the stage where it was too much for me to carry on and it was better for me to take a step away and a step back and try and find myself again."
Stepping away from football in the prime of a career is not an easy thing to do, but Williams reflects on it as the right thing for him.It allowed him a chance to work away from the public glare and now, thanks to successfully coming through a trial period with Hull, he can start to rebuild."I took action to step away from the game but I feel like I managed it well," he said."I was working in silence. Everyone was questioning what I was doing but I was working the whole time. "I was keeping fit and making sure I was ready to step back into football. It was always the aim."Just before pre-season I felt ready to step back into football and it was important that I did get the training and friendlies in. "Now it's just building and building, I'm still not 100% but I'm sure in the next weeks and months I'll be there."
Williams was an unused substitute in the Tigers' win over Oxford United in the Championship on Sunday.He featured in a couple of pre-season games, but he is eagerly awaiting a competitive return to action for the first time since December 2023.However, that involvement in the squad did give him the feeling that he has missed while being away from the game."It's the nerves and butterflies before the game that I've missed," he said. "I'm not a very patient person, so I was excited to get on the pitch, but I'm sure that'll come soon. Now it's down to me to impress the manager."