Luke Williams: The first interview with the new man in charge at Peterborough United

Williams took training for the first time on Thursday morning (October 30) after being officially announced on Wednesday afternoon. He also met with club staff before making his way to the Weston Homes Stadium to meet media for the first time.

Below are the answers to the questions put to him by the PT, many of which were sent in by readers.

What attracted you to the club?

It was the way the conversation went. It was very positive and there was a very clear idea about what Darragh wants on the pitch and the way he wants football to be played. There was real enthusiasm coming towards me and it made the decision easier for me.

Is there pressure succeeding a club legend in Darren Ferguson?

There’s huge pressure, I’m following someone I consider a legend and admire. It’s pressure but an honour to be in the same job as him. I have managed against him before and he’s someone I have looked up to and admired for a long time.

What are your first impressions of the group?

It’s young but they are enthusiastic. There is still plenty of fight and belief in them. We saw some real quality in there as well today. I haven’t yet seen every player but I look forward to seeing the whole squad and trying to work out the best combinations from there.

What style of play are you hoping to bring to the club?

We’re hoping to attack a lot and get a lot of people in the box and get balls in. We will try to be on the front foot and be aggressive. One can not exist without the other.

The priority is to try and get everyone fit and up to speed on the pitch so that we have the best squad available to choose from. After that, we need to work out the best combination of players; find a formation and style that suits them best. We need to find something that helps us to win plenty of games.

I have experience, I have worked with a lot of groups, different players, different formations, different systems and got lots of experience. That combined with the individual characteristics of the players we have here, we’ll use to try and find the winning combination.

It’s impossible to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses right now and what the best formation is, the best position for each player but I will try to use the time as well as I can and try to watch some of the previous games as well as taking some learnings from the staff and chairman. That will help me come up with a team for the game against Cardiff.

What are the goals for the season?

We are taking it step by step, the most important thing it to try and get out of the bottom four and then let’s see where we are after that. Goals can change and targets can change. That’s the first one though.

What are your first thoughts on working with Darragh MacAnthony (who can be divisive at times and not afraid to make public criticism)?

We know his character but what I would say is ‘divisive’ or not, no one can argue about his passion. There is a lot of football ownership overseas or unknown and that’s something fans can very difficult to engage with. Sometimes confrontational, sometimes divisive but always passionate and very present.

Tell us a bit about working as assistant under familiar Posh faces Mark Cooper and Russell Martin and your football influences

I was fortunate to work under Gus Poyet at Brighton, which was incredible. I worked with Mark Cooper and learnt loads then. I then learnt lots of new things with Russell too. We share all of the stories and so Mark and Russell have told me things about their experiences here and that was really positive. Working at Brighton with Gus, he told me about his experiences with Dennis Wise at Swindon and its funny that I went onto work there too.

Coming here, I know lots of things from talking to those two as well as to players I have worked with who have played for the club. It’s somewhere I feel I know quite a lot about without ever stepping foot inside as manager.

(When asked about developing his own style compared to Russell Martin’s) It’s important to remember that Russell had a promotion with Southampton and that was a fabulous football team. I faced them at Swansea and they were incredibly good. Anyone going into the Premier League is at full stretch to stay there so there is no disgrace to have a tough time there. Recently, he’s been at Rangers and when he lost his job he had only lost one league game. He’s a very talented manager and his teams have produced some fantastic football and I’m sure he will do that again.

I have my own ideas though and my own style, I have learnt things from Russell and from other coaches and try to use those as well as my own ideas.

Tell us about your new assistant Ryan Harley and will anyone else be coming in?

At the moment, it will be just me and Ryan. We have met the brilliant staff that are already here. We look forward to working with them. Ryan is someone that has been with me for a while and is excellent. He has a lot of value to add. We worked together at Notts and Swansea and he has a lot of offer.