Five years ago today, Ashley Williams became an Everton player but from the start he could feel that something wasn’t right.
Discounting the fact that the Wolverhampton-born Wales international centre-back was a boyhood Liverpool fan, there was a more immediate concern for him.
Recalling his transfer to the Blues on August 10, 2016, on Elis James’ Feast of Football podcast back in February this year, after announcing his retirement from the game, Williams admitted that friendly faces were few and far between when he first arrived at Finch Farm.
He said: “I probably had the most arguments and fights against Everton, so I remember walking in there and it is very difficult – if you haven't got a few friends going into a new job it's tough.
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“I remember going in and I just looked around and I thought, ‘He dislikes me, he dislikes me, I’ve argued with him, I've kicked him, I've fought with him', and it was like the whole team!”
Williams acknowledged that the former foes among his new team-mates soon helped him to feel at home on Merseyside though as they let bygones be bygones and he was quickly welcomed into the group.
He added: “We laugh about it now. Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines, James McCarthy – I'd have run-ins with these! I kind of tagged on to Aaron Lennon, who I’d known just from being around and stuff, and kind of sat with him at the start. It's like being a new kid at school.
“Once I got to know the boys they were great lads, but it was difficult because I had my spot in the changing room at Swansea and I’d had it for so many years.”
Evertonians themselves weren’t as sure though.
Williams said: "It was a strange one for me and I was kind of caught in the headlights a little bit, because I was part of the Swansea furniture - going into a new building just as another player was a bit strange to me.
"At Everton, there's an expectation to win every single game - and they're going to let you know if you don't."
Williams arrived at the club just one day after John Stones had been sold to Manchester City for £47.5million.
While the two men both occupied the same position on the field, ‘old school’ centre-half Williams, who had spent his formative years with non-league Hednesford Town and Stockport County, was hardly a like-for-like replacement for the ball-playing ‘Barnsley Beckenbauer’.
Stones might have had his subsequent ups and downs at the Etihad but having won three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups with City, he today committed his future to the club for a further five years.
Following his departure though, a year after he’d unsuccessfully tried to force through a move to Chelsea, Everton chose to shell out £12million on Williams, just a fortnight shy of his 32 nd birthday at the time, to take his place.
Williams’ first season with the Blues was solid enough. His first goal for the club, an 86 th minute header to secure a 2-1 home win over Arsenal in December proved a morale-booster and helped tee up Ronald Koeman’s side for a strong second half of the campaign that saw them finish seventh and secure a place in the Europa League, albeit coming into the competition at the third qualifying round stage.
However, things unravelled quickly for both the player and his team in 2017/18.
Although Williams (captaining the side) netted again in a Europa League group game against Lyon at Goodison, he was also booked for pushing opposition goalkeeper Anthony Lopes into an advertising hoarding, prompting a behind the goal touchline brawl involving both sets of players and even the unsavoury sight of an Everton fan, holding a young child under his arm, joining in.
Afterwards, Blues boss Koeman admitted his defender needed to work on his self-control.
The Dutchman was out of the door after the following match though, a 5-2 home loss to Arsenal that left his side in the relegation zone, and Williams was soon playing under a manager who seemed well-suited to his own traditional British defensive qualities in the shape of Sam Allardyce.
For the first two months of Allardyce’s reign, Williams remained a regular in the side but his final act as an Everton player was to be sent off for brutally elbowing Burnley’s Ashley Barnes in the face – again while wearing the armband – under the nose of referee Chris Kavanagh in a 2-1 defeat at Turf Moor.
Allardyce admitted that it was “a silly thing to do, especially for such an experienced player” and promptly never picked him again.
Williams still had another year to run on his Blues contract but was subsequently allowed to go out on loan to Championship side Stoke City for the 2018/19 season to run it down.
While he’d been an impressive Premier League performer in his day, rather than prove to be a ‘Golden Oldie’ for the Blues in the manner akin to Sylvain Distin or even Richard Gough who was at a more advanced age than Williams is now when he arrived at Goodison Park, the former Swansea City man looked to be on his way down with Everton.
He’d arguably peaked on the international stage that same summer when he led Wales to the semi-finals of the European Championships but like Tim Howard and his World Cup exploits for the USA two years’ earlier, the subsequent decline came relatively quickly.
Former Blues boss Moyes used to be dubbed ‘Dithering Davy’ due to his cautiousness when it came to spending what were often limited funds during his lengthy spell in charge at Goodison Park but while the purse strings have been emphatically loosened since then thanks to the increased financial muscle that ambitious owner Farhad Moshiri has provided, the Scot’s successors would have done well to heed some of his thrifty approach when it comes to getting value for money.
Williams was signed by manager Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh during Mr Moshiri’s first summer at the helm and while they also oversaw more astute investments that window such as the £7.1million capture of Idrissa Gueye and £1.5million purchase of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, less than a week after Williams arrived, the club splurged £25million on Yannick Bolasie.
Now, counting the cost of five years of continued profligate spending, Everton’s outlay in the current window has so far been restricted as they are forced to comply with Financial Fair Play restrictions and sell before they can buy.
