It was a cold night near Stoke that made Alex Williams realise he had had enough. The former Manchester City goalkeeper was trying to recover from a back injury at Port Vale, but after accepting that he would never be fit enough to play at the highest level again he decided to end his professional career at just 25.
"I was about 80 per cent fit, playing a game at Port Vale one night that was hail, sleet, and snow," he told the Manchester Evening News. "The stadium held about 45,000 people of which there was only about 5,000 there and I looked round the stadium and thought 'what am i doing here?!' I went in to see the gaffer John Rudge the next morning and said that was it.
"I felt three things. I was cheating my club teammates at Port Vale, I was cheating the fans and most importantly of all I was cheating myself.
