The wind is howling. The rain is horizontal.
The setting is the modest 6,500-capacity Holker Street, home of League Two outfit Barrow, sandwiched between the local branch of Carpet World and an Asda supermarket.
It’s remote. This port town on Cumbria’s Furness peninsula is 35 miles from the nearest motorway. That journey from the M6 takes you through Ulverston, the birthplace of comedy titan Stan Laurel, and past a model railway exhibition and farm shops selling pumpkins.
A world away from the bright lights of the Premier League, then.
Yet for Liverpool defender Rhys Williams, this represents another important step in reviving his fortunes after a series of agonising setbacks.
When the 23-year-old emerges from the tunnel after the match with his wash bag tucked under his arm and a Red Bull in his hand, not even the wintry elements can wipe the smile off his face.
Morecambe, where he is spending the first half of this season on loan, have just upset the odds in their derby against far-north-west neighbours Barrow to climb off the bottom of the English Football League, courtesy of Ben Tollitt’s late winner.
It is a cherished first league victory of the season for manager Derek Adams’ side and the club’s first league clean sheet since March, and Williams was at the heart of it.
“Massive,” Williams tells The Athletic. “It was everything we’ve been building towards. It was scrappy, the conditions made it tough, but I really enjoyed it and it puts us in good stead for the challenges ahead.
“I wanted to come to Morecambe to play regularly again. The gaffer gave me an opportunity and I’m thankful for that. The lads have been so welcoming. It’s been a difficult period in my career but I want to show what I’m capable of. I want to get back to where I was.”
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When Liverpool booked their place in the 2022 Champions League final, to face Real Madrid in Paris, Williams’ phone pinged with a message from Jurgen Klopp.
The Liverpool manager wanted to thank him, and fellow centre-back Nathaniel Phillips, for helping the club qualify for the competition the previous season: “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
That 2020-21 campaign had surpassed Williams’ wildest expectations. Season-ending injuries to Liverpool defenders Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez saw the academy graduate thrust into the spotlight. Klopp initially played midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho out of position at centre-back before deciding to put his faith in rookies Williams and Phillips instead. It proved a wise move.
Williams made 19 first-team appearances, including six in the Champions League, as Liverpool salvaged a top-four finish by taking 26 points out of the last 30 on offer. His club form was rewarded with a debut for England Under-21s.
“Back then, it was like a dream,” he says. “My favourite memories from that time would probably be playing in the 5-0 win away to Atalanta in the Champions League, when Diogo Jota got a hat-trick, and the 4-2 win (against Manchester United) at Old Trafford in the league. The experience I gained was amazing.”
In his post-match press conference after that rout of Italy’s Atalanta, Klopp described Williams as “exceptional” and added: “I cannot imagine being 19 and playing my second professional football game in the Champions League against (Colombia international striker) Duvan Zapata. It’s incredible. I would have been nervous like hell, but the boy was not.”
Klopp loved the photograph of Williams and Phillips together, the unlikely double act battered and bruised, in front of the Kop on the lap of appreciation after the final game of that season against Crystal Palace. Over three years on, it remains Williams’ most recent senior outing for the Anfield club.
Phillips and Williams after that Premier League finale in May 2021 (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
He had made the leap from non-League to Champions League in seven months following a loan spell in the sixth tier of English football with Kidderminster Harriers in the 2019-20 season.
James O’Connor was part of that Kidderminster squad, before later becoming their assistant manager. He tells The Athletic: “When you sign a player from one of the top clubs, you want them to represent themselves right. You’ve got certain expectations. He was excellent. Rhys was polite, well-mannered and really threw himself into it.
“Don’t get me wrong, he was a beanpole, he hadn’t filled out at all, but he was a good footballer, great passer, technically gifted and he stood out on the ball at that level especially.
“He broke his nose early on — boot to the face. He was in a struggling team where the manager changed three or four times, so he had to deal with all of that. The players really respected him because he stuck at it. He gave it a good go and that’s what you need to have a good career. You need to adapt when you’re out of your comfort zone.”
In August 2021, Liverpool rewarded Williams’ progress with a five-year contract on improved terms before loaning him to Swansea City of the second-tier Championship for the year. Hopes were high but the move didn’t work out, and Williams was subjected to racial abuse by a home supporter when he played against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
“It really affected me,” he told Goal.com the following May. “I’d had it before with England (at youth level) when we played Mexico, but this was worse. It was directed straight at me and I could see the intention.
“I’m not going to use it as an excuse, but I didn’t feel in the right frame of mind to be on the pitch for a good few weeks after it. Unless you’ve experienced it, I don’t think you understand. I was low on confidence and my head wasn’t really on football. That’s what I love doing, and if I can’t even do that without this happening, then it’s almost like, ‘What’s the point? Where can you go to escape it?’.”
His Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was one of the first to message him and he was grateful for the support he received from both his parent club and Swansea. However, he made just seven appearances for Russell Martin’s side before being recalled by Liverpool in the January, then spent the second half of the season playing for their under-21s.
In the July it was back to the Championship, joining Blackpool on what was meant to be a season-long loan. He played 17 times under Michael Appleton but after a decent start to the season, he lost his place as the club found themselves embroiled in a relegation battle. It didn’t help that their fans knew he supported their arch-rivals Preston North End, having grown up in that Lancashire town, and he was a scapegoat for poor results.
Once again, Liverpool recalled him in the January and, two months later, he was on the bench in the Bernabeu as they bowed out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage after a chastening 6-2 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid.
Williams, right, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in May 2022 before they match against Real Madrid (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)
“I enjoyed myself at Blackpool and I only went back to Liverpool midway through that season because of injuries to other defenders there,” Williams tells The Athletic.
“If I had stayed, I’m sure I would have played 35-plus games, but you can’t control what happens at your parent club and they wanted me as cover. Blackpool was different to Swansea where, looking back, it was too early for me to be going to the Championship. The physicality of it was probably a bit too overwhelming for me at that stage. You live and learn.”
In the summer of 2023, the now 6ft 4in (193cm) defender joined Aberdeen on another season-long loan. The Scottish Premiership club had just signed his friend Leighton Clarkson on a permanent deal from Liverpool after a successful loan at Pittodrie.
“Signing Rhys was viewed by the fans here as a major coup,” Sean Wallace, chief football writer for Aberdeen’s Evening Express newspaper, tells The Athletic. “This was a centre-back with Champions League experience who Jurgen Klopp had lauded. We were excited to watch him play. There was a lot of hype. Leighton backed him to be a big success.”
Six months later, however, Williams returned to Liverpool without making a single league appearance for Aberdeen. At a press conference before Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Arsenal that January, Klopp said: “I will have to talk with Rhys about why his loan spell didn’t work out. The boy I know, I would expect to play in Scotland, 100 per cent, from the first to the last second, if it is not (a move to) Celtic or Rangers, where it is always slightly different. And he didn’t.”
Williams explained to Klopp what he had been through. A persistent back problem wrecked his pre-season with Aberdeen and left him playing catch-up. He couldn’t get to the fitness levels demanded by manager Barry Robson. He felt sluggish and was later diagnosed with a virus that medics believe he picked up on holiday in Greece the previous summer.
“I just couldn’t get myself in the right condition to play and it was so frustrating,” says Williams. “There were times when I was really struggling, living in Aberdeen on my own and not playing. My dad would drive up and see me to help give me a lift.
“I had trapped nerves in my back. My body was still growing and that was causing me some issues. It was one thing after another. I just didn’t feel good. They did my bloods when I went back to Liverpool and it came up with a virus, so that was part of the issue too.”
Wallace adds: “Not having a proper pre-season didn’t do him any favours. When he was fit, he was down the pecking order with Richard Jensen, Slobodan Rubezic, Stefan Gartenmann and Angus MacDonald picked ahead of him. He played some B-team games but I felt sorry for Rhys because he just couldn’t catch a break. It was no surprise when the loan was terminated early.”
Williams with Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool beat Ajax in the Champions League in 2020 (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Williams went back out on loan, to League One outfit Port Vale, midway through the January window but didn’t play a game for them either. That’s because within a fortnight of leaving, he was back at Liverpool, doing rehab due to a calf injury. He subsequently regained fitness and spent the latter stages of the season playing for the under-21s under Barry Lewtas.
“A brilliant character to have around. Rhys was great with the younger boys and they enjoyed picking his brains on a few things,” Lewtas tells The Athletic. “I first coached him when he was part of my under-15s squad, along with Curtis Jones and Neco Williams. Rhys was a big part of our FA Youth Cup-winning team in 2019, when we beat Manchester City in the final. He was always one of the most vocal — a good communicator, organising players around him.
“Since the whirlwind of playing all those games for the first team, he’s had a lot of misfortune with the loans — managers changing, injury setbacks at bad times and finding it hard to get his rhythm back.
“The path is not always smooth for young players. It’s all part of the journey. You have to have the character to dig deep and keep going. He’s still young, especially in centre-back terms. He’s got all the tools. You don’t play in the Premier League and the Champions League unless you’ve got talent.”
It was not much of a surprise when Williams, whose contract runs until 2026, found himself still training with the under-21s rather than the senior squad when pre-season started in July under new head coach Arne Slot. He knew he needed to get away and play senior football.
Williams jumped at the chance to join Morecambe, initially on loan until January. He was reunited there with Adam Lewis, who signed for the fourth-tier club on a permanent basis in July after the end of his 19-year stay with Liverpool.
Saturday brought Williams’ eighth start in the nine league matches since he arrived. It hasn’t all been plain sailing as he battles to regain sharpness, and his participation against high-flying Barrow was in doubt due to a swollen toe, but he strapped it up and didn’t put a foot wrong during Morecambe’s surprise win. Two Scousers combined for the winner, with Lewis’ inviting cross volleyed in by former Everton trainee Tollitt.
“Adam and I drive to training together each morning from Liverpool (roughly a two-hour trip). It’s good to have a familiar face and a mate here,” says Williams. “I feel much more comfortable in my body. I owe a lot to Barry Lewtas, Jay Spearing (the Liverpool Under-18s coach) and Ross Jones (their under-21s fitness coach) at Liverpool for their support when things were tough and for helping me get back on track.
“We’ll see what happens in January but I’m happy where I am. There’s no point trying to move somewhere else if there’s uncertainty whether I’d play regularly.”
At the final whistle on Saturday, Williams embraced Lewis and then made a beeline for the away end, where his parents, Scott and Justine, were celebrating among the 605 Morecambe fans in a bumper crowd of 4,665.
“Mum and Dad come to every game — I always want to do them proud,” he says. “Football is full of ups and downs, and I’ve experienced some real highs and lows already. I had a taste of it at the top. I know I can do it. I’m in a good place again and I’m ready to push on.”
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(Top photo: Williams playing for Morecambe last month; Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
