Sacking Luke Williams was the right call, but was he also the victim of unrealistic expectations?

The bottom line is Williams wasn’t good enough. He couldn’t cope tactically once a, admittedly lengthy, new manager bounce had worn off. He had one plan which ultimately didn’t work and recent starting line-ups and formations smacked of a desperate last throw of the dice, one doomed to failure sadly. It was professional suicide.

But was he well served by those who are supposed to help and support him? Pointedly the club’s official sacking statement mentioned ‘significant investment’ and a manager not meeting the ‘expectations’ of the board, which is basically Darragh MacAnthony.

But were those expectations realistic? Throwing money at a squad is no guarantee of anything and trumpeting a belief that Posh had ‘a top four’ squad when two injury-prone centre-backs return to fitness, as the chairman did 24 hours ago, was unhelpful to say the least. The implication was the recruitment was excellent and it was down to the manager to make it work which was a fairly obvious warning shot.

This is a young, physically weak, mentally fragile group, albeit with some attacking potential, all issues exposed by a modest Doncaster Rovers side today, and unless Sam Hughes and Tom O’Connor have morphed into Gabriel and Saliba during their absence, reaching mid-table would be an ambitious end-of-season target.

In the summer the chairman sent a series of cringey, drink-inspired text messages to his manager bemoaning the fact he couldn’t ‘give him the millions he deserved,’ but the support blanket has now been withdrawn. Are we now to believe millions have been spent so there were no longer excuses for failure?

Initially Williams came across as wise, astute and calm. Eventually he was seen as a wacky, dull, oddball thanks to a series of monotone media interviews when it sounded like he’d had enough.

He made it obvious he didn’t want to play 4-2-4, but it happened because he apparently wanted to please people. You what now? Please who? The supporters? The chairman? The players? Peter Burrow? It made little sense and I would imagine the players were confused. When they needed leadership they instead received a mixed messaging service. No wonder they looked helpless and rudderless in the manager’s final game.

Williams had started his reign with a fine 1-0 win over Cardiff City in the FA Cup and soon followed it with a 5-0 win over Wimbledon and a 3-0 victory over Stockport County. At the time I wrote MacAnthony could afford to have a smug look on his face as his terrible managerial appointment record looked set to improve. Other more sensible judges were less convinced even when Posh surged up the table to get within three places and five points of the play-off places by January.

It couldn’t last and it didn’t, a decline hurried along by ill-timed injuries which forced the introduction of forwards who were well off League One standard.

Players left and new ones arrived, but persistence with defenders who are also below third tier level has continued. Whoever was scouting Walsall matches should leave with Williams.

The inertia of the manager on the sidelines wasn’t a problem for me, until it became obvious his lack of public passion was also in play in the dressing room. Williams kept motivational skills well hidden, if they existed at all. Inspiration there came none also, certainly in post-match interviews with non-club media that became prickly, short and rude. Fans would get no uplift from listening to a boss who readily forgot that’s who he was really talking to in those interviews.

It’s a shame as when he attended a fans’ forum early in his reign he came across as warm, witty and intelligent. That was also the night he said his preferred playing formation was 3-4-3 which never materialised at Posh even though Williams insisted he was involved in all signings.

His competitive playing record of P47 W17 D10 L20 wasn’t a total disaster, but two wins in the last 22 League One games was a record that demanded the sack. It was a surprise he lasted as long as he did, but it’s also true he’s had just a couple of weeks with a couple of his new signings. The early-season planning has been pretty dreadful for two seasons in a row.

Who comes next is anyone’s guess. Posh are not the attractive proposition they were just a handful of seasons ago. Darren Ferguson, the one manager so far capable of working successfully under MacAnthony, has sensibly already ruled himself out.

Karl Robinson, and MacAnthony admires and likes him, might fancy a go, but he couldn’t get cash-rich Salford City out of League Two last season. Successful former Stockport County boss Dave Challinor has earnt the right to a better job than at Posh. Robbie Savage and MacAnthony would be a combustible relationship.

MacAnthony did originally pluck Ferguson out of thin air and he might have to do something similar again, although back-to-back away League One games at Stockport County and Leicester City is a foreboding start for a new boss.

But surely someone would fancy getting out a tune out of two strikers that cost £1.5 million between them?