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Adrian "Adie" Williams
Born: 16/8/1971 in
Reading
Position: Centre-back, but has
appeared in just about every position including as an emergency
goalkeeper
Signed for Reading: From school,
then on loan in early 2000, then permanently for the second time
on 1/7/2000.
Career: Reading (youth to 1996),
Wolverhampton Wanderers (1996-2000), Reading (loan 2000), Reading
(2000 to date)
International appearances: 13 full
caps for Wales
Adie Williams came through the youth ranks at Reading and into the first team. He was a key member of the 1993/94 Division 2 Championship-winning side and was briefly part of a four-man caretaker-management team after Mark McGhee left Reading in December 1994. As this was at the age of 23, he must surely have been the youngest Football League manager ever. In 1994/95, he scored the second goal at Wembley as part of the play-off semi-final defeat, and then stayed at Reading the following season when some of that team moved on. However, injury cut his season short and in the summer of 1996 he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £900,000.
His spell there was injury-hit, and he made few appearances for the first team. And in one of those games he scored an own goal for Reading! In February 2000 he returned to Reading on loan, and then in the summer of 2000 rejoined the club permanently.
Notes:
(a) In the days before squad numbers, Adie wore every different
shirt number for Reading, including the number one whilst playing
in goal as an emergency substitute (not exactly sure when, but it
might have been on 23/11/1991 against Chester City).
(b) Rumour has it that after his transfer to Wolves in 1996, Adie
was pushed down the stairs at a Reading nightclub which led to
his injury-blighted spell at the Midlands club.
(c) As mentioned above he was joint caretaker manager for one
game in 1994. His return to Reading in 2000 means that he is one
of the few players to have played for his club in the century
after he managed them!
Adie was born in Reading but qualifies to play for Wales through his father. He made seven international appearances during his first spell with Reading, including one at home to Moldova in 1995 alongside fellow Royal Lee Nogan. Five more caps followed whilst at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and then in 2002 he returned to the Wales international set-up after an absence of nearly four years. For possible future international appearances, go to the international dates page.
2004 European Championship qualifying Group 9:
Wednesday, 20th November 2002 - Azerbaijan 0 Wales 2, at Tofik
Bakhramov Republican Stadium, Baku - Adie was a late call-up to
the squad and an unused substitute in the game
Saturday, 29th March 2003 - Wales 4 Azerbaijan 0, at Millennium
Stadium, Cardiff - Adie was in the initial 27-man squad for this
game and the trip to Serbia & Montenegro but withdrew due to
injury. The Serbia & Montenegro game scheduled for 2/4/2003
was then postponed.
Wednesday, 20th August 2003 - Serbia & Montenegro 1 Wales 0,
at Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade - Adie was an unused
substitute
Saturday, 6th September 2003 - Italy 4 Wales 0, at Stadio
Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro), Milan - Adie was an unused substitute
Wednesday, 10th September 2003 - Finland 1 Wales 1, at Millennium
Stadium, Cardiff - Adie was an unused substitute
Saturday, 11th October 2003 - Wales 2 Serbia & Montenegro 3,
at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - Adie was an unused substitute
Final Group 9 table:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| Italy | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 17 |
| Wales | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 13 |
| Serbia & Montenegro | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 12 |
| Finland | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 10 |
| Azerbaijan | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 20 | -15 | 4 |
Serbia & Montenegro started the competition under the name
Yugoslavia.
Azerbaijan were at one stage suspended by FIFA but this was later
lifted, and so there was no chance that UEFA might expunge their
results. As I said at the time, although everyone always gets
very excited by potential exclusion of countries, it never
actually happens.
Play-off (two legs) - Adie was in the squad for both games but
withdrew due to injury
Saturday, 15th November 2003 - Russia 0 Wales 0, at Lokomotiv
Stadium, Moscow
Wednesday, 19th November 2003 - Wales 0 Russia 1, at Millennium
Stadium, Cardiff
Russia won 1-0 on aggregate
Friendly:
Monday, 26th May 2003 - United States of America 2 Wales 0, at Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California. Adie played the whole game.
The following is a full list of Adie's international appearances for Wales:
| Competition | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Comments | |
| 1 | Friendly | 23/5/1994 | Estonia | Tallin | Won 2-1 | |
| 2 | ECq | 7/9/1994 | Albania | Cardiff | Won 2-0 | |
| 3 | ECq | 12/10/1994 | Moldova | Kishinev | Lost 2-3 | |
| 4 | ECq | 26/4/1995 | Germany | Dusseldorf | Drew 1-1 | A playing substitute |
| 5 | ECq | 7/6/1995 | Georgia | Cardiff | Lost 0-1 | |
| 6 | ECq | 6/9/1995 | Moldova | Cardiff | Won 1-0 | |
| 7 | Friendly | 24/1/1996 | Italy | Stadio Libero Liberati, Terni | Lost 0-3 | |
| 8 | Friendly | 12/11/1997 | Brazil | Estádio Mané Garrincha, Brazilia | Lost 0-3 | A playing substitute |
| 9 | Friendly | 25/3/1998 | Jamaica | Cardiff | Drew 0-0 | |
| 10 | ECq | 5/9/1998 | Italy | Anfield, Liverpool, England | Lost 0-2 | |
| 11 | ECq | 10/10/1998 | Denmark | Copenhagen | Won 2-1 | Scored Wales' first goal |
| 12 | ECq | 5/6/1999 | Italy | Bologna | Lost 0-4 | |
| 13 | Friendly | 26/5/2003 | United States of America |
Spartan Stadium, San Jose | Lost 0-2 |
ECq=European Championship qualifier
Games 8-12 were as a Wolverhampton Wanderers player, all other
games were whilst at Reading.
Other players - surnames beginning with
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