Goodbye, Luke Williams – An analysis of his managerial downfall
The 2-0 loss to Doncaster was enough to see off a second Peterborough United manager in under a year, as Luke Williams was given his marching orders.
A Posh career that started with such promise ended in a painstakingly boring manner, with a performance in which Posh couldn’t muster a single shot on target against the bottom team in League One.
I think it was time for Williams to go – the London Road End’s loudest involvement in the match being to sing ‘sacked in the morning’ was a fitting embodiment of the mood. Uninspired supporters who ultimately lost faith in a quiet, reserved manager.
The Start
Luke Williams joined Peterborough United while we were bottom of the league, and genuinely impressed in his early days.
Harry Leonard and Kyrell Lisbie were struggling under Darren Ferguson, and Williams did brilliantly to get both firing with real confidence. Lisbie has made the football club millions of pounds, and I would be shocked if Leonard didn’t do the same.
Williams adopted a simplistic style of football, where the players were encouraged to get the ball back into play as quickly as possible when it went out, and release wide players quickly into one on one positions.
This bore fruit instantly, with a 1-0 win over Cardiff in Williams’ first game, with a stunning 5-0 thrashing of Wimbledon in his opening league match.
Through the winter months, Williams picked up results – notably a Nene Derby win and a 3-0 victory over Stockport - and built belief that maybe this Posh team were better than narrowly surviving the drop.
Do Or Die?
Luke Williams made his first massive mistake in January.
By the middle of January, 2026, Posh were sat comfortably at the upper end of League One mid-table, and were primed to potentially siege the play-off spots.
This is where I think Luke Williams made his first error. If Darragh MacAnthony is to be believed, he was working on a number of transfer deals towards the end of the January window to reinforce Williams’ squad.
The manager rejected these signings, instead claiming to be happy with the squad he had. A squad which promptly ran entirely out of steam and coughed and spluttered through the rest of the campaign.
Now, in Williams’ defence, I have no idea who these signings were, and whether they actually would have been of value, however I do think it was a mistake for Williams not to be banging down Darragh’s door asking for reinforcements.
With a few of his players through the door, and Posh well positioned to attract ambitious footballers (lurking on the edge of a potential promotion-winning second half of the campaign), he could have kicked on and had a great end to the season.
Williams’ conservative attitude to the second half of the season was strange. Particularly since both Luke and Darragh said that they saw the physical collapse of the players coming around January at various forums following the end of 2025/26.
If Posh had gone for it in that January and added four or five solid bodies to the squad, who knows what direction the season could have gone in.
The Collapse
The last 15 games of 2025/26 were absolutely miserable. Posh slipped from nailed on safety to dangerous territory thanks to a run of just one win in those 15 matches.
The goals dried up, and Posh were hit with injuries so badly that Peter Kioso ended up playing in central defence for a lot of it.
Williams famously asked for his team back in an interview during this horrendous run – little did he know, he would never see them again.
Posh whimpered over the line with a 0-0 draw with Mansfield (one of the worst games of football ever) being the decisive result.
This end to the season raised concerns. While those at the club tried to fob it off, telling fans to forget it and that ‘next season would be better’, it was clear to all that Luke Williams needed a good start to the new campaign.
The Beginning Of The End
Fast forward three months to August 1st, Peterborough United are facing West Bromwich Albion in their final game of pre-season.
Despite being told to expect a rebuild which saw key signings come in early to enjoy the full ‘Luke Williams pre-season experience’, Posh had just two new names in their starting lineup.
Owura Edwards, a player who couldn’t break into Colchester’s starting XI last season, and Evan Weir, a left-back who Walsall stopped playing in March.
Alongside them, the transfer-listed Chris Conn-Clarke was starting, as was 18-year-old Lucca Mendonca and 17-year-old Bolu Shofowoke.
It was essential that Luke Williams had time with his new squad to get them ready for the season. In this regard, Darragh MacAnthony failed him.
However, I have less sympathy for Williams due to the incessant waxing lyrically about DMAC and Barry Fry in the media throughout the summer. He did not speak like a manager who was even slightly phased by the weaknesses in his squad.
It was not good enough, and everybody but Luke Williams seemed willing to admit that. This defiant attitude would continue with Williams, plaguing him for the rest of his days at Posh.
We will skip forward now. Some reinforcements did arrive, most notably in Liam Kelly who was the marquee signing of the summer, however it was all too late.
Posh began the season with a whimper in the league, securing just one win from their first six games.
The Final Week
Posh once again in the relegation zone, last week felt like Williams was really treading water trying to save his job.
A creditable point at MK Dons was ruined by a questionable performance and uncharacteristic lack of attacking endeavour from a Peterborough United side.
Williams knew that anything less than Carabao Cup advancement and a win against bottom of the league Doncaster would be the end of his time at Posh.
The first part went well, Williams adopting a system with two strikers in the absence of five first team defenders and scraping through in dramatic fashion on penalties.
This success was immediately ruined by bizarre post-match comments though, which to me showed the absolute disunity between Darragh MacAnthony and Williams.
Despite many attempts at backtracking from both parties, Williams’ comments put an enormous strain on his perceived relationship with those at the top of Peterborough United, and made Saturday’s game even more of a must win.
The result – a 2-0 loss with not a single shot on target. A fittingly dull end for a manager who many Posh fans would call the most boring of their lifetime.
The reaction from the terrace when the second Doncaster goal went in was enough to show that Williams’ time was up.
A sad end that leaves most Peterborough United fans wondering – ‘where the hell do we go from here?’
The Final Verdict
The main thing that stands out to me from Williams’ failed 11-month spell at Posh is that Darragh MacAnthony has once again failed to make things work with a manager who is not called Darren Ferguson.
For all of his faults as a Posh manager, I do not believe that Williams was effectively supported by MacAnthony in the transfer market.
I look at the Posh squad on paper, and although the performances were definitely concerning, I find it difficult to be surprised that we failed to beat Bradford, Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Stevenage, MK Dons and even Doncaster.
It was never going to work with Williams, he just did not gel with the identity of Peterborough United. I do think he is a good coach and more importantly a thoroughly decent human being.
Nobody wants to be sacked, but I am sure there is a part of him that will be glad to be able to see his children after school again after spending the week away from them for the majority of the last 11 months.
Despite the attempts from both parties (WhatsApp screenshots and all) to make the relationship look all sunshine and rainbows, I can’t help but think that there was real tension between El Presidente and his manager.
I don’t know where Posh go from here – I do have really strong concerns about this season now, and how this young, mentally weak group can recover from all of the melodrama so far.
To whoever the next Posh manager is: good luck – I think Luke Williams would agree that you need it.
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