EXCLUSIVE | ‘The last three years of my career have been the most transformative’: Bengaluru FC’s Ryan Williams

Bengaluru FC’s Ryan Williams during training. (Instagram) Ryan Williams came to India as an Australian footballer looking for a new challenge. Three years later, the Bengaluru FC winger has become one of the most vocal supporters of the Indian national team, calling both club and country his home.The 32-year-old has experienced the lack of Bengaluru FC squad, adapting to Indian football and being responsible for mentoring younger players while representing India. Despite a six-year trophy drought at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, he believes the club is closer to success than results suggest.In this interview with TimesofIndia.com, Williams, recently brought in by JSW Sports, talks about Bengaluru FC’s title ambitions, manager Pep Muñoz’s philosophy, the OCI debate, national team pride and why life in Bengaluru has been an enjoyable chapter in his career.excerpts:Q: Can you start by talking about your time in India so far, moving to Bengaluru FC, playing for the national team?Ryan: Yeah, probably the last three years of my career have been the most, first of all, transformational, I would say, definitely. But also the one I’ve had the most fun with what I’m doing with BFC, even though we didn’t win anything.My daily life here, I love it. I love life in Bangalore, the football club itself, the way the club is run.Then, of course, advancing to the national team was an amazing experience for me. It’s one that’s been so positive and I hope I can continue that and try to help the younger guys, try and if possible get more players like me to do what I’ve done to show them it’s possible. I’ve said in many conversations that if there’s anything I can do, let me know. And I let the guys reach out, which is good because obviously the reason I’m here is to help Indian football at the end of the day.

Ryan Williams joins ISL club Bengaluru FC in 2023. (Instagram)

Q: Let me start by focusing on Bengaluru FC. A six-year headline drought. Does the pressure tell you that the team hasn’t won in so long?Ryan: not at all. I don’t think so at all. I think it’s more the fans who came here to enjoy super successful times. We’ve been building slowly and we’re almost there. They reached three finals the season before I arrived. And after the season we had a managerial change. The next season we reached the final of the ISL Cup. And we didn’t last through our own doing.Obviously last season, which was a shortened season, just when we found ourselves a little bit, the season ended. So this season is going to be really exciting. I personally don’t feel any pressure.The fans are amazing. They obviously stick with us through thick and thin. They are probably the best fans in India in terms of how they get behind us when things are not going so well. So for us it’s more about trying to give something back to them. That’s the way I see it because they’ve been so amazing with us, especially coming here from Australia and everything in between.The hardest thing you can do as a professional footballer is win trophies. And that’s something that, you know, we haven’t done in the last three seasons that I’ve been here. So it’s definitely something we’ve talked about and something we want to get right.Q: When you joined Bengaluru FC, it was not only about joining a very professional team but also about adapting to Indian football. How difficult was that experience navigating not only things on the field, but off it as well?Ryan: I’m a pretty well-traveled guy. I moved to the UK myself when I was 16, moved in with a foster family, had to sort it all out on my own and then back to Australia and then India. So those first six to eight weeks were tough outside of football. But then I somehow found myself and understood how things work.And there are still things that I’m not quite 100 percent, but you know, I have a good network of people who support me, which definitely helped. And in terms of football, I think every new club you go to, especially another country too. I mean, I look back at my first season and towards the end I started to push myself and I started to get more confident and I got used to the players I was with, I got used to the surroundings, the pitch, even the day to day.I would say one thing that helped me on the pitch was the presence of Simon Grayson (FC Bengaluru manager from 2022-23) and his management staff because they were all English and they took sessions and organized everything as I was used to for 12 years in England. So it was a huge help for me. But it took me the first half of the season to really find my feet and then I started to enjoy football towards the end.

Ryan Williams. (Instagram)

And then I just kind of kept going, believing in myself and getting used to (it). Because European players are obviously different from Indian players and both have their positives and negatives. So I’m trying to figure out how to communicate properly. Everyone speaks English, that’s not a problem. In the UK you can shout and shout at people and they listen to the message and not how the message is delivered. Whereas here you have to be more careful about how you deliver the message rather than what the message sometimes is. And that’s one thing I’ve tried to help the young guys with. Just try to be more positive around them and let them know I’m here to support you. We are both on the same team. We try to go for the same thing. So it’s in my best interest to help them perform at their best. If we win something because of him, everyone wins. So that was one thing I had to sort of sort out in the first six months.Q: Ahead of next season, manager Pep Munoz talked about a strong defensive structure and then allowing the wings to come into the game. What do you think of the style and attitude the manager is trying to instill in the club?Ryan: I like it very much. I was lucky enough to work with Gerard (Zaragoza) and Sebas (Sebastian Vega) before, who have a similar approach… the Spanish management style that I was first with when Gerard came. So it helped me because we spent a year and a half or so together.

We want people who wear the jersey with pride and are willing to give their all to play for their country. I think that’s what it means to play for your country.

Ryan Williams

And last season was good in a way that (Muñoz) came. He came in with his coaching staff and it was really good because everyone had to figure out how to work together, what exactly they wanted to do on the field. And that’s a good opportunity for us this season because last season was, for lack of a better word, almost like a draft copy. It was like a fake run. So now we’ve been in pre-season, we’re spending a lot more time on the pitch, figuring out exactly what he wants and how we can best do that on the pitch to obviously get results and put people in positions that are going to be the best for everybody. So I’m really excited.I really love what he does on the football field. And the good thing is that the little part we had with him last season was, like I said, a fictional ride that moved us forward into this season. So we don’t need that much grass time together to connect the dots. The dots are connected and now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning it and moving it forward.

Ryan Williams has given up his Australian passport to play for India. (Instagram)

Question: Considering presenting a sports passport or allowing multiple OCIs. What do you think about this reasoning?Ryan: I think for Indian football to grow faster than it is now, we need to see success in the national team. And if it means that Sports Passport and OCI can help us in the next one to two years to move up the ladder and get into the Asian Cups and the like, then there will be more interest in Indian football. That’s great, but I think it would work in the long run. I think if we can send the younger guys from here in that direction before bringing them here if that makes sense.Q: Is it a chicken and egg situation? Because if you don’t do well, if the national team doesn’t do well, the number of players who would like to give up their passport will be smaller. Or does it work the other way around?Ryan: If they’re looking at just coming here when (the national team) is doing well, I think maybe they’re the wrong type of people we’re looking for. I think we want players who want to come here, give everything for the country and help the national team. And in helping the national team, we’re actually helping the entire ecosystem. So you know, just like for me, there were no guarantees of anything. I kind of did it because that’s what I wanted to do. I am proud to play for India. That pride has to be there.We want people who wear the jersey with pride and are willing to give their all to play for their country. I think it means playing for your country.

Ryan Williams has played two matches for India so far. (Instagram)

Q. What did you like about Bengaluru as a city and culture? And is there any connection between all the cities you’ve lived in in the past?Ryan: No city I have lived in is like Bengaluru. You know, it’s its own kind of country, if you will. First of all, I love the weather. The weather is perfect. If you’ve come straight from the UK, you’re in heaven because you get these nice periods when it’s nice and cool like it’s raining now. And then in the summer it’s nice and warm, but not too hot.You know, the local restaurants where my wife and I try to go as much as possible. There is so much to do. There is so much to see. You know, there are so many different aspects of this city that make it beautiful and I really love it.It’s a very relaxed lifestyle for me. And that’s how I like to live my life very relaxed, relaxed, I don’t take things too seriously. And I feel like this is the perfect place.