 Williams withNotts County in 2022 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1981-05-01)1 May 1981 (age 44)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | London, England | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Peterborough United (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| –1997 | Norwich City | ||
| 1997–2000 | Bristol Rovers | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2015–2017 | Swindon Town | ||
| 2022–2024 | Notts County | ||
| 2024–2025 | Swansea City | ||
| 2025– | Peterborough United | ||
Luke Williams (born 1 May 1981) is an English professionalfootballmanager who is manager ofEFL League One clubPeterborough United.
Born in London, Williams played youth football but suffered an injury at age 19, which stopped him from playing professionally. He began his coaching career atLeyton Orient andWest Ham United. He spent several years coachingBrighton & Hove Albion'sunder-21s and made his first-team managerial debut withSwindon Town in 2015. After coachingBristol City's under-23s, Williams became the assistant coach toRussell Martin atMilton Keynes Dons in 2019 andSwansea City in 2021.
Williams was appointed head coach ofNotts County in 2022, leading them toFootball League promotion in his first season and breaking several club records, including the most wins and points in a season.[2] In 2024, he returned to Swansea City as head coach before joining Peterborough a year later.
Williams was born inLondon, England, in 1981.[1] He attended school inWaltham Abbey.[3] Williams played football at youth level forNorwich City, but was released at age 16.[4] He then joinedBristol Rovers as an apprentice after a successful trial.[5] Williams also played for his school football team and left school aged 16 withoutGCSEs.[5] At age 19, he suffered a knee injury and failed to win a contract withLeyton Orient, so he decided to focus oncoaching.[4][5]
Between ages 19 and 23, Williams had five operations in four years to correct his knee injury.[4] He also suffered a broken hip and fractured skull from a car crash in his early 20s, and was stabbed with a champagne flute on a night out in London, which he believed may have caused him to sufferpost-traumatic stress disorder.[5]
Williams began coaching youth teams atLeyton Orient andWest Ham United, and became anFA Skills Coach.[6] He undertook warehouse work and drove minibuses to earn extra money.[4][5] Williams spent 18 months coaching children atLondon Fields on Saturday mornings and also coached young offenders for West Ham's community programme.[5] He coached Leyton Orient's under-14s in the evenings and also worked as a teaching assistant atBraintree College.[5]
He later became a development coach atBrighton & Hove Albion, where he managed the club'sunder-21 and reserve sides for several years under first-team managerGus Poyet.[7][4] Williams's side were the first Brighton team to play at the club'sAmex Stadium, which opened in 2011, as they beatEastbourne Borough in theSussex Senior Challenge Cup final.[8]
In 2013, Williams was appointed assistant manager toMark Cooper atLeague One clubSwindon Town, and helped the team reach the2015 play-offs before losing toPreston North End in thefinal.[9] Following Cooper's departure, Williams worked as assistant toLee Power andMartin Ling, before becomingcaretaker manager in December 2015 after Ling's resignation.[10]
The following month, Williams was named manager until the end of theseason.[11] He then signed a five-year contract as head coach after winning six of his 10 games in charge.[12] In November 2016,Tim Sherwood was named the club'sdirector of football and began coaching the team alongside Williams.[13][14][15] Williams left Swindon in May 2017 by mutual agreement following the club's relegation toLeague Two at the end of the2016–17 season.[16]
Following his departure, Williams became head coach ofBristol City's under-23s in 2017,[17] before becoming assistant toRussell Martin atMilton Keynes Dons in 2019 andSwansea City in 2021.[18][19] He left the latter in 2022.[20] At both clubs, Williams assisted Martin in coaching apossession-based style of play.[21] Their MK Dons side set a new British record at the time, scoring after a 56-pass move.[21]
On 14 June 2022, Williams returned to management withNational League clubNotts County.[22] He was awarded the National League Manager of the Month award for October 2022, winning all six matches across the month, with the club sat top of the league.[23] Williams won the same award in March 2023 as County remained unbeaten throughout the month.[24]
Inhis first season with the club, Notts County earned a club record-breaking 107 points, but finished second in the league behindWrexham.[2][25] County scored 117 goals throughout the campaign and set a new club record unbeaten run in the league of 25 games.[25] They also achieved the most wins in a season, with 32 wins.[2] In the play-offs, Williams led County to promotion, defeatingChesterfield on penalties in theplay-off final atWembley Stadium.[25]
Williams's side regularly dominated possession against opposition teams, losing just three of their 46 league games in his first season, while using shortcorners to maintain possession and increase the likelihood of scoring goals.[26][27] Defensively, despite County conceding just 52 goals in all competitions in his first season, they conceded 49 goals in the first four months of his second season.[28][29] Williams left County in January 2024, with the club fifth in the league and having scored 55 goals, the highest across England's top four divisions.[30]
On 5 January 2024, Williams returned toChampionship club Swansea City as head coach on a three-and-a-half-year contract, replacingMichael Duff mid-season.[31][32] He was chosen by Swansea for his attacking, possession-based style of play.[31][32][8]
Williams took charge of his first match the following day, a 2–0 victory againstMorecambe in theFA Cup, with goals fromArsenal loaneeCharlie Patino and strikerJerry Yates.[33] Despite a difficult start against four of the top six teams in the league, Williams improved Swansea's form over the last quarter of the season; they avoided relegation and finished 14th in the league.[34]
In February 2025, Williams left Swansea after a run of seven defeats in nine Championship matches.[35]
On 29 October 2025, Williams was appointed manager ofEFL League One sidePeterborough United on a contract until June 2028.[36]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Swindon Town | 30 December 2015 | 5 May 2017 | 75 | 20 | 22 | 33 | 026.67 | [37] |
| Notts County | 14 July 2022 | 5 January 2024 | 83 | 48 | 16 | 19 | 057.83 | [37] |
| Swansea City | 5 January 2024 | 17 February 2025 | 58 | 19 | 11 | 28 | 032.76 | [37] |
| Peterborough United | 29 October 2025 | Present | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 080.00 | [37] |
| Total | 221 | 91 | 49 | 81 | 041.18 | — | ||
Brighton & Hove Albion U23
Notts County
