Ben Williams - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 10 July 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Ben Williams
Former United goalkeeper Ben Williams spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton this evening as he talked about finalising his £60,000 move to Colchester today, Williams later talking about the tough start to his Carlisle career :


" Sorting the deal has been quite long and there have been a couple of times when I didn't think that it would go through with the swap deal collapsing. Now though it has finally gone through, obviously it is a bit strange really, it has been quite protracted but it has been very quick when it does happen.

" I heard about their interest just before we came back for pre-season training. I spoke to the manager (Greg Abbott) and he said that there had been interest from Colchester, but it wasn't really the offer that he wanted. It suited him better to have a player in return, like a striker like Scott Vernon, so it all hinged on that really.

" At the end of the day the club came in for me, the manager (Abbott) spoke to me and he said that it would be a good career move for me, they are a bigger club in League One and that they are going to be challenging this season. He said that the offer that they had made eventually was quite a good one.

" I think I did find it tough at the start, I hit probably a bit of form where I didn't seem to have any luck. I made a couple of mistakes that led to a couple of goals and then I think that with me being the latest addition, I think that I was quite singled out.

" I felt like in the second half of the season though when I got my fair chance and fair run of games that it balanced itself out the luck. I got a little bit of luck here and there and I really started to think that I was playing well, hit some good form and I was winning the fans over. "



" You always hear grumbles and stuff and you hear what is going around the town centre. I didn't really need to hear that myself though, I was disappointed in how I played in a couple of games myself first and foremost. So it was irrelevant whether people were getting on my back or not, I was getting on my own back about it.

" It should be good coming back, things have happened very quickly, once the manager said that the deal had been agreed last Monday or Tuesday. We are only on Friday now and I am down here and I am looking for a place to live and that sort of stuff. I have trained with the lads a couple of times and it is quite strange to consider that you won't be going back, well won't be going back playing there on a regular basis, I don't think that it has really sunk in yet.

" So it will be good, I am looking forward to coming back, hopefully I will get a good reception from the fans. I didn't ask to be sold and I didn't ask for a transfer or anything, it was a deal that was suitable for the club. So hopefully the fans will remember the good times, I have not been there that long but in the games that I did play I got the away supporters player of the season, so I would like to say that I gave my best all the time.

" I saw Simon Hackney the other day and to be honest I don't think that he recognised me. He has got a full head of hair now but he is down here and he is enjoying it, he has settled down here, he has had a few months down here now to find a house. He is settled in, he is enjoying it and he is playing well.

" I'd just like to say thank you to the Carlisle supporters. We probably didn't get off to the best of starts, or the most favourable start, but towards the end of the season they were brilliant with me. They showed their full support and I just hope that when I go back there that they will show that support again. "