When professional footballers retire, they are often asked to go on podcasts, YouTube channels and TV shows to talk about their careers. There is often an appetite for players to provide interesting anecdotes about their careers to allow football fans to better understand what actually goes on behind closed doors during someone's professional career.
This week, former Swansea and Everton defender, Ashley Williams, went on the FILTHYFELLAS podcast to talk about his career. During the podcast, Williams spoke about hate mail he had received from Liverpool fans after injuring Philippe Coutinho in a match against Swansea. The retired defender said:
“I grew up a Liverpool fan and then do you remember the year they nearly won and Gerrard slipped? In the January, we played them we beat them 4-2 at home and I had a collision with Coutinho and he broke or dislocated his shoulder or something, he was out for the season and at the time, nobody said anything.
“Then, when they didn’t win the league my fan mail was packed full of abuse. It was horrible from Liverpool fans.”
Ashley Williams fabricating this whole story for interactions if the weirdest thing on FT today 😂pic.twitter.com/wOyQVyKcbP
— Anything Liverpool (@AnythingLFC_) April 10, 2024
Liverpool fans refute Williams' claims
After hearing the claims online, Liverpool fans were perplexed as Williams' claim don't seem to add up with what actually happened that season. The year Williams was referring to was 2013/14 and in that season, Liverpool and Swansea played twice with the match at the Liberty Stadium taking place in September, not January like the defender claims.
That particular match finished 2-2, not 4-2, and the reverse fixture in Anfield (February 2014) finished 4-3 to the Reds. What's more, Williams couldn't have been mistaken for another season as Swansea's last 4-2 victory over Liverpool came in 1962.
In the 2-2 match of the 2013/14 season, Philippe Coutinho did suffer an injury after a clash with Williams, however, he didn't end up missing the rest of the season because of it. In fact, the Brazilian missed just five matches and Liverpool won all but one of them.
Liverpool fans ridicule Williams over claims
The fabricated story has been slammed online by Liverpool fans who believe the defender is just trying to paint them in a bad light for no real reason. One fan took to social media to post: “It's pretty bizarre when people make up stories just to get attention and interactions. It's like they're trying too hard.”
Another fan said: “How did Coutinho score against Spurs and City if he was out for the season?” while a third added: “This is killing me. He straight-up lied for no reason, Swansea didn't even beat us that season.”