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Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935)

English footballer (1935-2011)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ4033554 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Stanley James "Johnny" Williams (16 August 1935 – 24 November 2011) was an English footballer who played as a wing half. He played in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle and Bristol Rovers, amassing 481 appearances over a 14-year period.

Playing career

Williams began his career as a professional in 1955 with then Football League Second Division club Plymouth Argyle, making his debut in the 1–0 win against Blackburn Rovers at Home Park on 10 September 1955. He would go on to establish himself as one of the club's best players of the post-war era. Williams was best known for his shooting ability. A strong tackler and powerful runner, Williams undoubtedly benefited from his service in the National Army where he played alongside future World Cup winner Bobby Charlton.

Many people thought Williams was capable of playing at the highest level and even gain international recognition but he stayed faithful to the Pilgrims. Spending most of that time in the Second Division, aside from three seasons in the Third Division where he won the title with the club in 1959. In all, he made 448 appearances for Plymouth Argyle, scoring 55 goals, before he went back to his hometown to see out his career with Bristol Rovers. He spent three seasons there, making 69 appearances, before retiring from the professional game at 33.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935)” as english footballer (1935-2011). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Johnny, Williams and footballer.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1935, 2011, 1955, 1959—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1935-08-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Johnny, Williams and footballer providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935)”, the useful work is to connect “english footballer (1935-2011)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4033554. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2011, 1955 and 1959.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935) primary sources, Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935) archive and Johnny research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Johnny Williams (footballer, born 1935)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.