Former Manchester United star Brandon Williams has joined League Two side Rotherham United on a short-term deal.
Williams, 26, has been training with the club since pre-season in an attempt to get his career back on track, and he has now penned a three-month contract.
Rotherham described Williams as ‘a full-back and forward-thinking defender with incredibly impressive pedigree’ who ‘joins having worked hard throughout pre-season and into late October.’
The Millers are now managed by Alex Bruce, son of veteran manager Steve, while former United coach Steve McClaren, who served as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson and later Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford, is also their Head of Football.
Speaking after Williams’ arrival was confirmed, Bruce was full of praise for his perseverance and mindset.
‘I’m really pleased he’s a Rotherham player, he deserves the contract,’ he said. ‘He’s worked really, really hard with us since pre-season.
Former Man United star Brandon Williams has joined League Two side Rotherham United
Williams, 26, was sentenced to a 14-month jail term, suspended for two years, in May 2025
‘He’s shown a great attitude every day, he’s shown an appetite and a hunger just to play. And he’s had a tough few years.
‘I’ve really wanted, not that you want to give contracts out willy-nilly, but when someone has shown the appetite, the desire and the hunger to come in every day and not get paid like he has done, especially given where he’s been and what kind of career he has had.
‘I’m really pleased to get him in and give him the opportunity to get his career to kickstart.’
Williams made 51 appearances for United after coming through their youth academy, but he has endured a difficult period over recent years.
In May 2025, the full-back was handed a 14-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after crashing his Audi A3 at almost 100mph on August 20, 2023. He was convicted of dangerous driving.
Williams, who was once paid £3.4million a year as a promising young defender, had been ‘driving erratically’ in his Audi A3 before hitting a Ford Fiesta and careering into the central reservation of the A34 in Cheshire.
Williams didn’t play a professional game for 20 months before he signed for Hull City in August last year, 14 months after United released him.
However, that move didn’t work out and he left the Tigers by mutual consent in February after making just one five-minute substitute appearance.
The 26-year-old originally broke into United’s first team under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the 2019-20 season and impressed, before he began to struggle. He subsequently spent time on loan at both Norwich and Ipswich.
Speaking in May 2025, Williams said that he wanted to be ‘100 per cent focused’ on his football again and ‘kick on’ with a new club, wherever that may be.
‘It hurts me watching football now because I just want to be there, I just want to play. I miss being in a team, on the coach, travelling to games, having meals together and just doing things,’ he said.
‘I want to have that feeling again of winning and being around the changing room environment.
‘I’ve had loads of teams trying to get me out – America, Europe and England – but I haven’t been ready. I want to go somewhere 100 per cent focused and kick on.
‘I would like to experience that different culture. I’m only 24 so I could do three or four years abroad. Definitely Europe at a good club or an upcoming club.’
Williams has played just five minutes of football in the past two seasons but is hoping to revive his career
In regards to his car crash, Williams admitted he had been trying to show off to a female passenger who was sitting next to him, and a witness is said to have filmed him with a balloon by his mouth. Prosecutors said it was ‘fortunate’ nobody was seriously injured or killed.
Judge Eric Lamb also banned Williams from driving for three years and ordered him to do 180 hours of unpaid work.
The homegrown United talent announced in June 2024 that he would leave the club at the end of his contract, and when the incident took place – in August 2023 – Williams had been on loan at Ipswich.
Speaking in August in a wide-ranging interview with the Athletic, Williams expressed his remorse at his behaviour.
‘It made me grow up as a person and realise that this is real life, this isn’t GTA (Grand Theft Auto) or something like that,’ Williams said.
‘It was a proper wake-up call. Since then it was about building and changing a reputation that I had and that’s not me.
‘I look back at myself now and think what an idiot I was. That is not what an athlete does, it’s not what a footballer does, it’s not what a grown man does. It’s stupid stuff.’
He added: ‘I’ve let a lot of people down, to be honest, and I want to prove a lot of people wrong as well.
‘That’s one thing that is left to do in my life, to get back onto the football pitch and show what I can do.’
