Luke Williams
Williams with Notts County in 2022
Personal information
Full name Luke Williams
Date of birth (1981-05-01) 1 May 1981[1]
Place of birth London, England
Team information
Current team
 Swansea City (head coach)
Youth career
Years Team
Norwich City
Managerial career
2010–2013 Brighton & Hove Albion U23
2015–2017 Swindon Town
2017–2019 Bristol City U23
2022–2024 Notts County
2024– Swansea City

Luke Williams (born 1 May 1981) is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of Championship club Swansea City.

A former non-league footballer, Williams began his coaching career at Leyton Orient and West Ham United. He spent several years managing youth teams at Brighton & Hove Albion and Bristol City. He made his first-team managerial debut with Swindon Town in 2015 and 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.[2] In 2024, he returned to Swansea City as head coach.

Career

Early career

Williams had a short career as a player in non-league football, and was released from Norwich City's academy as a teenager.[3] Between ages 19 and 23, Williams had five operations in four years to correct a knee injury.[3] He undertook warehouse work and drove minibuses to earn extra money.[3] Williams decided to focus on coaching, working at Leyton Orient and West Ham United, and became an FA Skills Coach.[4]

He later became a development coach at Brighton & Hove Albion, where he managed the club's under-21 and reserve sides for several years under first-team manager Gus Poyet.[5][3] Williams's side were the first Brighton team to play at the club's Amex Stadium, which opened in 2011, as they beat Eastbourne Borough in the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup final.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8]

The following month, Williams was named manager until the end of the season.[9] He then signed a 5-year contract as head coach after winning 6 of his 10 games in charge.[10] In November 2016, Tim Sherwood was named the club's director of football and began coaching the team alongside Williams.[11][12][13] 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.[14]

Following his departure, Williams became head coach of Bristol City's under-23s in 2017,[15] before becoming assistant to Russell Martin at Milton Keynes Dons in 2019 and Swansea City in 2021.[16][17] He left the latter in 2022.[18]

Notts County

On 14 June 2022, Williams returned to management with National League club Notts County.[19] 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.[20] Williams won the same award in March 2023 as Notts County remained unbeaten throughout the month.[21]

In his first season with the club, Notts County earned a club record-breaking 107 points, but finished second in the league behind Wrexham.[2][22] Notts scored 117 goals throughout the campaign and set a new club record unbeaten run in the league of 25 games.[22] They also achieved the most wins in a season, with 32 wins.[2] In the play-offs, Williams led County to promotion, defeating Chesterfield on penalties in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.[22]

The following season, Williams left Notts County mid-season, with the club fifth in the league and having scored 55 goals, the highest across England's top four divisions.[23]

Swansea City

On 5 January 2024, Williams returned to Championship club Swansea City as head coach on a three-and-a-half year contract.[24] He took charge of his first match the following day, a 2–0 victory against Morecambe in the FA Cup, with goals from Arsenal loanee Charlie Patino and striker Jerry Yates.[25]

Managerial style

Throughout his career, Williams's teams have been noted for playing attacking, possession-based football.[6][24][26] As the assistant to Russell Martin at Milton Keynes Dons and Swansea City, Williams helped coach a style of play heavily based on ball possession; their MK Dons side set a new British record at the time, scoring after a 56-pass move.[27][24]

Williams's Notts County regularly dominated possession against opposition teams, losing just 3 of their 46 league games in his first season, while using short corners to maintain possession and increase the likelihood of scoring.[28][29] However, his teams have also shown occasional defensive vulnerability; despite Notts conceding just 52 goals in all competitions in Williams's first season, they conceded 49 goals in the first four months of his second season.[30][31]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 13 January 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Swindon Town 30 December 2015 5 May 2017 75 20 22 33 026.7 [32]
Notts County 14 July 2022 5 January 2024 83 48 16 19 057.8 [32]
Swansea City 5 January 2024 Present 2 1 1 0 050.0 [32]
Total 160 69 39 52 043.1 —

Honours

Manager

Brighton & Hove Albion U23

Notts County

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Luke Williams". TNT Sports. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Luke Williams - Head Coach". Notts County. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Notts County: Luke Williams' rise from coaching young offenders to leading the Magpies' renaissance". BBC Sport. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Swindon Town FC Coaching Staff". Swindon Town FC. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Coaching Additions". Swindon Town FC. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Ex-Brighton coach Luke Williams on great days with Gus Poyet". The Argus. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Preston North End 4-0 Swindon Town". BBC. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  8. ↑ "Statement – Chairman on Ling Departure". Swindon Town FC. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Swindon Town: Luke Williams to remain in charge until May". BBC Sport. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "Luke Williams earns five-year deal as Swindon Town head coach". The Guardian. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "Tim Sherwood: Swindon Town appoint ex-Tottenham boss as director of football". BBC Sport. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "Tim Sherwood: Swindon's Luke Williams keen to learn from director of football". BBC Sport. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "Town head coach Luke Williams enjoying arrival of Sherwood". Swindon Advertiser. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Luke Williams: Swindon Town head coach's departure confirmed by relegated club". BBC Sport. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Williams appointed Under-23 coach". Bristol City. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  16. ↑ "Williams appointed assistant manager". Milton Keynes Dons. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "Statement: Russell Martin". Milton Keynes Dons. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  18. ↑ "Club Statement: Luke Williams leaves Swansea City". www.swanseacity.com. 18 February 2022.
  19. ↑ "Head coach: Luke Williams". www.nottscountyfc.co.uk. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  20. 1 2 "Manager of the Month: October". www.nottscountyfc.co.uk. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  21. 1 2 "Awards: Langstaff & Williams". Notts County FC. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Aloia, Andrew (13 May 2023). "Chesterfield 2–2 Notts County". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  23. ↑ "Luke Williams: Swansea City appoint Notts County boss as new head coach". Sky Sports. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  24. 1 2 3 "Luke Williams joins Swansea City as Head Coach". www.swanseacity.com. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Swansea City 2 Morecambe 0". BBC Sport. 6 January 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  26. ↑ "Luke Williams: Swansea City 'the perfect move' for new head coach". BBC Sport. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  27. ↑ "Behind the scenes with MK Dons, the team with the third highest possession in Europe". The Athletic. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "In profile - Luke Williams". swanseacity.com. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "Notts County's devotion to short corners: Does it make statistical sense?". The Athletic. 6 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  30. ↑ "Notts County: Captain Kyle Cameron 'embarrassed' by goals League Two side have conceded". BBC Sport. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  31. ↑ "Luke Williams blasts 'soft goals' Notts County have conceded in recent weeks". Nottinghamshire Live. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  32. 1 2 3 "Managers: Luke Williams". Soccerbase. Centurycom. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
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