By Gareth James
Former Wales captain Ashley Williams has said he was disappointed at receiving “no answers” when manager Ryan Giggs left him out of the national team.
Williams – who announced his retirement last month at the age of 36 – rates the last qualifying campaign for the delayed Euro 2020 finals as one of the two most difficult periods of his career.
The former Swansea City skipper – who led his country to the semi-final of Euro 2016 – has revealed he felt left in the dark about the reasons why he was being overlooked despite playing regularly in the Championship for Bristol City.
His last appearance came in the 1-0 defeat away to Hungary in June 2019, but he was not selected by Giggs during the latter stages of the campaign as Wales sealed their qualification.
In a wide-ranging interview with S4C’s Mwy o Sgorio, Williams also revealed that he hopes to begin his coaching career within the Wales age grade set-up, and that he has taken up a consultancy role at his former club, Stockport County.
Asked to name the most difficult times of his long career, Williams said: “I think one of the most challenging times for me was to leave Swansea.
“It was a bittersweet moment because I didn’t want to take away from the fact I was joining another unbelievable club, in Everton, but it felt a bit sad to leave Swansea, and all my friends, and somewhere I had lived and played for so long.
“The last campaign with Wales was disappointing for me, personally.
“I felt like I should have been playing and I wasn’t. That’s nothing against the boys that did play. I’d played the most minutes out of all the centre-halves and I wasn’t getting any answers as to why I wasn’t playing so it was tough.
“I still felt like a big part of the group, I was still captain. I think those two are the two that stand out for me when I look back, to say they were really tough times to try and get my head around.”
Joe Rodon, Tom Lockyer, Chris Mepham and James Lawrence all moved ahead of Williams in the pecking order at the centre of Wales’ defence during the qualifying campaign.
But Giggs’ own future as manager has since been thrown into doubt after his bail was extended two weeks ago following an allegation of assault.
Giggs stood down temporarily last November and Robert Page took charge for the matches against the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Finland. Since then the FAW has given no update on Giggs’ position with the Euro finals now just weeks away.
As for Williams, he hopes to take his first steps on the coaching ladder with teams that fall under the FAW umbrella.
“I’m doing my coaching badges, my B Licence and my A Licence, so just waiting to complete that, and hopefully I’ll start in the Wales setup with an age-group.
“I feel like I’ve got 20 years of experience behind me so it would be selfish not to try and pass on the good bits to the next generation.
“And I’m back at Stockport County in kind of a consultancy role and trying to see them get promoted, so I’m excited about what’s next in my career, whatever that is, or the next part of my life, and we’ll see where it goes.”
To see the full Ashley Williams interview, watch Mwy o Sgorio at 10pm on Wednesday evening on S4C, or on demand on S4C Clic.