‘Danny Cowley said he’d made a mistake. I was heartbroken’: Ex-Pompey man Ryan Williams on painful Fratton Park exit
Danny Cowley was the last person Ryan Williams expected to call, likewise the timing was clumsily inappropriate.
Pompey’s head coach had overseen the painful severance of the Australian’s Fratton Park stay upon the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2021.
Having returned to the south coast for a second Blues spell, the hard-working winger was left reeling when offered fresh terms on ‘substantially less’ money off the back of a 49-game season.
Unable to accept and unconvinced that Cowley regarded him with any worth, the heartbroken 27-year-old followed Craig MacGillivray, Tom Naylor, Jack Whatmough, Ben Close and Andy Cannon through the door.
Thankfully, subsequent interest from Oxford United delivered the opportunity for Williams to remain in League One, while a two-year deal and the commutable distance from his Knowle home provided precious security for his young family.
The move was sealed in June 2021, yet, hours after his official Kassam Stadium unveiling, the attacker received a bombshell phone call from a repentant Cowley.
‘I didn’t want to leave Pompey, I was desperate to stay. Then, the day I signed for Oxford, Danny Cowley called and said “I regret not re-signing you”,’ Williams told The News.
At the time of my Pompey release, I was angry, I was really angry and really upset. I didn’t want to go. It’s not that I felt hard done by, not at all, it’s just that when you have a plan in your head and it doesn’t go the way you want, it’s always hard to take.
‘I was angry at everything’
‘They had offered a contract, but it was for quite a lot less. At that point in my career, I was going to push forward and not take a step backwards financially. So it was difficult to take, especially as I thought I had done quite well in the second season and enjoyed myself.
‘I never knew the final game of our season against Accrington would also be my last game for Pompey. I thought I would be staying, despite no real talks. My agent had told me to prepare myself a little for what could be coming. When we did have the conversation, the deal was for substantially less.
‘I was quite heartbroken to be honest, I loved where I lived in Knowle, loved the club, loved everything about it. I was super happy there, but unfortunately the manager wanted to go in a different direction.
‘I was angry at everything and possibly even myself. Maybe if I had scored a few more goals I’d have got what I wanted and the club would be happier to keep me. It wasn’t exactly one person I was upset with. It left a sore spot, to be honest.
‘Now Oxford were interested, I could commute from home, so I decided to go there. Then, on the same day I signed, Danny rang and told me he’d made a mistake.
‘A few hours earlier, it was a case of these are our terms, sign if you want. Then I’ve gone somewhere else and he says he regrets it. Perhaps he was too nice and wanted to keep people happy? I don’t know.
