Luke Williams remains the preferred candidate to become the next Peterborough United manager

Sources close to the club have told the PT that talks are ongoing between Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony and the former Notts County and Swansea City boss. A decision is now expected in the 24 hours, a fact now being reported by Sky Sports.

MacAnthony said, on an edition of his Hard Truth podcast on Monday evening, that, contrary to a report on the PT website on Sunday, he was not on the verge of appointing anyone to replace sacked boss Darren Ferguson and that he was making ‘back-to-back’ calls to prospective candidates last night.

It’s likely Williams was the recipient of one of those calls.

It was widely expected Williams would have been appointed in time to take Monday morning training, but Academy coach Ryan Semple instead took charge and will presumably do so again on Tuesday.

Posh are also sending an under 21 team to play Huddersfield Town in a Professional Development League game this afternoon.

COMMENT

I find it hard to believe Ferguson was sacked without a contingency plan in place.

MacAnthony spoke on his podcast last night about having thought about replacements for the last two weeks and he had a list of potential candidates. The plan, especially as Ferguson’s coaches had followed him out of the exit, was surely to have the new man ready to go before the old one had departed.

It’s happened before, most notably when Ferguson replaced Steve Evans to start his third spell in charge. I can only assume talks with Williams have taken longer than expected.

This is a Posh team that needs guidance. The result of Saturday’s FA Cup tie is not that important in the grand scheme of things, but it is an ideal game to test the new manager’s ideas ahead of the more important League games that follow. Any delay in appointing a new manager is unhelpful to say the least.