{"id":289386,"date":"2023-08-29T23:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T23:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=289386"},"modified":"2023-08-29T23:33:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T23:33:58","slug":"alex-williams-on-why-hes-dedicated-his-life-to-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/alex-williams-on-why-hes-dedicated-his-life-to-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Williams on why he&apos;s dedicated his life to Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Man City legend ALEX WILLIAMS on becoming the top flight&#8217;s first black goalkeeper in the 1980s, dealing with Nazi salutes and being pelted with bananas &#8211; and why he&#8217;s dedicated his life to the Citizens<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Alex Williams was the first black goalkeeper to regularly play in Division One<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span>Now he is the beaming face of Manchester\u00a0City&#8217;s charity, City in the Community<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Would Mohamed Salah &#8216;do the dirty&#8217; on Liverpool by leaving? And what about Man United &#8216;diving&#8217;?: Listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off, Mail Sport&#8217;s new podcast<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There will be two groups of Manchester City supporter. One who remembers Alex Williams as the first black goalkeeper to regularly play in the old First Division, the one who took over from the great Joe Corrigan in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>And the younger vintage will know Williams as the genial face of the club\u2019s charity, City in the Community. The man who has spent 33 years giving back to the region\u2019s streets. His association with City now in its sixth decade, Williams is calling time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018At Maine Road, the community team had an upstairs room in a semi-detached house,\u2019 Williams says. \u2018Next to the old social club there were two houses. One belonged to the old groundsman, Stan Gibson. We were in the other with the lottery department.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was quite cosy, laughable today, but in some ways it was great because we were accessible. People would just wander through the house. I remember driving a really rickety old minibus to a school. I got pulled over and got three points because the tyres were bald. We have come a long way since those days.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The numbers bear that out. The charity has gone from turning over \u00a310,000 a year when Williams took charge to more than \u00a33million now as he leaves his role as ambassador after 12 years. He has driven the growth and a training pitch was named in his honour last week, where the 61-year-old\u2019s speech focused on gratitude to others. Those included Nedum Onuoha, who now sits on the board.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/29\/20\/74847307-0-image-a-15_1693338166962.jpg\" height=\"451\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Alex Williams became the first black goalkeeper to regularly play in the old First Division<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/29\/20\/74847311-0-image-a-16_1693338171107.jpg\" height=\"446\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Now, Williams (back left) is known as the genial face of the club\u2019s charity, City in the Community<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019re standing there next to his pitch and he\u2019s thanking everyone else,\u2019 Onuoha says. \u2018I had nothing to do with this but he wants to give me credit. He\u2019s probably embarrassed, even though it\u2019s the least we can do.\u2019 Onuoha, the former full back, was once a kid on the community scheme. \u2018He\u2019s a legend of the club and the area itself,\u2019 Onuoha adds. \u2018I think he\u2019s irreplaceable. He\u2019ll be sorely missed. The history he has here can\u2019t be matched.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Williams\u2019s career was effectively over by the time Onuoha was born. He had flourished as a youngster, applauded off at Anfield by the home fans, before an undiagnosed slipped disc forced him into retirement at 25, after a spell at Port Vale.<\/p>\n<p>In the modern era, only QPR\u2019s black goalkeeper Derek Richardson had briefly featured in the top flight before him.<\/p>\n<p>That Williams paved the way for others is an inescapable fact, David James and Shaka Hislop have both said that he acted as an inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s not a position where a lot of black or ethnic players play in,\u2019 Williams says. \u2018I think that\u2019s changing. I look at MLS, there are a lot of black goalkeepers playing there. Going down to the lower leagues here, there are a lot. There are one or two higher up.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>With parents from the Windrush generation, Williams immediately won the hearts of those at Maine Road. \u2018Two young tearaways\u2019, as Williams describes them in his new autobiography, often shouted to chat as he ran through Cringle Park in Levenshulme. Noel and Liam Gallagher. Liam has written a passage in the book and City boss Pep Guardiola has provided the foreword.<\/p>\n<p>English musician Mike Pickering, a former DJ at Hacienda nightclub in Manchester who is close with Noel and a regular at City matches, also pens a tribute.<\/p>\n<p>In that, though, Pickering recounts the Nazi salutes aimed towards Williams at Elland Road on a day where City\u2019s No 1 was pelted with bananas to the extent that kick-off was delayed. Williams was a target in bigoted 1980s England. On another occasion, an intercepted envelope addressed to him at a team hotel was found to contain razor blades.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/29\/20\/74847453-12458485-image-m-21_1693338784610.jpg\" height=\"446\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Williams (right) presented Manchester City&#8217;s Erling Haaland (left) with his Premier League winners medal<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/29\/20\/74847309-0-image-a-18_1693338287691.jpg\" height=\"510\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The charity has gone from turning over \u00a310,000 a year when Williams took charge to more than \u00a33million now as he leaves his role as ambassador after 12 years<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A goalkeeper in the top flight was unheard of,\u2019 Williams says. \u2018It was a shock to the fans. It wasn\u2019t nice but you have to drown it out.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Certain games I remember: West Ham away, Leeds away \u2014 I was actually applauded at the end of the game. Not just for my performance but dealing with what had been said.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham, an Everton fan, stood in the Gwladys Street Stand as Williams ran towards them after half-time. One local climbed a fence, leaning over with a twisted newspaper. Alight, he was waving it as a burning cross to imitate the Ku Klux Klan. Others in the stand were laughing.<\/p>\n<p>City signed a commercial deal with Saab and Bernard Manning was hired to \u2018entertain\u2019 at the press call. \u2018If you win the league this year, you\u2019re all going to get a Saab each,\u2019 Manning told the assembled squad. \u2018I think we might be a couple short, so you two n****** won\u2019t get one.\u2019 Manning pointed at Williams and Clive Wilson.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/08\/29\/20\/74847457-0-image-a-20_1693338371376.jpg\" height=\"347\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Williams (green top) in action as he collects the ball during a Manchester derby clash in 1989<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Complaining would have been seen as a sign of weakness back then,\u2019 Williams remembers. With all of these incidents, the urge for retribution must have been all-consuming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There was lot of temptation,\u2019 he says. \u2018You can\u2019t do that though. You can\u2019t go doing things you\u2019d probably like to. You\u2019ve got to remember who you\u2019re representing: it\u2019s not just the football club, you\u2019re seen as a pillar of the community as well.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Pillar of the community, Alex Williams.<\/p>\n<p>You Saw Me Standing Alone is available from www.alexwilliamsbook.co.uk for \u00a315.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12458485\/Man-City-legend-Alex-Williams-flights-black-goalkeeper-1980s-dealing-Nazi-salutes-pelted-bananas-hes-dedicated-life-Citizens.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man City legend ALEX WILLIAMS on becoming the top flight&#8217;s first black goalkeeper in the 1980s, dealing with Nazi salutes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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