Brandon Williams Has a Chance to Save His Career at a League Two Club

Former Manchester United defender Brandon Williams is getting another shot at professional football. This time it’s with Rotherham United, a League Two side that just gave him a trial and a runout in a friendly against non-league Parkgate.

Williams played the second half of Rotherham’s 1-0 win. After the match, head coach Alex Bruce didn’t rule out offering him a permanent contract.

“Brandon has a good pedigree. He’s worked with the very best and played against the best,” Bruce told the Rotherham Advertiser. “He was showing me a game between Manchester United vs Liverpool at Anfield where he was playing. We know what he’s capable of.”

But it hasn’t been an easy road. Not even close.

Williams was released by Hull City in February after making just one appearance for the club. He had joined Hull after 20 months without a team. That stint lasted all of a few weeks before both sides agreed to part ways.

Off the field, things got worse. Last May he was handed a suspended 14-month prison sentence after crashing his Audi A3 in 2023. The court heard he was driving at nearly 100 mph at the time of the crash. He was convicted of dangerous driving.

He’s also talked publicly about struggling with depression and mental health issues.

So this trial at Rotherham isn’t just another pre-season workout. It might be his last real chance to stay in the game.

What Bruce said about a potential deal

Bruce was careful not to get ahead of himself. He made it clear that Williams needs time to get fit after not doing a proper pre-season in two or three years and dealing with injuries.

“It’s a case of just seeing where he’s at, getting a good pre-season into him and seeing where we go with it,” Bruce said. “He’s going to continue training, we’re going to have a good look at him. I think he’s enjoyed it here so far. So we’ll give him time, get the fitness levels into him and then, when both parties are happy, we’ll try to make a decision.”

Williams came through United’s academy and made 51 appearances for the first team. At his best, he looked like a real prospect. But a lot has changed since then.

Now 25, he’s trying to reboot his career in the fourth tier of English football. Whether that works out depends on how he handles the next few weeks. Rotherham isn’t rushing into anything and neither should anyone else.