Playmaker's chat with new Hull recruit Randell Williams

After completing his move to Hull City and the Championship today, Playmaker decided to take a look back at our interview with Randell Williams from last year, where one of the EFL's most exciting talents guided us through an intriguing route to the top.

In this extract from Issue One of Playmaker's The Mighty Delta, we got to chat with one of the Football League's most exciting talents about what it takes to make it to the professional game, and how to stay there.
 

Regular Football League watchers got used to a familiar sight last season coming out of the South West. Whenever League Two teams headed down to Exeter, or the cameras headed that way on TV, a ponytailed number 11 undoubtedly caught the eye, jinking past defenders with ease before laying the ball on a plate for a league-leading 14 assists.

Randell Williams’ start to life in Devon was far from easy, being benched and even missing out on squads, the former Tottenham, Watford and Crystal Palace youngster clicked with Grecians boss Matt Taylor for a break-out 2019/20 campaign, and now even he admits they’ll be lucky to hold onto him.

But as Williams explains, it’s not the first time he’s had to come through adversity, and his path to establishing himself as one of the hottest prospects in the EFL was as much about hard work as it was his undoubted talent.

“I’ve always played men’s football since I was 13, and when I went to Tower Hamlets I just found it more enjoyable to play men’s football, when you’re playing for something. In academy football it was good in terms of the quality of the training, but the competitiveness in terms of the games wasn’t serious enough, so going to play men’s football I think you learn so much more than at an academy.”

A slight winger with undoubtedly high levels of power and pace, Williams’ expedition into non-league football may have been unorthodox but the lessons learned from backing himself in adversity continue to serve him well, as he’s shown, there’s more than one way to make it in the game, and one ingredient that’s more important than all else.

“I think there’s a very fine line with the words ‘hard work’ because I know lots and lots of footballers that say they work hard, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes where it just isn’t the case. For me growing up I didn’t have the luxury of an academy system where you know all the boys and you’re comfortable there and you’re getting paid well. Any money I got was from my mum that I kept aside for a £2 chicken and chips or whatever.

“I would get up at five o’clock, go to the gym, then straight from there to college, to a Watford academy scheme in Borehamwood, and straight from college we would train, and then shoot off to my local club that I played with and train again. And after that I would either do a private session, or go and do another gym session and get home at midnight and straight to sleep, so I’d be on four hours sleep if I was lucky, which I think my mum got quite worried about because I would come home so knackered.”

“I think when it comes to working hard, there’s definitely also working too hard, because when you don’t have much and you know what it takes to get where you need to go, there are certain sacrifices you have to make to get to that point. Of course talent is part of it, and I think luckily I’ve been blessed with a lot of athletic talent, maybe not size but in terms of jumping, speed and power, and I’ve been able to train myself to take that much load on, so when I went to places like Watford and Crystal Palace I felt like the boys there didn’t really appreciate that side of it and thought they had already made it.”

📍 In the building.#hcafc | #theTigers pic.twitter.com/lbMg4qLpU1

— Hull City (@HullCity) June 22, 2021

“And for me when you're at under 23s level or whatever, you’re not a football player. I understand you have a professional contract but you’re not playing in front of fans, and you’re not getting paid to get three points, so there’s still such a long way to go.

“I just couldn’t understand it, it wasn’t important for me to have all the money in the world and come in with nice clothes and drive fancy cars, and when you can afford it, of course you should enjoy yourself, but when I see guys like that say they worked hard and then turn up late for training and then don’t train properly and think it’s enough to just come in and play well and not work on yourself physically, for me that’s not working hard, that’s just doing the job you’ve been given.

"For me I love football and I wouldn’t play football if I didn’t want to be the best, that’s my mindset and obviously everyone’s not like that, but that’s the way I see it.”

Williams was with Tottenham as a child, but decided against signing a contract where many would, a decision he believes has made him the player he is today.

“I just stopped going as I was doing so much, I was playing for three teams, Tottenham, Chapel Boys and Westwood, and doing athletics and gymnastics, and I wasn’t getting paid by Tottenham as I turned down the contract as I wanted to do so much when I was a kid, but they said I could stay there and train if I wanted to.

“It wasn’t so much a choice between careers, I just loved doing everything when I was a kid, and I knew once I was contracted to Tottenham I wouldn’t be able to do anything else other than play for them."

Williams continues to punch up since his non-league days with Tower Hamlets, and now at Exeter, the experience he gained in his teens from playing against men twice his age and size mean that teams targeting the wingback is just another challenge he’s able to rise to.

“I knew at the back end of last season teams were starting to double up on me and I had three players marking me at once in certain games, it was always difficult, and playing wingback I would have to pick the ball up deep to run half of the pitch, but you’ve got to deal with the situation in front of you. I think I’m good enough to go past two or three players, and although obviously you can’t do it every game, it’s a case of picking and choosing the right moments.”

Williams, a traditional winger, found his place in Taylor’s side further back, and although it’s not his preferred position, it’s becoming one increasingly important in the game.

“I think if you’re a dominant team like Liverpool, it’s easier to go and be an attacking wing-back or fullback, especially for two players like Trent and Robertson who are allowed to just bomb forward, with players like Salah and Mané who can play inside. But when you dominate so much of the ball at that level, it’s easy to do. In terms of League Two, there’s no real definition in terms of better quality teams and anyone can beat anyone.”

“I don’t particularly like playing wingback, as I don’t think I’m the greatest of defenders, but it has worked out well for me so I’ve got no complaints. But I’d like to be more of a winger and get into attacking positions so I can put up bigger numbers.”

But do Williams’ league-leading numbers matter so much?

“I think any player likes to get involved stat wise, and for me in the era that we’re playing in now, you have to produce, as sometimes just playing well isn’t enough, as stats are so important in football now.”

Statistical analysis has completely infiltrated scouting and agent work, and for the London born player, it’s another area he’s attacked his career differently to many others.

“I didn’t have an agent until I was about 18 or 19, and when I look back there were a lot of scouts who would come to places like Market Road and watch, and I know now scouts are not so active, everyone needs an agent now.

“At the time Robert Codner who was fantastic with me and helped me get fit. He told me that technically I had to get better, but also if I was going to go to an academy I have to be fitter than everyone there, because each club is going to look at you and if you’re just as good as what they’ve already got, there’s no point in you being there, you have to be better.

“So they’ve been training together for six or seven years, and I’ve got to be making sure I’m fitter than everyone there, that I can run harder than everyone there, and that was my philosophy that helped me get back into the system, because I knew once I got there, with the way I work and train, I would get to that level.

“For a player like me I’m not very physical in that aspect, but of course I’ll compete. You look at players like Ryan Bowman who are a lot more physical and dominant and can bully players, but for players like me I have to be a bit smarter and not get into battles that I’m not going to win.

“There are ways around it and everyone has their own attributes, if someone’s fast you’ve got to outmanoeuvre them and be clever and more tricky, if someone’s physical you’ve got to learn to play on the shoulder and try to draw them out of the space. I think football can become so simple when you understand it, but it’s about having that willingness to understand it and learn the right things to do.”

While Williams acknowledges that his path may be unique, the decisions he’s made in his career have made him one of League Two, and the EFL’s, most sought after players, and his last two coaches at Exeter and Wycombe have played a huge part in that.

“Gareth Ainsworth is one of the best managers I’ve ever worked with, especially with the type of person he is. He was someone you could go and talk to and was more than just a manager, he was fantastic, and what he’s achieved with Wycombe is unbelievable. He’s someone who really brings the whole club together and it was a pleasure to work under him. When you make an entire football club a family it’s so much easier to work as everyone’s happy. At the end of the day football should be enjoyable, it’s a dream job.

“With Matty Taylor for me it was a hard start, I wasn’t playing and there was a period where I didn’t even make the squad and that first six months was tough. But obviously last season I really grew into the role that was given to me, and me and Matt Taylor have a really good relationship today and I think we did really well to get to the play-offs.”

“We should have done a lot better in the play-off final but these things happen in football and you just have to move on go again”

This season, the goal of promotion is the same again, but as you can probably tell from this glimpse into Williams’ high-performance mindset, he wants Exeter aiming for the very top after years of just missing out.

“Automatic promotion is where you want to be, but for me I want to win the league, automatic isn’t enough.”

A Premier League youngster with experience in the third tier, even his current coach, Taylor, knows Williams is destined for big things saying, “Randell will go to a higher level and we know that, but for the time we have him, we’ve got to keep working with him. He isn’t the finished article yet, and we still want more in terms of that end product, but if he starts adding goals then he is going to be a hell of a player.”

Last season was a breakout campaign for the 23-year-old, but judging by his character, things are only going to step up now everyone knows his name.

The 14 assists have been delightful, and his ability to draw a keeper out dink the ball over them one-on-one has made many sit up and take notice, the only thing that might be missing from his game in a time without fans is his world-class back flip celebration. Will he still bring it out?

“We’ll see, it depends on the game,” said Williams. And hearing from such a hard-working exciting young prospect, you’re left with the feeling there might well end up being quite a few of those this season