The midfielder on being in the Sunderland ’Til I Die documentary, starting afresh at Charlton and his desire to play for Wales again.
“I didn’t get a dog. But I’m still thinking about it,” confides Jonny Williams. “I want a cute one that isn’t going to give me too many problems.”
It has been a fortnight since the Wales international and reluctant star of the Sunderland ’Til I Die documentary took the hardest decision of his career so far. After five loan spells that culminated in his ill-fated sojourn on Wearside, Williams finally left Crystal Palace for Charlton on a permanent deal.
Despite making only 55 appearances for the club he joined at the age of eight, the 25-year-old helped Palace win promotion to the Premier League and played in Wales’ semi-final defeat by Portugal at Euro 2016. But after viewers saw him open up to a psychologist when injury denied him the chance to play a major part in Sunderland’s attempts to avoid relegation from the Championship last season, Williams knows he will always be remembered for debating whether to buy a pet as he struggled with loneliness a long way from home.
“It was strange having cameras around every day in the dressing room, physio rooms. Everywhere really,” he admits. “Sometimes you don’t realise and you’ll be yourself and obviously that came out in the documentary. I’ve had a lot of nice messages from people saying it’s nice to see some honesty and footballers for who they are.
“Obviously my career has not been as perfect as other players may have it – I’ve had setbacks and challenged myself when I’ve gone away from home. It is tough and it was quite sad watching it. That was a low point in my career because it was such a great opportunity to hopefully go and get Sunderland back in the Premier League, so to get injured when I did was a massive blow. It was so disappointing because you could tell how much it meant to everyone and I just wanted to do my best for them. But I wasn’t able to do that.”Williams returned to Palace last summer more in hope than expectation, with only a year remaining on his contract. He had started the play-off victory over Watford in 2013 and, after turning 20, made nine substitute appearances in the Premier League under Ian Holloway and Tony Pulis the following season. Then, not for the last time, injury struck.
He went on loan to Ipswich twice, Nottingham Forest and MK Dons, managing only another three substitute appearances for Palace in the league until his departure. Williams played a grand total of 222 minutes in the Premier League in more than six seasons. Yet even considering his injury record, was he ever given a real chance?
“No. I don’t think so,” he says. “People can say it’s down to my injuries and I don’t think they have helped but there have been many times that I was fit and available to play at that level. I think I could have. For one reason or another, I wasn’t selected or other players were brought in and you respect that, put your head down and work hard to try and get in the team. But it didn’t seem to happen under a couple of managers.”
In February 2018, Aaron Wan-Bissaka became the first Palace graduate to start a league match for nearly six years. For a club that has a reputation for developing so many good young players in the past, Williams believes that is not enough.
“It’s a shame. But that is the Premier League these days. Obviously I’ve been on the wrong end of it myself. Palace used to be known as one of the best clubs for producing young players – [Sean] Scannell, Victor [Moses], Wilf [Zaha], myself and a lot more that got a chance in the first team before we got promoted. Now Charlton have done the same and the young players are thriving in League One. It’s great to see Aaron doing so well because he’s such a nice lad and it just shows you there can be chances. But he was only thrown in because of an injury to Joel Ward and has shown he has the ability to play at that level.”
Williams has been inundated with good luck messages from Palace fans, players and staff since he left the club where he was once known as “Joniesta” for the last time and admits it has been “a weird few days”. Yet with Lee Bowyer’s young Charlton side fourth in the table following his new signing’s full debut in last weekend’s impressive away win at Shrewsbury, Williams is relishing the prospect of playing regularly as they attempt to return to the Championship.
“When I spoke to the manager here he said that he wants me on the ball and noticed my strengths,” says Williams. “For me, that was a big deal because managers in the past haven’t noticed my strengths – I’ve been stuck on the wing where you don’t get the best out of me. Mick McCarthy played me in a similar position and wanted me central to things and I found myself playing with confidence and being twice the player I was. I do need that confidence at times and I didn’t always have it at Palace because I felt I was feeding off scraps and having to find it from within myself. But if you keep getting knocked back it’s hard to do that.”
When Williams was 17 he came up against Bowyer in a league match and he remembers it was a baptism of fire.
“He took me out! He was a big name when I was a kid, so to play against him was a big thing for me then. When I heard Charlton were interested I was excited because I know I will get the chance to play football.”
The last of his 18 caps for Wales came in October 2017 and, having tasted such highs in France two and a half years ago, Williams is hopeful he can play his part in an exciting new generation that includes Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson of Liverpool and Chelsea’s Ethan Ampadu.
“If I do get back I’ll look almost like a veteran,” he laughs. “I have missed it – you want to play against the best players in the world. Whatever happens in my career I will always be able to look back at that summer and realise I’ve achieved a lot more than I ever expected to. But at the same time I’m still hungry for more.”
The Guardian Sport
