FOR Luke Williams, watching England is a slightly different experience compared to the rest of us.

He is, of course, a fan. But for Williams, Middlesbrough's former history-making attacker, the stars of the squad that made the final of this summer's European Championship are ex-teammates.

It's June, 2013, and England's opening game of the Under-20 World Cup. Harry Kane is leading the line but it's his fellow forward, Williams, who gets on the scoresheet, doubling the lead for Peter Taylor's side after Conor Coady's opener.

England are pegged back and draw 2-2 with Iraq and end up disappointingly going out in the group stages after picking up just two points, but the company Williams was keeping was evidence of how highly he was rated and how much he was admired.

Also in the starting XI for that opening game were the likes of Eric Dier, James Ward-Prowse and Ross Barkley. John Stones was on the bench.

Williams had turned 20 a week or so prior and yet, remarkably, his Boro debut had come more than four-and-a-half years earlier.

It's December, 2009, Oakwell, and Boro are 2-1 down to Barnsley. Gordon Strachan turns to his bench and gives Williams - who is just 16 years and 200 days old - the nod, making the attacker the youngest Boro debutant for more than a century.

"I remember coming on and Darren Moore was playing for them and I just remember thinking he's the biggest man I've ever seen in my life," laughs Williams, looking back.

"A cross got flashed across, I stuck a leg out and it went over. That's what dreams are made of, isn't it, if that pings off your toe and goes in the top corner."

Williams was living his dream. A Boro fan, he'd been promoted into the first team set-up after the arrival of  Strachan.

"I will never have one bad word to say about Strachan," he says.

"It's not just in football but in any walk of life, if you have a manager you don't quite get on with then you don't enjoy what you're doing at work. But Gordon was great with me and he ultimately gave me the opportunity.

"He's a straight up guy, there was no beating around the bush and it's a good thing to have in football, you know where you stand. He tried to do things his way in regards to the players he brought in at Boro, which didn't work, but the Championship is a tough, tough league.

"I remember I'd been away with England and when I came back I was pretty much straight into the first team set-up.

"We had a few months training before I ended up making my debut. But one day I was walking up to dinner and Coops (Colin Cooper) who was in the coaching staff came up to me and said 'do you want to travel with the first team?'. I was like 'eh!'.

"I had to phone my mam and my mam had to bring stuff to the training ground. I think that was Peterborough away, we conceded a last minute goal. Then the first time I was on the bench was QPR away when we won 5-0.

"I was sat with Chris Riggott and he kept telling me to run past the manager and warm-up to get his attention. Unfortunately it didn't work."

Less than a week after Williams' debut at Barnsley, Manchester City rocked up at the Riverside in the FA Cup. They might not have been the established force they are now but they still had the likes of Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy in their ranks. Carlos Tevez was introduced from the bench at half-time and Williams followed for Boro 25 minutes later.

"I ran into Kompany and hit a brick wall," laughs Williams.

"I wanted Tevez's shirt but at full-time he ran down the tunnel, everyone had swapped and I'm 16 at the time so I didn't dare say anything to anyone."

Williams would get further first team opportunities under Tony Mowbray and Aitor Karanka before leaving for Scunthorpe United in 2015.

"They put an offer in, Middlesbrough accepted and I thought that must mean my time is up," he says.

"Maybe I could have said no, I'm going to fight for my place, and looking back I wish I had done that and backed myself a little bit, but that's life isn't it. I think it was probably me being a bit young and naïve."

As happy as Williams is to reminisce, he also wants to look to the future, because the former Boro, Scunthorpe, Hartlepool and Gateshead forward is far from finished.

He's only just turned 31 and is halfway through his second full season in Iceland with Víkingur Ólafsvík.

Life on the west coast of Iceland is very different for Williams. He lives in a town of only 800 people, where there's little more than a gym, swimming pool, supermarket and two restaurants. It can be lonely for Williams, whose partner and young daughter are back at home in the UK, but coaching helps to keep him busy and he has former Darlington striker Gary Martin for company. And on the pitch, Williams has been influential and impressive.

He's captain and has scored seven goals in seven games. And crucially for Williams, the desperate injury misfortune that he's suffered in the past is now behind him. He's well on his way to his second full season of action ahead of becoming a free agent in September.

Physically, he feels as strong and fit as he has done for a long, long time.

"I wouldn't be here without my family if I didn't think I still have a lot to offer in football and there wasn't a lot more to come from me," he says.

"I love football, I love the opportunity to train every day and play matches.

"I feel at heart and in my head I'm a lot younger than 31. Obviously I had the unfortunate time with injuries which I wouldn't wish on anyone but they're well behind me now. I had a good full season last year and I'm looking forward to the same this year.

"I'll be honest, it is horrendous being away from my little baby, but in football you need to make sacrifices and I don't want to look back and think what might have been."

READ MORE:

Michael Carrick's 'natural fit' assessment of Middlesbrough first-team hopeful

Tommy Conway Burnley transfer twist as Middlesbrough & Bristol City talks continue

On the subject of looking back, though, it's natural to wonder whether there's ever any bitterness at how the careers of some of those aforementioned England teammates have played out compared to Williams?

"If you linger on it it would get to you, but I don't let myself think too much about it," he says.

"When I look back, some things have been completely out of my hands but then there are obviously other things you'd do differently as well, but that's football isn't it.

"It's still nice to have all that on my CV and you can never take that away from me. That is something I can tell my little girl about when she grows up.

"But I don't spend much time looking back because my career is not over. If I look two or three years down the line, I want to still be playing football but I want to be somewhere with my family, that's the main thing.

"Whether that be at home or in a new country, the possibilities and the opportunities in football are endless.

"The Premier League has such a pull, and rightly so, but sometimes you need to get out of that environment to see there's a whole wide world out there and amazing people and cultures."