Steve Williams- The local legend and fanboy who helped Arsenal win the 1987 League Cup
Steve Williams the outright Gooner from birth would go onto make a firm impact on the hearts of all Arsenal fans during his time as a player.
The midfielder was voted by Gooners during the early 2000s as Arsenals 38th best player of all time, out of the 50 chosen legends backs to adorn the Emirates Stadium originally.
During his time under managers Don Howe and later George Graham Williams made 121 games for Arsenal with five goals to his name from 1984 to 1988.
Williams was also needed by England on six occasions between 1983 and 1984 where he played for the Three Lions for the first time versus Australia in June 1983.
His greatest day as a Gunner came in 1987 when Arsenal surpassed the chances of defeating Liverpool 2-1 in the League Cup final at Wembley. This made up for when he faced heartbreak at the National stadium eight years earlier when he was on the losing side for Southampton, in the final of the competition when Nottingham Forest dismantled them 3-2. Only two years before the 1979 final he was handed Saints player of the season trophy.
Anyway returning to the 87 final When talking to the Arsenal media team recently he said Arsenal wouldn’t have settled for anything else but all out victory. Williams said defiantly “Win, lose or draw, I knew we were going to run through brick walls that day to try and win that trophy. The team was incredibly motivated and disciplined. Personally, I wanted my club-the club I had supported since I was a little boy- to be brilliant.”
However the following year all chaos loomed over his future at Highbury after a clash of heads with George Graham, after he replaced him with the new and upcoming Michael Thomas who would win Arsenal the league in 1989 single handily.
After his time was up in 1988 at N5, Williams endured spells at Luton Town, Exeter City and Irish team Derry City before retiring in 1993.
Arsenal was the world to him and his family, whilst reminiscing with the Gunners “my parents used to watch Arsenal from the North Bank, I had family around the Holloway Road-as a young lad. Arsenal was everything to me!”
At the moment you can find the 65 year old still busy but in the property development sector.
Liam Harding
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Remember him clearly and he was such a good player who gave 100% every game.
I’ve got his autograph somewhere and it’s good to know he’s still alive and kicking!!
Another player that was underated. Shame he fell out with GG.