PAUL WILLIAMS

Full Name: Paul Richard Curtis Williams (also known as Charlie)

Born: 11 September 1969

Came from: Coventry City   Went to: Gillingham

First game: 12 August 1995   Last game: 02 May 1998

Appearances: 152 (152/0)   Goals: 5

Born in Leicester, Williams was a popular left-back who arrived at Home Park in the summer of 1995 as part of Neil Warnock's post-relegation recruitment drive after the Pilgrims sank to Tier 4 for the first time in the club's history.

Having started his career at home town Leicester City, he became an England Youth international, playing eight times and scoring four goals for England under-16s in 1985. However, it was with Stockport County, rather than the Foxes, with whom he turned professional and made his Football League debut. He played 70 time and scored four goals in four years at Edgeley Park before earning a move to the Premier League with Coventry City, in 1993.

He found it hard to break into the Sky Blues' first team in the top tier and made just 14 appearances in two years at the club. That spell did include loans away from Highfield Road, including a five-game stint with West Bromwich Albion in 1993-94 and two spells with Huddersfield Town (1994, two games and 1995, seven games) where he would first cross paths with Warnock.

After toiling at Coventry, he was persuaded to drop three divisions by Warnock. 'Charlie' became an ever-present as Argyle won promotion through the play-offs in his first season at the club, endearing himself to the club's fans for evermore by scoring a diving header in the dying seconds of the semi-final against Colchester United at a raucous Home Park to send Argyle to Wembley for the first time in the club's history. He was also voted into the 1995-96 Third Division PFA Team of the Year.

He was an energetic presence on the left side of Argyle's defence for the next two seasons, but relegation back into the fourth tier in 1998 was an unacceptable career development for the pocket-sized defender and he left to join Gillingham. After making 10 appearances and scoring once for the Gills, Williams returned north, to join Bury, initially on loan (5 games in 1998) but then permanently. Bury was to be his last Football League club and he added a further 35 appearances, scoring once, in four years. He wound down his playing days with Leigh RMI, playing 23 times without scoring in 2002-03.

In July 2019 he ranked as 7th in the Top 10 of the full-backs section of The Greatest Pilgrims rankings, voted for by supporters of the club. He has also returned to Home Park as part of reunions for Warnock's promotion side and as a match-day guest for Forever Green (the former players' association at Home Park).