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David Geraint Williams (born 5 January 1962) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a midfielder from 1980 until 2000, notably featuring in the Premier League for Ipswich Town, as well as in the Football League for Bristol Rovers, Derby County, and Colchester United. He was capped 13 times for Wales.
Since retiring he was worked as a coach and later became Colchester United manager between 2006 and 2008 following a successful temporary spell in charge. He later managed both Leyton Orient and the Wales U21 team.
He helped Derby County win promotion to the Second Division in 1986 and to the First Division a year later, rarely missing a game for them in his seven years there. He contributed to their fifth place league finish (their best in over a decade) in 1989 but endured the disappointment of relegation back to the Second Division two years later. After failing to get them back into the top flight in 1992, he bade farewell to the Baseball Ground after seven years, 267 league games and 10 goals, when signing for Ipswich Town on 1 July 1992 for £650,000. Ipswich had just been promoted to the new FA Premier League as champions of the Second Division.
Ipswich did reasonably well in 1992–93, having the longest unbeaten start in the new Premier League and being fourth as late on as February. However, a run of poor results dragged them down to 16th place in the final table. They only narrowly avoided relegation a year later, as the 1993–94 campaign had brought a similar pattern to the previous one – a good start followed by a slump. Ipswich were finally relegated in 1994–95, winning just seven games and conceding 92 goals (including a 9–0 defeat by Manchester United in March 1995). Williams remained with them for three more seasons after relegation, finally departing on a free transfer in the summer of 1998 after 227 league games and three goals for the Tractor Boys.
He then signed for Division Two newcomers Colchester United, playing 39 league games for them over the next two seasons before finally hanging up his boots at the end of the 1999–2000 season and remaining at the club as a coach.
He was also capable of functioning as a deep-lying playmaker for his team, due to his ability to dictate the tempo of his team's play in midfield with his short, efficient passing game, which allowed him to link up the defence with the attack effectively after winning back possession. His physical strength in spite of his small stature, combined with his low centre of gravity, also gave him excellent balance on the ball in limited spaces, which allowed him to retain possession against more physical opponents. In addition to his defensive skills, Williams was also known for his tenacity, awareness, consistency, and strong mentality.
Colchester were among most people's favourites to be relegated from the Football League Championship in the 2006–07 season, as they had the smallest ground in the division – it was also their first season in the second tier of the English league throughout their history. Despite a slow start, they entered a run of consistent good form and were in the challenge for a play-off place right up until the final game of the season. They eventually finished 10th above more favoured sides such as Crystal Palace, Leicester City and most notably the relegated Leeds United.
However, following the club's success many of their most notable players were snapped up elsewhere and, following a summer in which the club needed to rebuild their playing staff, they were unable to sustain their success and were relegated once more the following season, finishing bottom.
With the club's expectations at an all-time high following the two-year stint in the higher division, a poor start to the 2008–09 season, (where the club fell to twenty-third League One) saw Geraint leave his post on 22 September 2008 after discussions with the chairman.
Williams was appointed manager of Leyton Orient in February 2009. He started very well and managed to help Orient to 7 wins from his first 9 games in charge, including wins over teams such as Crewe Alexandra, Brighton & Hove Albion and Carlisle United. He led the relegation-threatened O's to an eventual mid-table finish of 14th place, retaining their League One status with several games to spare. After a poor run of form in March, Williams left Orient only hours after the side's 3–1 home defeat to Hartlepool United. "O's Part Company With Manager Williams" Leyton Orient Official website Retrieved on 3 April 2010.
In May 2012 Brian Flynn vacated his position as manager of the Wales national under-21 football team at the end of his contract and in July 2012 Geraint Williams was appointed as Flynn's successor. Williams appointed to Wales Under 21 During this mandate, he notably suffered a historical defeat in San Marino (1-0), in a qualification match for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. On 5 December 2016 Williams resigned as manager of Wales under 21 and under 19 teams.
| Colchester United | 29 January 2003 | 25 February 2003 | 5||2||0||3|40.00 | |
| Colchester United | 28 July 2006 | 22 September 2008 | 106||30||47||29|28.30 | |
| Leyton Orient | 5 February 2009 | 3 April 2010 | 62||21||25||16|33.87 | |
| Wales U21 | 9 July 2012 | 5 December 2016 | 12||5||4||3|41.70 | |
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