Luke Williams

Luke Williams (born 1 May 1981) is an English professional football manager who is manager of EFL League One club Peterborough 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 at Leyton Orient and West Ham United. He spent several years coaching Brighton & Hove Albion's under-21s and made his first-team managerial debut with Swindon Town in 2015. After coaching Bristol City's under-23s, Williams became the assistant coach to Russell Martin at Milton Keynes Dons in 2019 and Swansea City in 2021.

Williams was appointed head coach of Notts County in 2022, leading them to Football League promotion in his first season and breaking several club records, including the most wins and points in a season. In 2024, he returned to Swansea City as head coach before joining Peterborough a year later.

Early life Williams was born in London, England, in 1981. Williams played football at youth level for Norwich City, but was released at age 16. He then joined Bristol Rovers as an apprentice after a successful trial. Williams also played for his school football team and left school aged 16 without GCSEs. He undertook warehouse work and drove minibuses to earn extra money.

Swindon Town and subsequent coaching In 2013, Williams was appointed assistant manager to Mark Cooper at League One club Swindon Town, and helped the team reach the 2015 play-offs before losing to Preston North End in the final. Following Cooper's departure, Williams worked as assistant to Lee Power and Martin Ling, before becoming caretaker manager in December 2015 after Ling's resignation.

The following month, Williams was named manager until the end of the season. He then signed a five-year contract as head coach after winning six of his 10 games in charge. In November 2016, Tim Sherwood was named the club's director of football and began coaching the team alongside Williams. Williams left Swindon in May 2017 by mutual agreement following the club's relegation to League Two at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Following his departure, Williams became head coach of Bristol City's under-23s in 2017, before becoming assistant to Russell Martin at Milton Keynes Dons in 2019 and Swansea City in 2021. He left the latter in 2022. At both clubs, Williams assisted Martin in coaching a possession-based style of play. Their MK Dons side set a new British record at the time, scoring after a 56-pass move. 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. Williams won the same award in March 2023 as County remained unbeaten throughout the month. 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. 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.

Swansea City On 5 January 2024, Williams returned to Championship club Swansea City as head coach on a three-and-a-half-year contract, replacing Michael Duff mid-season. He was chosen by Swansea for his attacking, possession-based style of play. 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.

In February 2025, Williams left Swansea after a run of seven defeats in nine Championship matches.

Peterborough United On 29 October 2025, Williams was appointed manager of EFL League One side Peterborough United on a contract until June 2028.

Managerial statistics

+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecordSwindon Town 30 December 20155 May 2017 Total

Honours Manager

Brighton & Hove Albion U23 Sussex Senior Challenge Cup: 2011

Individual National League Manager of the Month: October 2022,