Permanent move for Owain Fôn Williams

Dunfermline Athletic are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Owain Fôn Williams from Hamilton Academical.

The 33 year old keeper who played six matches for Dunfermline last season just before the season’s sudden end has penned a two year deal.

Manager Stevie Crawford said that he was delighted to get the big man over the line:-

“Having worked with him from January played a big part in that. He comes with a presence and he is a great character.

“In his short spell here I know that he has already made relationships at the club and we want players who want to be Dunfermline players and play at East End. Owain has definitely shown that, he was under contract at Hamilton but we have worked hard on it to get him here.

“It is crazy that from January with the stop start fixtures and then obviously Covid that he only played six matches for us.

“Last year it was tough for Ryan Scully and Cammy Gill in terms of being chopped and changed a few times and that can be a little bit unsettling. You can then take the positives from it, Cammy made 12 appearances and he has got them under his belt now. I think Cammy is going to have a great future ahead of him.

“Owain will come in and Cammy is going to have competition now to fight for that jersey in the same way as any other player coming to or being at the club. At six foot four Owain has a presence, he has been involved with the Welsh national squad.”

Indeed he was a member of the Wales squad that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 and has played in Scotland with Inverness Caley Thistle and Hamilton Academical. He made 21 appearances for Accies before being loaned to the Pars in January this year.

Owain Fôn Williams confessed to being extremely excited about returning to Dunfermline on a more permanent basis. He said:-

“I am really made up to be here to be honest. When we got to finalising the deal I couldn’t hide my feelings. I had a great time here in the short period that I was here and when you have experienced that, when you get the opportunity to do it again you jump at that. That is exactly what I have done.

“My whole family are just made up that this has happened and I am really looking forward to getting going especially after what we have been through with the virus. We cannot wait to get going.”

With Owain coming in Stevie Crawford has seen it as a chance to be creative in restructuring the goalkeeper coaches role at the club. He explained:-

“Owain will come in as a player coach and take over the goalkeeping department. I would like to take this opportunity to thank David Westwood for his time and efforts since I got the job in January 2019 but also thank him on behalf of everyone at the club during his four and a half, five year spell with us.”

Stevie hopes that an extended role for his new keeper will make full use of his experience at international level:-

“Not only is he coming in as a player, it will be a player/coach role. He has been doing his badges and when I worked at Hearts Neil Alexander did a similar role.

“He very much comes in wanting to be the number one goalkeeper but he has also got a burning desire inside him to help develop people round about him. I think Cammy Gill and Ben Swinton will benefit for it.”

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