Manchester United academy graduate Brandon Williams has been sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, after a high-speed car crash in August 2023
Brandon Williams has been without a club since his Manchester United contract ended last summer.
Brandon Williams has been without a club since his Manchester United contract ended last summer.(Image: Getty Images)
Less than a year after being released by Manchester United, Brandon Williams has been sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years. And after recently saying it hurt him to watch football, the full back who had been tipped for the very top finds his career in tatters.
Williams, 24, pleaded guilty to driving dangerously, with a balloon in his mouth, and hitting a top speed of 99mph before crashing his Audi A3 into a Ford Fiesta on the A34 near Handforth, Cheshire in August 2023.
And on Friday he was handed a suspended 14-month prison sentence, 180 hours of community service and banned from driving for 30 months. This was not Williams’ first driving offence – he had already accumulated 30 points on his licence – but the damage caused remains untold.
And although he avoided prison, there remains serious doubts over whether a player once so highly rated, has a future in the game - having not played a game for 12 months.
Rare is the player who can return from such a long spell out of the game to hit the heights of before. And it is hard to predict whether clubs will eventually be willing to take a punt on someone with undoubted talent but too many red marks to his name.
Brandon Williams has not played since late 2023, when he was on loan at Ipswich Town.
Williams joined United’s academy aged eight and made his first-team breakthrough under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer while still a teenager in a Europa League draw away to AZ Alkmaar.
And after an otherwise forgettable scoreless encounter Solskjaer was more than enthused by the left back’s bow. “You won’t see a better full debut from a full back anywhere,” Solskjaer said. “The boy is just going to improve and improve. He’s got the right mentality.”
Plenty more opportunities followed with Williams finishing the 2019-20 season by making 36 appearances across all competitions. “He's been fantastic the few games he's played,” Solskjaer said later in that debut campaign. “The boy has no fear, he is as brave as a lion and he got us the win.”
But as Williams recently said on the More Than A Match podcast, he found life “went from 0-100 real quick and that’s what people will never understand.”
Brandon Williams has spoken openly about his issues in recent podcast appearances.
The pandemic affected him. While his team-mates were living in their gated mansions, he found life difficult living in a bedroom at his mum’s house. But the lockdown summer brought a four-year deal worth more than £50,000 per and external expectations were that he would kick on.
There would be no regular starting spot during 2020-21 and he was sent on loan to Norwich City the following year.
At Carrow Road, Williams featured semi-regularly as they were relegated to the Championship - and briefly landed himself in hot water because of an Instagram post apparently directed at Canaries fans who he claimed followed him home after a defeat to West Ham.
He returned to Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 but could not find a way into new head coach Erik ten Hag’s plans and found the attention from those in his outer circle was proving a distraction.
With game time limited, the window for off-field distractions grew bigger. “It was difficult,” he added to More Than A Match. “You had family members you didn’t know was (sic) your family, friends you didn’t know was your mates.”
Brandon Williams in action for Manchester United.
Another loan, to Ipswich Town at the start of last season, brought a clean slate and the initial signs were promising. Except the Cheshire crash came a few days before. “At that point, I was in a bad situation, stuff was going on,” Williams said on the same podcast. He required hospital treatment before he was arrested and breathalysed but tests for drugs and alcohol were negative.
Recorder Eric Lamb acknowledged that Williams had 'strong personal mitigation' after committing the offence at a time of depression.
Still, prosecutors said that Williams - who had previously received driving bans of six months in October 2023 and 12 months in May 2024 - it was fortunate no one was killed from his “erratic driving.”
Andrew Madden, senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor, said Williams' driving "clearly fell far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver.” Mr Madden added: "Witnesses said Williams kept speeding up and then braking sharply. It was clear he wasn't in control of the vehicle. The driving was erratic and the speed was grossly excessive. Eventually, Williams lost control completely and crashed."
Now the career of a player that Manchester United had the highest hopes for is under serious doubt.
Williams himself has suggested that continuing his playing career away from the glaring lights of the Premier League may be his best option. He said: "I've had loads of teams trying to get me out - America, Europe and England - but I haven't been ready. I want to go somewhere 100% focused and kick on.
"I would like to experience that different culture. I'm only 24 so I could do three or four years abroad. Definitely Europe at a good club or an upcoming club."
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