Wrexham: Hollywood owned club’s starmaker planning for the future

Hailing from Anglesey, Williams has played a prominent role in identifying and recruiting Wales’ stars of the future.

As the Football Association of Wales’ (FAW) national talent identification pathway manager, Williams’ remit was to widen the country’s talent pool which saw the emergence of Ethan Ampadu, Dan James and David Brooks among others.

While those players are bidding to secure a place at next summer’s World Cup finals, Williams has swapped the FAW for the role of academy manager at the club which has gone from National League to Championship in three years.

Williams had previously been a part-time coach at the club’s academy when Steve Cooper – who would go on to manage Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City – was head of youth development.

The 54-year-old was “intrigued” when he saw the role of academy manager advertised following the departure of Andy Lowe in July.

“The main reason, from my perspective, was purely the basis that players in north Wales and the north west [of England] had an opportunity now that Wrexham had been reinvigorated into a football league club after 15 years of absence,” Williams said.

“It’s trying to get north Wales back on the football landscape of not only Wales, but also the UK and beyond.

“We’ve heard on a number of occasions in the last few months the CEO of Wrexham, Michael Williamson, highlighting the importance of the academy and highlighting the importance of local talent, regional talent – bringing them into the club and providing a pathway for them to go into national football.”

Williams says that is also echoed by the FAW and its chief football officer, David Adams.

“When we say local, it goes beyond the community of Wrexham. It goes into the far flung places of north Wales where nobody’s even heard of,” added WIlliams.

“So we’ve got to ensure that we have every area of north Wales covered as a fundamental and then we can start opening up into other areas around the country.”