Eifion Williams

Williams was born in Bangor in North Wales and began his career as a Wolverhampton Wanderers apprentice. However, things did not work out and he moved back to Anglesey and joined League of Wales side Caernarfon Town, while working on a building site. Williams scored freely for Caernarfon and this attracted the attention of bigger clubs. On the eve of the 1997–98 season, Williams left Caernarfon for Barry Town, then the only professional side in the League of Wales, breaking their transfer fee in the process at a cost of £25,000. He immediately began scoring regularly, including one against Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League. Williams also helped Barry Town record their highest win when he contributed four goals to help Barry Town beat Conwy United 9–0. Williams' performances and goal scoring record attracted scouts from English football league clubs. On 25 March 1999, after over 200 League of Wales goals in four seasons, Torquay United paid £70,000 (breaking their transfer record) to sign Williams, beating off competition from a number of clubs, possibly helped by his Barry teammates Lee Barrow and Paul Mitchell, both former Torquay players, passing on happy memories of Plainmoor. He made his league debut against Hartlepool United and made an instant impact as he became only the second Torquay player to score a hat-trick on his debut (the first being Peter Laraman in the 6–2 defeat of Barnsley in September 1961). Unfortunately this led to massive expectations being…

Hartlepool United Third Division runner-up: 2002–03 League Two runner-up: 2006–07 Individual League of Wales Golden Boot winner: 1997–98, 1998–99