The new Peterborough United boss will get the fans flocking back to London Road
New Peterborough United manager Luke Williams will be the man to bring the crowds back to the Weston Homes Stadium.
That’s the opinion of chairman Darragh MacAnthony who insists his new man is here for the long-term, rather than for a quick fix. Williams has initially signed a two-and-a-half year deal.
MacAnthony is confident Williams will steer Posh, who are currently bottom of League One, away from relegation danger this season, and then he anticipates the good times will be well and truly back next season.
But the chairman was disappointed with the crowds at London Road for the last two matches against Blackpool and Cardiff City.
"Our players will enjoy playing for Luke,” MacAnthony said on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “They will relate to him and he will improve players individually, and he will do it all while playing the right way.
"We will probably see more 5-4s than 1-0s and that suits me. Luke understands it’s an entertainment business and we do need to get our crowds back. It bothered me seeing so many empty spaces when we played Blackpool and the crowd for the Cardiff game was very low and a reflection on how we had been playing,
"It hasn’t been a lot of fun this season, but we can’t go back to the crowds of 6,000-7,000 as it would put a hole in our budget. I’m confident once we start winning, while playing in a stylish way, our fans will want to see it.
"Luke is not a 10-game, 20-game appointment. He’s not going to be here for five minutes. This is long-term. It’s not a reboot, it’s the chance to go again under a new manager. I’ve hired him to win promotions and to get us back into the Championship.
“The remit is always the same with us. We want a promotion push, we want to score 100 goals and we want to win a trophy. We are still keen on the three-peat in the EFL Trophy this season.
"Luke is confident we will come good. He couldn’t believe after watching Gustav Lindgren and Harry Leonard that they had been struggling to score goals for a start.”
Leonard scored his first Posh goal in last Saturday’s FA Cup win over Cardiff City, the first match under the management of Williams.
The attendance at that game was just 4,405 and 602 of those travelled from South Wales.
The average London Road gate for League One games this season is 8,950. The average for the whole of last season was 9,151. The Blackpool match was watched by 8,315 fans.