PLAYING for a cash-strapped club such as Hereford United is nothing new for midfielder Danny Williams.

The 21-year-old was at Chesterfield when the players were not paid for three months due to the financial acrobatics of chairman Dave Brown.

It was at a time when Chesterfield were riding high in the Second Division, the season after winning promotion two years ago.

Williams won a medal though he was mostly on the bench but last season he made 23 appearances before a change in manager hastened his departure.

It was a memorable time at Chesterfield and brings a wry grin to William's face when he recalls some of the other crowds' reactions to their visits.

"Every ground we went to they'd wave £5 notes at us but it was hard because we didn't get paid for three months. We were top with a new chairman and he'd brought in a lot of players on Bosmans with promises of bonuses but he'd run out of money by Christmas."

Sheffield born Williams has made a terrific start to his Bulls career but it was a tough decision to move down two leagues from the Second Division to the Conference.

"It was a hard and big decision because it was a long way from home but I had seen how professional the set-up was and with the coach Richard O'Kelly it was as good as a league club," said Williams.

An energetic box-to-box midfielder, Williams sees his passing as his strong point and he is also a deadball specialist and often stays behind at training to practice his free kicks.

Unfortunately from Williams point of view, but luckily for Hereford's, the collapse of the ITV Digital deal means that his skills are paraded at a lower level than they deserve but that is the new economic reality for many footballers like him. "I didn't realise it was going to be so bad. I had a lot of interest from league clubs but nothing ever materialised in terms of firm offers and there are a lot of people in the same boat."