Luke Williams: An in-depth look at the new man in charge of Peterborough United

With Posh currently sitting rock bottom of League One, the new man quickly needs to get a grip of a struggling side.

The appointment of Williams marks the start of a new era for Posh. Prior to this, only once since April 2016 had the club appointed a manager (Steve Evans) who had never previously held a role at the club.

He will not be thrust straight into league action as the ex-Swansea man’s first game in charge will be Cardiff City at home in the FA Cup on Saturday but will now begin a process of assessing the squad and implementing his own ideas.

The PT has taken a look at what those ideas might be and at his career to date.

Career so far

Williams had only a short playing career after going through five knee operations in four years in between the ages of 19 and 23 as well as suffering a shocking attack, where he was struck on the head and then stabbed with a champagne flute- while on a night out as an apprentice at Bristol Rovers- leaving him suffering from PTSD for a number of years.

He began his coaching career with Leyton Orient. After failing to win a playing contract at 19, he asked the club’s community arm if he could do any coaching and ended up running Orient Under 14s in the evenings and coaching young offenders as part of West Ham’s community programme during the day.

He went onto become a development coach and later manage Brighton’s U21 and reserve sides under first-team boss Gus Poyet.

His big break came under short-lived ex-Posh boss Mark Cooper, who coincidentally also joined a Posh side sitting at the bottom of the table, the Championship in 2009 on that occasion. Williams was appointed Swindon’s assistant manager under Cooper in 2013.

Together the pair guided the youngest team in the EFL to the League One play-off final during the 2014-15 season. Swindon’s young guns, powered by performances from the likes of Massimo Luongo, Ben Gladwin, Jack Stephens, John Swift, Nathan Byrne and captained by future Posh skipper Nathan Thompson, made it all the way to the final, but the Wembley occasion was too much for them and they were beaten 4-0 by Preston.

That side was picked apart in the transfer market and Cooper ultimately lost his job in October the following season. After a short spell in charge for Martin Ling, he left in December and Williams was asked to step up (at the age of 35) to become first-team boss, something he later admitted he did not want to do.

Swindon finished 15th in the league before being relegated after finishing 22nd in the 2016-17 season. Williams was sacked at the end of the season.

He then took a break from management and became Bristol City Under 23 manager in 2017 before forming a close relationship with former Posh skipper Russell Martin. Martin took him to Mk Dons as his assistant in 2019 and later to Swansea in the same role in 2021.

In the summer of 2022, National League side Notts County came calling for Williams and he took charge of a remarkable season that ultimately ended up with his side pushing the all-conquering Wrexham side all of the way in one of the most incredible title races in the English pyramid.

County’s 107 points was only good enough for second (to Wrexham’s 111). In that season they scored a league-high 117 goals and only conceded 42. County trailed in both the play-off semi-final and final, but ultimately came out on top in dramatic style by beating Chesterfield on penalties at Wembley, to return to the Football League in 2023.

The club were well set in League Two when Championship side Swansea side came calling in January 2024, meaning he skipped League One. He guided the Swans to 14th in the second half of the season before only lasting until the following February. He was dismissed after a run of one win in 10 games with the Swans sitting in 17th place.

Posh will be his first job since then but in his break from the game, he did go viral for being spotted working at the airport carousel at Bristol Airport this summer. He said that he wanted “to do something meaningful with my time.”

Style of play

Perhaps not a surprise, since he worked under Russell Martin for so long, Williams’ sides are known for dominating possession in games as well as relentless pressing to win the ball back. His Swindon, Notts County and Swansea sides all topped the possession charts under his leadership.

Williams delved into his tactical philosophy in an interview with the Not The Top 20 podcast in September. He described how his style evolved from working under Poyet at Brighton, where he was informed that his teams must have all of the ball as well as all of the chances.

Williams said: “Gus told me ‘If you have all of the ball, but you don’t have the chances, it’s pointless. If you have all of the chances, but you never have the ball, there’s a chance you’ve been very lucky or the other team is terrible.’

"It’s not about trying to have the ball. It’s about trying to stop the other team having it. At Swansea, we had the most possession but we also put the fourth most crosses in. How do you have all of the ball when you keep smashing balls into the box? You win it back very quickly. Us and Leeds were the best teams at winning the ball back within both five and two seconds. We had the lowest passes for the opposition before we won the ball back.”

Generally, Williams has favoured a three at the back and a 3-4-1-2 system, not dissimilar to the one employed by Posh under Darren Ferguson. His sides are known for wing backs that push up high and run in behind and centre-backs playing high when the opposition are pushed back.