This article and review of Luke Williams was first published on December 19th 2023 by this website.
The recent rumours and speculation regards Luke Williams potentially joining Swansea City are only of interest to the bookies at this time. We had a conversation with a very decent source yesterday who is not only baffled about the way this current manager search is going, he is questioning some of the tactics the club are using to get ‘someone’ to do the job.
Journalists, the more lucid fans (and agents in this case) notice when things aren’t right, and there is an uneasy feeling out there about the processes Chairman Andrew Coleman, Ken Gude and Sporting Director Paul Watson are using. His belief is that the Swans turned away from Chris Davies when they learned about his required salary, assistants and compensation ( from Daniel Levy ) That information was known to Coleman on Saturday morning, and we stand by that. A few hours later Chris Davies said no, or was it the Swans ?
It doesn’t really matter, it isn’t going to happen.
Our source believes that the small community of non premier league agents and club Chairmen will already know all about this new leadership at Swansea, people do their due diligence carefully. And that includes the Chairman of Notts County, Christoffer Reedtz. Both he and his brother Alexander, blew the cobwebs off the clubs malaise in 2019 and restored some hope at Meadow Lane. They resolved the HMRC situation that came with the clubs purchase and immediately paid the wages of the staff and players. And all this a month after relegation to non league ( a bit of an insult these days for some ) and seeing a club in real trouble. They staved off a winding up order and started from scratch.
The brothers use the same methodology as Brentford and Brighton to pinpoint potential player purchases and have run Football Radar for eleven years or so. They registered Football Radar in the UK ( so they could be seen openly regards their business decisions ) and have their head offices now in London. They are hard negotiators and take their ownership of Notts County very seriously. They view their involvement from a very deep and personal level.
Then there is Luke Williams, his contract signed in January extends his stay at Meadow Lane until June 2027. That’s three and a half years compensation payable to Notts County, if that is - anyone wants his services. And of course it doesn’t end there. Ex Swansea City signing ( never played ) Ryan Harley is his assistant, and has also penned a new deal. The brothers Reedtz said upon the new contracts being signed, "We have been hugely impressed with Luke both as a head coach and a colleague. On the pitch, he has been delivering amazing results and consistently enjoyable performances, which is the combination every football club strives for. Away from the field, the board enjoy a very healthy and constructive relationship with Luke and his staff which we believe is helping to take the club to another level. We would like to place on record our thanks to Luke and Ryan for their fantastic work so far. We’re very excited to see what the future holds with them at the helm.”
Ryan Harley (above with Luke Williams) would also come as a coach to any new club, but the compensation according to our source would be around £750,000 at least for both of them and George Lawtey, plus the other costs involved including agents fees and agreements put in place for Williams recruitment. Then there will an expected salary commensurate of a Championship football manager and assistant which is three times what they are on at the moment we are told. There could be a third person in the mix for a coaching role and that’s first team assistant, George Lawtey and it wouldn’t surprise us if Tom Weal, the County goalkeeping coach is also on the menu, but with the expertise the Swans have in Martyn Margetson you would hope that doesn’t come to fruition.
This is a very costly package with just Luke and Ryan under consideration, both are highly regarded by the Reedtz brothers who have a considerable multi million net worth ( around twelve million pounds ) in Football Radar alone. They will fight to keep Luke Williams who has over a 58% win rate in eighty games.
Swans Indy : Luke Williams is at a club which very much mirrors the Swans. They are on the up, and Williams has them in his second season in charge now at League two level in a play off spot. Apparently Luke left the Swans when at the Swansea.Com with Russell Martin because he wanted to be closer to home. Unless he has a home still in Wiltshire or London that just didn’t feel right, but it’s another one of those ‘that’s in the past’ moments. It became even more confusing when we learned just after he left he actually had a house in Wales. But we left it there. Should Luke Williams join the Swans, and it’s a big IF the club have the money available situation. We don’t think he will unless Coleman throws money at him and for his squad improvement. As we said at the start of this report, the agent, and lower league network isn’t huge, and Chairmen talk. And that’s possibly the big issue here, when the Swans hierarchy talk it isn’t in the language of knowledgable football people. They’ve been turned down or rejected out of hand by numerous coaches already, even lower league managers. Luke Williams is a solid choice, but he is in League two. Another million and a half plus thrown at a gamble, because that is what he is ? As we have said before, what would you do ? Notts County could easily be in League one next season. And the way things are going they could be playing Swansea City.