Born in Stratford, East London, Williams was signed by First Division Charlton Athletic from non-league Woodford Town in 1987.
This prompted Ron Atkinson to spend nearly a million pounds to bring the Londoner to Sheffield Wednesday in 1990, where he enjoyed a productive partnership with David Hirst.
Williams moved back to London with Crystal Palace in 1992, in a swap deal involving Mark Bright.
In season 1993–94 he won a Football League First Division (second tier) winners medal with Crystal Palace and was second top goal scorer behind Chris Armstrong.
Williams continued coaching at the Charlton and Crystal Palace youth academies, before moving to South Florida in 2012, where he was the director of the Florida Fire Juniors who were affiliated with MLS team Chicago Fire, and he was the coach for several teams in the Naples area like Azzurri Storm, who are affiliated with Orlando City.