Peterborough sack Williams after Doncaster defeat leaves them second-bottom
Peterborough United have sacked manager Luke Williams after a home defeat by Doncaster Rovers left them second from bottom in League One. BBC Sport
Seven games. One bad night too many.
The Doncaster loss was Peterborough's third defeat in a five-game winless run in the league. League One is English football's third tier, and after seven matches Posh sit one point above Wigan Athletic, who are bottom of the table.
The timing was stark. On 18 September, Williams had sat down with the club's Posh+ channel to preview the Doncaster fixture, talking through the midweek cup win, playing with two strikers and the latest injuries. Peterborough United The report of his sacking followed on 19 September, straight after the defeat he had been looking ahead to.
Williams lasted less than 11 months in the job. He replaced Darren Ferguson in October 2025, with the club's official history listing his start date as 29 October. He took over a team bottom of the division and steered them to an 18th-place finish last season.
There was real progress in the cups. Williams led Peterborough into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, the early-season knockout competition for clubs across the top four divisions, for the first time since 2009. They earned the place with a thriller against Barnsley, 3-3 after normal time and then 7-6 to Posh on penalties, where each side takes turns from the spot until one misses.
League form never followed. Back in April, Williams had described one performance, against Port Vale, as as disappointing as he had ever seen. That frustration never fully lifted into the new campaign.
For fans, this means that familiar churn starts again. Peterborough are a club who act quickly when the table turns against them. The Barnsley shootout gave supporters a night to keep, loud and shared and a little bit wild. Now the task is colder and simpler. Find a manager who can turn that energy into league points, before the gap at the bottom grows.
