- Neco Williams features in latest Reds' Roots
- Defender discusses his journey to The City Ground
- Forest no. 7 details his footballing story
Neco Williams is the latest Nottingham Forest star to tell his footballing story in Reds' Roots.
The Forest defender featured in the Manchester United edition of Forest Review, discussing his journey from humble beginnings to a Premier League regular in the Garibaldi.
“As soon as you stop learning and improving, other players will overtake you.” For Neco Williams, the mindset of continuous development best explains how he has managed to build and sustain a professional career.
“It comes from my Grandad, who was always quite tough on me. He’d never go overboard with praise. If I had a really good game, he would never say ‘you were amazing’, he’d just say ‘you played well.’
“It was him who told me that if you stand still and don’t develop, you won’t make it to the top. It was tough, but it was what I needed and since my competitive debut, I feel like I have got better and better. Long may that continue.”
Born April 13, 2001, Neco grew up in Cefn Mawr, a small village near Wrexham of just 7,000 inhabitants. He fell in love with football at an early age, owing his talent to his late Grandad, Kelvin.
“He (Kelvin) got scouted for Everton and broke his ankle a week before his trial. A year or two later he was meant to have another trial but then broke his other ankle, so he was super unlucky with injuries.
“Back in the day it wasn’t how it is now where you have such professional rehab. His ankle was just wrapped up in plaster for months, and it never fully recovered. But I got the talent from him, he was the footballer in the family; the best in the village.
“Where I grew up, everyone was playing football. I was lucky enough to live across the street from a field. There are two trees there that we used as goalposts, and as soon as I was old enough to go there alone, I was there all the time.
“Morning till night, every weekend, any spare moment I had, I was there.”
One of five children, the household was a tightknit and active one, with everyone keen to win.
“The household was competitive, yeah. Me and my brother with the football and my sisters with their dance competitions. Sports day at school as well, we all wanted to win, and we were often getting firsts and seconds in multiple sports day events.”
But it was football that had Neco hooked, capturing the attention of multiple clubs from an early age.
“I started as a striker at the age of five or six. At that time while playing for your local team, you’re just playing for fun with your mates. But I knew scouts would be at tournaments and getting scouted was the main aim, I guess.
“Getting ready for the tournaments, we would dye our hair, get out the hairspray and almost try and act like footballers! You would want to impress as much as you can.”
Wrexham, Manchester United, Everton, Tranmere Rovers and Liverpool all showed an interest in Neco, who was scoring goals for fun in every game.
“I guess it came naturally to me. I can’t remember a pinpointed day where I thought ‘Oh, I’m quite good at this’, I just loved playing and wanted to play as much as I could.
“I started to go to Liverpool and Everton sessions, and they were the two most interested in me. It wasn’t until the age of nine that I had to choose a team to sign for. I was still playing for Man United at that time too, training with both teams.
“All my family are United supporters, so everyone thought I would choose them, but I chose Liverpool. It’s hard to remember exactly why, but I think it came down to where I felt most comfortable and at that time it was Liverpool.”
Up until the age of 15, Neco would travel multiple times a week on the hour-long drive from Cefn Mawr to Liverpool. His family have always been his biggest supporters.
“Without my family, I wouldn’t be where I am now. They had to make sacrifices, taking me to training, to games and they have always been by my side. My dad doesn’t like flying but he travelled all round the world for me. He didn’t want to miss out on me playing, so whether it was Tokyo or Qatar, Belgium or Spain, I had support.
“I know people from back in my area who also got scouted, but for their families, they found it tough to make those same sacrifices. I was lucky, my family would always, no matter what, they'd put me first.”
Staying close to his family and to his community back in Wales has kept Neco grounded, still going back to visit whenever he can.
“Where I grew up, it's a little small village, and everyone knows each other, it’s where all my family and friends are. Everyone goes to the local pub, the Legion. You would play on the Saturday, then everyone goes to the Legion for a pint, that's just always how it’s been.
“When I go back home, just as I've been doing from the start, I still see my mates, still try and pop to the Legion when I can. Nothing's really changed.”
Change did come his way when he turned 15, having to leave home to move into digs (a host family), something that posed a new challenge for the budding professional.
“Playing football while living at home meant I was missing a lot of school, and I knew I would eventually have to move. It was tough because I was in a house with lots of siblings, a busy household, and then one day I just had to move away and go and live with another family. I had to change school, so it was a bit of a shock at the start, a big change, and you miss back home when you're up there, you don't have all your mates around. But you get used to it, and you also know all your teammates have to do it as well, and I guess that's the sacrifices you have to make as a kid, if you want to become a footballer.”
In the summer of 2017, having settled into his new life in Liverpool, Neco was part of the Under-18s squad that was to be coached by returning club legend, Steven Gerrard. A dream of an opportunity then became a nightmare, right at the start of pre-season.
“It was literally the first run of pre-season; I felt my back go. I went for a scan and got the news I didn’t want; I was out for over six months. I was gutted. It was my first year as a scholar and everyone had the same routine. You would have to be in at 9am and leave at the same time, around 4pm, once all the jobs had been done. We would have to clean the staff boots, put out the balls and cones on the pitch ready for training in the morning, clean the gym at the end of the day, fill up the ice baths etc.”
“With the injury, that routine was still the same. I wasn’t training, I would do my rehab and then have to wait until 4pm before I could leave once all the jobs had been done, while my teammates were training and playing. It was tough.”
Having got through the rehab, the tide was about to turn for the young Welshman. He recalls the April 25 2019, winning the FA Youth Cup against Manchester City, scoring a penalty in the shootout en route to lifting the trophy.
“When you’re in an Academy the FA Youth Cup feels like the Champions League equivalent; it’s the main one you want. That was the first experience of winning something and it was a great feeling.”
The same year as lifting a trophy at youth level, Neco made his first team debut, playing a key role in an enthralling league cup tie against Arsenal at Anfield.
“Before that game, I’d never been on the bench with the first team, never travelled with them, never played at Anfield in front of that many fans, so I was thrown into the deep end, I guess.
“I found out the day before that I was playing and then I just remember thinking ‘this is my chance; I need to take it.’ The reality is, quite a lot of players make their debut but if you don’t take that chance, it can be really hard to get another one. I had confidence and belief that I was going to make the most of the opportunity. Impressing means you get another chance, then the next one, and so on. Everyone at that level has talent, you need more than that to take the next step.”
The following year, Neco became a Premier League champion and being around such a successful team has helped his own development.
“At that time, I was still very young and maturing into a player, always learning. You could argue I was playing with the best team in the world, so for me it was about trying to take in as much information as possible and learn. Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and (Andy) Robertson were probably the best full-backs in the world that season, so I was learning so much.”
Having had a taste for first-team football in the 2021/22 season on-loan at would-be championship winners, Fulham, Neco made the decision to leave Liverpool, ending a 15-year association with the club.
“Forest were actually one of the first clubs to show a real interest in me. I was on holiday with Brennan (Johnson) when I found out about the interest, and we pretty much spent the whole holiday talking about Forest. He was so positive about the Club and how ambitious the Club and the owners are. Seeing how much they wanted me and how ambitious they are, it just excited me.
“You see owners now at football clubs who don't really have any involvement in the club. These owners are so ambitious that you see them now at every single game. When we're coming in after a game, shaking our hands and congratulating us, that’s what you want as a player. It shows ambition, a massive reason why I joined.”
After two seasons working to stay in the league, the team’s performances this season have shocked many people outside the club. Part of the success comes from not taking anything for granted.
“The Premier League is relentless; you can’t just go into a game and expect to win. It’s sometimes difficult to pinpoint why you’re in a bad run because the margins are so fine. You have to learn whilst on the journey and I think that’s why I give such big credit to the Head Coach now. He’s come in, changed us completely, and found a way of winning.”
After a string of fine performances at right-back last season helped the team fight off relegation, the Welshman has predominantly been deployed on the left-hand side this campaign.
“My grandad used to drill into my head that to be a Premier League footballer, you have to use both feet no matter what. He made me practise it, which isn’t necessarily something you want to do as a kid. Looking back now I’m so pleased he did.
“I’ve played on the left quite a lot for Wales so it’s not a new position, it’s good to be able to play both sides.”
On the national team, Neco recalls the September 3, 2020; making his senior debut against Finland in the UEFA Nations League. Three days later, he scored the winner against Bulgaria in the same competition. Despite no crowds due to the pandemic, the moments will be forever cherished.
“In my professional career I’d only played a couple of games in front of crowds before COVID, so it wasn’t a major shock for the Wales debut, I was almost used to it. It was a weird time for everyone, but it was so special to make my debut. It didn't matter how many people are in the stadium when you make your debut, it's just as special as playing in front of no fans or 60,000 fans.
“To come on and score the winner against Bulgaria was a special feeling. I’ll always remember it.”
Part of the Wales squad for Euro 2020, Neco then started every game at Qatar during the World Cup in 2022 and remains a key figure for the national team.
At Forest, as the season draws to a close, the team have found themselves in a position few would have predicted nine months ago.
"We're just enjoying it, that is the main message. We knew we wanted to do better than the last two years and push on this year. So far, it's obviously going really well for us. We're sitting third in the league with ten games to go, if you'd have said that to someone at the start of the season, they probably would have laughed at you.
"But internally, we had the belief that we could do well. We have quality right the way through the squad. Individually we have quality, but the main strength of ours is how well we have worked as a team. There's almost no point having an unbelievable group of players that don't play as a team because it just won't work.
"You need everyone on board. Not just the 11, the whole squad, all 25 players. Being together as a team and being on board with everything. The manager sets out a game plan and everyone has to stick with it. You can't have one or two players doing their own thing or not working for the team. The team comes first. That mentality explains why we are where we are."